Kaelira knelt by the edge of the ruined cliff, one hand on the stone. Her fingers sparked faintly.
> [Trace Echo Detected – Activated Node: Tier I]
User Signature: Unknown Emperor – Status: Rising]
System Residue: Fresh | Direction: South-Southeast
"South," she muttered. "Closer than I thought."
She stood, brushing dust from her armor. Around her, the remains of a long-dead scouting outpost lay in silence—overgrown, swallowed by time. Her system flickered again, incomplete but functional in strange ways.
She tapped into a barely-working module.
> [Reclaim Protocol – Beastbind: Active]
Linked Entity: Ashdrake (Feral-Class)
Status: Semi-Controlled | Loyalty: 42%
A low growl answered from the cave behind her. The Ashdrake—a towering, four-eyed predator with scales of coal and smoke—crawled out and circled her once, obedient but wary.
"I'm not after him to play nice," Kaelira said softly. "He's waking up parts of the system that should stay dead."
She stared across the jungle.
"If he keeps pushing, the Old Code will come for us all."
Her system pinged again. A shimmer in the sky—faint, like a signal flare only she could see.
> Next Pulse Estimate: 2 Days | Node III Location: Unstable
She smiled.
"Two days to catch him."
Kaelira mounted the Ashdrake. Flames hissed under its skin as it launched forward, leaping across the ruined terrain in silence and speed.
She didn't want to kill Darius.
Not yet.
But if he was opening old doors, she'd be there first—either to close th
em... or walk through before he could.
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