The tower's highest chamber was silent.
Riven stood before the new interface, its light muted but persistent.
---
> [Thread Anchor: Memory Correction Lv.3 Active]
Avatars Remaining: 3
Seed Locations: Unknown
Traceable by Emotional Resonance Only.
New Skill Unlocked: Perceptual Echo Scan Lv.1
---
Three Avatars.
Not just enemies.
Reflections.
The past, the present, and the future.
---
Mira entered, cloak damp from the morning fog.
"We've begun the scans."
"Results?" Riven asked.
"Two districts show memory anomalies. And..." she hesitated.
"One leader."
"Who?"
---
Eron arrived behind her.
"Deyric."
The neutral faction leader. Merchant prince.
A man who had refused alliances but never shown hostility.
Until now.
---
Yra entered last.
"I've already set shadows to watch him. If he's seeded, we'll know."
Riven shook his head.
"Seeds don't show themselves until forced. We'll confront him directly."
---
> [Quest Initiated: Seed of the Merchant's Choice]
Objective: Identify and confront possible Avatar manifestation in Deyric or his domain.
---
The council gathered at noon.
Mira took point on the investigation of district memory anomalies.
Yra commanded scouts to monitor Deyric's faction.
Eron fortified the tower in case of mental incursion.
Riven would face Deyric himself.
---
The meeting was swift.
Decisions made.
No doubts.
But beneath the resolve...
Everyone wondered the same thing.
How many more Avatars were already watching?
Deyric's hall was elegant but simple.
No guards. No banners. Just stone and wood.
"Either he trusts too much," Yra whispered, "or he knows he doesn't need protection."
Riven nodded.
"Both are dangerous."
---
Deyric waited alone.
Middle-aged. Calm. Eyes sharp with the calculation of a man who had survived politics longer than soldiers survived wars.
"You've come to accuse me," he said simply.
"I've come to uncover truth."
Deyric gestured to a chair.
"Then let's uncover it together."
---
> [Perceptual Echo Scan Lv.1 Activated]
Emotional Resonance Anomaly: Present
Memory Thread Divergence: Detected
Probability of Avatar Seed: 61%
---
Riven sat.
Mira stood at his side, dagger sheathed but ready.
Yra remained at the door.
Deyric smiled faintly.
"I know what you fear. But I have made no pacts. No doctrines."
"That's not how Seeds work," Riven replied.
"They don't require consent."
---
Deyric leaned forward.
"I've made every choice for survival. For my people. My family. My name."
"And yet," Mira whispered, "there are memories in your mind that don't belong to you."
Deyric stiffened.
---
> [Perceptual Echo Spike – Memory Corruption Rising]
Emotional Trigger Detected: Guilt.
---
"During the famine," Riven said slowly, "you accepted the Circle's offer to preserve your food stores."
Deyric paled.
"I never—"
"You did. In a thread you don't remember."
---
The room darkened.
Not with shadow.
With possibility.
---
The walls rippled.
And Deyric's reflection stepped forward.
His face.
But colder.
Sharper.
And behind him, hundreds of silent figures — the civilians he had once saved by surrendering control.
---
> [Avatar Detected: Seed of the Merchant's Choice]
Form: Collective Memory Construct.
Purpose: Enforce past compromise.
Threat Level: Conceptual / Manifest Hybrid.
---
The Avatar spoke.
"Peace was purchased.
Now the debt must be paid."
The Avatar extended a hand.
Behind it, the silent figures — Deyric's people — waited.
Not hostile.
Not fearful.
Just expectant.
"Relinquish choice.
Relinquish consequence."
---
Deyric fell to his knees.
"I never meant—"
"You did," the Avatar intoned.
"In one life. One choice.
The thread remains."
---
Mira moved to protect him.
Riven held her back.
"This isn't a fight of steel."
"It's a fight of will."
---
> [Memory Correction Lv.3 Available]
Group Anchor Required: Voluntary Consent from Deyric.
---
Riven knelt beside the merchant.
"You can resist. But only if you claim your past. Not deny it."
Deyric's eyes filled with tears.
"I thought I did what was right."
"You did what was necessary," Riven said.
"But now, you must choose again."
---
The Avatar's blade formed.
Not metal.
A ledger.
Every decision Deyric had made to preserve his wealth and people.
Every compromise.
Every surrender.
---
Mira whispered, "If he refuses to confront it…"
"The Avatar will consume him," Riven finished.
---
Deyric rose.
Voice trembling.
"I will not deny my past."
He faced the Avatar.
"I bought survival.
I bartered freedom.
But I will not repeat it."
---
The Avatar faltered.
The silent figures behind it blinked — as if waking.
---
Riven activated the skill.
> [Memory Correction – Group Anchor Engaged]
Initiating Collective Thread Realignment...
---
Light surged.
The ledger shattered.
The silent figures stepped forward — merging not into obedience, but into awareness.
---
The Avatar screamed.
It dissolved into silver threads.
---
[Avatar Neutralized: Seed of the Merchant's Choice]
Deyric's Memory Thread Realigned.
Emotional Influence: Severed.
System Threat Level: Reduced.
---
But as the threads vanished, a final whisper echoed.
> "One seed burned.
Two remain.
And one already speaks your name."
The chamber returned to stillness.
Deyric wept silently, shoulders shaking.
Not from fear.
From relief.
Choice restored.
---
Mira touched Riven's shoulder.
"You spared him."
"I showed him the path. He chose it."
"That's what makes you different from them."
---
> [Synchronization: 96.3%]
Current Status: Divergent Thread – Stabilized
Avatar Seeds Remaining: 2
Threat Projection: Increasing
---
As they prepared to leave, Yra approached.
"We have another anomaly."
"Where?" Riven asked.
"Not where. Who."
She handed him a scroll.
A scout's report.
---
"Perceptual Echo detected in Commander Delven's division.
Disturbance originated after the second Siege Assembly.
Behavioral shifts suggest concealed Avatar Seed activity."
---
Riven's heart tightened.
Commander Delven.
One of his earliest allies.
A man whose strategies had helped win the Eastern District.
If he was seeded…
It would strike at the very foundation of their resistance.
---
He turned to Mira and Yra.
"We move at first light."
Mira nodded.
Yra checked her blade.
Deyric spoke softly.
"Whatever happens… my people stand with you."
Riven clasped his arm.
"You chose. That's all I ask."
---
As dawn broke, the System displayed a final update:
> [Next Target Identified: The Strategist's Seed]
Location: Eastern Barracks
Status: Concealed Avatar Class Threat
Estimated Risk: Critical
---
Riven closed the interface.
"Let's finish this."