It didn't take long for the rumors to start.
Some said Lyle had been possessed by the Codex itself.
Others claimed he'd rewritten the world to make himself stronger.
A few whispered that he hadn't survived at all—and the person walking the halls now was something else entirely.
Lyle ignored them.
He trained.
He studied.
He listened.
And he tried to remember something that refused to come.
---
Every night, he found himself touching the ring.
It didn't glow.
It didn't whisper.
It just was.
But the moment he slipped it on, the world became quieter.
Not peaceful.
Not numb.
Just… attenuated. Like a room holding its breath.
He hadn't told anyone about it.
Not even Juno.
Not yet.
---
Six days until the gate opened.
And Lyle had already started dreaming of blood.
Not his.
Not anyone's he recognized.
Just crimson fields beneath dark skies and a whisper he couldn't understand.
---
Instructor Asterion pulled him aside after combat training.
"You're resisting analysis."
Lyle blinked. "What?"
"Your glyph signature. Mana profile. It's… blurry. Like you're not here when we scan you."
"I didn't do anything."
Asterion stared for a long time, then finally said, "Good. Keep it that way."
---
That night, Juno appeared at his door.
She didn't ask permission to come in.
Just leaned against the frame.
"I felt it again," she said.
He set down the Codex. "The distortion?"
She nodded. "Not from you. From outside. The wards… something's circling the barrier wall."
"Now?"
"No," she said. "Three nights ago."
Lyle stood slowly.
"Why didn't you say something?"
She looked him in the eyes.
"Because it came right after you put the ring on."
---
They walked the perimeter that night.
No guards. No patrols.
Just shadows and the wind off the silent courtyard.
And that's when Lyle saw it.
At the far wall—
A single line scratched into the stone.
Not a glyph.
Not a message.
A signature.
Simple.
Ancient.
Q.T.G.