Part 1: Bloodlines and Broken Codes
Location: Sector 13 – Underground Shelter (Riven's Hideout)
The room was silent.
No flickering neon.
No combat echoes.
Just the low hum of mana conduits as Riven sat cross-legged, eyes locked on the glowing fragment suspended in his system interface.
[Memory Fragment Acquired: Kael_01.BrokenLine]
[Origin: Unknown Subject – 78% Genetic Match]
[Integrity: 31% | Status: Corrupted]
[Warning: Playing this fragment may destabilize emotional threshold]
[Proceed?]
Riven clenched his fists.
"Play it."
MEMORY SEQUENCE – 3 Years Ago
Location: Guild-controlled dungeon hub
Subject: "Kael" – Age 19
Visual Quality: Low – Emotional Overlay Active
The world warped around him.
Colors faded. The scent of blood thickened.
Riven stood inside his brother's final memory, a first-person echo:
Kael ran through a collapsing dungeon hallway—sword in hand, comms screaming in his ears.
"Sector B is gone—something came through the Gate!"
"That wasn't a monster, it spoke—we need evac now!"
"They locked us in. Guild says containment is priority—NOT recovery!"
Kael's voice cut through: calm, measured, but furious.
"They left us to die."
Then Riven felt it—a pulse of mana so wrong it tore at the edges of his mind.
The sky inside the dungeon turned black.
And something stepped through.
Not a boss.
Not a monster.
Something systemless. Human-shaped. Watching. Smiling.
Kael screamed one final command into the comm:
"Riven. Protect Mom and Lira. Don't trust them. Don't trust—"
The fragment ended.
Abrupt. Violent. Static flooding the interface.
Riven gasped as the memory collapsed.
Blood dripped from his nose.
[Memory Sync Failed – Emotional Override Detected]
[Fragment Incomplete – Find Additional Core Memories to Rebuild Event Log]
He sat in silence.
Sweat cold on his back.
"They left him behind."
The Guild.
The system.
All of them.
And the thing Kael saw in that dungeon?
Riven had seen it too—standing behind the Executioner's eyes.
Location: Blackthorn Guild HQ – Interrogation Chamber
Lyra sat under cold white lights, two officers across from her.
One was Guild Director Sarn Veller, calm and precise.
The other was a psychic-ranked Observer. Quiet. Dangerous.
"Your report on Riven Kael," Sarn said.
She handed over a written dossier. "Minor skill usage. Basic agility and some shadow affinity."
"No mention of advanced-class movement or phantom summons?"
She didn't blink.
"I didn't see anything unusual."
Sarn narrowed his eyes.
The Observer didn't speak.
But he leaned forward slowly.
"…You're lying."
Lyra stared back.
"I didn't ask for your opinion."
The psychic's eye twitched.
But Sarn raised a hand.
"Dismissed. For now."
As she left the room, her comm buzzed.
[Encrypted Message Received – Source Unknown]
"You should choose a side soon, Lyra. Before someone else chooses it for you."
She didn't reply.
But her sword hand tightened.
Location: Ash Blade Sanctum – "The Maw"
Three assassins kneeled.
One stood.
Their masked leader, cloaked in shadows so deep light fled from him, whispered:
"He has accessed memory-level resonance. Unbound status confirmed."
A second figure—taller, wearing black and silver bones—spoke:
"Then we move?"
The leader nodded.
"Mark him. Not just for death."
"For Oblivion."
Location: Sector 11 – Old Transit Ruins (Nightfall)
Riven stood near a ruined metro gate.
Thinking.
Breathing.
Hurting.
His system interface flickered open.
[Class Status: Revenant Blade – Tier 2]
[Tier 3 Evolution Locked]
[Condition: Must locate and open a Forbidden Gate]
[Warning: Forbidden Gates are not authorized by Guild records]
[Est. Risk: Catastrophic]
[Est. Reward: ???]
He stared at the final line:
[Estimated Possibility: Full Memory Recovery – Subject: Kael]
A low wind blew through the broken tunnel.
Riven didn't flinch.
Didn't hesitate.
He gripped his blade, cloak flaring behind him.
Then whispered:
"…Then I'll find one."
Part 2: A Door No Hunter Should Ever Open
Location: Sector 9 – Residential Block A
It began with silence.
The kind that didn't belong in the slums.
The kind that meant someone had killed the noise.
Riven reached the building seconds before it started.
A single figure stood in front of the old apartment—cloaked in gray smoke, one hand lifted, tracing a rune in the air.
The front door was ajar.
His mother's voice—a scream—cut off before it could rise.
[Hostile Detected: Ash Blade Assassin – Class: Sealer]
[Objective: Family Elimination]
[Danger Rating: High | System Reaction: Lock Active]
Riven didn't ask questions.
Didn't warn.
Didn't hesitate.
He moved.
Shadow burst from his feet. Ghostlight traced the air. His blade surged with burning systemlight.
[Skill Activated: Soul Echo]
→ Summoning memory of Flame-Scaled Devourer
A phantom beast exploded into the air, roaring through the sky as Riven punched a hole through the assassin's barrier.
Steel clanged. Shadows screamed.
The Sealer barely blocked the first strike.
But the second hit shattered its defense.
And the third went through its chest.
[Ash Blade Eliminated]
[XP Gained: 3,200]
[System Alert: Threat Presence Rising in Sector]
Riven stepped over the body.
His mother and sister were behind a shattered table, eyes wide.
"Riven…?"
He lowered his hood.
"I'm fine. You're safe."
His sister ran to him.
He didn't say anything.
Just hugged her back.
But his eyes, over her shoulder, were locked on the mark etched into the dead assassin's palm:
A glyph shaped like an eye—with a sword piercing through it.
He'd seen it in the memory fragment.
And now?
He'd seen it in his world.
Location: Blackthorn Guild HQ – Observation Deck
Lyra leaned on the railing, watching the training grounds below.
She hadn't slept.
Not since she saw Riven's Revenant Blade erupt in a blur of light and shadow. Not since she'd lied to the Guild.
Sarn Veller approached quietly.
"I know you're hiding something."
She didn't answer.
He stepped beside her.
"You're too sharp to be blind. Too trained to miss system anomalies like that."
Lyra's grip on the rail tightened.
"You're not going to report me?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because Riven Kael is about to be declared an Unbound-Class Aberration. That kind of power draws attention… and not just from us."
He handed her a sealed envelope.
[Deployment Order – Shadow Sweep Protocol]
"Either you bring him in quietly… or we send something that won't be."
Location: Sector 14 – Unmarked Tunnel Entrance
Riven crouched before a sealed concrete wall hidden beneath centuries of dust and debris.
The wall hummed with system-static.
The system itself responded.
[Unauthorized Gate Detected]
[Status: Forbidden – Blacklisted by Central Guild Authority]
[Entry Condition: Class must be Unbound | Tier 2 Minimum]
[Warning: Psychological risk confirmed. Emotional stability required.]
[Danger Rating: Cataclysmic]
And then came the whisper.
Not from outside.
But from within the system.
A voice layered over static.
"You've come far, little ghost. But Tier 3 has a cost."
He stepped forward.
Pressed his hand to the wall.
The concrete cracked.
And the door—a true Forbidden Gate—opened.
Inside the Gate – Glimpse of What's to Come
There was no dungeon.
Just blackness.
And a sky filled with shattered stars.
And in the center, standing alone, was a version of Riven—older, darker, wearing armor that bled mist.
A sword of living memory in his hands.
And at his feet, the bodies of dozens of Guild Hunters.
A single line floated across the sky.
[Class Evolution: Revenant Sovereign – Locked]
[Requirement: Consume 3 Forbidden Memories | Survive 1 Reality Collapse | Choose One: Soul or Humanity]
The older Riven turned toward him.
Spoke in his voice.
But not with his mind.
"If you go further, you don't get to be weak anymore. Or kind. Or quiet."
"You become the blade that ends everything the system built."
Riven stared into his own eyes.
And whispered:
"…Good."
Then the vision shattered.
Outside the Gate – System Report
[You have discovered a Forbidden Gate]
[Next Tier Path Unlocked: Revenant Sovereign – Tier 3]
[System Update Pending]
[Tracking: Enabled – Your presence is no longer hidden from Tier 4 Authorities]
Riven turned away.
His path was chosen.
The cost?
Didn't matter anymore.