Eli stared at the ring. Across from him sat Dainen and Alira, who had been deep in conversation for almost two hours now.
Lost in his thoughts, Eli focused on the ring.
Sableis, The Veilbound Oath.
His HUD pulsed.
? Celestial Relic Detected – Attunement Required
? Attunement Status: Dormant
? Attunement Process: Irreversible
? Would you like to proceed?
[Yes] / [No]
He exhaled, silently answering "Yes" without informing Alira or Dainen.
A pulse of purple energy surged through his chest.
And then—
Everything fractured.
Eli plummeted into the void.
This wasn’t just a space between places—this was the gap between reality and everything else.
Suddenly, the void peeled back, revealing a glimpse of a city of gold suspended in eternity. Its towers stretched beyond sight, their surfaces shifting like liquid metal. Bridges of light arched between floating citadels, and rivers of silver mana carved glowing paths through streets of luminous stone.
At its heart, a vast ring of celestial energy spun around a shattered spire, where five artifacts floated in silent defiance of time.
The vision flickered—gold turning to fire, harmony collapsing into chaos. The sky fractured, the celestial ring splintering apart, and the city’s power consuming itself from within.
The Celestials stood above it, their bodies twisted into imposing divine forms, their hands raised, reshaping the world with unnatural force.
"They ascended against the will of existence itself," an unseen voice intoned. It was deep, ancient, commanding.
Eli turned.
A figure stood in the darkness, a being of pulsing shadow, its voice vibrating in his skull.
"They enslaved the Realms to maintain their lie. You have seen the truth, Eli. You must free the world from their cycle. Free the Primes."
Images flashed—
The Celestials casting the Primes into the Void.
The Celestials slaughtering trillions in their attempt to "fix" the balance.
The Celestials destroying Realms.
The Celestials binding their will over mana itself.
"You must finish what was started. Tear open the Void. Break the cycle."
Eli couldn’t understand what he was seeing; it all felt wrong.
He could feel the Void pressing against him.
And then—
A flicker of purple light.
The void, the figure, the golden city—all of it was gone.
Eli’s HUD flickered violently, like a screen caught between two signals.
? Warning: External Influence Detected
? Source: Unknown Interference
? Purging Corrupted Data…
The words popped up in his vision.
"This is not the truth."
In an instant, a vast ocean of swirling light appeared.
For the first time, Eli wasn’t looking at history—he was looking at something alive.
He couldn’t grasp what he was seeing.
But whatever it was, it was trying to show him something. Something different.
The golden city wasn’t burning—it was collapsing from within.
The Celestials weren’t fighting for power—they were desperately trying to contain something.
The deep voice returned. "Lies!"
"You cannot trust them!"
"They will use you and discard you like all before!"
"—Finish what was started!"
Eli’s vision split apart—
The golden city warped into fire once more. The Celestials became oppressors again.
But the ocean of mana pushed back.
"This is not the truth."
For a split second, Eli saw a glimpse of himself—
Not as he was now, but as something more.
A being with all five affinities, surrounded by flowing mana.
As he stared at himself, two beings loomed over him.
But Eli could sense a third—
Though he couldn’t see it.
And in an instant, everything vanished.
He felt like he was falling.
Eli’s eyes snapped open.
He took a deep breath, everything he had just seen already fading into a faint memory.
He tried to hold onto it, but couldn’t.
Alira and Dainen’s heads snapped to Eli.
For them, it had only been a matter of seconds.
Eli looked down at his hand. The ring was no longer in his palm; it was now on his right hand.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
But it wasn’t silver anymore.
It was a deep, shimmering purple.
His HUD flashed.
The flash seemed violent and angry.
? Attunement Complete
? Veilbound Oath is now bound to your soul
? New Ability Unlocked: Veilblade (Dormant)
? New Passive Unlocked: Celestial’s Will
? Warning: Unknown Entity Attempted Data Manipulation
? Warning: Attunement Interference Detected
? Processing…
Alira looking at the ring, “Eli, what did you do?”
“I…um, I selected yes on attunement.” Eli said in a whisper of his normal voice.
“What just happened?” He asked.
His HUD pinged again:
? Processing Complete
? Veilbound Oath: Attuned to Eli Thompson
? WARNING: Vision Data Compromised – Probability of Information: UNKNOWN
? Reconstructing Timeline… [ERROR] Missing Key Data
? Searching for Source of Attunement Interference… [UNKNOWN]
? VEILBOUND OATH – SILVER TIER ?
? Stage: Dormant (Physical Affinity Unlocked – 1/5)
? Weapon Class: Relic-Tier Mana Construct
? Damage Type: Kinetic Disruption & Force Acceleration
? Form: Ring (Passive Buff) / Saber (High-Impact Blade)
? PASSIVE ABILITY – VEIL-FORGED STRENGTH ?
?? Ring Form (Dormant State) → "Mana-Converged Efficiency"
- Grants +5% increase to all base stats. Please see Base Stats for details.
?? Saber Form (Active State) → "Veil-Forged Strength"
- Enhances Strength & Agility by +10%.
- Increases attack momentum, allowing Eli to chain strikes faster & recover quicker.
- The stronger Eli becomes, the higher this bonus scales.
? ACTIVE ABILITY – VEIL-STEP ?
?? Activation Cost: 5 Mana per use (Lasts 2 seconds per activation.)
?? Cooldown: 5 seconds (Can be used multiple times per fight, but excessive use drains mana quickly.)
?? Effect:
- Veil-Step allows Eli to glimpse 2 seconds into the future.
- This isn’t true precognition—it’s a probability-based prediction, showing the most likely attack pattern.
- In Combat:
- If an enemy is about to strike, Eli sees the attack before it happens, giving him time to evade, parry, or counter.
- If multiple possibilities exist, the HUD highlights the most probable outcome.
- Weakness:
- If an enemy is unpredictable or faster than Eli’s reaction time, the ability may not be useful.
- The more exhausted Eli is, the harder it is to interpret the future glimpse correctly.
?? Example in Combat:
- A swordsman swings for Eli’s torso. Veil-Step activates automatically, showing him the move before it happens.
- Eli adjusts his footing in real-time, dodging and countering before the enemy even realizes they missed.
- Against projectiles, it allows him to react before they’re fired, making dodging more precise.
? POWER ABILITY – COLOSSUS STRIKE ?
?? Activation Cost: Scales with mana input (Base cost: 5 Mana, Increases per charge.)
?? Cooldown: 8 seconds (Can be used repeatedly, but overuse will fatigue Eli.)
?? Effect:
- Eli channels his mana into the Veilblade, dramatically increasing its impact force.
- Each 5 Mana spent increases impact force by 10%. (At 50 Mana, impact is doubled.)
- At max charge (Silver Tier Limit: 50 Mana), the attack creates a ground-breaking shockwave upon impact.
?? Example Power Scaling:
- 5 Mana → 10% Impact Boost
- 15 Mana → 30% Impact Boost
- 30 Mana → 60% Impact Boost
- 50 Mana → 100% Impact Boost
?? Weakness:
- If charged too long, it can cause arm fatigue or leave Eli vulnerable before swinging.
- Highly resistant enemies (Celestials, high-tier monsters) may absorb part of the force.
- Unstable terrain could cause collateral damage—swinging at full charge might collapse buildings or destabilize footing.
Eli could barely process the flood of information bombarding his HUD.
“What happened?” Dainen asked, standing and placing a hand on Eli’s shoulder. It all happened so fast that if anyone had been watching, it would have looked as though Dainen had simply appeared next to him.
“I activated the attunement, and I saw some visions—or maybe just an image. I can’t remember exactly what it was.” Eli rubbed his temples, a faint headache forming.
Eli gestured for Dainen to sit back down as Alira stood, pouring him a glass of something that looked like tea but tasted like honey.
He spent the next 20 minutes recounting what he could remember and what his HUD had revealed. It felt as if he'd been dropped on his head.
“You heard 'Prime'?” Alira asked him again, for what felt like the tenth time.
“Yeah, I think I did. I’m not sure if I really heard it or just made it up… or if my moody HUD decided to play a prank on me,” Eli said, his tone exasperated.
“Can you take the ring off?” Dainen asked.
Eli reached for the ring on his left index finger and slid it off effortlessly, handing it to Dainen.
As soon as Eli dropped it into Dainen’s hand, the ring flashed and reappeared on Eli’s finger.
“So… yes, and also no?” Eli said, his face twisted in confusion.
Dainen frowned and reached for the ring again, attempting to pull it off.
“Ow!” Eli yelped, jerking his hand back, but Dainen’s grip was too strong, and he continued pulling.
Suddenly, a pulse of purple mana erupted from the ring, sending Dainen crashing into the wall.
? HUD Notification ?
? Mana Burst Triggered – Passive Defensive Reaction
? -5 Mana Expended (Mana Pool: 150/155)
? Cause: Unauthorized Removal Attempt
? Status: Automatic Defense Engaged
“Holy shit,” Eli breathed as he stood up, his eyes wide with shock.
Alira had already reached him, steadying him as he rose.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Ally, I’m fine,” Dainen insisted, pushing Alira’s hands away.
“Well, that was fun,” he added dryly.
Eli glanced at him, then down at the ring. “Think I should just put it back into my inventory?” he asked, already pulling up his inventory screen.
“Sure—hopefully it doesn’t punch you in the head trying to get out,” Dainen replied with a smirk. “Actually, that’d be something to see. Always up for new things.” He shot a look at Alira.
“Since you two walked into the Homestead four or five months ago, I can honestly say I’ve seen a bunch of new shit.”
Eli placed the ring into his inventory and sat back down. Almost immediately, his inventory icon pulsed purple, and he looked down to see the ring back on his finger.
“Shit,” Eli muttered.
Their departure was postponed for a week so Eli could train with his new weapon.
Teran was excited to have them around longer and offered to train with Eli, using different weapon types to spar against him.
As it turned out, Eli’s swordsmanship was surprisingly good. He wasn’t sure if it was pure instinct or if the damn ring was giving him a boost.
One of the cool features of his new saber was a mode called “Practice,” where the sharp edge dulled and took on an almost rubber-like feel.
As it turned out, that still hurt—according to Teran, anyway.
By the end of the second day of intense training, Eli was besting Teran almost every time. Dainen and even Alira took turns sparring with him as well.
As it turned out, he lost each time to them.
Over the next few days, Eli and Alira stayed up late, discussing his vision and trying to make sense of what he'd seen. Eli meditated and tried to recall the details.
Alira guided him through a meditative, therapy-like session, but even then, the memories didn’t fully come back. He could still remember the word “Prime,” though.
He could vaguely recall a voice, and perhaps a city, or maybe it was water.
Between the training, planning, and trying to pry memories out of Eli’s mind, the week flew by quickly.
By the last night, Eli felt like he’d been using a sword for as long as he’d been working on Tenrae.
As they sat around the dinner table laughing and telling stories, Eli found himself lost in thought, reflecting on how he'd come to see this group as family.
He had no idea how he’d come to find this group, but in his heart, they were family.
Teran was like a brother. They’d shared long, grueling sparring sessions and had deep conversations about everything.
Mirelle and the kids, Rion and Liah, were the perfect additions to Teran’s life. Mirelle was the perfect sister-in-law.
Back on Earth, Eli hadn’t had a brother. He’d had plenty of friends—or what he thought were friends. When he became a broken version of himself, he’d lost touch with most of them.
Still, he didn’t want to put all the blame on them. He’d withdrawn pretty hard. There had been lots of unanswered texts and missed phone calls.
He’d never thought about being an uncle, but being one to Rion and Liah had become one of the best parts of each day.
Then there was Dainen. He was the perfect coach—always knowing how to push Eli to get something extra out of himself.
Eli glanced at Alira, feeling a lump in his throat. He quickly looked down at his plate before the emotion got the better of him.
He knew that “lucky” wasn’t the right word. No one dropped into this world—no matter what powers they were given—should be considered lucky.
Maybe he was blessed. He wasn’t sure. But what he did know was that Alira was the perfect person to find him that day.
He doubted anyone else could have taught him, grounded him, or pushed him as well as she had.
Well, anyone other than my mom, Eli thought.
Alira was like the Caelum version of her. Aside from being a little older, they both had the same presence—the way Alira listened and then let Eli find the answers himself.
Eli wasn’t sure what tomorrow or the next six months would bring, but he did know that this moment, these people—this was worth being here.