The maps called it "Root Temple."
The faithful called it "The First Flame."
Riven called it what it was:
The lie they built into stone.
---
The Temple had no towers, no gold.
Only black stone and bone-colored spires twisted like dying trees.
It had stood for centuries at the southern edge of the empire — forgotten by nobility, preserved by zealots.
And now, it was his target.
---
> [Mission: Purge of the Root Temple – Active]
Objective: Seize the inner sanctum. Prevent reactivation of Doctrine Core.
Threat: Apostolic Host / Ritual Guardians
Reward: Lore Fragment / Access Key / Faith Suppression Seal
Minimum Combat Team: 4 elite units
Optional Asset: Mira (Faith Synchronizer – risk: high)
---
Eron approached with concern.
"Sending Mira into that place is dangerous."
Riven looked over the formation roster.
"She's not a soldier."
"No," Riven said. "She's something rarer."
"She remembers."
---
Mira stood nearby, pale but steady.
"Some of the symbols… I know them. I don't know why."
Riven nodded. "That's why you're going."
She blinked. "That's not very comforting."
"It's not meant to be."
---
The infiltration team moved at dusk.
Riven. Mira. Yra. Two scouts.
All armed. All marked by the System.
They reached the outer gate without resistance.
That worried him.
---
Inside, the Temple felt… wrong.
It pulsed.
Like it breathed.
The walls were warm.
Scripture etched into the floor shimmered with unseen energy.
As they moved deeper, Mira faltered.
"These words," she whispered. "They sound like your voice."
"What?"
"Old. Twisted. But familiar."
---
They reached a circular chamber. At its center: a platform made of fused bone and crystal. Floating above it—
A sigil, suspended in blue flame.
A System rune.
But inverted.
Corrupted.
---
> [Alert: Core Interface Breach Detected]
Initiating Decryption...
> Warning: This version of the System was not written by current User.
Accessing legacy imprint...
---
Suddenly, a voice filled the room.
Not from outside.
From inside Riven's head.
> "You brought them here again.
How many times must we be buried in our own echo?"
Riven staggered.
Memories slammed into him — lives stacked on top of each other.
And one stood out.
---
A cloaked man.
Hood low.
Writing with blood and starlight on an obsidian slab.
"To remember is to control."
"To forget is to be free."
"This is your gift. And your cage."
---
> [Memory Fragment Recovered: System Creator Identity — Designation: Kael-Riven]
Role: Architect / First Synchronizer / System Core Engineer
Status: Deceased (Looped)
---
He gasped.
He had built the System.
In a life long forgotten.
---
Mira screamed.
She fell to her knees as fire coiled around her mind.
From the shadows, something stepped forward.
A tall figure in robes of lightless white.
No face. No hands.
Only a carved mask — in the shape of Riven's face.
---
> [New Threat Identified: Apostle of the Original Flame]
Composition: Doctrine Reflection + Echoed Memory Host
Affiliation: Faith Core / System Rupture Fragment
Objective: Reclaim the Architect
---
The Apostle spoke without lips.
> "You cannot deny yourself.
We were made from you.
And we will remake you in flame."
It attacked.
---
Riven moved.
Blades met spectral heat.
Commands flickered across his interface.
---
> [Command: Anchor Personality Integrity – Executed]
[Command: Suppress External Memory Threads – 67% success]
[Warning: System Interface Flickering]
---
Yra fired bolts of pure light, distracting the entity.
Mira stood, trembling, eyes glowing.
"I see it," she whispered. "The truth."
Riven deflected another strike. "Then speak it."
She stepped onto the bone platform.
> "You didn't just build the System…"
> "You built the faith around it."
---
Everything stopped.
The Apostle staggered.
Its flame sputtered.
Riven stared at Mira.
"What?"
"You created a spiritual interface. A doctrine. A belief structure. The Monk only adapted it."
"Impossible."
"No. You called it 'Instructional Layer Zero.' A failsafe… for when memory alone wasn't enough."
---
> [Hidden System Mode Unlocked: Legacy Doctrine Interface]
Status: Damaged / Corrupted
Primary Protocol: Synchronize Belief with Memory
Side Effect: Creation of Sentient Faith Echoes
---
Riven felt hollow.
He wasn't just using the System.
He had unleashed it.
---
The Apostle recovered.
Roared.
The chamber cracked.
Riven lunged.
Mira raised her hands — her voice no longer her own.
> "Directive Zero. Sync Override. Release the fire."
The platform exploded in light.
---
When the glow faded…
The Apostle was gone.
Mira collapsed.
Riven caught her.
---
> [Mission Complete: Core Disabled]
Reward: Memory Shard – Kael Protocols
System Faith Synchronization: Disrupted
Current Control over Root Temple: 67% (Riven-aligned)
Risk of Echo Reformation: High
---
Outside, dawn crept over the hills.
Eron waited by the gate.
Riven walked out carrying Mira.
"Did you kill it?" Eron asked.
Riven shook his head.
"No. We shattered it."
"And?"
"And we learned something worse."
---
That night, in the tower, a private message arrived in the System:
> "You are not the first. You are the last.
And we are watching.
Rejoin us — or be erased."
> — The Circle Beneath All
---
> Synchronization: 92.7%
Identity Integrity: Holding
Faith Interference: Dormant (for now)