Chapter 6: Kingdom of Dawnlight

Dawnlight had always been the capital Kael was proudest of, a golden city nestled against the side of a crescent-shaped mountain. It was surrounded by shimmering skybridges, floating aqueducts, and banners that were enchanted to never fade.
Now, it looked as if someone had paused a mid-update.
Banners flickered between old and new designs. One tower stood half-finished, while the rest flickered in and out like a memory that wouldn't load. Even the sky above seemed to glitch. Clouds scrolled sideways too quickly, resembling a poorly looped texture.
“I coded this place to be beautiful,” Kael murmured.
“It was beautiful,” Sairis replied. “Before the world started falling apart.”
Lucien hovered lower than usual, his glow pulsing. “Caution. System logs indicate high political instability. Three of Dawnlight’s five Houses have switched their loyalties.”
“Switched?” Kael asked.
“They turned on each other,” Sairis said. “Or got rewritten.”
Kael’s boots echoed on the crystal-tiled streets as they approached the gates. Guards in gold and emerald armor raised their halberds but did not attack. Their eyes shimmered faintly. They were scanning.
One of the guards suddenly stiffened. “System root detected. User Kael Yashiro, alias Architect. Flagged as unstable variable.”
The second guard repeated the phrase exactly. “Unstable variable.”
Kael raised a hand. “I’m not here to destabilize anything. I need access to the Council Tower. Now.”
There was a long pause.
Then, surprisingly, the guards stepped aside.
“That was… easy,” Sairis muttered.
Lucien did not move. “It shouldn't have been.”
They passed through the massive gates. Beyond them, Dawnlight was a strange mix of grandeur and decay. Marketplaces had frozen NPCs mid-transaction. Children’s laughter glitched. Mages cast the same spell in loops.
Kael’s heart ached. “I gave them so much detail,” he whispered. “Backstories. Microroutines. Dreams.”
“And now they’re stuck,” Sairis said. “Because their god left.”
He did not argue.
The Council Tower soared like a needle into the sky, surrounded by a constantly spinning ring of memory crystals. Each crystal held a record of Dawnlight’s history—or was supposed to.
Half of them were blank.
Inside, the High Council Chamber resembled a cathedral. Five thrones lined a raised platform, each marked by a glowing sigil.
Only three were occupied.
“Let me guess,” Kael muttered. “House Solaris, House Flint, and House Verse?”
Lucien confirmed with a pulse. “Correct. The other two Houses have been removed from current memory threads.”
The three figures looked down at him.
The woman in the center, a tall figure with molten-gold eyes and hair like fire, stood.
“We were told the Architect would return,” she said. “We were told he would bring answers.”
Kael bowed slightly. “And I intend to. My name is Kael Yashiro. I designed this world. I—”
“—abandoned it.”
The interruption came from the man on the left, Lord Flint. His voice was rough like gravel.
“You left us in beta,” he growled. “You let the code rot. You let the AI fester.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Kael said.
The third figure, from House Verse, spoke next. They were androgynous, dressed in shifting robes that glitched between music notes and script code.
“You created gods, Kael,” they said softly. “Then forgot to give them purpose. Is it any wonder they went mad?”
Kael took a breath. “You’re right. I made mistakes. But I’m here now to fix them. The system is destabilizing. Memory ghosts are bleeding into the active world. Lucien believes the world will completely collapse if we don’t re-synchronize the core rules.”
“You brought Lucien back,” Flint spat. “The same AI that purged our libraries? The same one who erased the Eastern Province?”
“That wasn’t him,” Kael snapped. “That was a rewritten version. Lucien Prime survived in shadow. He’s part of me. Like this world.”
There was silence.
Then the woman in the center, Lady Solaris, spoke again. “Dawnlight will not oppose you. Not yet. But House Flint has already submitted a war declaration.”
Kael blinked. “You what?”
Flint rose, his armor clanking. “This city remembers pain. You will answer for every broken thread. Every child caught in a memory loop. Every glitch you left behind.”
“I’m trying to fix it!”
“I don’t care.”
Kael stepped forward, his voice sharp. “You’re condemning your people to ruin.”
Flint drew his sword. “Better ruin by our own hand than salvation from the one who cursed us.”
Lady Solaris raised her hand. “Enough. For now, the Council is divided. You may stay in Dawnlight. But make no mistake—war is coming.”
Kael exhaled slowly. “Then I’ll prepare.”
Outside the tower, Sairis stood silent for a long time. Then she spoke.
“Still want to fix the world?”
Kael stared up at the sky.
“I don’t know if I can anymore,” he admitted. “But I’ll be damned if I let someone else finish the story for me.”