There were places in Arcadia Academy students weren't supposed to know existed—much less enter.
The Obsidian Vault was one of them.
It wasn't on any map. It had no door. Just a forgotten access hatch buried behind the west wing's abandoned library stacks. Mira had found it using a cross-reference between outdated blueprints and ghost directory logs.
And tonight, they stood in front of it.
"You sure this is it?" Kairo whispered.
Mira tapped at her wristpad, eyes glowing faintly in the dark. "This section was sealed off after the Ash Collapse—thirty years ago. The entire floor above it was burned from the inside."
"By what?"
"A pet they never classified."
She knelt beside the panel. "Help me with the override."
It took both of them—her decryption tool, and Mote's new [Data Rift] skill—to bypass the multi-layered lock.
The wall shimmered, glitched—and melted inward, revealing a staircase wrapped in scorched stone and flickering red light.
Heat slammed into them like a furnace.
"Residual energy signature detected," Mote whispered. "Throne-class, dormant, unstable."
"There's something alive down there," Mira said. "Something old."
They stepped into the Vault.
Burned walls. Melted floors. The air was thick with smoke that wasn't really smoke—just fragments of corrupted fire data, dancing like ash-ghosts.
At the center of the vault stood a crystal cocoon, half-cracked, glowing with a dull crimson heart.
Something pulsed inside it.
"This isn't a pet chamber," Kairo said. "It's a sarcophagus."
Mote hovered forward, trembling.
"Identity match confirmed."[Third Throne Fragment Detected: FLAME BINDER — STATUS: SHATTERED/REGENERATING]
[WARNING: Partial Awakening May Result in Burn Cascade or Soul Desynchronization]
Mira grabbed his arm. "Kairo, we shouldn't—"
Too late.
The crystal pulsed—then split.
And a voice, ragged and ancient, poured into the vault:
"You are not the one who sealed me."
"You are… new. We remember you."
Flames burst outward, forming a figure—six feet tall, burning eyes, ember-horns crackling with molten lightning. It wasn't fully formed, just a data-echo, a memory scarred by war.
"You carry the Root."
Kairo took a shaky step forward. "I'm not here to control you."
The entity leaned in.
"Good. Because you cannot.""But you can free us."
[Bond Triggered: Third Throne — Ember Sovereign][Status: Dormant Fragment Embedded][New Ability Unlocked: Infernal Pulse — Passive Fire Resistance + Ember Projection (Level 1)]
Then the figure vanished.
The cocoon collapsed to ash.
Back in his dorm, Kairo stared at his wristpad.
Three Thrones now pulsed in the hidden layer of his system interface.
First Throne — Mote (Data/Restoration): 34% Sync
Second Throne — Stormbound Sovereign (Lightning/Air): 19% Sync
Third Throne — Ember Sovereign (Fire/Destruction): 2% Sync [Fragmented]
Mira paced behind him. "They're not just watching you anymore."
"They're preparing for you."
"You've just set off a silent war, Kairo."
"One the rest of the academy doesn't even know is coming."
Far away, beyond the system's official nodes, inside a blacksite known only as Citadel Null, a red dot blinked on a private terminal.
A cloaked figure leaned forward.
"Three Thrones awakened in one cycle…""And it's him."
She stood.
"Initiate the Cull Protocol. Before the Fourth wakes."