Fragments of the Forgotten

The tunnels were quieter than usual when Raen returned.

His boots echoed on the metal-grate floor, the sound muffled by condensation dripping from ruptured coolant lines above. A sharp tang of ozone clung to the air—old energy. Still alive, still wired into something deep below the city's bones.

Raen's thoughts churned like that power, restless.

The message he'd unlocked replayed in fragments in his mind.

> "You are the final fallback..."

"It is a survivor..."

He hadn't just awakened a Codex.

He had inherited a war.

And somehow, his blood had made him a match for something that had once been hunted by gods.

---

As he neared the outer ring of the Forgotten's hideout, the Codex blinked into view without prompting.

> [Codex Interface – Progression Summary: Updated]

User: Raen Virell

Core Status: Bound (Dormant Symbiosis – Voidbeast Egg)

Ascendant Tier: Tier 1 – Awakening

Sub-Level: Low

[Core XP: 12 / 100]

Stats:

Strength – 7

Agility – 9

Endurance – 8

Perception – 11

Willpower – 14

Aether Resonance – 1

Mutation Factor: 8.5%

Active Traits:

Shadow Respiration [Basic] – Cloaking aura through breath control

Passive Traits:

Neural Echo Perception [Dormant] – Reacts to hidden presence and intent

Codex Traits Unlocked: 1 / ?

Raen stopped walking.

Tier 1.

It wasn't much… but it was real.

The Empire had deemed him Null.

But here it was—in numbers, in progress, in truth. He was no longer just a statistical error. He had a path.

Even if he had to carve every step alone.

---

When he entered the common hall, he immediately sensed the tension.

The girl—he still didn't know her name—stood by the old surveillance grid, brows furrowed, gloves tight over her wrists. The sensor-blind woman sat with perfect stillness, her head tilted slightly as if listening to something no one else could hear.

And Harn paced near the weapons cache, muttering.

Raen set his blade down quietly.

"What happened?"

The girl glanced at him. Then back to the terminal.

"A patrol didn't return."

Raen blinked. "One of yours?"

"Two, actually. Larel and Fen. They were gathering signal jammers from the western crawl. We haven't had contact in three hours."

"Could be nothing," Harn muttered. "Or it could be a sweep."

Raen's eyes narrowed. "Sweep?"

"Low-altitude drones. Sometimes they send untagged sniffers into the Fringe. They're not Grid-authorized—operated by scavenger guilds or private trackers looking for loose Codex signatures."

The blind woman finally spoke.

"Or bait."

Raen stepped closer.

"They were taken?"

The girl nodded once.

"Or worse."

---

There was silence.

Not fear. Not panic.

But calculation.

These people didn't run on emotion. They weren't heroes. They were survivors—trained by betrayal, bonded by necessity. If they'd lasted this long, it was because they'd learned what others hadn't:

Emotion was a luxury. Precision kept you alive.

But Raen wasn't one of them.

Not yet.

He crossed his arms.

"I'll go."

Harn scoffed. "Alone?"

"I'm the least known. Least expected. My Codex is unstable—they won't be able to trace my thread easily. And I need experience."

The girl turned slowly.

Her gaze wasn't surprised.

Just evaluating.

She nodded once.

"Then take a tracker bead. And don't do anything stupid."

Raen nodded.

He didn't say it out loud…

But everything he was about to do was stupid.

---

Fringe Sector 9 – Western Crawl Zone

The crawl was a ruined intersection of industrial collapse and buried transport lines. Sharp angles of bent alloy stretched across old rail bridges like ribs. The ground steamed in places—vent leaks, Raen guessed.

He moved with practiced slowness.

The Codex helped.

> [Perception Pulse Active]

Nearby Threads Detected: 4

One Passive

One Injured

Two Dormant

Status: Potential Hostile

Suggested Range: Maintain Distance

He narrowed his eyes and climbed a crumbling stairwell to a vantage point. From there, he saw the flickers.

Two figures sat slumped near an old waste-shield—both unmoving. Another was crawling, clutching their side. The fourth…

Raen froze.

The fourth wasn't human.

It stood tall—thin, spindly limbs clad in semi-organic plating. Its head tilted unnaturally, and long strands of optical fibers hung from where its eyes should have been. It twitched.

> [Beast-Class Signature Detected]

Codex Designation: ???

Type: Unknown

Tier Estimate: Tier 2 (Threaded Core)

Danger Rating: High

Beast Traits:

Visual Inversion

Neuro-Spike Emitter

Biological Mimicry [Partial]

Codex Note: UNREGISTERED ENTITY

Raen's blood chilled.

The thing wasn't from the Grid.

It wasn't from anywhere.

It had no registration. No beast-code. No signal tags.

And it was watching the survivors like a cat stalking pinned prey.

He exhaled slowly.

He could leave.

Return. Report.

But if he did…

Larel and Fen would die.

And he wouldn't earn a single step further in his path.

---

The Codex blinked again.

> [Optional Objective Triggered]

First Combat Trial – Beast vs. Ascendant

Codex Reward (On Victory): +10 XP, Trait Unlock Chance

Note: High-risk scenario. Codex will auto-reinforce neural survival instincts.

Raen drew the katana.

His hands trembled.

But his eyes sharpened.

He didn't need to win.

He just needed to hit hard enough to break the pattern.

---

The katana felt foreign in his hands.

Not unwieldy—just unfamiliar.

It wasn't a weapon built for him. Not yet. The weight distribution was clean but distant, like it hadn't chosen him either. But that didn't matter now.

Raen tightened his grip and moved.

Slowly. Deliberately.

Down the collapsed stairwell, past rusted railing, to the fractured junction where the beast watched the wounded figures. He made no sound. Shadow Respiration cloaked his presence just enough to delay notice, like his heartbeat dipped beneath awareness.

The Codex pulsed in his mind's eye:

> [Combat Initiation Imminent]

[Target Identified: Mimic-Strain Nullbeast – Subtype Unknown]

Estimated Tier: 2 – Threaded Core

Threat Level: Moderate-to-Severe

Opening Strike Bonus: +2 XP (If successful)

Trait Potential: Flicker or Evolve

Shadow Respiration – Active

Neural Echo Perception – Awakening

---

Raen launched.

His foot hit loose gravel, and in the same breath, the katana whipped up in a rising arc.

Steel hissed through damp air.

The blade struck the beast's back—clean, cutting, direct.

The impact was real. The hit landed.

But it was wrong.

Instead of flesh, the blade passed through dense, spring-like tissue—semi-fluid, half-tensed, like stabbing a muscle that expected the attack.

The creature twisted.

Raen's eyes widened.

The beast's body liquified at the point of impact, flowing around the blade with a shimmer of grey-blue light, then solidifying in a crouch facing him.

Its face—if it had one—split open vertically.

Inside was a void threaded with twitching tendrils of light.

Then it shrieked.

> [Codex Alert – Countermeasure Detected]

Threat Level Escalation: Tier 2.5

Trait Activated: Neuro-Spike Emitter

Status Effect Attempted: Paralysis

Willpower Save: Passed (14 Willpower)

Status: Unaffected

Raen staggered back, jaw clenched against the psychic pressure that washed over him. It wasn't pain. It was flood—a drowning force of instinctless noise.

He forced breath through his nose.

Eyes on the beast.

Blade up.

---

The Nullbeast lunged.

It moved like water and spider-silk—a blur of long limbs and twitching weight-shifts. No rhythm. No pattern. Just speed and elastic momentum.

Raen ducked the first swipe, rolled, and slashed low.

The katana bit in again—this time drawing something.

Black fluid sprayed. Not blood. Thicker. Slower. Like corrupted sap.

The beast staggered and howled, its limbs reshaping.

The Codex flared:

> [Hit Confirmed – XP Gained: +6]

[Codex Synchronization Rising…]

Mutation Factor: 9.3%

Core Instinct Echo Detected

Trait Progression Triggered: Shadow Respiration → Shadow Thread Flicker (Basic)

New Trait Unlocked: Flicker Step [Unstable]

Flicker Step – Short-range spatial misalignment. Disrupts visual and predictive tracking. 2-meter range.

Cooldown: 6 seconds.

Raen didn't have time to celebrate.

The Nullbeast roared and split—its body unraveling into tendrils, each lunging toward him like hissing cables.

He triggered Flicker Step.

The world snapped.

Not movement. Displacement. His body shifted laterally in a blur of black threads, reappearing behind a shattered pylon.

Breath heaved in his chest.

He didn't even see it trigger—his instincts had done it for him.

The Codex didn't just evolve.

It grew with him.

---

The beast screeched again, confused.

Its form flickered—now visibly strained.

Raen stepped forward again.

Faster.

More sure.

He slashed high—deflected.

He spun low—landed a cut across its flank.

Another gush of black.

The thing stumbled, limbs convulsing.

> [Final Phase Triggered – Beast Thread Fragment Destabilized]

Threat Level Falling

XP Gained: +10

[Level-Up Condition Fulfilled]

Ascendant Tier: Tier 1 – Mid Level Reached

Core XP: 28 / 200

New Trait Slot Opened

New Stat Points Earned: +2

Codex Bonus Triggered:

Trait Evolution Option – [Neural Echo Perception → Thread Reflex (Locked)]

Raen stepped back.

The beast convulsed once, then collapsed.

Its body folded inward, collapsing into a puddle of dense, twitching sludge.

Then it was gone.

No bones.

No core.

Just… an empty wet patch on the ground.

---

Raen dropped to his knees, chest heaving, arms shaking.

Not from exhaustion.

From aftermath.

Victory wasn't elation.

It was survival.

---

> [Codex Summary – Combat Completed]

Beast Slain: 1

XP Earned: 18

Mutation Factor: 10.6%

Trait Unstable Evolution: Under Review

Stat Update:

Strength – 7

Agility – 10

Endurance – 9

Perception – 12

Willpower – 14

Aether Resonance – 1

Trait Potential: [Thread Reflex]

[Hold to Accept Upon Safe Zone Entry]

---

Raen forced himself to stand.

The wounded scavenger groaned behind him—Larel, he guessed.

Still alive.

Still bleeding.

Raen moved to lift him—carefully. The man's coat was torn open, ribs visible, his leg broken at the shin.

"We're getting out of here," Raen said, voice hoarse.

"Y-You're not… from us…" Larel muttered.

"No," Raen whispered. "But I am now."

---

The return was slow.

Painful.

But no more beasts came.

The egg pulsed faintly the moment Raen crossed the threshold of the Forgotten's safe zone.

A long, low breath.

Like it had been listening.

Like it approved.

---

The first thing Raen noticed when he stepped back into the Forgotten's bunker was the stillness.

Not silence—there were sounds: the humming of power coils, the drip of condensation from overhead pipes, the shuffle of Harn's boots. But the moment he entered carrying the wounded Larel, the air changed.

Like the room breathed in.

Like something unspoken had shifted.

He lowered Larel gently onto a reinforced cot in the back chamber.

The scavenger moaned but didn't wake.

Harn moved in quickly, gloves already pulled tight, a battered med-kit in hand. No questions. Just treatment. He worked with clinical efficiency—bone stabilizer first, then synthetic sealant.

Raen stepped back.

His arms were trembling again.

Not from the weight—but from what he was holding back.

The battle hadn't worn him out.

It had awakened something.

And it was still moving beneath his skin.

---

The girl—still unnamed—stepped into the room a minute later. Her eyes scanned Larel first, then Raen, then the floor.

"Fen?" she asked quietly.

Raen shook his head.

Only a moment passed.

But her eyes flickered.

Not grief.

Just a flash of data absorbed.

Then: "What was it?"

Raen described it quickly—limbs like fiber, inverted vision, no Codex signature. He told them everything he'd seen. And what he'd done.

When he finished, Harn sat back from the cot.

His voice was rough.

"You killed a Tier 2 Nullbeast?"

Raen didn't answer.

The Codex answered for him.

> [Codex Verification: Confirmed]

Beast Designation: [Mimic-Strain Nullbeast – Coreless Variant]

Status: Destroyed

XP Earned: 18

Host Status: Ascendant Tier 1 – Mid Level

---

That changed everything.

They didn't say it.

But Raen saw it in the way Harn looked at him now—measuring with respect, not just suspicion.

The girl crossed her arms.

"You triggered your first evolution?"

Raen nodded. "New trait. Codex offered me a progression."

She tilted her head.

"Let's see it."

Raen sat, legs crossed. Closed his eyes. Focused inward.

The interface shimmered.

> [Codex Trait Path – Evolution Menu Opened]

Eligible Trait Upgrade:

Neural Echo Perception → Thread Reflex [Basic]

Description: Enhances instinctual reaction to hostility. Passive threat anticipation.

+10% Reflex Response

Enables Split-Second Dodge Sequences (if AGI ≥ 10)

Additional unlocks at higher Mutation Factor thresholds

Accept Evolution?

[Yes] – [No]

He accepted.

Immediately, a sharp pressure built in his spine—like a knot untwisting deep behind his ribcage.

He didn't groan or gasp.

He just breathed.

And the Codex shifted again.

---

> Trait Evolution Successful

[Updated Traits]

Active:

Shadow Respiration [Basic]

Flicker Step [Unstable]

Passive:

Thread Reflex [Basic]

Codex Tier: Bound Prototype

Mutation Factor: 11.4%

---

When Raen opened his eyes, they weren't glowing.

But they felt… tighter. Not tense—coiled. Like his body had been rewired for something more than movement.

Anticipation.

---

"Mutation percentage?" the girl asked softly.

Raen hesitated.

Then: "Eleven-point-four."

Harn let out a low breath.

"That's fast."

"Dangerously fast," the sensor-blind woman added from the far end of the room. She hadn't moved since he'd returned. But she'd heard everything.

"Accelerated mutation without regulation means instability. The last person who hit ten before the second Tier went feral within a week."

Raen didn't respond.

He didn't have to.

The egg had pulsed again.

Just once.

A long, slow surge of violet glow that rippled across the sling beside his cot.

It had felt the kill.

It had shared it.

---

Later, as the others drifted to their tasks, Raen sat beside the egg.

He didn't speak.

Didn't ask it questions.

But something had changed between them.

The shell was warmer.

The glow steadier.

Its presence less like pressure—more like breath.

Shared breath.

He placed a palm gently against its side.

The Codex responded.

> [Voidbeast Coreline Status: Stabilizing]

Symbiotic Link Strength: +4%

Total Core Affinity: 36%

Next Milestone: Mutation Form Threshold – 50%

Passive Sync Traits Unlock at 40%

Raen exhaled.

There was a long road ahead.

But for the first time… it felt like his road.

---

Somewhere Else – Unknown Sector

Another egg cracked.

But not in silence.

Not in warmth.

This one shattered in fire.

In a forge chamber buried beneath collapsed grid towers, a figure stood bare-chested, tattoos etched with volatile light pulsing across his skin.

He looked at the dark thing crawling from the egg with disgust.

Then he smiled.

"A soul engine, huh?" he whispered.

He drew blood from his wrist, let it drip onto the writhing form.

The thing drank.

> Codex Host Identified: Valor Kane

Codex Path: Adaptive Weaponized Symbiosis

Thread Designation: Flamecore Beast-Drake

Tier: 1

Status: Compatible

Objective: Surpass the Thresholds. Break the old code. Burn the tower down.

---