[Location: Continent of Gravas - Temple of the Open Sky]
High above a sea of golden clouds, within a spiraled spire of alabaster and divine glass, a quiet meeting began.
Six figures gathered beneath the halo of the World Sigil—a glowing circle of runes suspended in the air like a sun that refused to set.
Clerics bowed and exited, their prayers echoing faintly against marble.
The chamber was left with its true occupants.
"Another anomaly has awakened."
The speaker was draped in violet robes, with a third eye open in the center of his forehead, glowing like a polished amethyst.
"A false god beneath the surface. We believe… it is one of her children."
A woman cloaked in feathers and bone exhaled.
"Then we must act. Before her chaos infects this world completely."
From the back, a deeper voice rumbled, slow but thunderous.
"We lost one of our agents in the Deep Zone. Kaska."
"The report said she engaged the being—and returned. She lied."
"She feared it."
The violet-robed man nodded.
"Not fear. Doubt."
Silence followed.
And then the woman said:
"Then let us summon another of the Twelve."
[The Silver Scarlands - Unknown Wastes]
Something opened in the desert.
A crack between stars.
A figure stepped through.
Not human. Not beast. Wings of black glass. Horns shaped like crescent moons. Eyes too ancient for any child.
The 6th-born.
A sibling.
[Back in the Black Maw – Dungeon Core Sanctum]
Leo sat in silence.
He hadn't moved from the platform near his Core in hours.
Myra hovered nearby, biting into dried mushrooms and watching him like a cat watches fire.
"You're doing it again."
"Doing what?" Leo asked, tone flat.
"Staring at the Core like it's gonna sing."
He didn't smile.
But he wasn't as cold anymore, either.
"I'm listening."
Myra blinked. "To what?"
"To the dungeon."
"It talks?"
Leo tapped a finger against the obsidian floor. A pulse of red light shimmered across it in response.
"It's alive."
"It reacts to my moods. It adapts faster when I let it… feel."
Myra narrowed her eyes.
"You're bonding with it."
Leo finally turned to her.
"I'm not inside the dungeon."
"I am the dungeon."
She looked away. "Creepy."
"Thanks."
[System Update – Internal Shift]
Suddenly, a chime echoed inside Leo's mind.
[SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE]
[New Feature Unlocked: Sub-Core Creation]
[Warning: Unstable Emotional Imprint Detected. System recommends immediate grounding.]
"...That's new," Leo muttered.
Myra perked up. "What now?"
"Sub-core creation."
"Meaning?"
"I can create fragments of myself."
He stood slowly.
"And give them... form."
"Control. Purpose. Memory."
Myra narrowed her eyes.
"Like kids?"
"Like soldiers," Leo said.
"But maybe kids too."
[The Forge Room]
The forge room was built from salvaged lava vents and enchanted silver veins. Molten rivers ran beneath glass platforms. Leo stood at the center.
He extended a hand over the core-shaped pedestal and focused.
The mana in the air shifted.
And in his palm, a shard began to form—flickering between light and shadow.
"What are you doing?" Myra asked, leaning over a support beam above.
"Testing a theory."
He compressed the mana tighter, blending it with a sliver of his own soul essence.
The pain was immediate.
Sharp.
Real.
His knees buckled slightly.
But he pushed through.
"Don't pass out. That's rule one," Myra called.
Leo ignored her.
And then—*
CRACK.
The crystal solidified.
The mana whirled around them—and from the pedestal, a humanoid shape began to form.
Small.
Childlike.
Shadowy skin. Eyes like flickering stars.
It blinked once—and looked up at Leo.
"...Father?"
[Leo and the Sub-Core]
Leo stared at the being.
It was barely a meter tall. No gender. No name. But somehow… familiar.
It stepped forward hesitantly.
"I feel your voice."
"Am I… real?"
Leo knelt.
Touched its shoulder.
"You're real."
"And you're mine."
The being tilted its head. Then smiled.
"Then I'll protect what you love."
Leo said nothing.
But something shifted inside him.
A faint warmth.
One he hadn't felt in what felt like lifetimes.
[Deep Forest Borderlands]
Beyond the caves and tunnels, at the very edge of the dungeon's influence, a new disturbance rippled through the trees.
Myra's ears twitched.
Leo felt it too—through the dungeon floor, like vibrations in bone.
"Something just landed."
"Another adventuring party?" Myra asked.
Leo shook his head.
"No."
"This feels... colder."
He focused.
And through the stone, through the mycelium network binding the dungeon together, he saw it:
A figure walking calmly across the moss.
Wings of glass.
Eyes like a broken sky.
And when it paused, it looked directly at him.
"Hello, brother."
Leo stood still.
Myra looked at him sideways. "Uh. Did that guy just—?"
"Yes."
"He's one of us."
Myra's eyes widened. "Another of the Twelve?"
Leo's voice dropped.
"The Sixth."
"And if he's here…"
He turned toward the Core room.
"Something bigger's coming."
"We need to prepare."