Rain pattered steadily against the high windows of Riven Kade's apartment, tracing crooked lines down the glass. Beyond them, Caelmire's skyline glimmered faintly beneath the grey storm clouds, the city's towering spires muted in the downpour. From this height, the world felt quieter—like the storm was holding its breath.
Riven sat on his worn couch, a mug of something warm cradled in his hands. The news broadcast flickered quietly across the holo-screen on the far wall. Static danced for a second before the anchor's voice returned, calm but clipped.
"...WDC confirms a team of elite guild hunters has entered the sealed anomaly site in Upper Caelmire, under joint authorization. No details have been released, but sources suggest the dungeon's core is fluctuating in a way consistent with pre-collapse events in Solvarin..."
Riven leaned forward, placing the mug on the table. His fingers tapped a quiet rhythm against the ceramic as he watched the footage replay—grainy shots of the five representatives heading into the anomaly gate, their insignias clear: Aetherlight Vanguard, Crimson Warden, Verdant Chain, Obsidian Dawn, and Glacium Pact.
Lyra wasn't shown.
She wouldn't be.
She always moved just outside the spotlight—close enough to affect it, distant enough to remain untouched.
A quiet chime echoed from the corner. Riven turned his head slightly, eyes narrowing. A message blinked across his wall-display: [SYSTEM SYNC DELAYED – REASON: EXTERNAL SUPPRESSION ARTIFACT DETECTED]
Still working.
The relic Lyra had given him—still masking the dungeon data from syncing publicly. Still hiding the fact that the Nullshift blade had pierced the heart of a corrupted A-ranked boss just days ago.
And still hiding what the Omnitrix had done.
He lowered his wrist, casting a glance at the dim green circle embedded into the gauntlet. The device hadn't made a sound since the last activation—since Diamondhead had been absorbed.
The crystal-themed alien DNA sat silently now beside Arctiguana and Heatblast—the only three in his growing arsenal.
He exhaled slowly, resting his head against the back of the couch.
"Three aliens," he muttered under his breath. "And still no answers."
No one knew the truth. Not even Lyra. She assumed the Omnitrix was just a conduit—an energy stabilizer attached to Nullshift. Riven had let her believe it. Let the silence do the lying for him.
Outside, thunder rolled across the horizon.
The news anchor returned.
"...a minor quake was detected moments ago near the anomaly gate, and mana density in the surrounding district is rising. All civilians within ten blocks have been evacuated, and containment barriers have been reinforced. Guild representatives have not exited as of this hour."
Riven stood and stepped to the window, watching the lights of Caelmire flicker below.
Somewhere beneath all of that steel and magic, five elite hunters were moving through a dungeon that shouldn't exist. And at its center? A relic he knew too well. A frequency he'd felt before.
Whatever lay at the core of that place—it was connected. To him. To the relic. Maybe even to the Omnitrix itself.
But he hadn't gone.
Lyra had insisted.
"You've drawn enough attention already," she'd said quietly when she stopped by the night before. "Let them handle this one."
He didn't argue.
Not because he was afraid—but because the timing felt wrong. The silence inside the Omnitrix was too still. The relic's glow too calm.
Something was watching.
Waiting.
Riven's eyes shifted back to the display. Static again. Another mana surge.
"...authorities are warning that should the anomaly expand beyond current containment limits, emergency suppression protocols will be enacted. Guild Master Theron Kaelis has reportedly taken direct command..."
Theron.
Riven remembered him only faintly. The calm, older man, wise and easy going person .The man who could silence a room just by speaking.
A leader of the old world. The kind who still believed in discipline.
Riven didn't trust men like that. But he understood them.
Still... something pulled at him. A weight. Not guilt—but intuition.
The last boss he'd faced hadn't been a dungeon monster. It had been something more. Something constructed. Engineered. Its core hadn't been just mana-based—it had contained alien DNA.
The Omnitrix had recognized it.
And absorbed it.
Which meant…
This dungeon they were entering now… what if it held another?
His hand hovered above the device, fingers brushing its surface. No reaction. No flicker. No hum.
Just silence.
He turned away from the window as the rain picked up, droplets tracing faster down the glass. His apartment was quiet again. The kind of quiet that felt… temporary.
The kind of quiet before everything changed.
And still, he waited.
Alone.
But not inactive.
The next move wasn't his to make.
Yet.
End of chapter.
Thank you for reading