Location: The Blackstone Courtyard
Midnight. After the moon shattered. After the Vein Lecture. After the silence.
I didn't go looking for him.
He found me.
The Blackstone Courtyard is empty except for broken statues and half-lit braziers. The sky above is wrong — still missing a moon.
Lunamiria is asleep in the tower.
The Codex is restless.
And me?
I'm standing alone.
Waiting for a world I don't belong to… to start collapsing.
"You're exactly as they said."
The voice cuts the night cleanly.
Polished. Unafraid.
Drenched in expectation.
He steps from the shadows like a prophecy walking.
The Hero.
Golden hair braided with flame-runes.
Eyes like polished dawnsteel.
Aura already flaring — quiet, wide, controlled.
Vein of Pyros, confirmed.
But more than that…
He carries it like it owes him nothing.
Like he earned every spark.
"Caius Val'Rendall," he says, calm.
"The Hollow Son. The Voidborne Aberrant."
"You've been busy."
I don't answer at first.
Just study him.
He's not arrogant.
Not cruel.
He looks… sincere.
That makes him more dangerous.
"You're not here to kill me," I say.
"No," he replies.
"I'm here to ask why you're still breathing."
Tension, thin as wire.
The Codex flares faintly — ready.
I don't draw it.
Not yet.
"You broke into the prison levels," he continues.
"You awakened a Codex that isn't sanctioned."
"You're harboring a girl whose Vein can't be classified."
He steps forward.
"You think you're a rebel."
"But you're just chaos with a heartbeat."
I exhale slowly.
"And you're the flame the system loves," I say.
"Born with power. Given a name. Trained to protect the very chain strangling the rest of us."
His eyes narrow.
"Order saves lives."
"No. Order decides who gets to keep theirs."
We're close now.
Not fists-close.
But beliefs-close.
"Lunamiria is dangerous," he says.
"So am I."
"She needs to be studied—"
"She needs to be left alone."
He finally frowns.
"You think your pain makes you righteous?"
I smile — just a crack.
"No. But it makes me real."
A long pause.
Then the hero — calm, clear — says:
"I'm offering you a choice."
"Return the girl to containment.
Seal your Codex voluntarily.
And walk away from this path."
"And if I don't?"
He raises a hand. Flame dances across his palm.
"Then I will end this before it becomes a war."
I tilt my head.
"You just said order saves lives."
"It does."
"Then why are you threatening mine?"
The silence that follows isn't still.
It's hungry.
Then he says it.
"Let's not pretend this ends in words."
"Tomorrow. Duel Circle XIII. Noon."
"If you're still breathing… show up."
He turns to walk away—
But the Codex pulses.
Not in anger.
In memory.
"Soul Recognition Detected."
"Fragment Echo Unlocked."
"Name Echo: Alarion… Vael… Thyr."
I freeze.
"Alarion Vael'Thyr," I whisper.
"Chosen of Flame. Voice of Order."
He pauses mid-step. Just for a moment.
Then keeps walking.
And me?
I finally let myself grin.
"Guess I just found out who I'm meant to disappoint."