"When a rewritten skill meets a loyal Hunter, someone must bend.But when both are broken things pretending to be whole…The Codex begins to crack."
—
🗡️ Location: The Veil Scripture Field
Cain stepped into the clearing, boots crunching old leaves, unaware that the air itself was scripted.
The moment his foot crossed the invisible barrier, the Veil Scripture activated.
His thoughts hiccupped.
Names slipped away.The forest grew silent.Even Shadow, his bonded beast, snarled in confusion.
"Cain?" the wolf's growl echoed in his skull."Why don't you know me?"
He staggered.
He knew… something was wrong.
He just couldn't remember what.
Lethe emerged from the ink.
Armor black as erased parchment.Eyes not glowing—but hollow.
The Veil Scripture gave her an edge.
Cain would forget his custom skill.Forget his rewritten bindings.Forget, even, who he is.
Just a boy in a forest.And she? The executioner.
But when she raised her blade…
He looked at her.Really looked.
"Do I… know you?" he asked.
And Lethe—who had erased hundreds—hesitated.
[Codex Instability Detected – Internal Conflict in Enforcer Lethe]
Trigger Phrase Detected: Emotional LinkTarget: Cain (Anathema-Class)Reaction: Delay in Execution Protocol
She saw him.
Not just the boy who'd twisted law.
But the boy who looked like her reflection in a broken mirror.
"You're not what they said," she murmured.
"And you're not what you pretend to be," Cain replied, the words spilling from some hidden core.
For a moment—
Their eyes met.
And somewhere across the woods—
Aethra screamed.
🧠 Interlude: Aethra's Mind Collapse
The Moonlink Girl—no, Aethra—was meditating in the shrine when it hit.
A psychic fracture, sharp and sudden.
As if someone tore a line across her original manuscript.
"Lethe… you weren't supposed to meet him yet," she gasped.
"He's not ready."
"And neither are you."
The mirrors around her began to shatter.
Each version of herself—the one with the wolf, the one with the ink, the one in chains—began to bleed.
Not blood.
Narrative.
She stumbled.Reaching out.Grabbing a page that wasn't bound yet.
"No… no no no—if they break the Veil too early…"
She saw it—
A new path.
A timeline not written by any Author.
A path where Cain doesn't rewrite the Codex.
A path where he becomes it.
⚠️ [Codex Disruption Tier 2 Detected]
Hunter protocol destabilized
Veil Scripture collapsing
Memory Lock: Weakening
Author Fragment Stability: 53% → 29%
Back to Cain & Lethe
Cain grunted as the memory fog lifted.
A small trickle.
Enough to feel rage.
Enough to remember Shadow.
The wolf returned at full roar, tearing the Veil with snapping teeth of voidlight.
Lethe staggered.
"Your bond… it broke through the Scripture?"
"I don't break things," Cain hissed, pulling a knife of bone and dream."I rewrite them."
Lethe raised her blade again—but slower this time.
Her knees shook.
Her breath hitched.
Because she remembered…
"I had a sister," she whispered.
"And I saved her… just like you're trying to save you."
They didn't fight.
They stood.
In the clearing.
Between pages of fate and rebellion.
And for one fragile moment—
The Codex blinked.
📜 [Codex System Update: Partial Rewrite in Progress]
"Narrative Loop Identified – Author Fragment Interference Detected""New Rule Seed Detected in Cain's Core: Hunter Can Be Redeemed**"Warning: Paradox Seed Planted – Will Bloom in 2 Chapters"