Strange. It said I received a quest. So I guess that Velnix received the trial challenge. I shrugged off the thought, the weight of it slipping away like water off stone—my antisocial core dismissing it as just another Sovereign trick.
I decided to look into the workshop, drawn by a curiosity I couldn't shake. Stepping deeper into the soulprint's dark marble void, the air thickened with a hum. Upon entering the workshop area, a GUI popped up—Sovereign-run, its interface glowing with cold efficiency.
---
Guardian: Velnix
Type: Damage Reflector - External Guardian
Form Options
Formless — [1 Demon Core]
Cloud — [3 Demon Cores]
Bladed — [7 Demon Cores]
Memory Options
Partial — [2 Demon Cores]
Full — [4 Demon Cores]
All - Current
Appearance
Humanoid — [5 Demon Cores]
Mist — [Default]
Eyes: 3 — obtained
Skills
Split — [obtained]
Merge — [obtained]
Hide in Shadows — [6 Demon Cores]
Absorb Pain — [obtained]
Coat body— [9 Demon Cores]
Lethality
Minimum — [Free]
Maximum — [5 Demon Cores]
Adaptive — [12 Demon Cores]
Evolve? Cost: 26 Demon Cores
---
Everything was so expensive—I couldn't get anything. The costs ranged from 1 to 26 demon cores, a currency beyond my reach, harvested from riftborn. I sighed, looking at Velnix—her misty form flickered, twelve arms half-formed, eyes glowing softly. I couldn't do anything to enhance her, not yet.
But then I noticed—he had access to all my memories and experiences. It made sense—he does look after my mental state and injuries. Why not the memories too? The realization hit—Velnix wasn't just a shield; she carried my past, a silent archive of my guilt and solitude.
I decided to leave my soulprint, the workshop fading into the marble void. Velnix followed, her hum a steady pulse. Opening my eyes on the rooftop, I witnessed her merging with the version she'd left to defend my body—twelve arms blending seamlessly, eyes aligning into a unified glow. The fusion strengthened her presence, a wraith-like guardian restored.
I wondered what to do next. Nynxreach? The thought lingered, but who knows—my mind drifted to Tara's serial killer job, the cold stir in my ribs pulling me towards investigating
---
The rooftop breeze tugged at my hood as Velnix's merged form hovered beside me, her mist curling inward, arms folded like quiet questions. The workshop's absence left a soft ache, not pain—more like potential withheld. The GUI still echoed in my mind. Skills I couldn't afford. Futures I wasn't ready for.
My fingers brushed the edge of my ever-lasting smokes. Useless comfort. I didn't light one.
Below, Nynxreach simmered in city-light haze. Laughter. Motion. Footsteps that didn't wait. I thought of Forn, somewhere below, probably reading again. Neo, maybe training alone in the southern court. Faces I hadn't seen since we got back. I hadn't really wanted to.
But that killer. That missing soulprint. I couldn't ignore it forever.
The phone in my pocket buzzed once. Still Tara's coordinates. Still unread.
Velnix pulsed beside me, her glow faint and steady. I didn't need her to speak. She carried enough of my past to understand.
I stood up, cracking my neck.
"I'll think about it," I muttered to no one in particular.
The city didn't answer.
I stepped down from the ledge. The rooftop silence followed me, Velnix trailing close, mist brushing my shoulder like a warning or maybe a promise.
Somewhere out there, something was unmaking Resonants.
And like it or not, I was starting to care.
---
Kai opened the phone with a flick of his thumb. The screen lit his face in a cold blue hue, dull against the streetlights bleeding through the cracked glass.
[TARA - SECURE CHANNEL]
NEW CRIME SCENE. SENDING LOCATION.
Victim: Minor. Soulprint removed. East Transit Sector. Confirm receipt.
A ping followed. Coordinates dropped onto the screen. A red dot blinked over the outline of a maintenance tunnel near the old subway lines — just past where the surveillance grid thinned.
He stared at the message for a long moment.
Minor.
His jaw tensed. No thoughts came. Just a static pulse behind his eyes.
He slid the phone into his coat pocket and muttered, "Of course it's a kid this time."
No dramatics. No outrage. Just fatigue crawling into his ribs like mold.
Velnix pulsed beside him, a faint shimmer of mist trailing from his shadow.
The walk was short. Zone Alpha's backstreets narrowed the further he moved east — paved lines turning to uneven slabs, neon giving way to rusted railings and the stink of stagnant water. Rats scattered ahead of him as he ducked under a collapsed awning and followed the marker.
The air shifted. Quiet in a way that was too deliberate. The Sovereign drones had cleared the area, their surveillance loops rerouted. Plastic barricades buzzed faintly with yellow light, keeping civilians blind to what waited beneath.
He stepped through.
There, nestled in the crook of a rust-stained tunnel wall, was a body.
Small. Fragile.
Maybe seven.
The girl's arms were laid out like wings, palms upward, fingers curled just slightly like she'd held something before death. Blood circled her like a closed eye — not splashed or smeared, but carved. Intentional. Symbols etched into the pattern. Kai didn't recognize them.
And in her chest, where the core of a Resonant would linger, there was nothing. Not a flicker. Not even spiritual residue. As if something had inhaled her essence and scrubbed the aftermath clean.
It's not rare for young people to have Soulprints but it was strange to see it none the less.
Kai exhaled through his nose.
He didn't move closer yet. Just stared.
"...You didn't even get to manifest, did you?"
His voice was soft. Almost drowned by the drip of water from overhead.
Velnix hovered behind him, silent.
Kai pulled out the phone again. No new messages. He knelt by the edge of the blood circle, careful not to cross it.
Her eyes were still open.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a crumpled cigarette from the ever-lasting pack. Lit it. Let the smoke drift upward, unfurling between them.
"I'm sorry," he said, not knowing who he was saying it to. Maybe her. Maybe himself.
Then he clicked the recorder.
[AUDIO LOG - CRIME SCENE 04]
"Zone Alpha, East Transit. Child victim. Estimated age: seven. Cause of death unknown. Blood pattern ritualistic. Soulprint fully extracted — zero residual data. Identity pending."
(Pause)
"Third case with matching removal pattern. Same precision. Same silence. No signs of struggle. This one..."
(Slight inhale)
"This one still has her eyes open."
He ended the recording.
Then finally stood.
Several GRARC operatives and forensic techs moved within the taped-off zone, their boots crunching softly over broken concrete as they set up scanning rigs and tagged evidence. A medic stood nearby, not for the victim—too late for that—but in case anyone on the team couldn't stomach the scene. One investigator knelt beside the body, murmuring measurements into a wrist-comm while another photographed the ritual circle in precise increments. No one spoke unless necessary. No one looked at the child too long.
"Velnix. Scan for anomalies."
The mist rippled outward.
Kai didn't blink. Didn't cry. Just stared at the stillness of a child who never got the chance to become anything more than a name in a file. And someone, somewhere, was turning that into a pattern.
He didn't know what felt worse — that he couldn't stop it yet… or that part of him was starting to expect it.
An investigator noticed me and approached.