Before them rose the Obelisk — a pillar of dark æstherstone, easily three times Kaiden's height, its surface etched with faintly glowing runes that pulsed like a slow heartbeat. Every party that delved into a Vein had to pass under its watch, no exceptions.
Its base was anchored in a circular stone dais, engraved with Concordium sigils of recordkeeping and jurisdiction. The stories said these Obelisks had stood for centuries, some even predating the Empire itself, and yet each one hummed faintly with a resonance that felt alive.
They said the Obelisks remembered every name ever spoken into them. Not just as marks in the Concordium's archives, but as whispers etched into the stone itself — whispers that could be coaxed out if you pressed your ear to its surface on a moonless night. Whether that was truth or just the kind of tale meant to scare first-year delvers, Kaiden couldn't tell.
A rectangular panel jutted from the base — a Concordium registry plate of polished silverwood inlaid with shifting æsther script. The letters curled and reshaped themselves when Mrs. Maiven's touch awakened the device.
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"Line up."
Rio rolled his shoulders like he was limbering up for a fight rather than a roll call. Irna's eyes darted to the glowing runes, her lips moving as if counting their pattern. Peggy kept her hands buried in her pockets, thumbs brushing over the worn edge of some small charm she always carried.
"Full name, role, main weapon, and party name."
"Speak clearly — the system will transcribe your data to the Concordium's records."
One by one, they stepped forward.
Rio went first because, of course, he did. Chin up, chest out, he spoke like the Obelisk should be honored to hear him.
[ Rio ]
"Rio Brentt."
"Reaver."
"Spear."
"Ironroot 1A."
The æsther script danced and solidified into neat rows of Concordium-standard text, but a loud chime suddenly caught everyone's attention.
[ Registration Obelisk ]
"Registration failed."
"Full name, required."
[ Rio ]
"Seriously?"
Peggy snorted, covering it with a cough when Rio shot her a glare.
[ Peggy ]
"Guess the Obelisk isn't impressed by swagger."
[ Nerim ]
"Haha..."
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"Yes, Mr. Brentt."
"Your full name."
"Including your middle name..."
"This is how the Concordium keeps tabs on all delvers."
[ Rio ]
"Well..."
"Again, then."
Rio approached the Obelisk again, displaying a reduced sense of arrogance this time.
"Riovell Streaker Brentt."
"Reaver."
"Spear."
"Ironroot 1A."
A gentler tone chimed, indicating that the registration had been approved.
[ Nerim ]
"Streaker, huh?"
[ Rio ]
"Well..."
"What can I say?"
Nerim stepped forward next, adjusting his gauntlet straps in a way that said he wasn't nervous — which of course meant he was.
[ Nerim ]
"Nerim Elijah Cartwright."
"Reaver."
"Pickaxe."
"Ironroot 1A."
[ Rio ]
"So..."
"Should we call you Rimmy or Elly from now on?"
"Haha."
[ Nerim ]
"Just shut it, Rio."
Another chime.
Approved.
Irna followed, her hands clasped loosely before her, gaze lingering on the way the runes shifted.
[ Irna ]
"Irna Khien Nguyen."
"Shielder."
"Guzheng."
"Ironroot 1A."
Approved.
Peggy moved up, giving the Obelisk a wary glance as though it might decide to test her.
[ Peggy ]
"Margaret Peggy Orlson."
"Augmenter."
"Warhammer."
"Ironroot 1A."
Approved.
Finally, Kaiden stepped forward. His name felt heavier when he said it aloud here.
[ Kaiden ]
"Kaiden Stagin."
"Weaver."
"Wooden dagger."
"Ironroot 1A."
The sharp chime echoed through the space once more — identical to the first.
[ Registration Obelisk ]
"Registration failed."
"Full name, required."
"Valid role, required."
Kaiden caught Nerim frowning, and even Rio's smirk faded just a fraction. Whatever the Codex didn't recognize, the Vein might not either — and that could cut both ways.
[ Irna ]
"Kaiden?"
[ Kaiden ]
"I..."
"I don't know my middle name."
Mrs. Maiven drew nearer, her gaze fixed on the Obelisk.
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"The System doesn't have Weaver inside its Codex."
"Just enter Reaver as your role..."
Before Mrs. Maiven withdrew, she leaned in closer and whispered into Kaiden's ear.
"And your middle name is Alaric, Mr. Stagin."
[ Kaiden ]
"Wha..."
"How did you?"
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"...Official Academy Database."
Kaiden tried to register again.
[ Kaiden ]
"Kaiden Alaric Stagin"
"Reaver."
"Wooden dagger."
"Ironroot 1A."
The runes pulsed one last time, recording the full party roster. A vertical streak of light ran the height of the Obelisk, sealing the entry.
A portion of the dais in front of them shifted, æsther lines forming into a perfect circle on the ground. The Concordium glyph emerged, bright white against the stone.
Mrs. Maiven stepped forward, her gaze sweeping across them like she was memorizing every face.
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"This is your entry glyph."
"Once all of you stand within its boundary, it will relocate you to the Vein's starting chamber."
"From that moment, you're on your own."
From a leather pouch at her hip, she drew out a small crystalline object, no bigger than a river pebble. It shimmered with fractured light, like frozen lightning inside glass.
"This is a Veinflare Shard."
Even in the open air, Kaiden swore the thing hummed in his bones. He couldn't decide if it was comforting or unnerving to know their lifeline was small enough to lose between the cracks of a boot sole. Nerim kept his distance, while Rio leaned dangerously close as if daring it to shatter.
"Keep it safe."
"Break it, and the glyph will pull you straight back out."
"It works anywhere inside — but only once."
"If you need it, then you're already out of options."
The Obelisk's surface pulsed with that low, steady light — not quite a heartbeat, but close enough that standing near it made Kaiden's chest feel like it was keeping time. The glow ran upward in lazy waves, pooling at the sharp edges before dripping down again, like molten glass that never cooled.
The Veinflare Shard in Mrs. Maiven's hand caught that glow and fractured it into a spray of razor-thin colors, the kind that seemed almost too sharp to look at for long. She tilted it slightly, letting the hues bleed across her fingers.
"Remember — the Shard does not just open the way."
"It answers the vein itself. It can be temperamental."
She spoke as if she'd said those words hundreds of times, but Kaiden swore her eyes lingered on each of them in turn, testing.
Nerim broke the quiet first, jabbing Kaiden lightly in the ribs.
[ Nerim ]
"You've got that 'about to face my destiny' look again, skipper."
"Relax..."
"Before you scare the thing into sealing itself back up."
[ Kaiden ]
"That's…"
"Not how it works."
[ Nerim ]
"It better not."
Rio, standing just behind them, leaned in to study the Shard as Mrs. Maiven rested it against the Obelisk's carved groove. His brows knit, head tilting slightly.
[ Rio ]
"Looks almost brittle."
"Like you could snap it if you breathed wrong."
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"You could."
That earned him a slow blink and a small, humorless smile from her before she continued aligning the crystal with the indentations.
Irna stepped forward then, fingertips brushing the Obelisk's side. The hum under her skin made her pause, her expression momentarily unreadable.
[ Irna ]
"It's…"
"Warm."
[ Peggy ]
"Mine feels cold."
Mrs. Maiven didn't comment, but Kaiden thought he saw her eyebrow lift at the contrast. Some delvers believed the Obelisk's temperature was an omen — warmth meant welcome, cold meant the Vein was watching.
Peggy had both hands against it now, her gloves squeaking faintly against the surface. She tugged one off and pressed her bare palm flat, lips pursing.
[ Peggy ]
"Still cold."
"Like it's ignoring me."
[ Rio ]
"Maybe it just doesn't like you."
[ Peggy ]
"Maybe you should be quiet before I decide I don't like you."
[ Rio ]
"Hehe."
Kaiden stayed silent, eyes fixed on the place where Shard met stone. The carved veins in the Obelisk seemed to draw the Shard's fractured colors inward, swallowing them, only to send them back out in brighter waves. He almost asked Nik in his mind what this meant — what the reaction signified — but stopped himself. This wasn't the time for inherited answers. This was theirs.
The glow began to pulse harder, syncing with the faint thrum in his side pouch where his Ki Card rested. From the flicker in Nerim's stance and the way Rio's shoulders shifted, he knew they felt it too.
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"You should know — dungeons shift."
"Not every opening takes you where it did the year before."
"Sometimes…"
"Not even where it should, at all."
The air thickened with the smell of æsther, sharp and metallic. The Obelisk's hum climbed in pitch until it felt like it was sitting behind their teeth.
[ Peggy ]
"…And we're still just going to step onto that glyph like it's a carpet."
[ Rio ]
"Would you prefer a ramp?"
"Stairs?"
"Maybe a polite doorman?"
[ Peggy ]"Shut up, Rio."
Mrs. Maiven finished aligning the Shard, and the glyph at the Obelisk's base bled into existence — a spiral of intersecting lines, each one glowing with a hungry light. The pulse from the stone shifted downward, pouring into the glyph until the entire circle blazed white-gold.
Kaiden exhaled. They'd talked, joked, hesitated — but now there was nothing left but to step forward. The moment the first boot touched the glyph, the air seemed to close around them, swallowing sound, color, and thought alike.
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"Now, pick up the Shard."
"And you are good to go."
Rio took it, holding it carefully before passing it to Peggy for safekeeping. She tucked it into the clasped pouch at her belt.
Kaiden's eyes lingered on it. Something about the way it refracted light made him think of how fragile their safety net really was.
Mrs. Maiven stepped back, giving the barest nod.
[ Mrs. Maiven ]
"Form up."
"Remember your drills."
"Remember your spacing."
"And remember — the Vein is alive."
"It will learn from you as quickly as you learn from it."
The forest's edge beyond the Obelisk seemed to draw back, as though the very world was holding its breath. Kaiden felt that familiar knot in his stomach, the one that was equal parts dread and anticipation.
No one said ready, but the silence felt like agreement. A single birdcall sounded from the trees, then stopped as if the forest itself didn't want to witness what came next.
They took their places on the glyph — Irna at point, Rio slightly behind on her right, Nerim on her left, Peggy centered for quick reach, and Kaiden offset to the rear.
The moment Kaiden's boot crossed into the circle, the glyph flared brighter, and a deep, resonant hum filled the air. The lines of light rose up around them in a cylindrical wall, threading with æsther filaments that pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.
[ HEART ]
Æsther-relocation sequence: Initiated
Destination: Frostbite Vein
Designated Tier: Introductory
Hazard rating: 1
Estimated relocation time:
3…
2…
1…
______
The world fractured.
Light bent inward, collapsing the forest, the Obelisk, and Mrs. Maiven into streaks that bled toward the center. Kaiden's stomach lurched as the ground fell away — yet he felt no wind, no fall, only the strange sensation of being drawn through a place too small for his body.
And then — darkness.
Not absence-of-light darkness, but something thicker, something with weight. The kind that seemed to press in, aware of its new arrivals.
The floor beneath them solidified first — cold stone, faintly damp. Then came the smell: mineral-heavy air, tinged with the metallic tang of æsther saturation. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped in slow, irregular beats.
The hum of the glyph faded, leaving only their breathing.
Kaiden exhaled slowly, his eyes adjusting to the faint blue bioluminescence that crawled along the walls like veins of captured starlight.
The Frostbite Vein had swallowed them whole.