The courtyard was silent.
Ash drifted where the Abyssal Reaver had stood. Cracks split the ground like black lightning scars. Not a single professor, spellblade, or ward-keeper moved.
Only one person stood upright.
Lira.
Her small frame was bathed in pale light—runic wisps trailing like stardust from her fingertips. The glow faded slowly, leaving only a wide-eyed child… and a memory that no one could quite place.
[New Notification: Unique Phenomenon Logged – "The Echo of Forgetting"][Warning: Classification mismatch. System lacks permission to identify subject.][Advisory: Contact Central Codex Authority. Access Level Required: Sovereign.]
Riven's system screen blinked and died.
"Lira…" he whispered, stepping cautiously toward her.
She looked at him, eyes clear. "It's gone now."
"What did you do?"
She hesitated. "I don't know. I just… didn't want it to hurt you."
Before he could ask more, the ground trembled again. But this time, it wasn't from a monster.
It was the arrival of the Council.
Twelve cloaked figures descended from glowing portals above the Academy. Their faces were obscured by veils of living light, their presence bending the very rules of the world.
Each one bore a mark—rings of ancient script orbiting them like planets.
The Headmaster stepped forward to meet them, robes singed, expression grim.
"She erased an Abyssal-class construct," one of the figures said. His voice echoed, old as stone, sharp as judgment. "That should not be possible."
Another turned toward Riven. "You. The brother. What are you hiding?"
"I don't even know what's happening!" he snapped. "She's just a kid!"
"She's not."
Everyone turned.
It was the Librarian.
The ancient woman walked forward, her cane clicking against the broken stone. "She's what the world forgot. One of the last echoes of an erased system—one the Codex itself has no record of. A remnant of the First Code."
The Council stirred.
"She awakened it," the Librarian continued. "She didn't defeat the Reaver. She unwrote it."
Riven felt his knees weaken. "Is she… dangerous?"
"She's hope," the Librarian said softly. "And the world will try to kill her for it."
Elsewhere, in a sealed chamber beneath the Abyss
The demon-king stirred from meditation. His horns pulsed with red light, reacting to the echo Lira had left behind.
"She's been found," he murmured. "The girl who survived the memory purge."
A shadow behind him grinned, razor teeth gleaming.
"Shall we send the Sleepless Ones?"
The demon-king nodded once. "Let the games begin."