The morning came wrapped in gold and thunder. A quiet storm drifted over Odessyus — not rain, not lightning, but light itself bending wrong. The clouds spiraled around a patch of sky where the stars flickered even in daylight. It was the first visible sign that something above the world was no longer asleep.
Inside the Sanctum Chamber, the sigil bearers gathered around a vast stone circle marked with concentric rings and ancient runes. Neolin stood at the center, his robes edged with starlight thread.
"Today," he said, "you meet two forces that existed long before the Demon Cities. Powers once thought too dangerous to be written, much less wielded."
The room dimmed. With a wave of his hand, two massive glowing diagrams appeared overhead — one pulsing with ticking time-wheels, and the other forming swirling glyphs in the shape of constellations. He pointed to the first.
"Zenthrax. Power from fractured time. It bends not what is… but what was almost. It gives you access to echoes — possibilities that never happened but still exist."
Then the second.
"Elysian Code. Power from celestial truth. Glyphs that, when drawn correctly, overwrite the world's behavior. With it, you can command wind, bend light, or even summon stars."
He turned toward Kitty and Lucy.
"You two were born touched by these systems — not just chosen, but imprinted."
Frank stepped forward. "How does it work?"
Neolin raised his hand and conjured a small Zenthrax circle midair — it ticked like a gear, and then rewound a pebble he threw, catching it before it was thrown.
"It reads decision points. Things that could have happened. Your body must align with a timeline echo to step into it, or call it back."
He pointed to the Elysian circle. Glyphs spun in spirals — glowing silver-blue patterns.
"These aren't spells," he said. "They're cosmic equations. Each one speaks a law of existence. You don't summon fire. You declare it allowed."
"Let's train," Neolin said.
He snapped his fingers. The floor beneath the group split — forming two elevated rings:
One made of clock-rotating platforms — this was Zenthrax.
One woven with starry veins and glowing rune-pillars — the Elysian glyph zone.
Kitty stepped toward the star path.
Lucy, though hesitant, moved toward the time ring.
Kitty's Trial: Elysian Code
As Kitty stood on the first glyph circle, it lit up beneath her. The golden wing mark on her back pulsed in rhythm. Above her, floating glyphs began to swirl — circles within circles.
"Balance," Neolin said. "Choose three glyphs. Any combination. Form a command."
Kitty inhaled and raised her hand. Three glyphs hovered near her: One for wind. One for shield. One for light. She hesitated… then moved her fingers, tracing a triangle between them.
The circle pulsed. A bright barrier of shimmering air and golden dust formed around her.
Tom grinned. "She made a glowing wind shield."
"No," Neolin said. "She created a celestial ward. The first successful Elysian formation in 130 years."
Kitty stood stunned.
Lucy's Trial: Zenthrax
Lucy stepped into the time wheel. It turned beneath her feet. Her Glyph of Aeon faintly shimmered on her wrist.
Neolin whispered, "Don't resist the echo. Find a moment in your own past. One you almost changed."
Lucy closed her eyes.
She saw herself from just days ago — frozen in the garden, staring at the droplets that never fell. She remembered turning back. But what if she hadn't?
She opened her eyes.
A second Lucy appeared, mid-step — a timeline double, walking the opposite direction.
Everyone gasped.
"She summoned herself," Marcus whispered.
No one spoke as the two Lucys merged again — like memory folding into muscle.
Neolin's eyes glowed faintly. "Zenthrax does not rewrite time. It gives you another try. Use it wisely."
Hours later, the group returned to the upper chambers — minds buzzing, muscles aching, and hearts racing. The world had just grown wider, deeper, older.
Lucy sat with Kitty on the observatory steps.
"I don't know if I like it," Lucy said. "Seeing myself like that. It felt… wrong."
Kitty looked up at the stars. "I think that's how wings feel before they learn to fly."
Lucy gave a weak smile.
Far below them, deep inside the Rune Archive, the seal of the Seven Forbidden Glyphs pulsed once again.
And a new name began to write itself.
One none of them had spoken.
Not yet.
But soon.