Herald
Location: Safe Zone – Eastern Wall & Barracks
Time: July 26th, 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM
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7:00 AM – Echoes of the Sigil
POV: Kael
The glyph still burned in his wrist like it was etched into bone. Kael stood atop the eastern wall, both daggers at his sides. The Obsidian Dagger, cold and wicked, could split armor. The Dagger of Humility thrummed faintly with inner heat.
The wind carried ash from the scorched trees below. He could feel the world bending again.
His mimic appeared beside him — silent, unnaturally still. Its mirrored form held shadow-versions of Kael's daggers.
"They saw you," it said without moving its lips. "The glyph wasn't a mark. It was a key."
Kael didn't respond. His eyes were locked on the horizon. The forest was wrong — too quiet, too still.
Then the tremor came.
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8:00 AM – Preparations
POV: Elle
Elle slammed her spear into the ground, small sparks of fire curling around the blade. Her breathing was slow, measured. She was already armored, boots laced tight, hair tied back.
In front of her, Dain adjusted the lens of his rifle. His vest was loaded with kinetic cartridges. The glyph on his neck glowed faintly, reacting to the static in the air.
Armin stepped through the barracks doorway, stretching his shoulders. His arms gleamed with hardened skin—Ironhide already active. His glaives were strapped to his back, the edges recently sharpened.
Kael joined them quietly. "It's coming. And we don't wait for it."
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9:00 AM – First Contact
POV: Dain
The creatures came in clusters — misshapen beasts stitched with glowing glyphs, some crawling, others gliding unnaturally over the cracked ground.
Dain dropped to one knee and triggered Kinetic Flow. Wind curved around his arm as he focused, summoning bullets from thin air.
His first shot took out the eye of a sprinting beast. The second ricocheted and hit a glyph hidden in its ribcage, sending the thing tumbling.
"Elle, two coming up your left!"
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9:10 AM – Flame and Steel
POV: Elle
Elle dashed forward with inhuman speed, activating Spear Strike. Five blinding attacks launched in a second — one through a monster's skull, another into its spine.
Sparks of flame flared from her Spear Bound weapon, igniting her third strike. She spun, sending a wind gust that knocked the fourth monster off-balance.
She panted but held her ground. "Still warming up," she muttered.
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9:15 AM – The Edge of Kael
POV: Kael
Kael vanished into the battlefield, empowered by Routine Surge. He was a blur — appearing beside monsters before they could react.
His Obsidian Dagger slid into a beast's neck, severing it with a flash. He switched grip, slashed with the Dagger of Humility, searing open a glyph on another's chest.
With a twist of his wrist, the blades merged — forming a glowing short sword that pulsed with heat. He drove it through a lumbering monster's core, melting bone.
Above him, his mimic mirrored the exact combo on another creature, two deadly performances in sync.
He ducked a claw, stabbed upward, then leapt back, sensing aggression through Ghost Veil before it even moved.
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9:45 AM – Armin's Wall
POV: Armin
Armin waded through enemies like a bulldozer, both glaives burning with Flamewake effects.
With Ironhide making his skin nearly invincible, he took hits others couldn't — absorbing a head-on slam from a beast three times his size, then driving both blades into its gut.
He grunted, activating Breaker Rush to plow through a second wave, knocking them into Elle's path.
"Keep pushing!" he shouted. "Don't let them regroup!"
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10:00 AM – The Ground Splits
POV: Kael
The forest cracked with a sound like bones snapping underwater.
The earth began to part. Not just open — rip.
A towering figure rose from the rift. Not a monster. Not even a beast. A creature marked in black and white sigils. A humanoid shape, robed in smoke and stone.
Its eyes opened. No light. Just depth.
The Herald.
Kael froze. His mimic didn't. It whispered in his mind:
"This is what they sent you for. The real trial."
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10:05 AM – Countdown
POV: Team View
The team regrouped as the Herald began to rise higher than the trees.
Elle's spear sparked, flickering with fire and wind.
Dain reloaded silently, sweat beading on his brow.
Armin looked down at his shaking hands, then clenched them tight.
Kael stepped forward, short sword in hand, flickering with heat.
"Form a cross. I go center. Dain, cover high. Elle, sweep left. Armin—"
"I'll hold right," Armin cut in.
Kael nodded. "We do this fast. Before it finishes waking up."
His mimic stepped into his shadow. "You've never fought something like this."
Kael whispered back, "I don't need to win. Just need to hurt it."
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10:15 AM – Cliffhanger
POV: The Herald
It turned its gaze toward the Safe Zone.
Its mouth didn't move, but a voice spread across every mind in the radius:
"The marked awaken. Let the world burn."
And as the glyphs across its body began to glow — one matching Kael's exactly —
Kael felt something rip inside his chest. His glyph pulsed.
The same glyph appeared on the Herald's palm.
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TO BE CONTINUED
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