She didn't speak much that first night.
Kian sat by the newly built medical station, tending her fever with cool cloths and watching the unnatural flickers of mana distortion that pulsed just beneath her skin. Not natural healing. Not injury response. It was something else — contained.
Caged.
She drifted in and out of consciousness, murmuring names. Words. Incantations half-formed. Her body convulsed twice before dawn, but she didn't scream.
Only once did her eyes open fully, locking onto his.
"You're not... Zarethian," she whispered, voice cracked.
"No," Kian said. "You?"
She closed her eyes again.
"Worse."
By the next evening, her fever broke.
Kian returned from salvaging bone shards and twisted scrap near the ruins to find her sitting up, wrapped in his patched cloak and staring silently at the scorched horizon.
"You're awake."
She glanced at him, but didn't flinch. "Shouldn't be."
"You nearly weren't."
She studied his face for a long time, as if weighing whether or not he was real. "You built all this?"
He nodded. "Ruins gave me the foundation. I just stabilized it."
"I thought only nobles used the Codex System."
Kian paused, then sat across from her. "I'm not from here. And I didn't ask for any of this."
A long silence. Then she offered a name.
"Veyna."
"Kian."
Another silence.
"You're bleeding," she said, pointing to the crusted gash on his upper arm.
He shrugged. "Scratched by a walking corpse. The systems said I'd live."
She gave a weak smile. "You sound like a street mage."
"Is that what you are?"
Veyna looked down at her hands — small, burned, with blue marks faintly glowing beneath the skin.
"No," she said softly. "They wouldn't let me be. Not with this."
[Codex Scan: Anomaly Detected in Subject: Veyna]
Mana Core: Sealed. Potential output exceeds Tier III.
Warning: Suppressed Arcane Instability – Trigger Event Imminent
System Suggestion: Construct Containment Ward (Prototype).
Status: Blueprint Unavailable. Insufficient Level.
[Predation Protocol Suggestion: Observe. Learn. If she breaks, consume.]
Kian dismissed both prompts with a wave of his hand.
"Your mana's sealed," he said.
She looked startled. "How—?"
"I can see it."
Her voice dropped. "They bound it when I was a child. Too dangerous, they said. But when I broke free last week... they sent soldiers."
"Zarethian?"
She nodded. "I ran. Burned too much in the process. The cart..." She trailed off. "Did I kill them all?"
Kian didn't answer.
"Good," she whispered.
By the third day, she could walk — barely. Kian expanded the shelter using a crude lean-to and added a second chamber for privacy. He also began digging a trench perimeter, guided by the Codex's auto-layout preview.
[Codex XP +18 – Expansion Completed]
New Blueprint: Signal Ward (Tier 0) Unlocked
Function: Sends up a mana beacon on command. Visibility radius: 3 miles.
Warning: May attract hostile entities.
Kian didn't activate it.
That night, while he was sketching reinforcement patterns in the dirt, Veyna spoke behind him.
"Why are you helping me?"
He paused.
"Because someone should have helped me. Back when I needed it."
Veyna said nothing.
Then: "I don't know how long I can hold it in. The seal's cracking. My body burns at night."
"Then we'll prepare for when it breaks."
"You don't know what that means."
He looked at her. "Don't need to. I'm not planning to run."
The next morning, the sky tore open.
Not metaphorically. A rift — jagged, violent — split the clouds over the southern ridge. Lightning crackled sideways. Static filled the air.
[System Alert – Dungeon Gate Forming Nearby]
Category: Corrupted Rift – Tier II
Time to Manifestation: 7 hours
Recommended Action: Evacuate or Fortify.
Codex Bonus Objective: Establish Defensive Perimeter and Hold for Full Cycle (12 hours)
Reward: Permanent Authority Boost + Rare Blueprint
[Predation Protocol Bonus: Boss Core Assimilation Available]
Kian stood frozen at the ridge, staring at the warping sky.
Seven hours.
Veyna stepped up beside him, arms crossed tightly. "You know what that is?"
"Not exactly."
"Something hungry."
He looked down at her. "Can you fight?"
She smirked. "Not yet. But if that seal breaks mid-battle…"
"We'll take that chance."
He worked like a man possessed.
Built: Spike Barricades (x12)
Dug: Slope channel traps (x2)
Reinforced: Stone wall sectors (3/5 complete)
Created: Warning glyphs and shallow trenches for fallback
[Codex XP +45 – Defensive Network Active]
New Title: Outpost Architect (Temporary)
Bonus: Structures take -10% less damage. Traps +20% trigger speed.
The tension in his chest wasn't fear.
It was focus.
This time, he had blueprints.
This time, he had systems.
This time, he was ready.
The rift opened like a screaming mouth at dusk.
Something emerged.
A creature half-formed — lurching forward with legs like shattered bones, and a body made of twisted wood and flesh. Its face bore no eyes, only a single vertical line across its head that pulsed red.
[Threat Identified: Riftspawn Colossus – Tier II Elite]
Abilities: Cleave, Burrow, Acid Howl
Codex Objective: Prevent entry into Bastion Core.
Predation Protocol Objective: Kill and Consume.
Time Remaining: 12 hours
Kian raised his bone-spear. "We hold here."
Veyna stood behind him, mana leaking from her arms in jagged blue lines.
"If the seal breaks," she said quietly, "you might want to run."
"I won't."
The Riftspawn roared and charged.
Ashfall Bastion stood its first trial.
End of Chapter 3