The aftermath of Solmivar's defeat reverberated through the realms. Time bent subtly now around Arin, no longer in resistance but reverence. He had become something the universe hadn't accounted for: a paradox wielding memory, fate, and divinity.
But as one Architect fell, another piece of the game stirred.
In the ruins of the Orrery of Realms, a mechanism long dead began to churn again—summoning Arin through quantum resonance.
"The Forgotten Codex is waking," Archive said. "And it's calling only you."
---
Entrance to the Lost System
The Codex was no mere book. It was a sentient lattice, buried beneath collapsed layers of time. It recorded truths not meant to be known—truths sealed by the Triumvirate themselves.
Astra warned, "If you read it, you might forget who you were. The Codex doesn't give without taking."
"Then I'll lose what's needed," Arin said, and stepped into the crystalline plane that housed the Forgotten Codex.
---
Decryption of Forbidden Knowledge
He saw lives that had never existed. A multiverse ruled not by the Architects, but by beings even they had feared: The Epoch Lords.
He saw the first iteration of the System—pure, autonomous, endlessly evolving. And he saw a version of himself… dead, overwritten by a being named Kaoros.
> Codex Entry Unlocked: Sovereign Fragment - Kaoros Protocol. System Mutation Initiated: Chrono-Epoch Sync.
Suddenly Arin wasn't just viewing the past—he was inside it.
---
War in the Simulacrum
Transported to a pocket-dimension simulating the First Epoch War, Arin fought as Kaoros did. He gained skills foreign to his own system—Chrono Weaving, Dimensional Layering, and Essence Forking.
Each victory added context, until one truth screamed louder than the rest:
> The System wasn't built by the Architects. It was stolen.
Staggering back to the present, Arin looked at his hands. He now carried part of the original system's signature.
> Trait Acquired: Epoch Diver. New Pathway Unlocked: Codex Sovereign.
---
The Prophecy Begins
Back at the ruins, Astra reached out, sensing his change.
"Your resonance is unreadable now."
"I'm no longer part of their prophecy," Arin said. "I'm writing a new one."
A voice emerged from the shadows behind the Codex.
It was Seris, last of the Codex Scribes.
"You're not just writing it," she said. "You're the quill, the ink, and the paper."
She knelt.
"Chrono Sovereign... the Epoch Lords return because of you. And you may be the only one who can defy them."
Arin's gaze lifted to the stars, now shifting in new patterns.
"Then let's make sure the next chapter is worth reading."