Morning came quietly.
SKYWARD ZENITH ACADEMY always did mornings well; the bells rang in measured intervals, and the Academy platforms shifted to coordinate and position with the rising sun. Students poured into courtyards and halls with practiced discipline, robes clean, expressions focused.
This routine was the academy's greatest defence.
Riven stood in his chamber and listened to it all as if it were music playing in the background. Every sound had a place. Every movement followed expectation.
Which meant every variation would stand out.
The guards outside his door changed every third bell, and he felt it before he heard it—the slight hesitation in their footsteps, the uneven weight of unfamiliar boots on the floor.
The rotation of the New Shift.
Good. Riven jiggled the chains slightly as he stretched his hands to let the outside guards hear the sounds of the chains. It was a deliberate reminder of his presence; he tells them symbolically that he is alive and kicking. One of the guards flinched. The other muttered something under his breath.
Fear was already spreading quietly and inefficiently.
[Morning cycle initiated, and the Academy alertness is temporarily elevated due to routine inspections.]
"No need to worry its just Fly-by-night."
He closed his eyes and let Vaerun's instincts rise just enough to sharpen his senses, and his Abyssal energy hummed beneath his skin, its constrained but restless. The seals on the chains responded, tightening, then loosening as the Abyssal energy slowly corrupted as if unsure whether the seals and the ruins were doing their job.
That uncertainty mattered.
He stepped closer to the door, stopping just one step away from the etched circle, close enough to be felt but not too close enough to provoke intervention.
"Guards,"
There is no response from the outside.
He waited for a minute.
"Guards," he called again, but this time he was louder and calm & polite.
Again, there was no response, then the door slowly opened a fraction.
A voice replied from the fraction of the opened door, it was younger and nervous. "Ye.....Yes?"
Riven didn't look at him immediately.
"How long have you been stationed here?"
"Since dawn."
"Is this your first rotation in containment duty?"
The guard hesitated. "Yes."
Riven turned then, his crimson eyes settling on the young man's face, and he didn't smile and didn't threaten him. He simply looked.
The guard swallowed his saliva at the crimson eyes that stared him....
"That's very unfortunate,"
"Why?"
"Because this duty tends to change the people, some become cruel, and some become afraid, but very few may remain competent."
The guard frowned, trying to process what Riven just simply stated, "I don't see how—"
"You will, definitely, and it will be very soon,"
He lifted his wrists slightly, letting the chains shift just enough for the runes to flicker.
The guard's breath caught.
[Presence angle influencing perception. Emotional response heightened.]
"Hey now...now...just relax, man....If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't be standing there and listening to my words."
The guard's hands tightened around his spear. "I should report this."
"You could, or you could listen."
Silence stretched.
The second guard leaned closer, whispering urgently. "Don't speak to him."
Riven's gaze flicked to her briefly.
"She's smart, I like you, Hey girl, what can I call you...hmmmm...maybe...yeah...how about guard no 2"
She stiffened.
"Now...Now....Boy...why are you scared like a rat trying to escape from the cat that is hunting it....Don't be scared...Don't be scared...just take a simple breath, inhale and exhale, and I assure you don't need to worry about that I won't escape today," Riven teased, by addressing the first guard again.
The guard blinked. "You…You... won't?"
"No, not today...Today is for observation."
The truth—carefully selected.
He stepped back, chains settling.
"You'll forget this conversation by midday, Boy, not because I made you forget. Because your mind will choose to."
The guard stared at him, unsettled and closed the door immediately in fear.
"The cracks didn't need force. They simply needed pressure in the right places," Riven said to himself.
[The Guard's confidence is reduced, and the surveillance reports are likely to be delayed or minimised because of that.]
"Very good, it's very beneficial for me."
Riven returned to the bench to relax; He thought: Now is not the right time to act, it was the time to map.
He summoned the system again.
{ TRUE VILLAIN SYSTEM }
{ VILLAIN POINTS: 20 }{ NOTORIETY: SUSPECTED THREAT }
"Information,"
The panel shifted.
{ INFORMATION — ACADEMY INFRASTRUCTURE (LOCAL) }{ COST: 10 VP }
He bought it without hesitation.
{ PURCHASE CONFIRMED }
The layouts of the Academy unfolded in his mind; he saw the hallways and the maintenance shafts and noticed that the shafts were connected to the old pathways, which were abandoned after some failed upgrades and the emergency locks that hadn't been tested for a long...long years.
And one detail that made him pause was a blind corridor below the lower training hall, which is unmonitored, maybe forgotten completely.
Riven smiled faintly.
So Kael's duel wasn't just for entertainment. It was covered.
[Probability of successful illegal movement increased.]
"Yes, it would because it's an unofficial match."
Knock...Knock....A knock came at the door, it was hard, confident and different.
The door opened fully this time.
CHEN YUFEI....stepped inside the chamber, His face carefully composed and wearing fresh robes, the Righteous Flame insignia pristine in his robe, even though his eyes betrayed him—it was simultaneously too alert and too wary.
"Good morning,"
"Greetings ahead, you look tired and exhausted."
Chen's jaw tightened. "We need to talk."
"We already did, I think you listened well."
Chen closed the door behind him and lowered his voice. "The Headmaster has ordered a secondary inspection tonight."
"How thorough?"
Chen hesitated. "Enough...Enough to be dangerous."
"What are the names?"
"One is Elder Han, following him are the two seal specialists....Oh....and one auditor as well."
"Hmm, that will be manageable."
"You didn't know the situation you're currently in....They're accelerating the schedule...Something...Something you said unsettled the Head master."
Riven smiled faintly. "I do that."
Chen exhaled...hufff..."You said you wouldn't escape."
"Correct."
Chen frowned. "Then what's your plan?"
Riven leaned back, chains clinking softly. "Some adjustments."
Chen stared at him. "Adjustment to what?"
"To expectations,"
He met Chen's gaze directly.
"You will ensure that Elder Han inspects the eastern wing first, recommend additional sealing precautions because you suspect something and argue for caution."
Chen swallowed. "And if they don't listen?"
"Don't worry, they will listen to you because you'll be convincing."
Chen laughed nervously. "You're asking me to manipulate elders."
"No, I'm just reminding you that you already do manipulate them."
It made the chamber a heartbeat of silence.
Chen rubbed his face. "You're going to get us both killed."
"Eventually, but not tonight, don't be negative."
Chen's shoulders dropped. "I'll tell you, after this… I'm done."
"No, you're forgetting something and completely wrong, it's not your decision to make because after this, you're invested and your life is in my hands."
Chen stiffened. "That wasn't the deal we agreed."
Riven tilted his head. "Ahhh...the deal...you know from the beginning, there was no deal in this game we are playing, there is only survival."
Chen looked away and now realised he can't go back because he is trapped in the Abyss, and there is no way to escape from it, because if he wants to escape, he has to die in the Abyss.
"Now, Go...Go, "Before your courage evaporates."
Chen hesitated for a moment, then left without another word and closed the chamber door.
Riven stood and pulled the chains against him, and it answered with strain, not with resistance, the runes flared violently...and the light from it bleeding into the stone.
Riven stopped immediately. "Not yet...Not yet...I need to tolerate this now for the time being because tonight the academy's confidence would fracture, and tomorrow the authority itself will fracture, and that is the perfect time for my next plan in my own game I'm playing...."
[Escape probability rising. Recommend patience.]
Riven smiled.
"Patience is easy when the end is already decided."
He turned and looked toward the narrow window, watching students cross the distant courtyard.
Some of them laughed and some of them trained and...Some of them planned futures that no longer existed.
And somewhere below the academy, a blind corridor waited.
And underneath the Riven's calm exterior, there's something ancient that was prepared to make its own move.
DING!!!
{ CONDITIONS ARE MET }{ INFRASTRUCTURE KNOWLEDGE ACQUIRED }{ SHADOW INFLUENCE EFFICIENCY INCREASED }
Riven closed his eyes and mapped the fault lines. Now, all that remained was to apply some pressure...