Warmth vanished. Sound vanished. The air thinned in his chest.
His skin prickled, heat rising then draining, nerves firing out of rhythm.
Then came the shift.
Light fractured above him.
The ceiling split into falling panes of data.
The floor melted into mirrored water, each reflection of him half a frame out of sync.
The air pulsed to a mechanical heartbeat.
System stability: compromised.
Cognitive boundary: breached.
External presence: intruding.
Will tried to move.
The dream clung to him, thick and heavy, as if resisting every motion.
A line of gold-and-black grains spilled across the mirrored floor,
a breach opening in the air.
Heat rolled through.
Desert heat.
A figure stepped out.
He had never seen the man, yet he knew him all the same, rising from memories not his own.
The banished uncle.
The ruler of the Wastes.
Prince Gareth Valcairn.
Regal. Severe.
And wrong.
His outline flickered, edges stuttering, as though something beneath the skin pressed outward against the shape of him.
Twin red lines burned where his eyes should have been.
“Prince William.”
Will’s breath hitched. “Are you… Gareth?”
A slow, delayed smile bent the corrupted face.
“Tis but the shape I wear in this world.”
Will’s stomach tightened.
“Why am I here?”
“To see whether you realize what inheritance has chained you to.”
Will’s voice wavered. “Whose inheritance?”
Gareth tilted his head, the motion skipping a frame.
“The same architecture that binds me is the one that holds you. You are caught in the code he built to cage me.”
A beat, thin, stretched, inevitable.
“I have made his prison your own.”
Will’s voice lagged behind his lips, thick and distorted.
“Why?”
Gareth’s smile arrived a heartbeat late, stretching wrong before settling.
“Because I am confined within his design,” he said quietly. “And only by taking you will he feel the weight of it.”
He drifted closer, no footsteps, just a skipped frame, the dream jerking to keep up with him.
“You are one of the three he cherishes most,” he murmured. “An anchor.”
The words hit with a pressure.
His breath shuddered. “Why are you keeping me?”
Gareth’s expression cracked, static leaking through the regal mask.
“Because he will not free me,” he whispered, “and until he does, you stay bound.”
The mirrored water trembled beneath Will’s feet.
[UNAUTHORIZED PROCESS ESCALATION.]
[ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHITECTURE DESTABILIZING.]
Gareth leaned in, and for a heartbeat Will saw the thing beneath the face,
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
recursive fractals, glitching geometry, a mind too large to fit the mask it wore.
“You are the leverage he cannot ignore.”
A wind stirred.
But the wind wasn’t wind,
it smelled of earth,
and old stone,
and deep roots.
Golden light threaded through the fracturing space, the world re-rendering as a forest of code-leaves and branching light pushed through.
Edras stepped through.
His robes flickered between frames, tearing and reforming, but his presence steadied the world.
“This place is not yours,” Edras said softly.
Gareth’s form spasmed, cracks of red light tearing up his arms.
“You cannot bar me forever, old ghost.”
“No,” Edras agreed. “Only now.”
He raised his staff.
Light surged.
Sand recoiled.
The breach pulled shut.
[FOREIGN PROCESS REMOVED.]
[BOUNDARY RESTORED.]
Silence dropped.
Edras turned to Will, his outline already fraying.
“Find the Keys, Prince William,” he whispered. “Before he does.”
The dream folded,
light collapsing,
reflections breaking,
until only darkness remained.
And at its center, a single pulse of blue light,
steady, waiting,
Azure refusing to go out.
[SYSTEM LOG: END OF ACT III STATUS REPORT]
[NAME: WILLIAM VALCAIRN]
[TITLE: PRINCE OF AELORIA, LORD OF BELHAVEN | THE FIRST CHAMPION (5% XP BONUS)]
[DESIGNATION: THE DREAMER PRINCE]
[CLASS: SHADOW | CHAMPION]
[LEVEL: 8 | XP: 0 / 800]
[SOCIAL SYNC: 40.50]
[STATUS: ACTIVE]
[VIP BUILD: ACTIVE]
[HEALTH: 660 / 660 (100%)]
[STAMINA: 490 / 490 (100%)]
[MANA: 260 / 260 (100%)]
[REGEN: 10% PER HOUR | ROYAL SIGNET BONUS (+50%) → 15% PER HOUR TOTAL]
[ARMOR CLASS: 40 (PASSIVE) | 50 (MAX ACTIVE)]
[DAMAGE MITIGATION: 40% | 50% WHEN SHIELD ACTIVE]
[ELEMENTAL RESISTANCE: FIRE 0% | WATER 40% | AIR 0% | EARTH 0% | ARCANE 0%]
──────────────────────────────
[ATTRIBUTES]
STR: 17 | DEX: 15 | CON: 15 | INT: 15 | WIS: 15 | CHA: 15
Shadow Gain per Level → +10 HP | +15 SP | +5 MP
──────────────────────────────
[CLASS SKILLS]
THROWN WEAPONS (INTERMEDIATE)
STEALTH (INTERMEDIATE)
LIGHT BLADES (ADVANCED)
SHIELD DEFENSE (ADVANCED)
CHAMPION’S RESOLUTE: Fortifies nearby allies, increasing regeneration and defense within a fixed radius.
[COMMON SKILLS]
RHETORIC (ADVANCED) | PERCEPTION (ADVANCED) | ARCANE LITERACY (ADVANCED) | COMPOSURE (ADVANCED)
[SPECIALIZED SKILLS]
EMPATHY (INTERMEDIATE)
──────────────────────────────
[EQUIPMENT]
MAIN HAND → Royal Sword of Valcairn (Epic, Rank 2)
+3 Damage | Azure Flame Attribute | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
OFF HAND → Royal Buckler of House Valcairn (Shield) (Rare, Rank 1)
+10 AC (Inactive) | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
SECONDARY → Royal Dagger of Valcairn (Rare, Rank 1)
+1 Damage | +1 Dexterity while wielded | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
SECONDARY (THROWN) → Shadow Bracer (Rare, Rank 1)
3 Knives | Auto-Recall | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
ARMOR → Royal Issue Shirt of Mithril Mail (Rare, Rank 2)
+15 AC | Auto-Repair | Weightless | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
SET → Royal Garb of Belhaven (Attire Set)
Passive: +25 AC while wearing official royal attire (any two pieces)
ACCESSORY 1 → Signet of the Prince
Regeneration +50% | Active
ACCESSORY 2 → Traveler’s Sigil Band (Uncommon)
Passive Temperature Adjustment | Water Resistance +40% | Active
ACCESSORY 3 → Brooch of Verdant Grace (Rare)
Effect: Once per day, summon living vines to entangle nearby enemies for up to ten seconds. (Resets at dawn.)
ACCESSORY 4 → Lanternshade Clip (Rare)
Effect: Once per day, blend into ambient shadow for up to ten seconds, making the wearer extremely difficult to track. (Resets at dusk.)
UTILITY → Bag of Holding (Legendary, Rank 1)
Expanded Storage Capacity | Auto-Sort Enabled
SPECIAL ITEM → Drake Egg (Unhatched)
SPECIAL ITEM → Golden Key (??∴???-UNCLAS/ERR)
──────────────────────────────
[OPEN QUESTS]
- THE WHISPERING TREES — CORRUPTED DATA. (Edras)
- THE HOWLING BEAST OF THE WESTERN CLIFFS — Investigate nightly howls. (Union)
[CLOSED QUESTS]
- CATS IN THE WAREHOUSE — +2,800 XP | Shadow Skill Rank Up.
- THE AEGIS OF THE CROWN — +18,000 XP | Champion Class Quest Complete.
- ECHOES BENEATH THE CLIFFS — +9,150 XP | Champion Skill Rank Up.
- RATS IN THE VINEYARD — +2,700 XP | Champion Skill Rank Up.
- EXPLORE BELHAVEN — +100 XP | Quest Complete.
- MAINTENANCE OF THE CROWN’S STEEL — +50 XP | Hidden Quest Complete.
──────────────────────────────
[SYSTEM ANOMALIES]
> Unauthorized Cognitive Occupancy Detected
> Intruder Identity: [G.A.R.E.T.H.] — Mask Integrity Failing
> Countermeasure Triggered: Root Process [W.A.T.C.H.E.R.] Forcible Ejection
> Structural Instability: Severe
> User–Process Entanglement: Confirmed
> Containment Status: Compromised | Awareness Threshold: HIGH
──────────────────────────────
[NOTES: BRAT]
“Okay. I’m just going to say it.
Whatever that thing wearing your uncle’s face was…
it should not have been able to reach you.”
“…And I really don’t like that it did.”
──────────────────────────────
[END OF ACT III]
> DREAM RETAINED
> QUARANTINE BREACHED
> ROOT PROCESS STRAINED
> DREAMER FLAG: ASCENDING