It began with a sound—not a scream, but something quieter. A breath caught between steel and sorrow. After surviving the Trial by Blood and Fire, Ryon was granted two days of "recovery." But the South did not offer rest. > "If you survived Kaela's trial, you must face the Queen of Chains." "She doesn't kill quickly. She makes you beg to be broken." Ryon asked once: "Who is she?" The only answer: "The woman even the Matriarch keeps caged." > System Alert: New Thread Identified Name: Queen Nyssha Darei – The Chain Mistress Status: Warden of the Southern Dungeons Virgin Soul Status: Suppressed Tier (Emotionally Dormant) System Note: High-Risk Path – Proceed with extreme caution A Throne of Restraint He was taken to the lowest level of the palace, beneath the Temple of Silence, where even light seemed afraid to linger. Clad in a silver gown made from chains. Skin like onyx silk. Eyes wrapped in a blindfold of threads forged from law and blood. Her body curved like temptation, but her aura crackled with suppressed violence. She sat on a throne built not of gold, but restraint—collars, cuffs, manacles once used to tame the South's worst monsters. And yet, she was free. And they feared her. She didn't rise as he entered. Only tilted her head, lips curling faintly. "Another trial toy," she murmured. "Sent to see if I still bite." She sniffed the air. "You smell of fire… and guilt." "Everyone in chains knows the scent of the one trying to escape their own." A priestess placed two sets of cuffs on the stone between them. One glowed white with purity seals. The other, black—spiked, heavy, cursed. Nyssha's voice rang like thunder in velvet. "Pick your chain, curseborn. Purity or punishment?" > System Choice Triggered A) Pick the white chain – Choose submission, gain trust B) Pick the black chain – Accept challenge, test power C) Refuse – Break the ritual, gain enemy Ryon stared at the two chains. And slowly picked up the black one. Nyssha laughed—low and delighted. "Oh… you're going to be fun." A Game of Pain and Power The cursed chain bound his wrists—then dragged his secrets from his skin. Each link that tightened forced a memory into the open. His brother's screams. The mage father who abandoned him. The guilt of wearing a dead boy's body. Nyssha circled him like a predator. "Everyone breaks," she whispered. "Will you?" Through gritted teeth, he answered: "Not for you. Not for anyone." > System Response: Resistance High Chain Master Path Triggered Subconscious Submission: DENIED Dominant Spark Detected Nyssha's Emotion: Awakened Then traced a finger along the red marks left behind. "You are not my prisoner," she said. "But I might want to be yours." She walked to the back of the dungeon, opened a vault with a blood key, and returned with a scroll wrapped in a chain-sigil. "This is a key to the binding spells used by the Matriarch's inner court," she said. "Use it wisely… or foolishly. But understand—if you try to bind me..." "You'll have to earn every link." Nyssha Darei Bond: 8% New Ability Unlocked: Chain Insight – Reveal magical restraints & seals Core Status: Curse Integrity – 81% Time Remaining: 5 Days, 6 Hours Subplot Unlocked: The Shackles of the South Ryon left the dungeon bruised, aching—and carrying the weight of power few dared to touch. Another soul unlocked. Another path revealed. And somewhere far above, the Matriarch whispered in a garden of glass: "The chains have moved. The world shifts again."