The hoofbeats thundered beneath me as I urged the horse faster, the forest blurring past in shades of green and shadow. Vera rode beside me, her red-spade riders forming a wedge around us, six silent killers who moved like they'd been born in saddles.

  Three days. That's what she said. Three days to reach Qora.

  I glanced back once. The tree line was empty, but I could feel them, feel the King's presence burning like a cold star in the distance. He'd recover from the tomb collapse. He'd come.

  "My brother." Vera's voice cut through my thoughts. "You need to rest. You've been pushing yourself since the tomb."

  "I'm fine." The words came automatic. I wasn't fine. My arms still trembled from the effort of that last Void Slice against the scarred Ace. The wound in my side, where his blade had caught me before Absolute Null kicked in, was stitched but not healed. Each stride sent a fresh spike of pain through my ribs.

  "Vera." I kept my voice low. "The King. He was stronger than I expected."

  "Forty years on the throne of shadows." Her jaw tightened. "Father always said he was the most powerful Veil in three generations."

  Father. The word still burned. Two years dead in their prison, and I'd never known. My own father, and the Veil had stolen him from me without a whisper.

  I focused on the road ahead. There'd be time to grieve later. Time to rage later. Right now, I needed to move.

  By midday, we'd reached the King's Highway, the main road connecting Grimvale to Qora. It was wider than the forest paths, paved with ancient stone, and predictably empty. No merchant caravans today. No travelers. Just us, riding hard under a sky the color of hammered steel.

  "Waystation ahead." One of the riders, Rae, the youngest of the six, pointed forward. "Abandoned three years ago when the road patrols got too aggressive."

  Vera nodded. "We rest there. Two hours, then move again."

  I didn't argue. My body was screaming for rest, but my mind wouldn't stop churning. The KEY CARD sat heavy in my pendant, 2/7 keys collected. The Seventh Child's Sight pulsed faintly in the back of my consciousness, incomplete and mysterious. And somewhere behind us, the King gathered his forces.

  The waystation emerged from the tree line, a crumbling structure of weathered wood and sagging roof. Once, it had been a waypoint for travelers, maybe a small inn. Now it was a skeleton of its former self, windows gaping like empty eye sockets.

  We tied the horses in what remained of a stable and spread out to search the building. I moved through the ground floor, stepping over fallen beams and rotting furniture. Nothing but dust and dead leaves and the smell of decay.

  Then I felt it.

  A pulse. Faint, but unmistakable. The same resonance I'd felt in the tomb when the Black Card merged with the key.

  I stopped in front of what remained of a fireplace. The stones were ancient, older than the rest of the building. My Seventh Child's Sight flickered, and I saw it. A seam in the stone, nearly invisible.

  "Vera." My voice came out hoarse. "Come look at this."

  She appeared at my shoulder, studied the fireplace, then looked at me. "What is it?"

  "There's something behind here. Something old."

  The riders gathered as we began pulling apart the fireplace. The stones came loose easier than they should have, almost as if they wanted to be moved. Behind them, a hollow space opened in the wall.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Inside: a chest.

  It was small, no larger than a bread box, made of black iron with no visible lock or hinge. The surface was covered in symbols I didn't recognize, not the standard card runes, something older. Much older.

  "A cache." Vera's voice was tight. "The old Crimson safehouses sometimes left them. Emergency supplies for agents in the field."

  I reached for the chest, and froze. My fingers hovered an inch from the metal surface.

  "Don't." Rae stepped forward, eyes wide. "That sigil, it's a trap rune. I've seen them in the old texts. Touch it wrong and it'll,"

  "I know." I pulled my hand back. "It's not trapped for me."

  How did I know that? The Seventh Child's Sight pulsed again, and suddenly I understood. The chest wasn't protected against intruders. It was protected against everyone except a specific bloodline. The Rene family.

  I pressed my palm to the iron surface. The symbols lit up beneath my touch, not red or green, but a deep, shimmering gold.

  The chest opened.

  Inside, resting on faded crimson velvet, lay a single card.

  It was unlike any card I'd seen. The frame was dark, almost absorbing light, with silver veins running through it like lightning frozen in obsidian. The center was blank, no number, no suit, no symbol. Just smooth, polished darkness.

  But when I touched it, I felt the resonance. The same resonance as the KEY CARD. The same resonance as my Multiskill. Beyond Tier 0.

  "What is that?" Vera leaned closer, her eyes narrowing.

  "I don't know." I lifted the card carefully. "But it's not like the others."

  The moment I raised it, the card flared. Silver light erupted from the blank center, and suddenly the room was filled with whispers, a hundred voices, a thousand, speaking in a language I shouldn't understand but somehow did.

  Seventh Child. You have found the Vessel.

  The third lost skill. The one that was never meant to be found.

  Accept the gift. Become what you were born to be.

  My vision went white.

  I came back to myself on my knees, the card clutched in my hand, Vera's fingers digging into my shoulder.

  "Dere! Dere, answer me!"

  I blinked. The whispers were gone. The room was silent except for our ragged breathing.

  "I'm fine." I managed the words. My head throbbed, but there was something underneath the pain, warmth. Power. The card pulsed once, twice, then went still.

  [SYSTEM]

  Card Acquired: [Vessel of the First] (Beyond Tier 0)

  Slot Cost: 3 (Beyond Tier 0)

  Status: Incomplete - Awaiting Resonance Alignment

  Effect: Grants the ability to channel any Tier 0 skill through a temporary 'vessel' body, allowing skills to be used without tattoo slot consumption for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 24 hours.

  Attunement Bonus: +5 FIT (Attuned to Seventh Child)

  New Skill: [Vessel Channeling Lv.1]

  I stared at the notification. Vessel of the First. A third Tier 0 card, another one of the seven lost skills. And it worked differently than anything I'd seen. Instead of granting a direct power, it let me use powers I already had, without the slot costs.

  With Absolute Null incomplete and sitting at half my tattoo slots, with Void Slice and Shadow Lunge and Shadow Dominion all demanding space, this card was a gift. A temporary escape from the limitation that had been choking me since I learned what I was.

  "Vera." My voice came out strange. "This is..."

  She was staring at the card in my hand, her face pale. "That's a First Player relic. I've only read about them in the oldest Crimson archives."

  "I know." I stood slowly, tucking the card into my pendant. "Somewhere in my blood, I think it knew."

  The warmth faded, but the attunement bonus remained, five more FIT points added to my total. I checked my stat display, not trusting the numbers until I saw them myself.

  FIT: 57. Up from 52.

  One more card. One more step toward whatever I was supposed to become.

  But as I turned toward the door, my Seventh Child's Sight flickered, And I saw them.

  Riders. Dozens of them. Coming down the King's Highway from the direction we'd come.

  Veil colors. Silver and black.

  The King had found us faster than expected.

  "They're here." I drew Void Slice, the blade materializing in my hand like frozen shadow. "Vera, how many did you bring?"

  Her face had gone cold and hard. "Six. And two are wounded from the tomb."

  The hoofbeats grew louder. The riders were close now, too close for us to mount and flee.

  "Then we fight." I stepped toward the doorway. "And we find out what this Vessel card can really do."

  But even as I said it, I knew something was wrong. The riders weren't charging. They were slowing. Forming a line.

  Waiting.

  At their front, a single figure raised a hand.

  And I recognized the silver hair, the pale gray eyes, the elegant bow in her grip.

  The female Ace of Veil.

  She'd caught up to us.

  Alone.

  "Demark Rene." Her voice carried across the clearing, cold and certain. "I believe you have something that belongs to my King."

  Behind her, the Veil soldiers spread out, twenty, maybe thirty, their shadows pooling dark against the road.

  I had fifty-seven FIT. I had Void Slice and Shadow Lunge and Shadow Dominion. I had a Vessel card that let me use skills without slots.

  I had a sister I'd just met three days ago, fighting beside me for the first time.

  But thirty Veil soldiers, plus an Ace who'd been hunting my family for seven years.

  That wasn't a fight.

  That was a death sentence.

  "Any bright ideas?" Vera muttered beside me.

  I watched the Ace dismount, her bow never leaving her hand. "I'm working on it."

  The Ace smiled, and it was the smile of someone who'd already won.

  "Then work faster." She nocked an arrow. "I don't intend to give you much time."