The Red Annotation seared in Felix's vision like a bloodstain on the universe: Asset Compromised. The violation was deeper than any flesh wound. Kael had not just stolen an object; he had stolen a piece of a language that organized Felix's very interaction with being. The shard [Appraise], a fundamental operation of the Codex, was now a splinter in his enemy's soul, a keyhole into a sanctum that should have been inviolate.
Panic was a cold fist in his heart. He could feel it, a far-off, jarring thrum on the edge of his perception—a discordant note within the harmony of the Unseen Tide. Kael's storm-clouded core was now suffused with a splinter of the void's own purpose. The potential for catastrophe was endless. What if Kael, in his blundering rage, succeeded in activating it somehow? Wha
