Chapter 6:The Path To The Forgotten Shrine

Lorien staggered.

The village was whole again. The people moved as if nothing had happened. The warmth of the sun bathed the streets in golden light.

But his hands still trembled.

His breath still came ragged.

And deep in his core, the echo of that thing's presence lingered like a shadow that refused to fade.

"You are a vessel unformed."

What did it mean?

He clenched his fists.

The system had always guided him—harsh, cryptic, but never uncertain.

Yet this time, even it had faltered.

[System Notification:]

[WARNING: The entity encountered is beyond current system parameters. Further encounters may destabilize trial conditions.]

A heavy weight settled in his chest.

He wasn't supposed to see this. Not yet.

And if the system was struggling to keep things in order—

Then was this truly his power?

Or was something else guiding him?

"Lorien?"

He turned.

Myra stood a few steps away, her dark eyes searching his. "Are you… okay?"

Lorien opened his mouth—then hesitated.

She had felt something earlier. The whispers. The unseen presence. She wasn't blind to what was happening, even if she didn't understand.

But could he tell her?

Could he tell anyone?

That doubt gnawed at him.

Finally, he forced a small nod. "Just… a bad feeling."

She frowned, unconvinced. But before she could question further—

The system interrupted.

[New Objective Acquired: Seek the Forgotten Shrine.]

Lorien stiffened.

A new objective? Not a trial—just a direct command.

His gut twisted.

This had never happened before.

Whatever was going on…

The system was now reacting.

And Lorien had the sinking feeling that he wasn't the one making the choices anymore.

A gust of wind swept through the village, rustling the fabric of merchant stalls and sending loose parchment fluttering through the air. The moment felt so normal—so mundane—that it clashed violently with the weight of the system's latest command.

Lorien stared at the words burning in his vision:

[New Objective Acquired: Seek the Forgotten Shrine.]

He had never received an order like this before. Not a trial. Not a warning. Just… a directive.

A directive that came after the encounter with that thing.

His fingers curled slightly. Was the system trying to correct something? Or was this another manipulation?

"Lorien," Myra's voice was softer this time. "You're shaking."

He forced himself to exhale.

"I'm fine," he lied.

Her frown deepened, but before she could pry further, a voice cut through the village square.

"You there!"

Lorien turned.

An armored figure strode toward him—broad-shouldered, clad in silver-trimmed plate, with the insignia of the Ivory Sentinels engraved on his chest. A knight.

Lorien's muscles tensed.

The Ivory Sentinels were enforcers of the Holy Dominion—a militant sect that served under the gods' will. If they were here, then something was happening beyond his trials.

The knight came to a halt in front of him. His helmet obscured most of his face, but his piercing blue eyes locked onto Lorien's like a blade poised at his throat.

"You match the description of an anomaly reported in this region," the knight said. "We have reason to believe an unregistered wielder of unknown power is among the villagers."

Lorien's pulse quickened.

They were hunting him.

And if the gods' enforcers were after him, it meant his existence as a Sovereign was no longer just a secret whispered in shadows.

Myra stepped forward, placing herself slightly between him and the knight. "He's no anomaly," she said firmly. "He's a traveler. Nothing more."

The knight didn't even spare her a glance.

"Show me your sigil," he ordered.

Lorien's jaw clenched. A sigil was a divine mark bestowed upon those recognized by the gods—a proof of belonging within the Holy Dominion's jurisdiction. But Lorien had no sigil. His power wasn't granted by any deity. It had awakened—a force far older than any god's blessing.

The knight's silence stretched.

"No sigil?" His fingers curled over the hilt of his longsword. "Then you are unregistered. And that makes you a threat."

[System Notification:]

[WARNING: Hostile Entity Detected. Combat Unavoidable.]

Lorien barely had time to react before the knight moved.

A flash of silver. A blur of motion.

Lorien ducked—instinct, reflex, survival. The blade slashed through the air where his head had been a moment before.

The knight was fast. Too fast for a normal human.

Divine enhancement. A blessing from the gods.

Lorien's mind raced. He wasn't fully prepared for a direct confrontation. His trials had sharpened him, but this wasn't a test from the system—this was real. And if he hesitated—

[System Notification: New Skill Acquired.]

[Sovereign's Grasp (Lv. 1): Allows manipulation of unseen forces within a fixed radius.]

Lorien's body reacted before his mind did. A strange, foreign instinct guided him.

He reached out—not with his hands, but with something deeper.

The air shuddered.

An invisible force wrapped around the knight's sword arm, stopping the strike inches from Lorien's throat.

The knight's eyes widened. "What—"

Lorien pulled.

The force yanked the weapon from the knight's grip, sending it clattering to the ground. A split second of hesitation—that's all he needed.

Lorien drove his fist into the knight's chest, sending him sprawling.

The villagers gasped. Some backed away. Others murmured in fear.

The Ivory Sentinels were supposed to be unshakable.

Yet one had just been defeated in front of their eyes.

Lorien stood over the fallen knight, his pulse hammering. His new ability still hummed through his veins, foreign yet familiar, like a muscle he had never used but somehow knew belonged to him.

The knight coughed, struggling to rise. His gaze burned with recognition—no longer just suspicion, but certainty.

"You..." His breath came ragged. "You are not ordinary."

Lorien didn't reply.

[System Notification:]

[Quest Progression Unlocked: Path to the Forgotten Shrine.]

That was confirmation enough.

He had to leave.

Now.

Lorien and Myra moved quickly, leaving the village behind as the sun dipped lower in the sky. The roads ahead were uneven, winding through thick forests and jagged cliffs.

Myra hadn't spoken since they fled. She kept pace beside him, her expression unreadable.

Finally, after nearly an hour of silence, she asked, "Where are we going?"

Lorien hesitated. He could lie. He could tell her it was just another journey. But after what had happened in the village, there was no point in hiding it anymore.

"There's a shrine," he said. "The system… it's guiding me there."

Her brows furrowed. "The system? It's never directed you anywhere before."

"I know." His voice was quiet. "That's what worries me."

She didn't respond right away. Instead, she let the silence stretch again, as if weighing his words against some unspoken thought.

Then she asked, "That thing you did back there… stopping the knight's sword. That wasn't like your usual abilities."

He exhaled slowly. "It wasn't."

"You didn't know you could do that, did you?"

"…No."

She turned her gaze toward the horizon. "It's growing, isn't it? Your power."

Lorien nodded.

And that terrified him.

Not because he feared power itself.

But because he no longer knew if it was his own.

The journey took them deep into the mountain range, where ancient ruins lay half-buried beneath time's weight.

The shrine was no grand temple. No towering monument.

It was small. Modest. A stone altar overgrown with vines, its carvings worn away by wind and rain. But the moment Lorien stepped forward—

[System Notification:]

[You have arrived at the Forgotten Shrine.]

[New Memory Fragment Available.]

His vision blurred.

The world tilted.

And then—

A voice that wasn't his own spoke from the depths of his mind.

"So you have finally come, successor."

Lorien froze.

The voice was familiar.

Not because he had heard it before—

But because it was his own.

Or rather…

The voice of the Sovereign that came before him.

---End Of Chapter 7---