The moment Carter opened the Codex, the world itself shuddered.
A wave of unseen force burst from the book—rippling across the skies like a silent scream. Birds scattered in every direction. Trees bent unnaturally. Far beyond the horizon, mountains cracked and the ocean recoiled as if the earth had taken a breath it hadn't dared draw in centuries.
Sera stumbled back, shielding her eyes. "Carter! What did you—?"
"I didn't even open a page," he said, his voice hoarse. "It opened itself."
The Codex hovered above the pedestal now, its golden pages flipping wildly, glowing with symbols none of them had ever seen before. Each character shimmered with strange life, as if ancient languages had been fused into something primal—something forgotten even by time.
Lysara stared in awe. "It's broadcasting… not just power. Truth."
Ezra's voice came low and shaken. "We need to leave. Now. Before he arrives."
But it was too late.
A sound like stone grinding against bone echoed across the highlands. The wind fell dead. The sky turned gray—not clouded, but drained of color.
And then…
He came.
High above, slicing through the ashen sky, a massive, coiled shadow descended from the clouds. It didn't fly—it simply was, stretching across the heavens like a second spine of the world.
The Wyrm.
A creature of pure age, ancient will, and unfathomable power. Its eyes—twin voids—opened in the clouds. They weren't looking at the group. They were looking through them. Into their souls.
Lysara dropped to her knees. "He's… he's no longer sealed."
"He knows," Carter whispered. "He knows I have the Codex."
The Wyrm's voice followed, not spoken but felt. A low vibration in their chests, like death humming through the strings of life:
"Mortal… you have trespassed. You hold the key to unmaking me. But your mind… is too small. Your will… too weak."
Carter stepped forward. His hand trembled, but his voice did not. "You're wrong. I saw what you did to this world. I saw what we were before your lies. I won't let you rewrite history again."
The Wyrm's laughter cracked the skies. Lightning webbed across the clouds in silent fury.
"Then burn with your defiance."
The sky exploded.
Dark fire poured from the heavens like liquid shadow. The spire shuddered, groaned, then split apart at its peak. Carter raised the Codex, instinctively speaking a word it fed into his mind—one of the true names.
The fire stopped.
Midair, held in place like frozen rain.
The Codex glowed brighter. A golden aura enveloped them all, casting the Wyrm's fire away from them like dust.
Sera clutched Carter's sleeve. "That name… What was it?"
He turned, eyes glowing faintly gold. "It was the name of resistance."
Lysara's expression darkened. "He'll come in person now. The Wyrm won't rely on fire or fear. He'll descend."
Ezra pulled out his dagger, spinning it once. "Good. Let him."
The spire began to collapse behind them.
"We need to move," Carter said, grabbing the Codex. "This was just the beginning."
As they leapt from the platform back to the land below, the Wyrm's form twisted higher into the clouds, spiraling back into hiding—but only for now.
A war had begun.
Not of kingdoms or armies.
But of memory, name, and the soul of the world itself.