Chapter 15: When the Fog Opens, and the First Torch Falls

The fog rolled in before the sun.

Thick. Heavy. Quiet.

It slithered through the marsh grasses east of Stonehollow, pooling along the roads like smoke from a fire that hadn't started yet.

Kiriti stood atop the south tower with his borrowed spyglass, watching the ridge.

He saw the first flicker.

A torch.Then two.Then ten.

And behind them — armored shapes. Clean. Efficient. Moving in formation.

Iron Pact.

Below, the town moved like a single breath.

Not frantic. Not chaotic.

Just awake.

The baker passed out crust heels and thick rolls.The children were herded into the root cellar beneath Marla's shop.Emeric barked assignments from the barracks steps, voice low but firm.

"Gate brace to post-two. Archers ready. Civvies out of line-of-sight."

They weren't soldiers. Not really.

But they were Stonehollow.

And that was enough.

Kiriti dropped down from the tower.

Met Emeric at the gate.

"They're coming," he said.

Emeric didn't ask how many.

He didn't need to.

"They always come first with scouts. They test the edges. Mark targets."

"Then we hold the line?"

Emeric shook his head.

"We hold the story."

Kiriti blinked. "What?"

"Doesn't matter if we lose," Emeric said. "What matters is that they remember we were here."

Revi stood on the chapel steps, half-shadowed by the bell tower.

Her name tag flickered faintly — a soft indicator of system ambiguity.

Not hostile. Not allied.Not yet.

She watched Kiriti walk past.

Didn't stop him.

Didn't join him either.

But her fingers hovered over the party request button again.

Longer this time.

The first torch hit the field by dawn.

A scout in light armor, dual-blades on his back, flicked his targeting HUD and grinned.

No resistance pinged.

He stepped forward.

And stepped directly into a rope trap buried in the wheat.

A snap.A yelp.And then mud, swallowing him to the waist.

The stableboy — hiding in a ditch — whistled once.

Kiriti signaled back.

"Now."

Three figures emerged from the alleyway — Kiriti, Emeric, and a farmer with a pitchfork who refused to stay behind.

The scout barely had time to react.

Kiriti's spear hit first — not lethal, but sharp. Aimed to disarm, not to kill.

Emeric followed with a buckler strike.

The scout fell.

Fast.

Too fast.

Back in the field, another player stepped out of formation, blinking at his feed.

"[Scout 1: Status = Down?]"

He turned to his group.

"I thought this was a safe push."

The leader of that detachment — a woman in obsidian chain — frowned.

"Re-tag the village. Update system aggression. Move with caution."

The system interface chimed.

[ALERT: Target Zone Response Level – EXCEEDS EXPECTED AI RANGE]

Inside Stonehollow, Kiriti caught his breath against the wall.

"They're not pulling back."

Emeric wiped blood off his gauntlet.

"They will. Eventually."

"They'll come stronger next time."

"They always do."

Kiriti didn't speak.

He could feel it now — like pressure building in the seams of the world.This wasn't just defense anymore.This was a shift.

Something stirring inside the code — watching the story rewrite itself.

That night, the townspeople lit their candles again.

But this time, they lined them outside.

On windowsills. On fence posts. On every corner stone.

Not as beacons.

As reminders.

"This is ours."

In a tent at Iron Pact's forward camp, Gerrik stared at the scout's report with narrowed eyes.

"They set a trap," he muttered.

"A trap doesn't break code," said the mage beside him.

Gerrik looked up.

"No."

He crushed the report between his fingers.

"But Kiriti does."

Back in Stonehollow, Revi watched as Kiriti re-tightened the gate braces.

His hands were red. His sleeves muddy.He wasn't glowing. He wasn't monologuing.

He was still here.

Doing what no one else would.

She opened her interface.

[JOIN PARTY – Kiriti]

Hovered.

Then tapped [Yes].

And the bell above the chapel rang.

Once.

📄 [REGION STATUS: CONFLICT – ESCALATING]Player Kiriti — Grouped: YesPlayer Revi — Alliance Shift: Unlocked

Zone Alert: RAID WINDOW ACTIVE (19:00 server)

Guild Response: Iron Pact initiating Phase Two

Next Objective: "Break Anchor Player Influence"