The crystalline library of the Ebonsea Expanse had become their temporary sanctuary.
Floating jade platforms connected spiraling staircases of light. Shelves stretched into impossible distances—some vertical, some horizontal, some folding into themselves like origami made of memory. Pages of living text drifted freely, occasionally settling on Elaric's outstretched palm to impart fragments of forgotten Daos.
Three weeks after the Oblivion Seed's eradication, Elaric stood before the deepest vault door—a slab of primordial obsidian etched with a single rune that refused translation.
Elowen traced the rune with a fingertip. Moonlight qi shimmered along her skin.
"This is not Cycle-era script," she murmured. "It predates even the Moonlit Warden records. It feels… lonely."
Elaric placed his palm beside hers.
Origin Rewrite – Localized Permission
The rune accepted his touch.
The door dissolved—not opened, but remembered it had never been closed.
Beyond lay darkness absolute.
Then light—soft, silver-blue, emanating from a single sarcophagus floating at the chamber's heart.
Not stone. Not jade.
Condensed origin essence in solid form—translucent, veined with every color that had ever existed, and many that had not yet been named.
Elaric approached.
The sarcophagus had no lid.
Inside lay a figure—humanoid, serene, eyes closed. No decay. No dust. Only perfect stillness.
A voice—not from the body, but from the air itself—spoke.
"I am not the First Sovereign. I am what remained when the First chose dissolution rather than continuation."
Elaric knelt—respect, not submission.
"You left this echo for the one who would finally break the iteration."
The echo opened its eyes—pure white, containing galaxies that had never formed.
"I left it for the one who would ask the correct question: not 'how do I ascend,' but 'what comes after ascension has no ceiling?'"
A mote of silver-blue light rose from the figure's chest.
Origin of Origins – Primordial Anchor Fragment
Absorb? (Y/N)
Elaric accepted.
The mote sank into his sternum.
Origin Depth +2.4 → Current: 4.1
New Passive Unlocked: Anchor of Before
All realities seeded by your origin light now carry a faint imprint of pre-Cycle stability—immune to external multiversal corrosion or timeline bleed.
The echo smiled—faint, wistful.
"You will need it sooner than you believe."
The figure faded—body dissolving into drifting motes that merged with the library walls.
The chamber trembled once.
Far beyond Elyndor—in the spaces between worlds—a hairline fracture appeared in the membrane that had once been sealed by the Cycle.
Something looked through.
Not hostile.
Not yet.
Curious.
Back in the southern plains—now renamed Dawnrest Plains by popular decree—reconstruction moved at impossible speed.
Elaric's Cosmic Creation Sovereign class (now evolved under One With Origin) allowed him to walk ruined cities and will them whole again. Jade pagodas regrew from ash. Ley lines refilled with golden qi. Black flower scars became gardens of silver-white lotuses that purified any lingering hollowed energy.
Trust, however, rebuilt slower.
Southern nobles—many of whom had quietly supported or ignored the Remnant Conclave—gathered in the rebuilt Grand Assembly Hall of Aurumveil.
They knelt when Elaric entered—some willingly, some because the air itself pressed them down under Dao Authority.
He spoke without preamble.
"I do not want vassals. I want partners who choose to stand beside freedom rather than beneath it. Any house that swears fealty today may keep its lands, its traditions, its autonomy—provided no soul is enslaved, no knowledge hoarded, no child denied the path."
Murmurs.
Then the first house head rose—old Lord Valerian of House Starfall, whose daughter had once been offered in desperate betrothal.
"We swear," he said. "Not out of fear. Out of recognition. You ended what we were too weak to face."
One by one, others followed.
By dusk, the Dawnrest Alliance was born—not under crown or north, but under shared oath.
Hidden within the oaths, however, Elowen's Moonlit Warden senses caught faint echoes—three minor houses whose qi signatures carried traces of multiversal static.
Not Cycle.
Something older.
Something bleeding through.
She whispered to Elaric later.
"They are not traitors. They are… marked. As though something outside touched them during the Oblivion Bloom."
Elaric nodded.
"Then we watch. And we prepare."
That night—private cultivation chamber atop the rebuilt Aurumveil Spire.
Elaric sat cross-legged, seven stolen Dao fragments orbiting his core like captive moons.
New Dao Integration – Testing Phase
He began with the simplest: Crimson Devourer.
He allowed it to merge—not dominate.
Bloodline authority flared—his own True Origin Eagle bloodline tasting the fragment, judging it, then weaving it into the whole.
Integration Success
New Authority Gained: Devour & Refine
Any defeated enemy's essence may now be instantly refined into usable origin motes (no 10% chance—100% efficiency).
Next: Azure Extinction.
Mana nullification authority folded into his Origin Core.
Integration Success
New Authority: Selective Nullification
Within domain, selectively nullify any one system or Dao without affecting others.
One by one he integrated all seven.
By dawn:
• Golden Soul Reaper → Soul Integrity Shield – nascent soul immune to external shredding
• Violet Intent Obliterator → Intent Reversal – any killing intent directed at host reverses to empower him
• Obsidian Reality Fracture → Fracture Anchor – tear and repair local space at will
• Emerald Life Leech → Vitality Redistribution – transfer life force between allies instantly
• Mirage-Who-Was → Identity Veil – appear as anyone/anything observed (perfect mimicry, including aura & Dao signature)
Elowen watched the final integration—his form flickering through stolen faces before settling back into his own, now subtly brighter.
"You carry their sins," she said softly, "and turn them into strength."
"I carry their lessons," he corrected. "They chose parasitism. I choose integration."
He rose.
Outside, the first reports arrived via emergency array.
The hairline fracture in reality—first detected after the Tomb visit—had widened.
Not in Elyndor.
In the spaces between.
A single entity had stepped halfway through.
Not a beast.
Not a Dao remnant.
A silhouette of pure possibility—formless, shifting between humanoid, draconic, celestial, abyssal.
It did not speak.
It observed.
Then—softly, across every mind on the planet simultaneously:
"Cycle broken. Interesting. May I… enter?"
The voice carried no malice.
Only infinite curiosity.
And behind it—legions of similar silhouettes waiting in the multiversal fog.
Elaric looked upward—through roof, through sky, through membrane.
His Origin Omnipresence met the gaze.
He answered—voice calm, carrying across worlds.
"Come. But know this: entry is permission. Invasion is annihilation."
The silhouette paused.
Then—slowly—withdrew.
The fracture narrowed again.
But did not close.
Elowen gripped his arm.
"What was that?"
Elaric exhaled.
"The neighbors. They noticed the Cycle's silence. They want to see who turned off the lights."
He looked at her—eyes containing newborn universes.
"We just became the most interesting thing in the neighborhood."
End of Chapter 15.
The First Sovereign's echo is absorbed. Southern trust rebuilds on new terms. Seven Daos become weapons of origin. The multiverse notices.