The Hollow faded into memory, but Kael's mind couldn't forget the silver-eyed girl who watched him from the flames.
Back at the factory, Kael reviewed data from the Obelisk—its flame pattern had synchronized with his system's core. It pulsed now like a second heart, feeding power… and questions.
Selene analyzed system logs, frowning. "The Obelisk didn't just unlock a node. It linked to something external. Like it sent a ping out."
Kael turned to her. "To what?"
Before she could answer, an alert lit up. Breach. Just outside the base perimeter.
Kael, Selene, and Erynn raced to the outer yard. A single figure stood there—calm, barefoot on the steel, as if untouched by the world's weight.
She was the girl. Silver eyes. Pale wings that shimmered like fractured light.
"Who are you?" Kael asked, drawing a blade.
She smiled faintly. "I am Aeris. And I have seen you before… in echoes beyond time."
Erynn muttered, "She's not human."
"No," Aeris answered. "I was once like you. Before the System marked me Chosen… and left me to fade."
She was a remnant of the First Cycle. The first generation of System wielders, long erased from history.
And she'd come with a warning.
> "Valen seeks the Black Obelisk. If he reaches it first, you won't just lose… the world itself will fracture."
The next Obelisk's location pulsed from Aeris's touch—a ruined city deep in the shattered continent of Vaedra, swallowed by a dimension rift centuries ago. Few dared enter its crumbling heart.
Kael and his team descended into the fallen spires, watching reality bend around them. Buildings floated sideways. Time pulses flickered. Echoes of the past whispered in every corridor.
As they approached the core plaza, a blast of dark energy ripped through the fog. A figure stood amidst broken marble.
Valen Dray.
He looked calm, as if expecting Kael.
"You're late," Valen said, voice smooth like glass. "The Obelisk is already speaking to me."
Behind him, the Black Obelisk pulsed—unlike the others, it didn't test. It devoured. It wanted minds to bend.
Kael and Valen clashed. Their systems collided, sending waves through space itself. Flamewrit Rebirth against Voidloop Annihilation. Sword met pulse.
But then, Valen smiled. "This Obelisk was never meant for you."
He stepped into the Obelisk's shadow and vanished, taking its power with him.
Kael dropped to one knee, the energy backlash slamming through his system.
> "Obelisk corrupted. Ascension disrupted. Tracing… recalibrating."
Selene ran to him. "He didn't just steal it—he rewrote part of your path."
Kael's system flickered. A new node unlocked in defiance:
"Resonant Will – Passive: When an Obelisk is lost, your next gain doubles in strength."
Weeks passed.
Kael recovered while Aeris shared what little she remembered of the First Cycle. Their systems had been sentient. Alive. Hungry for synchronization with chosen wielders.
"They weren't designed to guide," she said, wings folded. "They were made to reshape reality based on will and truth."
The next Obelisk pulsed to life—this time within a sealed realm called the Echo Vault, a sub-dimensional fragment hidden inside the bones of a dead colossus.
They entered through a tear in space.
Inside, memories walked like ghosts. Kael saw his mother, though she had died long ago. Erynn saw her younger self being beaten in the slums. Selene saw herself as a child hacker, alone in darkness.
To reach the Obelisk, they had to pass through memories not as witnesses, but as participants.
Kael stepped into a chamber where he relived his betrayal—the moment he refused to sacrifice himself to save the city in the old timeline. He had chosen survival.
Now, he chose differently.
He stepped forward. Faced it. And embraced the guilt.
The Obelisk blazed. No enemies. No puzzles.
Only acceptance.
> "Trial Complete: Obelisk of the Echoing Soul."
Unlocked Node: Chrono Pulse – Active: Temporarily rewind 10 seconds of real time. Once per day.
While Kael gained power, Serix grew bold.
Their agents, led by a new enforcer named Commander Veyra, struck Kael's outposts in the east. She was no ordinary commander—her system type was Echo Suppression, designed specifically to erase traces of Ascended wielders.
Kael deployed his network to defend, leading a counterstrike alongside his growing faction: a mix of technomancers, rogue wielders, and silent assassins from Erynn's contacts.
The battle for Sector 12 was brutal.
Kael faced Veyra in the ruins of a research station. She fought like a machine, each movement calculated to counter his techniques.
But Kael's new node gave him the edge.
He let her strike. Let her pierce him.
Then rewound time.
And turned the trap on her.
Veyra was subdued—but her dying words chilled him.
> "You're not the only god they're building."
With three Obelisks secured and one lost, Kael's ascension was half complete.
But now, a ripple spread through the world—a signal broadcast across the Obelisk network.
Seven shadows convened in a hidden citadel above the clouds: The Obsidian Council.
Each was a former System wielder. Each had transcended humanity. They had been waiting for the Origin Ascension to begin again… and now, they would test Kael.
One spoke: "The Flame has returned."
Another: "The Echo sings."
The leader, voice deep and calm: "Then the Shadowborne walks the path again."
> "He must either ascend… or be unmade."