The crowd roared as Zayden descended from the golden airship like a god visiting Earth. His boots hissed with compressed levitation jets, landing silently on the stone pavement. The people of Eridale had never seen such grace… or swagger.
"Lord Zayden!" a merchant cried. "Your floating wagons — they don't use horses! Are they run by dwarven ghosts!?"
Zayden grinned, brushing back his silver-streaked hair.
"No ghosts, just horsepower. Except the horse is made of lightning," he winked.
The crowd collectively gasped.
Seraphina, cloaked in her flowing red gown, walked beside him. Her smile was perfect, mysterious, and haunting all at once. The people whispered behind closed windows, "Who is the Lady in Red?" "She walks like a curse, but stands like a queen." "A witch? A muse?"
Zayden called her "my fireproof rose." No one dared ask more.
---
Later That Night — In the Enterprise Command Hall
Zayden was in the middle of showcasing neural-field projectors — holographic maps that responded to thought — when the room flickered.
Then—
Blackout.
"Uh… M.A.I.A.?"
"I felt it too, Zayden. Something tapped into our primary uplink. Not human."
The screen glitched for a second — displaying something unexplainable: a symbol made of twisting light and darkness, followed by a shadowed humanoid figure in red… not Seraphina.
Then silence.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered.
---
Moments Later — Training Arena
Zayden stood across from a challenger. A black-cloaked warrior who called himself "Red Fang." Rumor had it he never lost a duel.
"Funny name," Zayden said, stepping onto the arena floor. "You bite much?"
"I cut," Red Fang replied. "Your wonders are... distractions."
The duel was fast. Red Fang's blade moved like wind and gravity itself bent around him. Zayden tried to deploy a photon shield — but the system failed.
In five moves, he was disarmed and thrown to the ground. The crowd was stunned.
Zayden laughed, wiping blood from his lip.
"Okay... I needed that."
---
That Night — Rooftop of the New Enterprise Tower
Zayden stared at the stars, silent.
M.A.I.A. chimed: "Analysis complete. His weapon had Draconian properties. Forbidden tech. But we learned something."
A hologram appeared before Zayden — a new schematic.
[UPGRADE UNLOCKED: Adaptive Kinetic Mesh]
Uses impact force against itself to create energy-deflection barriers.
Zayden's eyes lit up. "So every punch I take… helps me next time."
"Exactly. Every loss becomes power. Every strike — a blueprint."
He looked out into the night. Somewhere, a presence was watching. Not just Red Fang… something deeper.
And down below, in a red silk robe, Seraphina stood at the tower's edge. Eyes closed. Whispering to herself…
"Just a little longer, Zayden. Before the fire comes."
---
End of Chapter 21