Alpha_Ruby

The air inside the High Sanctum of Eldrion crackled with magic.

Twelve archmages stood in a perfect circle, their robes embroidered with silver sigils, surrounding a glowing arcane glyph carved into the stone floor. The chanting was steady, like a rhythmic heartbeat of power pulsing through the chamber. Onlookers watched from behind crystalline barriers—nobles, generals, priests—all with the same hope in their eyes.

Their kingdom was on the brink of collapse. Demons surged from rifts in the east. The Spellknight legions were spread thin, and the Mageocracy’s rule faced uprisings from those who feared magic had grown too arrogant. Only one gambit remained:
Summon a Hero.

"Phase shift complete. Leyline convergence holding," said Archmage Varyn, voice brittle with age but strong with command. "Proceed to dimensional binding."

A younger mage in the circle nodded and touched the inner ring. A blue fire surged up from the glyph, forming a spiraling cone of mana that reached toward the domed ceiling.

From within the swirl, reality twisted.
A flash of silver. A burst of static.
And then—something went wrong.
The light turned red. The circle sparked. Screams echoed. A wave of unstable mana rippled outward like a blast wave, shattering part of the crystalline shield. Varyn’s wards held, but barely.

The cone collapsed inward—and dumped a figure onto the floor, smoking slightly.
Everything went still.
The figure groaned.
He was... different.
No armor. No sword. No magic aura.

Just a young man with short black hair, a battered hoodie, and jeans with burnt seams. He sat up groggily, coughing.
"Ugh... where... the hell am I?" he muttered.
One of the mages gasped. "That... that isn’t the Chosen Hero."
"No divine sigil. No blessing of the Light. No affinity to the Leylines."
"But... he was pulled through the Summoning Gate. That’s impossible."
Archmage Varyn narrowed his eyes. "Not impossible. Catastrophic."

The young man looked up, blinking in confusion. His name was Aiden Knox, a technologist from a world without magic.

And as the mages argued, Aiden’s vision blurred—flashing briefly with blue circuitry across his retinas.
A sound echoed in his ears, one that no one else heard:

[SYSTEM BOOTING…]
CHRONOFORGE INTERFACE v1.0
USER DETECTED: AIDEN KNOX
WORLD PROFILE INCOMPATIBLE. INITIALIZING INTEGRATION LAYER…
WELCOME, ENGINEER.

His eyes widened.
"What the hell... was that voice?"

No one answered him. The mages were already backing away.

To them, he was a mistake. A failure.
But to the world of Eltarion, this so-called error was about to become its most dangerous engineer

Chronoforge : The Engineer of Realms

The wind howled through the craggy ridge as Aiden, Kaela, and Brant emerged from the tunnel, the scent of scorched earth still lingering on their clothes. Ahead, the derelict relay tower loomed against the horizon, a skeletal spire of black steel and broken enchantments. Its frame flickered with remnants of long-dead glyphs, casting faint reflections in the pale morning light.

"Looks like a grave," Brant muttered, his gaze narrowing.

"It's more than that," Kaela said quietly. "Relay towers like this once formed the backbone of the old network. They linked minds, magic, and machines. If any place still holds fragments of ancient tech, it's in there."

[Proximity Alert: Arcanum Relay Node Detected]

[Warning: Area Status – Inactive | Structural Integrity: 38%]

[Opportunity: Data Recovery Protocol – Possible System Upgrade]

They approached cautiously, the ground crackling underfoot with fractured glass and rusted plates. The tower's entrance was half-collapsed, but Kaela invoked a displacement sigil to shift the rubble aside.

Inside, the air was colder. Rows of hollowed-out data conduits lined the walls, and shattered terminals blinked with intermittent light.

"This was a control node," Aiden said. "Probably operated by a magi-tech overseer."

As he moved forward, the interface pinged.

[New Interface Node Found – Initiating Sync]

[Warning: Corrupted Archives Detected – Manual Override Required]

He placed his palm on the exposed panel. Sparks leapt from the surface, and a low hum pulsed through the air.

[Memory Fragment: Recovered – Arcanum Overseer Protocol Alpha-3]

A distorted hologram flickered to life. It was a man in regal robes of shimmering circuitry, face fractured by static.

"...If you're seeing this, the relay has fallen. The Network is broken. All remaining Seekers are to prioritize data containment. No exceptions... The Forbidden Layer must not be unearthed…"

Kaela frowned. "What's the Forbidden Layer?"

Brant sheathed his blade. "Something they didn't want anyone to find. That means we need to find it."

Aiden worked through the fragmented interface, patching connections.

[Subsystem Accessed: Prototype Blueprints]

[Unlock Available: Nanite Constructor Drone – Crafting Enabled]

[New Quest: Unlock the Forbidden Layer]

Suddenly, a low vibration trembled through the tower. Dust cascaded from above.

[Alert: External Presence Detected]

[Seeker Recovery Signal: 87% – Estimated Arrival in 4 Hours]

"We need to move fast," Aiden said.

Kaela pointed to a sealed bulkhead. "That leads to the lower levels. If there's a way to the Forbidden Layer, it'll be through there."

With time running out and enemies closing in, the team descended deeper into the tower's heart—toward secrets buried by both time and war.

And at the edge of Aiden's vision, a new prompt emerged.

Chapter 6 – The Tower’s Shadow