Larz could not fight this battle alone.
The weight of the letter, the warning it carried, was too great for one man to bear. If the world had any chance of surviving Doomsday, he would need to find the last of Luden's disciples—those who had once walked the path of wisdom before they scattered into obscurity.
Some had gone into hiding.Some had renounced their past.And some, perhaps, no longer lived.
But there was no time for doubt. The journey had begun.
With nothing but his conviction, Larz set out across distant lands, seeking the ones who still carried Luden's teachings in their hearts.
Would they listen?Would they remember?Or had time erased their faith, just as it had tried to erase Luden's name?
Only the road ahead would tell.
As Larz walked the lonely roads, his thoughts drifted to a name he had not spoken in years—
Aegis Latens.
Luden had formed the secretive order long ago, not as a kingdom, not as an army, but as a shield—one that would stand guard over the world's greatest truths.
For years, they had remained hidden, protecting what was left of Luden's teachings. But with time, even they had faded, their purpose lost to history.
Were they still out there?Had they abandoned their cause?Or had they been waiting for a sign—just as Larz had?
If Doomsday was coming, then the Hidden Shield needed to rise once more.
And Larz knew exactly where to start looking.
The Hunt for Aegis Latens
The wind carried whispers of a forgotten past as Larz traced the remnants of a vanished order.
Aegis Latens had been a secret even among Luden's disciples. They were the hidden shield, the last guardians of knowledge that could shape—or destroy—the world. But over time, even their existence had faded into myth.
Still, Larz knew that nothing truly disappeared. Not entirely.
There were always clues, fragments of their presence left behind in forgotten ruins, in cryptic writings, in whispers exchanged by those who still remembered.
And so, Larz followed the trail—chasing the last echoes of Aegis Latens, hoping that somewhere, in the shadows of the past, they still remained.
Would they welcome him?Would they even exist?
Or had he already lost them to time?
The answers lay ahead.
And Larz had no choice but to find them.
Larz pressed forward, following the faintest traces of Aegis Latens—a hidden name in forgotten places, a whisper carried only by those who still feared speaking it aloud.
The first clue had led him to a ruined monastery in the East, where the remains of an old manuscript hinted at a gathering long ago. The words were barely legible, the ink faded with time, but one phrase stood out:
"The Hidden Shield does not break—it bends, it moves, it waits."
It was proof.
Aegis Latens had not perished. They had simply disappeared, waiting for a time when they would be needed again.
And if the warning in the letter was true—if Doomsday was coming—then their time had come once more.
Larz journeyed deeper, following cryptic signs carved into old stone, tracing patterns only those who had once followed Luden would recognize.
His search led him to the western mountains, where rumors spoke of travelers who never returned. Locals told stories of a forgotten temple, abandoned to time, where shadows moved without a source and voices whispered on the wind.
A warning, or a test?
Larz had no choice but to keep going.
The night was dark as he reached the edge of an ancient path, a road long erased from maps. The symbols of Luden's wisdom were faint, carved into the stone beneath his feet. He was close.
But as he stepped forward, something shifted in the silence.
A presence.A watchful gaze.
And then—a voice.
"You should not have come."
Larz turned sharply. His journey to find Aegis Latens had ended.
But now, a new question remained—
Had he found them, or had they found him?