> A figure detaches from the shadow of a burnt oak. Usurper Valdris. > He laughs. It sounds like rocks grinding.

> For the first time in a thousand corrupted cycles, the sword does not fall.

Kael stared at the black terminal, his reflection a ghost in the dead monitor. Swords and Souls was supposed to be a masterpiece—a living painting of clashing steel and shimmering magic. But the hackers had gutted it. No parry sparks. No fire trails. No dramatic slow-mo on the final blow.

> “You… you see me.” > (Error: Dialogue tree missing. Generating default response.) > Ser Bryn: “I see a man standing in ash.” > Valdris laughs again. This time it sounds almost human. “I was a poet. Before the crown was a cage.”

Kael’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. In the old days, Valdris would have erupted in a corona of black flame, his sword a smear of violet light. Now, there was nothing. Only the cold math of the simulation.