The Solvyr Tribunal convenes. Golden banners torn, Headmaster Yssandre sits in judgment flanked by Ascendant faculty.
Kaien stands below them, wrists rune-bound, glyphs dimmed. Not as a student.
As a witness. A risk. An anomaly.
Yssandre's voice is cold as cut marble.
"Protocol Zero is unregistered. Wild. Potentially antithetical to the Ascendant Order."
"You have endangered Solvyr. You have endangered history."
"Why should you not be erased?"
Kaien looks up — not with pride, but with fire.
"Because I am the history you forgot."
Gasps. Velle speaks up, placing a tablet of shattered data on the dais.
"He didn't break the system."
"The system was designed to exclude him."
"I invoke Scholar's Asylum."
An ancient clause.
Yssandre narrows her eyes.
"You shield him with bureaucracy?"
"I shield him with truth."
Scene Two: Riven's Return
Riven enters. Uniform perfect. Presence stillness made flesh.
She steps into the Tribunal and speaks only two words:
"He's real."
Yssandre snaps, "You died."
"Not quite. Just… erased."
She looks at Kaien — no warmth. No apology. Just allegiance.
"There are more like him. Forgotten protocols. Denied ascendance. Born Null."
"You should fear them. Because they didn't inherit power. They were forged from what you cast away."
Scene Three: The Break
Before the verdict can fall —
A rupture splits the air. Screaming.
The Monolith shatters. Again.
But this time—not from Kaien.
A black glyph spirals across the sky. Unknown. Untranslated.
From it descends a figure.
Wreathed in dust and blue flame. Swordless. Weaponless. Face obscured.
"Who dares rise without being Chosen?"
Security rushes. Riven pulls Kaien behind her. Yssandre begins a chant.
But the figure speaks again, voice thunderous:
"I ask again—who dares forge a path not written?"
Kaien steps forward.
"I do."
The figure tilts its head. Then nods.
"Then let the world burn bright enough to remember your name."
With that — the figure vanishes.
But not before leaving behind a mark:
The burning zero. Branded into the Monolith's surface.
A symbol never seen before.
Not by Solvyr.
Not by the Ascendants.
But now — all of Aurelis will see it.
Final Image: A World Now Aware
Students watch from dormitory towers.
Whispers spiral into fear.
"He's not a student anymore…"
"He's something else…"
Liora watches from the shadowed steps of the Archive Library, her flame pendant glowing dimly.
Ayari tightens her grip on a training blade.
Nox, unseen in the rafters, whispers:
"Now the countdown begins."
Kaien stands alone beneath the broken sky.
And the voice in his mind — Protocol Zero — whispers one final line:
"You are no longer forgotten. Now you are hunted."