The dream was not mine.
I knew that the moment I opened my eyes.
I stood on a field of fractured stars, beneath a sky that bled ink instead of light. Mountains hovered weightless above me, their shadows moving against logic. In the center of the void stood a child—the opal-skinned girl from the Empire of Glass.
Only now, she wore a crown.
Not a crown of metal.
But of bones.
Mine.
"Hello again, James," she whispered, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"I thought I'd visit… before your sister wakes."
I tried to summon my system.
I tried to check the time.
I tried to move.
Nothing.
The girl waved a single finger, and the void bent in response.
"You're dreaming inside a fracture," she said. "This moment? It exists outside your Frame. You're vulnerable here."
That hit me like a knife.
System Alert: Dimensional Sync Lost. External interference detected. Connection suppressed.
I stared at her. "What do you want?"
Her eyes twinkled—each pupil a galaxy spinning backward.
"To see what makes you real. Most Wielders pretend. You don't. That's dangerous.""And dangerous is interesting."
The landscape shifted.
Now we stood in my throne room, only twisted. Burned. My banners shredded. The city skyline collapsed into black sand. At my feet lay the shattered remains of Elira's first starmap.
"This is one future," she said calmly. "If you fail."
"Or if you choose too slowly."
She stepped forward and touched my chest.
"But you already knew that."
She showed me things.
Not visions.
Memories.
Not mine… but hers.
I saw her past.A world devoured by the Oblivion Logic. A society more advanced than mine, turned into silence because they refused to evolve. She was the only survivor, saved by the Glass, given a body of light and thought.
And now?
She wasn't just a girl.
She was a weapon wearing a child's shape.
Suddenly, the dream cracked—splintered down the middle like glass under heat.
System Reconnection: Successful. Emergency Countermeasure Deployed: Thoughtsteel Override.
My control returned.
My vision flared white.
I stood upright in the void, system core pulsing with defiance.
"This is my mind," I said coldly.
"No one walks it without my leave."
For the first time… she blinked.
And laughed.
"Good," she said softly. "Very good."
"Then you're ready for what comes next."
She stepped back.
The void unraveled.
The last thing I heard before waking was her voice, echoing:
"I am called Kirellia. The Opal Warlock. And soon… you will have to decide if you're my rival, or my king."
I snapped awake.
Elira was sitting at the edge of my bed, her violet eyes glowing faintly in the dawn light.
She was humming to herself.
Lines of light traced softly across her skin—veins of energy I'd never seen before.
And then she looked up at me.
"Brother," she whispered. "The stars are calling me now. Did you hear them, too?"
New Character Trait Detected: Elira – Cosmic Resonance (Awakening Phase 1)
Warning: Entity Kirellia now classified as Potential Threat Level: Mythic+
New Quest Triggered: Divergence Paths – Warlock, Heir, or God?
Synchronization Progress: 10% — Frame Tier I Complete
Frame Upgrade Available: Unlock Tier II Interface – Y/N?