The world returned in whispers.
Azen's eyes opened to a ceiling of cracked glass and drifting ash. The light that seeped through it wasn't sunlight — it was silver, soft, and alive, like the afterglow of something that refused to die.
He lay on the floor of what looked like an abandoned transit hub — the forgotten skeleton of Velora's underbelly. The walls still hummed faintly, as though the Vein's heartbeat had followed him here.
The others were gone. Only the echo of their voices lingered — Kane shouting his name, Silver firing blindly into the smoke, Rex dragging someone by the arm. Then, silence.
When he sat up, pain flared through his chest, and something answered inside him.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
BUSINESS MARTIAL ARTS PROTOCOL ONLINE.
USER: AZEN.
STATUS: VEIN-HOST HYBRID.
OBJECTIVE: BALANCE OR DOMINION.
The words appeared like ripples in his vision luminous glyphs bending across the air before dissolving. He blinked hard, but they remained, shimmering softly until a line of text formed again:
[MISSION UNLOCKED: SURVIVE THE AFTERMATH.]
Azen exhaled, half-laughing, half-terrified. "You talk?"
[NEGATIVE. I guide.]
His reflection stared back at him from a shard of broken glass — white eyes glowing faintly, veins traced in pale silver light. He looked like something reborn from ruin.
Then, the air shifted.
Footsteps echoed behind him — soft, measured, familiar.
He turned sharply.
A figure stepped from the smoke: Lyra. Her hair was shorter now, streaked with dust and ash, but her eyes still carried that fierce, almost painful loyalty.
"Azen…" she whispered. "You're alive."
He tried to stand. "Where are the others?"
Her gaze faltered. "Gone. The tunnels collapsed after the blast. Kane… I think he made it out. Silver— I don't know."
Azen swallowed hard. The system's hum grew louder in his mind, a strange calm threading through his fear.
[NEW ENTRY DETECTED.]
SUBJECT: LYRA VOSS.
AFFILIATION: PAST CONNECTION — UNRESOLVED.
TRUST INDEX: 72% (UNSTABLE).
He blinked. "What are you?" he muttered under his breath, to the system.
[I AM THE RECORD OF YOUR CONSEQUENCES.]
Before he could respond, the light in the corner of the room flickered — and another presence emerged.
This one didn't walk. She appeared, like the Vein itself had decided to take shape. Her skin glowed faintly gold beneath translucent patterns; her eyes were the color of molten dawn.
"You opened the seal," she said, voice calm and ancient. "The Vein heard you."
Lyra stepped back instinctively. "Who are you?"
"I am what he woke." The woman's gaze locked on Azen. "The Vein has memory. And it remembers you."
[IDENTITY: UNREGISTERED ENTITY.]
STATUS: ANOMALY.
ALIGNMENT: UNKNOWN.
WARNING: POTENTIAL MERGE INITIATED.
Azen's pulse quickened. "What does that mean?"
The system didn't answer this time. Instead, a faint rhythm began to echo through the floor — a pulse from deep beneath the hub. It felt like the city itself was breathing with him.
Lyra grabbed his arm. "Azen, we can't stay here."
The new girl — the Vein's echo — tilted her head slightly. "No. He can't leave. Not until he decides what he is."
The world dimmed around them. Symbols flared in the air, rotating like constellations drawn in flame. Azen felt them sink into his skin.
He could feel both of them — Lyra's heartbeat, fragile and human, and the other woman's presence, vast and unending. Between them, the System whispered like a judge.
[DECISION POINT INCOMING.]
PATHS AVAILABLE:
— BALANCE (UNITE THE FRACTURE)
— DOMINION (SEIZE THE VEIN)
— UNKNOWN (SYSTEM CANNOT COMPUTE)
His fists trembled. "I don't want paths," he said. "I want truth."
The Vein's echo smiled faintly. "Then you'll have to build it yourself."
And with that, the ground trembled — a surge of light and shadow splitting the chamber in two. Lyra pulled him backward as debris rained down. The mysterious woman didn't move — she simply dissolved into the light, leaving her voice behind.
"The Vein dreamed once. Of men who could remember."
When the quake ended, Azen stood alone with Lyra. The System's interface flickered once, then stabilized.
[UPDATE COMPLETE.]
TITLE UNLOCKED: THE VEIN'S HEIR
REWARD: ACCESS TO SYSTEM HUB (LOCKED)
Lyra touched his shoulder gently. "What's happening to you?"
Azen looked up — the silver glow in his eyes softening to white fire. "I think," he said quietly, "I'm remembering what I was never meant to forget."
Outside, the city of Velora shuddered again — as if listening.
And somewhere, deep within the broken veins of the world, something answered back.