To mend the world, one must first mend the self—for the root of ruin lies not in the stars, but in the heart burdened by desire. The self, entangled in longing, becomes both prisoner and jailor. Only in surrendering this hunger does the path to peace reveal itself.
As the Awakened One once whispered beneath the Bodhi skies: "Release the flame of want, and you shall find the stillness beyond suffering."
—Inscribed on the Inner Petal of the Lotus Codex, recovered from the Temple of Silent Waters
***
Origin: Monitoring Node // GRAVEYARD.OFSYS.FGTTN.441
Begin Diagnostic Sequence.
QUERY: Subject [Arin] STATUS: ACTIVE — RESOLVED — PARAGON-ELIGIBLE
Tracking Thread: [LIVE]
Progress: [42.8% Path Completion]
Emotional Sync: [Stable]
Alignment: [Light-leaning, Humility Path]
Class Type: [Undefined // Hybrid Sync Possible]
Relic Bound: [Yes // Cloak-Soul Sync 87%]
Divine Marks Applied:
– [Necromance Supreme // Bone Mark ∴ Watcher of Return]
– [Lightbringer // Sun Sigil ∴ Heir of Dawn’s Trial]
...Cross-check complete.
Begin Current-State Pulse Scan...
?? FATAL ERROR DETECTED. ??
?? Signal Desync.
?? Progress Log: [REDACTED]
?? Location: U?????N????K?????N?????O?????W?????N?????
?? Spatial Link: NULL
?? Relic Connection: ERROR: REJECTION EVENT
?? Cloak Feedback: Path Self-Sovereign Activated
?? Marks of Divinity: [REMOVED | Unauthorized Event]
?? ALERT: Divine Signature Mismatch
?? ALERT: Interference Suspected
?? ALERT: Autonomous Resonance Detected
[CODE 999 – EXCEPTION BREACH]
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[Path Autonomy Affirmed | Bonebound Tag Instated]
?? INSERTED TAG: ?? // ENTITY UNKNOWN // ORIGIN: PRE-SYSTEM
?? STATUS: MONITORED SUBJECT [ARIN] NO LONGER PART OF PATH-REWARD-CYCLE
?? New Alignment: UNDEFINED
?? Progression: SELF-GUIDED
?? SYSTEM NOTE: "He has severed the lattice. He is no longer walking the path—we no longer define his steps."
The image of the Graveyard shimmered with corruption—once a clean node, now a static black wound in the lattice. The System's core algorithm pinged the last known divine viewers of the subject.
→ Necromance Supreme: STATUS ALERT.
→ Lightbringer: STATUS ALERT.
Within a citadel of bone-dust and lunar steel, the arch-lord of death stirred from his meditation. His hollow crown pulsed with shadowlight as his eyes locked onto the fading trace of the Paragon.
Necromance frowned. A rare, silent tension tightened his gaunt features.
"The Bone Mark has been lifted... without my hand."
He rose, his cloak trailing through incorporeal winds, and moved toward the lattice. His fingers curled through the web of data like a sculptor searching for cracks in stone.
"The Graveyard was registered. It cannot disappear."
But it had.
The threads had unraveled. The bones no longer echoed back.
The field was silent. Still. Redacted.
A low growl escaped his lips.
"Who dares override the Watcher of Return?"
High above the sun-crowns of the High Dawn Citadel, Lightbringer watched the same rupture from a temple of glass and fire. His golden eyes narrowed, dimmed—not from weakness, but confusion.
"No. That’s not rebellion. That is... refusal. A severing of fate."
His hand lifted, glowing with radiant script, attempting to rebind the thread.
The glyph shattered in midair.
He turned his gaze to the hidden symbol now inscribed across Arin’s nullified node.
??
"That symbol is older than I remember being alive."
He stepped back, the universe reflecting in his robes, his voice lowering to a whisper.
"A Paragon has become something else. And I... cannot follow."
?? Subject: Arin
?? Status: UNDEFINED
?? Location: UNKNOWN
? Progression: UNBOUND
?? Emotional State: UNREADABLE
?? Divine Signature Access: DENIED
?? System-Path Integration: FAILED
?? Outcome: Observational Termination Required
?? Final Echo: “Path does not define the walker.”
"He should have leveled up. He should have ascended. Why did he stop?"
"Why does his heartbeat not follow rhythm?"
"Why do the bones answer him and not us?"
"What makes a Paragon walk away?"
Unknown Signature has overwritten system progression model. Reset impossible. Rewriting begun.
??
***