Lyle stood at the center of the Core Layer, eyes locked on the single Codex page still open in his hand.
It pulsed steadily—one beat every few seconds.
A slow heartbeat.
Waiting.
Juno stepped beside him, blade drawn but low, breath calm but tight. She didn't speak right away.
When she did, her voice was quiet. "Do you think we're ready for him?"
"No."
Lyle didn't blink.
"But I think we're closer than we were yesterday."
---
The Codex floated upward, unbidden.
> [Final Bond Link Secured]
Threadcaster approaching – hostile rewrite signature confirmed.
Manual Override Unlocked: 1 Glyph Entry Slot Available.
A new page slid free, blank.
Not white.
Empty.
As if it had never held words.
Lyle stared at it.
The Codex didn't offer a glyph.
It offered the chance to create one.
A blank spell.
A permanent rewrite.
> This is a power no one was meant to use.
> It doesn't cost mana.
It costs memory.
Juno saw the page. "That's…"
"Forbidden." Lyle's voice was quiet. "A creator glyph."
"Do you even know what it does?"
"No. I think… it becomes what I need it to be. But only once."
"And after?"
Lyle looked up.
And that was the moment he understood.
He could write the glyph.
But when he did—
He'd forget what he used it for.
---
Juno stepped forward and touched the edge of the page.
It rippled beneath her fingers.
She said, softly, "Do you trust yourself that much?"
Lyle's voice almost broke.
"I don't know."
But his hand moved anyway.
He gripped the stylus formed of starlight and uncertainty.
And pressed the first stroke onto the page.
---
The glyph bled black fire as it formed—
Sharp curves.
Twisting roots.
A center spiral that pulsed like a name.
Then stopped.
The Codex didn't tell him what it was.
But Lyle felt it imprint deep into his being.
> [Unnamed Glyph Stored]
Effect: Irreversible.
Trigger: Life-death condition. Core Anchor Only.
He turned to Juno.
And though his heart pounded, his voice was steady.
"If I fall… you finish this."
Juno met his gaze.
"No."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
And in that moment—
in the quiet before battle,
in the silence between choices—
Their bond solidified into something beyond strategy.
Something unwritten.
---
The air shifted.
A ripple.
A hiss.
A step.
Valen entered the Core.
No words.
Just the flick of his wrist, and the Thread sang like a whisper between ribs.
Lyle stepped forward.
So did Juno.
And behind them, the Codex opened wide—its pages fluttering like wings.
> "Let's begin," Lyle said.