HAREM: WARLOCK OF THE SOUTH

> Choice Confirmed:

☑ Pull Maris into Flame

Warning: Unstable Null Thread Conversion

Risk: Collapse of Sovereign Flame Structure (60%)

Bond Threads: 5 Active

If Integration Fails: All Current Threads May Sever

Ryon gripped Maris's wrist, harder.

Not to restrain.

But to anchor.

"Come back to me," he said, voice cracking.

"You don't belong to the System. You never did. You're not a weapon. You're not a code."

"You're Maris."

Her eyes fluttered. The glyphs pouring from her mouth stuttered, glitched, sparked.

For a second—

The sky changed.

Not the real sky.

The System's sky.

Lines of golden thread arced downward and tried to tear her from him.

But he pulled harder.

And then they stepped forward.

Kaela, sword raised: "She's part of your past? Then we'll fight for her future."

Elara, quiet but fierce: "No soul deserves to be overwritten."

Lyria, light blooming in her hands: "If this kills us… we still choose you."

Shaera, teeth bared: "Let the System try. I'll bite it."

Even Neive stepped from the tower's edge.

"Thread merge… manually stabilizing," she said. "I've never done this. Let's break the laws."

> Soul Weaving Activated: 6 Threads Detected

Compatibility Level: Unknown

Bond Risk: ALL

Sub-Ritual Activated: Ash Memory Reclamation

Origin Code Match: 100% – Maris (First Anchor)

Pulling Nullborn into Sovereign System…

Maris screamed.

But not in rage.

In recognition.

Ryon's memories poured into her.

The way she used to laugh. The flame they shared on accident. The night she was taken.

Her own fragments responded—

The kiss in the rain.

The broken doll.

His name on her tongue when they cut her free will.

And then—

The glyphs shattered.

Like glass.

> Null Thread Reclaimed

Name: Maris

Status: Bound by Flame

Bond Level: 6% → 17%

Type: Memory Flame

Trait Unlocked: Thread Echo – Recall & replay lost moments from any Bonded thread

Risk Status: Stabilized

Total Threads: 6 / 30

System Status: CORRUPTED

Error: Sovereign Structure Now Unreadable

Path: OFFLINE

Maris collapsed into his arms.

Breathing.

Alive.

Eyes wide.

"I… remember you," she whispered.

And then she began to cry.

Not for what was lost.

But for what she almost destroyed.

That night, the palace burned with cleansing fire. Not from war, but from purification.

For the first time in history, a Nullborn was reclaimed.

The System didn't understand.

Because it couldn't comprehend choice.

In the throne hall, Ryon looked out over his bonded flames.

Six now.

And behind Maris's eyes, the System still flickered—afraid.