Location: Yxtrielle – Vault Theta-9, Verge Alignment Zone
Time: [Stasis Fade Complete – Rift Synchrony: 82%]
"Welcome to the Caldrith Verge, Ren."
Lira's words hung in the vault like a stormcloud made of memory and regret.
Ren stared.
Brows knit.
One eye twitching.
He tilted his head sideways, the way dogs do when you say "bath" but you're holding bacon.
REN (slowly):
"…The what?"
Lira blinked.
LIRA:
"The Caldrith Verge. This whole system. This ring of twenty—"
REN (cutting in):
"No, no, I got that part, it's just… when exactly was I told any of this wasn't a fever dream cooked in a Rift-laced microwave?!"
He started pacing.
Hands flailing like a man arguing with invisible government agents.
REN:
"I thought Ka'rath'Mar was the planet. I thought Solmerea was the nightmare caste system. I thought the ninth planet didn't even exist.
And now you're telling me all of it's part of something bigger called the Caldrith Verge? Since WHEN?!"
Lira opened her mouth to answer—
—and the air snapped.
A ripple tore across the chamber like someone punched a hole through silence with rage.
The vault's silence shattered as the air warped—
not bent by magic, but cut by presence.
Riven stepped through.
But she wasn't the same woman who bled in that hallway outside Lira's chamber.
Not the one Ren spared.
Not the one who'd fallen.
No.
She had changed.
Upgraded. Twisted. Amplified.
Her aura flickered with the telltale fracture-glow of a Va'theran fragment.
The corruption laced her neck like a choker of raw glyphs,
and her eyes weren't just angry—
they were anchored in something not hers anymore.
REN (quietly):
"…Riven?"
She didn't answer right away.
She walked in slowly—
controlled, but barely.
Every movement precise.
Too precise.
Like someone else was threading her limbs from behind.
Then she stopped.
Stared at him like she could still feel the sting of her own failure echoing through her bones.
RIVEN (flat, voice like glass dragging across memory):
"You should've killed me at the Warden Gate."
REN (frowning):
"You were bleeding. You couldn't move. That wasn't a fight. It was—"
RIVEN (cutting him off, sharp and hard):
"It was mercy I didn't want."
Her gauntlet pulsed.
A glyph ignited up her arm — glowing black-crimson.
Va'theran's signature.
The same unstable pulse he carried when the Riftblade first stirred.
RIVEN (low, almost shaking):
"You took my win.
You let her escape.
You humiliated me in front of a ghost that's now dead because of you."
REN (stepping forward, slow, careful):
"You're not thinking clearly—"
RIVEN (cold smile, no joy):
"Oh, I'm thinking clearer than ever."
She raised her arm.
Power coiled up her back — shadow-threaded glyphs vibrating across her shoulders like wings folded too tightly.
RIVEN:
"When I followed you through the Rift Echoes…
I found something."
A piece of him.
"Va'theran left more than rage behind."
Lira's expression changed instantly.
Eyes sharp.
Body tensing.
LIRA (to herself):
"She's been fragmented."
REN (gritting his teeth):
"Of course he left a backdoor."
RIVEN (mocking):
"He left strength.
Enough to finish what you should've let me end that day."
SYSTEM SCAN – DANGER LEVEL: HIGH
⚠ Corruption Signature Detected
Source: VA'THERAN-FRAGMENT-[3B]
Status: STABLE-INSTABILITY
Output: 246% combat efficiency increase
Mental Integrity: Declining fast
Alignment: ~~~UNKNOWN~~~
SNARKSTEEL (from Ren's side, muttering):
"Oh lovely. She's gone full 'revenge arc with bonus DLC.' Want me to stab now or later?"
REN (tightening his grip):
"No.
She's still in there.
Somewhere."
Riven's shadow widened unnaturally.
A second echo stepped beside her.
Not another person —
but a glyph-double formed by pure collapsed thought.
Her fragment was self-replicating.
Dangerous.
Unstable.
And hungry.
RIVEN (voice deepening slightly):
"You broke me once, Riftborn."
"This time, I won't let you walk away."
The vault lights flickered.
The very core of Yxtrielle shuddered — not from her power,
but from the ancient systems recognizing a fallen Guardian corrupted beyond calibration.