Arc 4 – The Broken Crown begins
The Kingdom of Braelthorn didn't greet them with fanfare—only fog and crumbling statues.
Echo-Ward rolled through the northern pass at dusk, its limbs creaking under the fading light. Trees hung low with ash-silk moss. The wind carried no birdsong—only a dry rustle, like whispers passing through hollowed halls.
Kian stood at the forward railing, eyes narrowed on the distant skyline. Braelthorn's once-glorious capital, Cinderguard, rose beyond a dead forest, its towers skeletal, flanked by long-defunct mana bridges. Broken spires jutted into the haze like the ribs of some long-dead god.
They were close.
[Codex Update: Regional Data Parsing...]
▸ Target Coordinates: Vault of Thorns
▸ Status: Unknown
▸ Hostile Territories: 3
▸ Factional Interference: Likely
Behind him, the others were silent. It had been three days since Ashwall. Three days of travel, of silence, of tending to wounds that weren't only physical.
Jerie sat with his back to the inner wall, arms folded, gaze empty. Kess hadn't touched her scrolls since they left. Gellon busied himself obsessively with his rifle's internals. Veyna… hadn't spoken more than five words in the last twenty-four hours.
Even the systems seemed quieter. Like they, too, were holding their breath.
The moment they crossed the old Braelthorn border, the Codex chimed again:
[System Territory Identified]
▸ Crown Fragment Detected
▸ Warning: Local systems possess embedded hierarchy commands
▸ Observation Recommended – Direct Influence Risk
Kian frowned. "So that's why the kingdom split," he muttered. "The systems didn't fall… they fractured."
Kess finally stirred, eyes still glassy. "Three factions, right?" she said hoarsely. "The Heraldic Court. The Throne-Speakers. And the Gutter Banners."
Gellon clicked a lens into place. "And we're walking right between all three."
Jerie snorted. "What could go wrong?"
By nightfall, they had reached the edge of Hollowmarsh, a sunken district where the waters had long receded, leaving cracked canals and leaning stone halls. This was where the Vault of Thorns was rumored to lie—beneath a former royal chapel swallowed by centuries of silence.
Kian and Veyna scouted ahead while the others secured the perimeter. As they moved through the ruins, Veyna finally spoke, her voice soft but heavy.
"You haven't said a word about what we saw back at Ashwall."
Kian didn't stop walking. "Because I'm still trying to decide what it meant."
"He looked like you. Moved like you."
"He was me," Kian said. "Or could be."
Veyna stopped. "You're afraid."
He turned slowly. "Wouldn't you be?"
She didn't answer. Just looked at him. Then, quietly: "Good. That means you're still human."
They stood in silence for a moment. Then Kian moved on. "The Vault's entrance is here."
He knelt at a shattered altar. Lines of gold etched into the stone pulsed faintly.
[Codex Interaction Detected]
▸ Relic Node: Dormant Royal Interface
▸ Override Authority: Partial – Architect Signature Detected
▸ Accessing...
The ground groaned.
Stone folded away.
A passage revealed itself—spiraling downward into pitch black.
Two hours later, they stood in the Vault of Thorns.
It wasn't a treasury.
It was a cage.
Hundreds of coffins lined the walls—each encased in thick mana crystal, each inscribed with the crest of a different Braelthorn noble house. The dead kings. The dead heirs. And atop a central dais, seated upon a black stone throne, was a man in silver armor—mummified, head bowed, crown rusted into his brow.
[System Relic: Crown of Obedience]
▸ Status: Bound
▸ Host Integrity: Zero
▸ Command Thread Residue: Active
"He ruled with the system itself," Kess whispered behind them, stepping into the vault. "The crown made him more than king. It made him... a node."
"Then why's he dead?" Jerie asked.
Kian walked to the throne. His hand hovered above the crown.
[Codex Prompt: Engage?]
▸ Access residual command threads?
▸ Warning: Binding risk detected
Veyna stepped forward. "If you put that on—"
"I won't." Kian pulled his hand back. "I don't build cages."
They took the crown—but not for power. Kess sealed it inside a containment shard, muttering preservation glyphs the whole time. They left the vault in silence, heads heavy with more questions than answers.
That night, as they camped near the edge of Hollowmarsh, Kian sat apart, the Codex quietly overlaying blueprints over the stars.
The kingdom once built its legacy on obedience, he thought. What will I build mine on?
Far to the west, in the fractured capital of Cinderguard, news of the vault breach had already reached unwelcome ears.
On a high balcony, beneath torn banners, a figure clad in red and gold turned to his advisors.
"Send word," he said. "The Architect has arrived. Let the factions see how they deal with a man who breaks thrones."
End of Chapter 34