Chapter 28 – "The Transient Blade"
The world tilted on its axis as Aaron stepped from the ruins of Varnis III. Each footfall seemed to echo through multiple layers of space, fracturing the air around him with faint shimmer lines of displaced light. The Evoker's Sigil burned faintly on his chest, pulsing like a second heartbeat—one tuned to something far beyond the realm of the physical.
His RS-I interface now displayed an array of impossible metrics:
> [Reality Sync Interface – Convergence Edition]
– Anchor Stability: 91%
– Cognitive Drift Risk: MINIMAL
– Symbiosis Tier: V – Evoker's Convergence
– Local Reality Flexibility: HIGH
– Accessing: Evocation Matrix (Unlocked)
Aaron wasn't sure if he was entirely human anymore. His thoughts flowed faster, concepts blending together. The barrier between mind and action had eroded—when he wanted to leap, he did. When he needed a shield, it formed. Reality obeyed the subtle insistence of his intent.
But power was never given freely.
The air thickened around him, twisting, and then shattered.
Something was coming.
Or rather—something had been waiting.
---
Outside Varnis III – Transient Zone Theta-9
A rupture bloomed in the sky like a second sun. From it descended a figure in a long obsidian cloak, half-man, half-wraith, skin glowing with inverted patterns of light.
He didn't speak.
Instead, Aaron's RS-I flared an alert:
> [WARNING: High-Tier Symbiotic Entity Detected]
Classification: Warden of the Broken Path
Status: Hostile
Reality Rating: Variable (Shifts Between Tiers IV-VI)
Sync Trait Detected: "Phase-Lock Combat Vectoring"
The Warden raised one hand—and the ground inverted.
Aaron jumped, twisting mid-air as the landscape curled inward like a blooming flower, and blades of light coalesced around the Warden like orbiting swords.
"You carry the Sigil," the Warden finally said, voice like wind across broken glass. "You are not worthy."
Aaron replied with silence, and then launched.
What followed was not battle—it was convergence. Aaron no longer moved in response to stimuli. He became the stimuli. He predicted vectors in real-time, his thoughts guiding every ripple of reality around him.
Blades of thought. Shields of impulse.
The Warden's swords clashed with Aaron's Evocation Matrix, meeting against walls of hardened memory constructs and quantum force-fields forged from sheer will.
> Evoker Skill: RECURSIVE STRIKE
Effect: Causes attacks to re-trigger upon breaking enemy defenses.
Evoker Skill: MEMORY GHOSTS
Effect: Replicates the last three successful techniques as spectral echoes.
The Warden staggered.
"Impossible," he muttered. "You're still tethered to organic identity. You shouldn't be this strong."
Aaron's voice was calm, but it struck like a war horn: "Then break me."
With that, he invoked the final clause of the Sigil's gift.
> Reality Anchor – Transient Blade Activated
From the matrix at his back, a sword emerged. Not forged. Not built. But written into the very code of reality.
The Transient Blade.
Forged in the memory of loss, anger, and will. A weapon that existed in every possible reality simultaneously.
He struck.
---
When Aaron opened his eyes again, the Warden's cloak drifted in tatters around his collapsed form. The entity's face was calm—not in pain, but in acceptance.
"You are more than a soldier now," he whispered. "You are the proof."
Aaron lowered the blade as the Warden disintegrated into starlight. And then the world began to respond.
All across the battlefield, soldiers looked up as a new synchronization wave pulsed outward from the Varnis Nexus. The RS-I systems flickered. Then:
> [New Directive Received – Origin: Convergence Core]
"Ascend. Do not survive—transcend."
Reality Layer Collapse Countdown: Initiated.
Time to Core Convergence: 240 Hours.
---
Elsewhere – Citadel Blackspire (Shadow Council)
The room glowed red. Holograms screamed in silent fury.
"He accessed the Sigil."
"He defeated the Warden."
"We must contain him—before the full awakening completes."
One figure stood from the circle, black metal fingers tapping the desk.
"It's too late to contain him," she said. "The time has come for Plan Echofall."
---
Meanwhile – Fort Dravon Reclaimed
Captain Reyes stood beside Field Commander Liora as the synchronization wave washed over their RS-I units. Soldiers all around began to glow with latent upgrades—the wave had not only changed Aaron, it had changed the system itself.
"Every interface," Reyes whispered, watching as even basic infantry gained new traits. "He rewrote the entire RS-I protocol."
"He's not a commander anymore," Liora said. "He's a variable."
"And variables can't be predicted."
They looked toward the sky. Something was coming. A war not of bullets or blades, but of reality itself.
And Aaron was already walking its edge.
---
Varnis III – Evoker's Pathway
Aaron sat in a meditative position, surrounded by spiraling rings of translucent glyphs. Every few seconds, a new vision filtered through—possible futures, alternate versions of himself, memories that might not even be his.
> [RS-I Stability: 77%]
[Symbiosis Layer V: Consolidating]
New Skill Unlocked: Time Echo Dive – Peer five seconds into future events to adjust tactical behavior.
Trait Acquired: Transient Legacy – You now persist across memory fragments of adjacent reality layers.
Aaron stood.
He wasn't alone anymore.
Figures moved in the periphery of the chamber. Ghosts of people he hadn't yet met. Allies. Enemies. Reflections of possible fates. One in particular stepped forward—a girl in mismatched armor, holding a rifle older than the Sync Age.
"Are you him?" she asked.
"I am."
"Then come with me. You're going to need a squad."
---
>End of Chapter 28