Do you want the full worldbuilding before diving in? Check the Prologue in Auxiliary Volumes. Not required—the story throws you in headfirst on purpose!
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Eight years. That's how long I've been hunting the Aion Codex. But the very moment I finally lay hands on it, the world turns against me.
Now, the dense forest of Southlake closes in like a maze of trunks and wet shadows. Treacherous roots snap at my ankles while low branches rake my face in the cold night.
My ankle throbs—a sharp, rhythmic heat. 'Was I hit? Damn it.'
I run blind, guided only by my own ragged breathing and the distant snarls of beasts I'd rather not meet. The Codex in my arms seems to double in weight with every stride, pulling at my strength.
I glance back twice. I see no one, but I know better.
I'm definitely not alone.
Someone has been watching me, and it wasn't by chance. My maps, my questions, even my late-night research at the Cold Vault guild—everything had been leaked.
As the realization hits, a specific name rises in my throat like bile: Rae.
He was the only one who knew my route today. The only one I trusted.
I shake my head violently as I run, trying to dislodge the thought. No. Impossible. We survived the Trench together. He wouldn't sell me out. Not for this. Not for anything.
A tree to my left detonates into splinters, licked by blue spirit flame. An instant later, another bolt streaks through the dark like a missile, leaving a cold, lethal whistle in its wake.
Blue fire.
My heart skips a beat—not from the sprint, but from recognition. That specific hue… that jagged mana signature…
'It can't be.'
Before I can process the thought, the ground groans under my boots—pressomancy. A mage is close enough to manipulate the very soil beneath me. A shockwave follows, shoving me sideways with such force that my shoulder slams into a trunk.
I spit blood, the metallic tang filling my mouth. The Codex slips from my arms, but I snatch it back before it can hit the dirt, forcing a desperate glance at my HUD.
[OXI: 24,750 / 75,000]
33%... Come on…
Then, I see it. A clearing opens up ahead, revealing carved stones sketching an Oathmark. The portal is live, its rim trembling with raw energy.
'It's my only escape.'
Footfalls close in behind me in a full sprint. One of them is right on my heels, the sound of heavy snorting echoing in my ears.
I don't hesitate. I trigger my skill: Flow Cartographer. The optimal line to the Oathmark burns into my vision in glowing gold. I pull the Reentry Pearl from my inventory, my thumb hovering over the core.
[Warning: Activation Cost -30% MAX OXI]
Two more steps.
One more.
The Oathmark's energy brushes my lead foot, making the monoliths crackle. Behind me, a rune flares a violent red, followed by a startled yelp.
I throw myself backward toward the portal, hitting the Pearl mid-air. The Aion Codex burns against my chest, sensing the spatial shift.
[Relic Interaction: Soul Bind? (Y/N)]
My thumb smashes the prompt instantly. YES.
An archer with three parallel notches on his vest fires. The arrow streaks toward the bridge of my nose, filling my vision until there's nothing else but sharpened steel.
I don't even have time to blink.
[Crossing: -30% MAX OXI Applied]
The arrowhead is an inch from my pupil when the world shatters like glass. A violent flash eats the forest, the archer, and the threat of death.
The tank's foam floods my throat before the memory even ends. I open my eyes inside the cold, liquid gel and grab at nothing, my fingers clawing for an arrow that isn't there.
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I rip the mouthpiece out with both hands and cough until my chest burns. For a moment, the white ceiling shivers and the lights sting like needles.
"Through your nose. Slow."
The voice is close. Firm hands pin my shoulders while sensors are peeled off my old scars. The tank's tray glides out with a mechanical hum.
I slide onto a metal cart, grab a towel, and wait for the chill to leave my bones.
"Pressure holding," someone reports to no one.
"All good," I manage, my voice still a ragged whisper.
I spit, gulp down the stale air, and let the world line up.
"Back on Earth at last," I mutter. "Thought Thirstfall would keep my soul this time."
"You're good," a doctor says, barely looking up, pretending he even heard me.
The clinic's air is flat and metallic, filling my lungs with the smell of ozone and disinfectant. Row after row of Clinical Submersion Tanks make the place look like a high-tech morgue.
'I'm not the first, and I won't be the last to live a life split in two'
I sign the liability waivers without reading them—just another signature confirming I survived the contingency.
I grab some disposable scrubs and beat-up sneakers from a locker. The hallway echoes with the squeal of a bad wheel as a gurney passes, carrying bodies that didn't make the trip back from Thirstfall.
'Luckily, I'm not one of them today.'
I shut my eyes for a second, and the clock lights up on its own.
Four days. [95:51:09]. That's the grace period Earth grants us before the soul-tether snaps and drags us back to the hell of Thirstfall.
I take the stairs before anyone traps me in small talk.
The street greets me with honks and hot dust. The Earth is withering faster than a life cycle.
The planet's dying, and I'm the one picking up the tab...
No warm welcome. No hug. I almost died, and the world doesn't care—almost the whole population is compromised.
I ride the subway on autopilot, hop off a stop early out of impatience, and walk.
'It's Lili's birthday, and I can feel her gift thumping against my back. A rainbow-metal bracelet from Thirstfall. Ten years of surviving that hell, and I finally brought home something worthy of my little sister.'
I picture my mother seeing me open the door—startled, then smiling, then hugging me.
Same building, though it feels smaller now. I jiggle the sticking gate until it gives. Two flights of stairs follow, lit only by the same burned-out bulbs I left behind.
Same as it ever was...
The key fights the lock—an intimate reminder of how broke we are. A dumb thought flickers—need to oil this—right before the iron smell hits.
Sweet and metallic. Home and hospital mixed. The hallway stretches. The apartment is too dark. A silence that isn't natural.
"Mom?" My voice doesn't come out the way I meant. "Lili?"
The living room swallows me whole. The curtain is tapping the glass. The TV is frozen on a local newscast, mute. My mother's coffee cup untouched, a thin film on top.
And then… the floor.
Red. That's all I process. Just the red.
The real world is crueler because no "HP zero" pops up. Here it's a body on cold tile.
My mother first: eyes open, head twisted at an odd angle, one hand reaching for the phone. My sister is a few feet away. Chocolate at the corner of her mouth, mixed with the wrong red, still wet—as if it were the last sweet thing in the world.
My knees give out. I hit the floor hard, the shock vibrating through my bones.
Whatever was left of my mind simply… breaks.
I say stupid things.
"Easy. It'll pass."
"It's me."
"Stay."
"Please."
I fight the tears with everything I have, and I lose.
My hands move on their own. Wrist. Neck. Searching for a pulse. A flutter. Anything.
Nothing.
I wipe my eyes roughly with the edge of my sleeve, trying to clear the blur of a thousand unanswered questions.
That's when I see it.
My eyes catch something on the wall, just above the baseboard.
Small. Deliberate.
Three parallel notches carved into the plaster.
The tears stop instantly. The air in the room shifts from tragic to suffocating.
Robbery implies chaos. It should be random, not... this.
This…
I look at the marks again. I know this signature. I've seen it in the deepest layers of Thirstfall. It's a calling card. A message left by professionals who want you to know exactly who ruined your life.
The Deepwardens.
They didn't come for money. They came for the Codex. They came for me.
The grief in my chest hardens into something colder, heavier. Like iron settling in the stomach. I clench my jaw so hard my teeth ache, a desperate attempt to cage the scream rising in my throat.
I slowly stand up. My legs aren't shaking anymore.
I walk over to my mother and gently close her eyes. Then I do the same for Lili.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here," I whisper, my voice sounding terrifyingly calm in the silent apartment. "But I promise you one thing."
I look at the three notches on the wall, memorizing them.
"I'm going to kill them all," I whisper, the promise tasting like ash and iron.
I don't just want them dead. I want them to scream like Lili and Mom never got the chance to.
My vision blurs. I blink, thinking it's the tears.
It's not.
I close my eyes for a second. The timer appears, the way it always does.
But it's wrong.
[95:2█:░░]
The numbers stutter, corrupted. And between the digits, something else bleeds through—golden symbols I've never seen on this interface. Jagged, ancient, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat.
The Codex runes.
The Soul Bind? It followed me here?
The symbols crawl across the timer like ivy strangling a clock face, then vanish. The display snaps back to normal.
[95:21:07]
I stare at the empty air where the runes were, my mother's body cooling at my feet.
What did I bring back with me?