Chapter 37: Chapter 37

☑ 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.

"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."

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

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

Sub-Ritual Activated: Ash Memory Reclamation

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

Pulling Nullborn into Sovereign System…

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.

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

The glyphs shattered.

> Null Thread Reclaimed

Status: Bound by 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

Maris collapsed into his arms.

"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.

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