The shard led him to the edge of a crater.
There, rising from scorched stone, stood the monolith—blacker than space, carved with runes that shifted when not watched. It pulsed like a heartbeat, thrumming with ancient energy.
Kael stood still, gauntlet sparking as the shard reacted violently to the monolith's presence.
> "Energy levels beyond measurable thresholds," ARCHAI said.
"Warning: No record exists of Codex monoliths outside of sealed Order archives. Approaching is… inadvisable."
"That thing pulled me halfway across the galaxy," Kael muttered. "I'm not backing off now."
> "Noted. Engaging passive shield systems."
He stepped forward.
The moment his foot crossed the outer ring of the crater, everything changed.
---
Reality folded inward.
Kael blinked—and the world was gone.
He stood in a vast void, endless stars spinning in every direction. Around him floated fragments of memory—some his, some not. Voices whispered, images flickered: a war on a thousand worlds… burning skies… silver-armored Hosts wielding cosmic fire…
And then—a throne of broken crystal, with a Codex shard embedded at its heart.
A woman stood beside it.
Tall. Regal. Wearing an antigrav cloak lined with constellations. Her face was carved from sorrow, and her eyes… were Kael's.
"You bear the Echo," she said. "Then we are already too late."
---
Kael tried to speak, but the void stole his voice.
The woman touched the shard in the throne. It flared, and a cascade of visions spilled into Kael's mind.
He saw:
A galaxy fractured by war, both sides wielding pieces of the Codex like gods with stolen fire.
An ancient council arguing over how to bury the Codex forever.
And a single name, spoken with awe and fear—The Astral Weaver.
Then… the woman looked at him again.
> "There will come a time when you must choose between truth and survival. The Codex does not give—it remembers. And it never forgets its debts."
The throne shattered.
---
Kael gasped, falling to his knees at the edge of the real monolith again.
The sky overhead was storming now. Lightning cracked in wide arcs. The shard in his gauntlet blazed with new patterns—no longer just glowing. Now it spoke in pulses, guiding him deeper into its song.
> "Codex integration level: 11%," ARCHAI said.
"New interface pathways unlocked."
Kael rose. "I saw her. I don't know who she was, but—she knew me. Or who I was meant to be."
> "You accessed a Codex echo. An imprinted memory from a previous Host."
"Then there've been others?"
> "Thousands. All dead. You're the only one whose signal remains active."
Kael looked at the monolith one last time.
Then turned away.
He didn't notice the watcher high on the ridge.
---
Wrapped in a cloak of phase-light, a new figure observed Kael's departure.
Female. Face hidden behind a mask of crystal.
She tapped a comm implanted in her collar.
> "Subject is stabilizing. Monolith accepted him. The Codex is awakening."
On the other end, a distorted voice answered:
> "Good. Keep him alive. For now."