Silence settled over the shattered walkways.The fog swirled, heavy and metallic, still trembling from the presence that had torn through Rowan's squad and marked Elias like a chosen prey—or a chosen heir.
Kellan pressed one hand against his ribs, blood dripping down his arm.Jarek sat on the metal floor, shaking.Rowan knelt a few paces away, eyes hollow, breath ragged.
Only Aria stood tall.
And she walked straight toward Elias.
"Ward," she said quietly.
Not cold.Not hostile.
Sharp.Direct.Undeniably serious.
Elias met her gaze without flinching.
Aria stopped a step from him, her eyes piercing his calm expression.
"This ends now," she said."You're going to talk."
Elias didn't respond.
Jarek wiped his eyes and croaked out:
"Elias… please. That thing— it knew you. It touched you. It spoke to you."
Kellan grunted as he forced himself upright."You're no ordinary cadet. And I don't care what anyone says. That thing… marked you."
Rowan laughed once, a broken, bitter sound.When he looked up, his eyes burned—not with fear, but with obsession.
"I'll uncover you," Rowan whispered."Whatever you are… I'll learn it."
Aria ignored the others. She only watched Elias.
Her voice dropped to a low, steady line.
"You've been hiding something from all of us. From the instructors. From the System. And from me."
A pause.
"And I can't protect what I don't understand."
Her words hung there—unexpected, honest, dangerous.
Elias said nothing.
Aria stepped closer.
"You don't react like a normal cadet. You don't move like one. You don't fight like one. And that creature didn't see you as prey… but as purpose."
Her gaze sharpened.
"You're prepared, Ward. More prepared than someone your age should ever be."
Still no reaction.
Jarek whispered:
"Please… we're your team. Just tell us something."
Kellan snorted.
"He'll tell us when he wants to. Or when we force it out of him."
Aria didn't look away from Elias.
"This conversation isn't over," she said."Not by a long shot."
Then she turned, stepping ahead onto the next narrow platform.
The others followed—Rowan limping behind, Kellan dragging his staff, Jarek clinging to whatever courage he had left.
Elias walked last.
And that was when the System flickered.
A cold pulse ran through his bones.
New Pathway UnlockedSovereign's Threshold — Stage One
Elias's vision sharpened.
A second window appeared.
Due to contact with an unknown entity aligned with dimensional anomalies, your Sovereign Core has stirred.Progress toward awakening: 1%
A third.
Skill Tree Branch Revealed:Threshold Veins (Dormant)
. Functions unknown
. Locked behind higher Sovereign resonance
Then a final warning:
Growth will attract further attention from external forces.Proceed accordingly.
Elias exhaled slowly.
He understood.
This was the first shift—the first fracture—the first stirring of something ancient inside him.
Aria glanced back.Her eyes narrowed.
"You felt something," she said softly.
He didn't answer.
"Ward," she warned, "you're not dragging us blindly into—"
"We keep moving," Elias said.
Calm.Controlled.Refusing to reveal even a breath more.
Aria's jaw tightened.But she didn't push further.
Rowan's Vow
Rowan lagged behind, clutching a metal pendant shaped like a hawk wrapped in three lines.
A sigil.
Not of a cadet.
But of a clandestine faction.
Rowan whispered into it:
"I've found something.A threat.A rarity."
The pendant glowed faintly.
Rowan's lips curved into a thin, poisoned smile.
"And I want it."
The Eyes Return
The group crossed onto a broader platform, a temporary sanctuary from the narrow walkways.
Kellan sank to one knee.Aria checked the area.Jarek sat down with a shaky breath.
Elias stood at the edge of the fog, sensing it again.
The golden eyes.
Watching him.
Only him.
Calm.Silent.Expectant.
A final System whisper shivered across his vision.
Observation continues.Your path diverges.Sovereign destiny: Initiated.
Aria called out to him.
"Ward. Move."
He stepped away from the dark edge and rejoined the group.
But the feeling lingered in his bones:
The threshold had opened.
And something had begun to awaken.