[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: BEGIN ====]
Quest Update: "Map of Dominion – Fragment 3"
Location: Noble Quarter Ruins
Requirement: Blood Sigil Access
Note: The sigil is keyed to the blood of noble lineage.
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: END ====]
The wind in the Noble Quarter smelled like rust and regret.
Where marble statues once stood proud over gardens and grand halls, now only skeletal trees rose from cracked stone paths. The silence wasn't peace—it was threat. Eyes watched from every ruined spire.
Cael pulled his hood lower, glancing at Mira beside him. She wore the rough disguise of a scavenger priestess—layers of torn cloth, a chipped censer hanging from her hip, and the kind of blank expression only true lunatics or desperate pilgrims wore convincingly.
"I hate this place," she whispered.
"I thought you hated everywhere."
"This place more."
Cael's eyes drifted to a large manor half-sunken into the cracked earth. Stone lions guarded the gates, their maws open in silent roars. The estate bore the faded sigil of House Vornas—one of the families that had served the gods directly before the fall.
"The blood sigil's in there," he said.
Mira crossed her arms. "Please tell me you're not suggesting we walk in, ask nicely, and walk out."
"I'm suggesting we sneak in," Cael said. "Then bleed someone noble."
She blinked. "I stand by what I said yesterday: you're getting better at this."
---
They crept past shattered fountains and fallen balconies. The manor doors were long broken, hanging askew on their hinges. The scent of blood lingered faintly in the air—too old to be fresh, too recent to be forgotten.
Inside, time had died. Furniture lay scattered like bones after a feast. Paintings had been slashed to ribbons. A dining table lay overturned beside a scorched fireplace.
Mira held up a hand. "Tripwire," she said, pointing to a thin string across the hallway.
Cael crouched and followed the line. "Triggering a bell trap upstairs," he muttered. "Whoever set this up wants company to be heard."
He disabled it slowly, then stepped into the main hall, where an altar stood before a tall mosaic of Zarathal's ancient gods. One god's image had been carefully preserved—the Warfather, his helm ablaze with golden rays.
Beneath it, a single pedestal with a small, silver bowl.
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: BEGIN ====]
Blood Sigil Detected – Activation Protocol: Noble Blood Required
Access Type: Lineage-Specific
Optional: Simulated Genetic Imprint (Locked)
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: END ====]
Mira frowned. "So unless you've secretly been a noble bastard this whole time…"
Cael stepped forward. His hand hovered over the bowl. His blood wouldn't work. But—
Footsteps above.
He turned sharply. Someone else was here.
---
From the second-floor gallery, a figure stepped into view. She was wrapped in red and black silks, her face hidden behind a cracked golden mask. Her voice rang out like steel through frost.
"You have no right to be here."
Cael didn't move. "Neither do you."
"I am Lady Sereth of House Vornas," she said coldly. "Daughter of the Flame Court. I bleed for no one."
Mira sighed. "Oh, this'll be fun."
Sereth raised her hand. Shadows shifted. Spectral chains lashed down from the ceiling, snaking toward them.
Cael rolled to cover as Mira flung a vial of black powder upward. It exploded in a flash of choking smoke.
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: BEGIN ====]
Combat Engaged:
Foe: Sereth Vornas – Human Noble (Corrupted)
Tier: Intermediate
Health: 300
Status: Shadowbound – Dark Enchantment Active
Weakness: Light-based counterattacks, Psychological triggers
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: END ====]
Cael's mind raced. She wasn't just noble—she was cursed.
He needed her blood, yes. But she had to be brought down first.
Mira darted to the side, drawing Sereth's attention with firebombs. Cael scanned the environment. The Warfather mosaic loomed behind the bowl.
An idea struck him.
He dashed toward the mosaic, using fallen rubble to propel himself up toward the cracked image. He slammed his fist into the god's eye—dislodging a hidden compartment. A shaft of light burst out from behind the wall.
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: BEGIN ====]
Relic Activated: Warfather's Gaze
Effect: Dispels Shadow Enchantments in a 5-meter radius
Cooldown: 12 Hours
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: END ====]
Sereth screamed as the shadows writhed off her, burning into black mist. She collapsed, mask falling to the ground.
She was barely older than Cael.
Bleeding, breathing, and still glaring at him with pure hate.
"Do it," she spat.
Cael knelt. "You don't even know what I'm using it for."
"You broke my chains," she said, almost softly. "That's enough."
He hesitated—but only for a second.
With a blade to her hand, he drew a line of blood and let it drip into the bowl.
The silver glowed.
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: BEGIN ====]
Blood Sigil Access Granted
Map Fragment 3 Now Accessible
Trait Gained: "Noble Affinity (Passive)"
Effect: Slightly increases influence over corrupted nobility
[==== SYSTEM NOTICE: END ====]
Cael turned as Mira came jogging over.
"You killed her?"
He shook his head. "She's breathing."
"Pity."
He smiled faintly.
From the pedestal, a compartment clicked open. A new scroll lay inside—its seal bearing the mark of the Flame Court.
---
Back at their camp, they added the third fragment to the slowly forming map. It showed a network of noble tunnels beneath the city, all converging toward a chamber marked only as "Throne Crypt."
Cael stared at it, then at the sky overhead. The stars in Zarathal's heavens hadn't changed in centuries.
But he had.
And something in the air whispered: soon, the gods would notice.