Thread A: The Failed Rebalancer
In the deep tiers below the forgotten ledgers—beneath even the Mercy Weave and Genesis Lodes—there is a place known only as The Black Amendment.
It is not spoken of.
It is not charted.
It is not denied.
There, between law and loss, drifts a soul who once broke the rules.
His name is no longer remembered. Not because he failed.
But because the System erased his context.
He was Rebalancer before Sykaion.
Long before.
In a version of the world that tried to change too much, too fast.
He too said no to anchoring.
He too severed faith for freedom.
But he made one mistake:
He tried to make a law of mercy.
And mercy, the System decided, was an untraceable asset.
Now, he is a hollow ledger—body encoded with broken oaths, face replaced by flickering zeros. He moves in the dark, shackled by contracts forged after his death, whispering the names of people who never were.
When Sykaion rose, this one stirred.
His last words were caught in a drifting thread of decay:
"If he succeeds… make sure he remembers me."
---
Thread B: Sykaion
The City of Veltrin Sprawl breathed again.
Barely.
But it breathed.
Sykaion stood at the base of the last intact trust tower, surrounded by officials, former creditors, displaced citizens, and newly risen belief-users. His name was spoken cautiously—too revered for comfort, too uncertain for worship.
He held no throne.
But he was the seat of power now.
> [System Note: Unanchored Influence Expanding]
Faith Weight: +13%
Myth Index: Rising
System Reaction: Watching
He pushed the windows open and stared down at the market levels below. Old beliefflow lines were reconnecting. Barter pacts replaced currency. Contracts were being written in handwriting.
"Decentralization," he murmured. "Let them build from below this time."
Arlyss stood beside him, arms folded.
"They still don't understand what you are."
"Neither do I," he admitted.
Zeraphine stepped forward.
"You're stabilizing trust through your presence alone. But it's unsustainable. We need infrastructure. Logic. You're walking on myth."
He nodded.
"Then let's build myth into law."
---
He convened the first Open Ledger Council, not of nobility, but of survivors—people who had watched their wealth, their names, even their memories collapse. He let them speak. Let them remember.
Let them ask:
"What comes after belief is broken?"
And for the first time in recorded System memory—
No prompt answered.
Just silence.
Because the System was not controlling this.
Sykaion was writing it.
---
But far above Veltrin, in the void between System layers…
An eye opened.
Not of flesh.
Not of god.
An Audit-Class Correction Entity stirred.
Its name:
Ledger Null.
And it was coming not to kill Sykaion—
But to correct him.
---
To be continued in Chapter 22…