The trail from the Embered Spire wound through dead land—charred trees, cracked earth, and bones brittle with age. A reminder of past cataclysms, many of them likely caused by the very cycle Cedric was now caught in.
He and Lynne camped beneath a broken stone arch once belonging to a forgotten kingdom, smoke from a small fire curling into the night sky. They ate in silence, both nursing wounds—the fight with the Ember Warden had taken more out of Cedric than he let on.
Lynne broke the silence. "You're adapting faster than I thought."
"I have to," Cedric replied, eyes scanning the stars. "These fragment guardians aren't getting weaker… and I'm still nowhere near ready to face the Seven."
Lynne nodded, then glanced at a tattered scroll she'd unrolled earlier. "There's something strange. A trail of ruins—all with dormant fragments—and all left untouched for centuries. Except…" She tapped a point on the parchment. "Ish'thar's Keep. We weren't the first to awaken a fragment."
Cedric's brow furrowed. "You think someone else is hunting them?"
"Or," Lynne said grimly, "something."
A soft chime rang in Cedric's mind.
> System Alert: Proximity Ping – Hostile Magical Residue Detected
Estimated Source: 1.3 km northwest
Classification: Unknown Entity – Pattern Matches No Known Guardian
Cedric stood, grabbing his sword. "We check it out. Quietly."
---
The Blackened Grove
Trees here stood like scorched statues—twisted, petrified, and hollow. As they approached, Cedric sensed something… wrong. The magic in the air didn't flow—it hung, still and oppressive, like a held breath.
They crouched behind a fallen log as movement stirred ahead. Through the ash-fog, a humanoid figure stumbled into view. It wore the shredded robes of a low-ranking cleric—silver embroidery now charred black. Its eyes glowed a sickly violet, and tendrils of void mana writhed across its exposed skin.
> SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION: INFECTED HOST – DEMONIC STASIS CORRUPTION
Level: 8
Status: Incomplete Conversion
Danger Rating: Moderate
Lynne gasped. "That's… not a guardian."
Cedric narrowed his eyes. "No. That's a failed resurrection."
As if on cue, the figure snapped its head toward them. It let out a guttural screech and charged—legs twitching with unnatural speed.
Cedric braced, parried its first strike with a grunt. The creature moved erratically, its body warped by magic not meant to be wielded. His sword rang off bone, flesh, and something darker beneath.
The creature lunged, slashing his thigh.
> HP -18 → 93/111
He hissed but held firm. Threads of corrupted magic hung around the creature's limbs, erratic and poisonous. Cedric focused, reaching out—not to control, but to disrupt.
He found a weak point—a tangled knot of decaying threads at the neck. With a surge of will, he unraveled it.
The creature staggered, shrieking. Its form convulsed, then collapsed into dust and ash.
> XP +112
Current XP: 156/300
Lynne approached carefully. "You saw the threads again."
"I'm starting to recognize what's natural… and what isn't." Cedric knelt beside the remains, scooping some of the gray ash into a cloth pouch. "Whatever this was, it wasn't supposed to happen."
Lynne nodded. "Something rushed the process. Tried to force a resurrection… without the system's consent."
> System Notification: Thread Anomaly Logged.
Origin Point Unknown. Threat Level Escalated.
Cedric stood, frowning toward the horizon. "The cycle's breaking. And someone—or something—is trying to hijack it."
They turned toward the next ruin marked on their map—The Shattered Reliquary, said to house a sealed memory of a fallen Threadkeeper.
If anyone had answers about the system's origins, it would be them.
The path ahead was dark and uncertain—but Cedric's resolve burned brighter with each step. He wasn't just chasing power anymore. He was chasing the truth.