Kael stepped into the sky.
Or at least, it felt like that. There was no floor beneath his boots — just fractured fragments of the Tower hanging in an infinite sea of colorless light. Platforms spun lazily in the void, drifting like forgotten debris in orbit.
But he wasn't falling.
He was anchored. Somehow.
The Gauntlet thrummed, now glowing a deeper crimson, veins of silver branching along his forearm like circuitry. He glanced at it — half in awe, half in suspicion.
"You really don't play fair, do you?" Kael muttered.
The Gauntlet didn't answer. But something in the air did.
A pulse. Soft. Like a heartbeat inside the bones of this strange, broken world.
Kael scanned the floating fragments around him — some were slabs of marble, others ruins of floors that clearly didn't belong to the first level. One looked like a palace gate. Another resembled a scorched battlefield frozen in time.
Then he saw it.
A massive floating platform in the distance — one far larger than the rest, wreathed in mist. At its center stood a monolith of black crystal.
A Beacon.
Kael didn't know how he knew. But the second his eyes locked onto it, his Core pulsed.
It wanted him to go there.
Of course, it probably wanted to kill him too.
"Fine," Kael grunted. "Let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes."
He leapt.
The world didn't resist.
Instead, time folded. One blink — and he was already standing at the edge of the monolith platform, knees bent, landing silent.
No wind. No welcome.
Just a lingering sense of being watched.
---
[SYSTEM – Fracturebound Protocols]
Environment Classification: Unstable Residual Zone
Path Integrity: 29% – Subject Currently Unbound
Core Recognition: Incomplete (Deviation Threshold Exceeded)
Time Drift Detected. Warning: Local Continuity May Collapse.
---
Kael stepped toward the black crystal.
It pulsed faintly as he neared — shadows dancing inside it, like smoke trapped behind glass. At the base of the monolith were etchings. Not runes. Memories.
Images carved from light.
A thousand souls screaming.
A battle fought across time.
A figure — cloaked in flowing silver fire — facing off against a storm of blades made from centuries.
Kael reached out. His fingers touched the monolith—
FLASH.
The world cracked open.
---
He saw himself, standing atop a throne of ash, crowned in fire.
He saw the Hunter, kneeling before something vast and eyeless.
He saw the Tower collapsing — not physically, but conceptually. Memory turned to dust. Epochs crumbling.
And a voice, soft and ancient, whispered:
"You are not the first, Kael Viren. But you may be the last."
---
He yanked his hand away, staggering back, heart slamming in his chest.
The monolith pulsed faster now.
Something had awakened.
And then—
The ground beneath him shifted.
From the floating edges of the platform, figures began to form — stitched from light and darkness. Humanoid. Armored in shattered glyphs. No faces. No voices.
But pure, unmistakable killing intent.
Kael's instincts roared.
"Trial time, huh?"
The first one moved.
No warning. No wind-up.
Just motion. A flash of shadow, a blur of metal—
Kael ducked, rolled, and countered with a Gauntlet-slam that detonated against the creature's chest.
BOOM.
It flew backward—shattering into code.
But two more appeared.
Then five.
Then a dozen.
Kael spat blood and grinned.
"Alright then, let's fucking dance."
---
He moved like a tempest.
Every strike from the Gauntlet tore holes in the air. The crystal armory of the enemies shattered under his blows, but they were fast—learning. One clipped his side. Another nicked his shoulder.
But Kael adapted faster.
His Core responded, evolving mid-combat. Reflexes sharpened. Angles corrected. He saw flaws in their movements, like highlighted paths in his vision.
He used them.
Parried. Twisted. Snapped necks and disarmed swords in a ballet of brutality.
But then…
Something new stepped onto the platform.
One of them, but different.
Taller. Heavier.
And this one had eyes — pure white, like moons carved into a shadowy face.
Kael stopped. Chest heaving.
"You're the boss, huh?"
The creature didn't answer. It raised a hand.
Reality bent.
The platform fractured.
Kael was thrown backward, slamming into one of the floating pillars. The Gauntlet sparked violently.
Warning signs flooded his interface.
> [Core Sync Overload – 87%]
[Stabilization Required]
[Bloodline Parameter Unrecognized – Unknown Gene Awakening]
Kael dragged himself up, laughing breathlessly.
"You're seriously trying to overwrite me now? Not gonna happen."
He pushed off the wall.
Charged.
And this time, he didn't hold back.
---
Kael's boots hit the fractured platform hard. His vision tunneled.
The Tower didn't wait.
The creature with moon-eyes blurred toward him, the void itself ripping in its wake. Each step left behind afterimages—like time wasn't keeping up with it.
Kael pivoted to the left, barely avoiding the cleave of a blade that shouldn't have existed—it didn't reflect light, didn't cut air.
It simply erased.
His shoulder burned where it grazed him. Not pain—absence. A void where sensation used to be.
He rolled, caught his footing mid-slide, and slammed the Gauntlet against the ground.
The floor cracked. Energy surged.
A red shockwave burst outward, throwing lesser anomalies into scattered particles. The monolith behind him pulsed brighter—its heartbeat syncing with Kael's.
> [Warning: Core Integrity Approaching Threshold – Evolution Triggered]
> [Initializing Genetic Unlock Protocol...]
> [ERROR: Sequence Contaminated.]
> [Override Source Detected – Authorization: LOST]
Kael hissed as light carved through his spine—like something ancient was waking up inside his marrow. His fingers trembled. The Gauntlet screamed, venting crimson arcs.
The anomaly roared—not sound, but pressure—trying to crush Kael's mind beneath its will.
He bit down hard enough to taste blood and lunged straight into the pressure.
"NOT TODAY!"
Their clash lit the fractured sky.
Kael punched—his Gauntlet erupting with a spiral of crimson-laced black. The creature met him with its blade of nothingness.
They collided.
Time stuttered.
---
Kael was falling.
Not in body. In epochs.
Flashes of wars he never fought. Kingdoms rising, then turning to dust. Tower levels that didn't exist yet—or had already been erased. Visions burned through his brain like cursed fire.
And through it all—one word echoed:
"Fracturebound."
Kael gasped as reality snapped him back into place.
He stood.
Alive.
Scarred.
Changed.
The anomaly stood too—but something had shifted. It stared at him like it recognized something.
Not as prey.
Not as intruder.
But as rival.
Kael's skin pulsed with faint script—not tattooed, but written in strands of energy beneath his flesh. His Gauntlet looked… different now. The crimson was darker. Hungrier.
Something had awakened.
And it wasn't done.
> [You Have Inherited the Echobrand]
[Fracturebound Signature: Confirmed]
[Tier Shift Pending: Inversion Catalyst Required]
The anomaly raised its hand—one final attack. The monolith behind Kael began to shake, responding to the clash.
Then—
Everything froze.
---
A shimmer cut across the air.
Golden.
Cold.
And impossibly ancient.
The anomaly stopped moving—not by choice, but as if something had paused it mid-code.
Then came the voice.
Not from the Tower.
Not from his Gauntlet.
But from beyond.
> "Subject: Kael Viren. Genetic marker detected. Observation confirmed."
"Connection established with Long-Sealed Observer Node."
"Designate: ARCHIVIST // Bound Epoch: [REDACTED]"
A ripple passed over the platform.
Time shuddered. The monolith cracked. The anomaly disintegrated—deleted, not destroyed.
Kael spun, fists raised.
"What now?!"
The light converged into a rough humanoid shape—floating, blurry, like a broken hologram etched in starlight. No face. No eyes. But overwhelming presence.
"You do not belong here, and yet the Tower recognizes you."
Kael didn't respond.
Couldn't.
"The protocol has failed. You are not one of the Chosen. You are... an anomaly within an anomaly."
Kael's voice came low, rough.
"Then what the fuck am I?"
The Archivist tilted its head.
"A fragment of a war long lost. A mistake the Tower tried to erase. And now... its greatest risk."
Kael laughed, ragged.
"Perfect."
"Continue ascending, Kael Viren. Whether you survive or destroy this system... the result will be archived."
The figure disintegrated—light scattering like dying stars.
The monolith shattered.
The mist lifted.
And behind the rubble, another door appeared.
Dark.
Unmarked.
Waiting.
Kael stood there, body battered, Core humming like it wanted to explode.
And grinned through bloodied teeth.
"Looks like I've made an impression."