The Codex's interface shimmered with radiant glyphs as Leon stepped beyond the chamber's threshold. Outside, the Temple of Echoes had transformed—its architecture folding in impossible angles, stone spires floating mid-air as though suspended by intent rather than gravity. The skies churned above like oil on water, with auroras threading between cracks in the sky. This was no longer the Earth he knew. It was a place between.
He wasn't alone anymore.
Figures emerged from the warped edges of the temple's outer ring—five of them, marked by wear, grit, and the unmistakable shimmer of System integration.
"Another Ascendant?" said a tall woman with a scar bisecting her left brow. Her armor looked forged from charred bone and crimson metal, rib-like plates wrapped around her torso.
Leon raised an eyebrow. "I'm Leon Veyron. You are?"
"Karya," she replied flatly. "This is Vell, Markus, Jin, and Rui. We came from what's left of Buenos Aires."
"What happened?"
"Their Anchor failed," Rui murmured, a wiry teen with silver eyes and a crescent tattoo across his throat. "The entire quadrant folded into a mana vortex. Only survivors were inside a protected Temple when it collapsed."
Markus, a massive man whose skin was etched with glowing tectonic glyphs, grunted. "You're Codex-bonded. That means you're a potential Anchor Core bearer."
Leon frowned. "Anchor Core?"
Karya exchanged a glance with Jin, a woman clad in flowing silk lined with obsidian filigree, an orb of voidlight hovering above her palm. "Each Temple houses an Anchor—an artifact stabilizing reality where dimensions merged. When it fails, the sector begins to unravel."
A System prompt slid across Leon's vision.
[Codex Alert: Anchor Protocol Initiated]
Node Identified: Eastern Arc-Vector Nexus (Status: UNCLAIMED)
Stability Index: 11.3% (CRITICAL)
Directive: Claim Anchor Core | Synchronize with Dominion Pulse | Prevent Collapse
Jin nodded toward him. "The Anchor Core here is dormant. It needs a new bond. If the Index drops below 10%, a Tear Event begins."
Leon rubbed his temples. "So, let me guess. I've got about an hour before this area implodes?"
"Try six minutes," Rui said quietly.
A tremor rolled through the temple as the skies cracked louder. Through the shimmered veil of reality, a monstrous silhouette broke through—a serpentine leviathan stitched together by rune-scarred limbs and ethereal wings. Its presence warped the air around it, distorting color and sound.
It coiled in midair, massive and half-ethereal, its body composed of scales that looked like molten crystal. Every blink of its many eyes sent out ripples of corrupted mana, scarring the very fabric of the sky. The air around it shimmered with pulses of Discordant Dominion Energy, a corrupted form of what Leon was just beginning to grasp.
"A Tear Wyrm," Jin said, voice tight with fear. "Dominion-Class. Tier 3."
[Optional Combat Directive: Intercept Cataclysm-Class Entity — Tear Wyrm]
Difficulty: Tier 3 – Dominion-Class
Objective: Delay entity long enough to stabilize Anchor Core.
Rewards: Dominion Resonance +1, Skill Unlock – [Anchor Pulse], Faction Recognition: Provisional Codex Collective
Leon's eyes flared with conviction. "I'll go."
"You'll die," Rui said.
Karya stepped forward, placing a hand on Leon's shoulder. "Or you'll ascend. Either way, we'll cover your path."
Jin summoned a translucent sigil into the air. "Selira is on the edge. She's our scout. She'll guide you to the Anchor's locus point."
The temple rumbled again, and fissures opened in the air, leaking pulses of raw mana.
Karya drew a blade of crimson-light wrapped steel and began carving a runic circle. "We'll hold the tearline. You get to the Core."
"System," Leon muttered, "analyze entity."
[Entity Profile: Tear Wyrm]Class: Dimensional Parasite Threat Tier: 3 (Dominion-Class) Abilities: Warp Rend, Pulse Corruption, Anchor Drain, Temporal Shift Weakness: Core Nexus Exposure
Leon stepped into the warping corridors, the golden glow of his Dominion energy flaring with every step. As he advanced, the temple distorted further—walls rippling like liquid, time stuttering. He saw flickers of himself, echoes passing through fractured moments.
The Tear Wyrm screamed again, its voice tearing through space. But it didn't shake him. Instead, it centered him.
"Let's begin," Leon said.
The temple floor split beneath him, revealing a glowing lattice—the exposed Anchor Core, unstable and flickering.
Selira's voice crackled in his Codex link. "Leon. I'm guiding a path through. Follow the ley fractures. You'll reach the core in three minutes. But that Wyrm? It knows what you're trying to do."
"I know."
He ran. And the world followed.