Episode 2: Blood and Hope

  Chapter 003 - The Spoken Name

  ● SYSTEM ALERT ●

  —LORD—

  –100% STR –100% DEX

  –50% INT –20% WIS

  –100% CHA –100% CON

  The slaves stared at the oncoming threat spoken of in the decree. But then, the clouds darkened, and the sun dimmed like a flame being blown out. In that sudden veil of black, their systems flickered to life forcefully. Static buzzed. Numbers dropped to 0.

  One man with a shovel in hand, ready to protect his child, stared at the screen:

  —LORD—

  Then his legs gave out, and he stumbled to his knees and bowed to the empty air. His hands dropped to his sides. He simply stayed there, bowing. The nerves were numb to motion. He couldn’t feel any part of his body, as if he had no control over it.

  And he wasn’t alone.

  Left and right, every man dropped to their knees, their bodies trembling under the weight of something they couldn’t comprehend.

  Behind them, women and mothers dropped as well. Whether they were hiding behind walls or out in the fields, no one was left standing. Their hands slipped from their children’s grips, thudding to the ground as they knelt wherever they stood. One mother, still clutching her infant, lowered herself to her knees, laying the child beneath her bowed head.

  Even the rich in their cozy homes fell too. Fruits and grains spilled with the collapsing carriers. All of them looked to their screens, where one word had brought them all low: LORD.

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  Augurtongue ? Lv. ???: A system is bound to the soul at conception, shaping itself by drawing magic from the environment. It forms in parallel with the body and becomes complete at birth. When the child breathes, the system breathes. Each sustains the other.

  But all systems are calibrated to a single origin point: the Singularity. Though time has dulled memory, systems have not forgotten their source. They remain linked, always listening. And now, for the first time in centuries, that link has responded. The creator has stirred. And the systems remember their lord.

  Parsabelle fell like the rest across the world.

  Her Augurtongue glitched and started speaking in tongues, surging with knowledge she’d never known or studied about. Something in her body screamed from all of this. She tried to rise, but the LORD beamed across her vision that was too blinding to resist.

  The wind ceased completely, yet the trees moved. They swayed back and forth. Branches curled as if bowing before uncurling. Trunks twisted and turned, groaning like disturbed beasts. Water rippled in every pool and puddle. Stones shifted from their places. The ruins that were once quiet with history now pulsed to life.

  Levan hit the ground beside her, groaning. He clutched his ribs as though breathless. His system screen refused to vanish, screaming LORD across his vision.

  “What the… What just happened? Why is my…” He tried blinking many times to unfocus, yet the system cried all the more. “Lord? W–what is happening?”

  In his confusion, distant voices howled and wept, horrified and confused. The two were surrounded by others across the ruins. Others like Parsabelle cried just the same. Levan turned toward one direction of the cries, but it was everywhere. They filled the air with desperate howls, begging to be answered—the voices of hundreds.

  But no answer came. Their voices hung in the sky, and the world was answering the birth instead.

  Then, slowly, the world started to return to normalcy. The trees stilled. The wind came to brush against them. Systems faded, and so did the LORD.

  But for Parsabelle, it was the opposite. The woman of prophetic insights felt a change in her system. Text scrolled in a rhythm. Numbers shifted. From that event alone, her system reacted fiercely.

  ● System Update ●

  One minute passed, yet it offered what ten months could not.

  Primary Prophecy Threshold — Fulfilled

  Temperament Slate is Shifting…

  Augursight ? Lv. 24 → 33

  Augurtongue ? Lv. 7 → 9

  ● System Update ●

  Fifteen imprints carved into Wisdom… Only six were needed to sharpen the soul once.

  Threshold Met — Twofold Sharpening Triggered

  Parsabelle Nahlan – Lv. 132 → 134

  She saw the numbers climb up in huge leaps, a level that could be reached in ten months. But she gained them in a minute. They were worth noticing, but she barely looked. All she felt was her tight chest keeping her breath shallow, and her system was still echoing. It was the aftermath of something unnatural. Her eyes darted without focus. She looked all around her for no reason.

  Levan’s voice broke the stillness. “Parsabelle…?”

  “It is true,” she whispered.

  Levan leaned closer. “What did you say?”

  “He’s alive.”

  She got to her feet, eyes fixed on the forest stretching beyond the valley ruins. “The child… His name was hidden, but I know it now. I saw it. I felt it. My mentor was right. I need to find her.”

  “Wait—” Levan reached for her arm, but she stepped out of his reach.

  “No, I have to find her,” she muttered, more to herself than to him. “She’ll know what this means. She told me this would happen, but I never believed…” Her voice collapsed into breathless panic. “She’ll know what to do.”

  Adaptation Path — 1/10 Activated

  Fluttermorph ? Lv. 48

  A blinding light flashed before his eyes. Her figure shrank into a glowing orb, shaping into the six-winged insect. The creature bolted, trailing white mist as it weaved through vines and trees. She vanished into the forest, too fast to follow. He still didn’t understand what had happened. But with his mentor gone, he had no choice. He had to find her.

  “Parsabelle!” Levan shouted, stumbling to his feet. “Wait for me!”

  He ran after her. The air was still thick with silence, the stone behind them still warm. Just when he thought he’d never trip again—he did. His foot caught on an arching root, and he fell flat on the grass.

  ● System Interruption ●

  Get new boots.

  –3 HP

  HP: 320 / 323

  “Shut up,” he groaned at the system. He got up and ran. “Damn it… at least she didn’t see that.” He charged into the forest after her.

  And above them, the sky whispered a name they’d never heard.

  Vynelor.

  Milestone:

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