Thick iron plating enclosed a small staircase that spiraled down many floors below the surface.
Blood dripped from Aaron's body as he descended one step at a time, moving carefully so he wouldn't drop Eleanor.
His thoughts wavered as his body trembled from blood loss; however, he knew he was nearing his goal.
Tingles coursed through his limbs, reminding him he wouldn't last much longer without proper treatment, yet the light at the end of the tunnel filled him with strength, if only for a moment.
I-I see it!
Torches burned at the bottom of the staircase, casting light over a doorframe where no door stood, only a wall that glowed with an eerie hue.
As he stepped onto the cold stone floor, he noticed intricate magenta engravings etched around the frame of the sealed doorway.
R-Runes?
A spark of wonder flickered in his eyes as he tried to grasp the purpose behind the symbols.
This one looks like a lock and key… and that one like a person…
From the pictograms, he could piece together just enough information to form a basic understanding.
"S-So it's locked by some kind of mechanism... I must be in the right place."
Gently, he lowered Eleanor onto the cold tiles and stepped closer to the runes.
He caressed the stone surface with his left hand, feeling the grooves of the markings and forcing his weary mind to register every detail as he studied their differences.
From top to bottom, he counted thirty-seven runes, each with a dot at its center.
Do the dots symbolize something?
As he knelt for a better view of the lower section, a sharp snap echoed through the chamber, making him flinch.
His gaze dropped to the ground, where he noticed something sticking out of a small pile of sand.
I-Is that a skull?
He stumbled back until his shoulders hit the wall, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the human skull.
What could've killed…
A sudden wave of nausea disrupted his thoughts as more blood spilled from his missing finger.
N-Need to hurry up…
Aaron knew that if he didn't want to end up like the one who left that skull behind, he had to figure out how to get inside the vault, and fast.
He snapped his gaze back to the vault door, scanning the surface for anything that might serve as a handle or a keyhole.
"T-There has to be something…"
His speech grew increasingly slurred as time went on, his mind clouded by the ever-deepening dizziness.
Clang… clang… clang…
Behind him, light footsteps resounded down the metallic stairs, each one tightening the knot of dread in his chest.
S-Somethings coming…
Aaron tried to turn around, but his battered body finally gave out, sending him crashing to the ground with a heavy thud.
From the corner of his eye, he watched a figure step out of the dark tunnel, entering the torchlight.
"Boy? Is that you?"
It was the voice of an elderly man, one that Aaron recognized immediately.
"I-It's you… from the Hunters' Guild…"
Less than two days ago, when he received his license from the Guild, this man was the one who helped him.
A smile bloomed on Aaron's lips as someone who could help him finally showed up.
What's more, it was someone he already knew.
The white-haired man paused briefly before responding quietly to the boy.
"Indeed, it is… Now tell me what you are doing here."
As before, the man's raspy voice was hard to understand, but the boy clung to what focus he had left and answered at once.
"I-I need to get into this vault… t-to save her…"
He pointed his injured hand toward Eleanor, who lay hidden in the corner, revealing her dire state to the elder.
"What…?"
A flash of surprise crossed the elder's face before he furrowed his brows, staring intently at the unmoving girl.
"S-So if you could… can you help me open—"
The rest of his sentence died in his throat as a strange substance dripped from the man's body, pooling into a dark, viscous mass on the floor.
His eyes flared bright red as his thinning white hair erupted into long strands that cascaded down, framing the delicate figure of a woman.
Confusion overwhelmed Aaron, his mouth hanging open as he struggled to wrap his head around the sudden transformation.
"W-Who… are you…?"
His words were little more than a whisper as his consciousness flickered in and out, sheer willpower the only thing keeping him awake.
She remained silent, ignoring his question at first, but then turned to him with a look of greed burning in her eyes.
"What have you done to this girl to expand her divine presence so drastically in just one day?"
Aaron caught only fragments of her words, leaving him even more confused than before.
At the same time, a strange warmth spread through his body, as if he bathed in the sunlight.
S-So this is where it ends…
He blinked slowly as darkness covered the world, pulling him toward the eternal slumber of death.
"Tsk. You're seriously dying from blood loss? Pathetic. I need you alive so you can tell me what the hell you did to her."
Arianna shot him a look filled with contempt as she walked over and kicked him in the side, jolting him back from the brink of death.
"Guhhk!"
He let out a bloody cough, but Arianna didn't show any concern as she lifted him in the air and slammed him against the chamber wall, her hand clamping down painfully on his neck.
"You will tell me right now what you did to that girl. Otherwise, I will kill everyone you've ever loved, I can promise you that."
Aaron's thoughts raced, searching for a way out of his predicament, but he couldn't think of anything that would save him from the inevitable death.
Wait… Why would someone die here if they could just leave the way they came?
His mind—normally empty—filled with sudden clarity, and pieces of an imaginary puzzle began to fit together inside his head, sparked by something the Old Man had said during Aaron's last visit.
Something in his face shifted when he mentioned Death…
Arianna leaned close, her voice cold and barely above a whisper as she muttered more threats in his ear, which drew nothing but a smirk from the bleeding boy.
"G-Go… to…"
He coughed up a spray of blood that spattered near her face, causing her to scowl and press him harder against the wall.
"Hell."
His defiant words fell flat against Arianna's murderous expression as she tightened her grip even more, crushing his throat with merciless force.
If I'm wrong, it's over… but if I'm right…
Crack.
His body crashed to the floor with a sickening thud, a ragged wheeze escaping his broken neck.
"Useless boy. You are a fool to think you could force your way into this vault anyway. We tried the same thing years ago, but it never budged."
Her speech continued while Aaron choked on his own blood, rasping for air with his windpipe smashed as he quickly slipped toward darkness.
"Not even the ever-so-powerful Lepaie Quinn could leave so much as a scratch on it. You know why, boy?"
She spat on his convulsing body, watching his movements slow and his eyes grow dim.
"Because this was the final protection put in place by that Magician a century ago."
Arianna went on speaking as Aaron's body gave one final twitch.
"Legend says it's to seal a weapon that 'transcends mortal understanding,' but in my opinion, it's nothing more than a farce."
Her face twisted into a cruel smile as she turned toward Eleanor, who lay collapsed against the far side of the room.
"Let's finish this quickly."
…
The groans of metal rippled through the sea as a certain Old Man pulled and ripped at the chains that bound him.
"Incredible! Simply magnificent, Aaron!"
His eyes were focused on the projection of Aaron's corpse lying behind the silver-haired woman.
"This was all part of your plan, right? It had to be! Something so perfect couldn't be mere luck!"
The sheer excitement radiating from him burned away any sea terror that dared approach the podium where he was sealed.
With another shout and tug at the chains, a sudden burst of pressure slammed against his body, forcing him back into his place.
"Ah, yes, forgive me, old friend. But you see this, right? Without me even telling him about the mechanism, he solved it!"
Reality itself seemed to tremble with his laughter as he resisted the urge to contact the boy immediately.
"He must have caught the hint! Of course! The skull gave it away!"
His hands clapped together, defying the laws of nature, and producing thunderous applause that shook the ocean as if a new continent was taking shape with each boom.
"It might be a simple Death Circuit, but it should still be quite difficult to solve for a mortal. And yet, he did it!"
As if annoyed by the shouts of a madman, the chains wrapped around him like snakes coiling around their prey, choking him into silence.
Despite that, he still writhed with excitement.
"Mmmph!"
His struggles echoed through the depths until the chains dragged him back into his containment without another word spilling from his lips.
Simply incredible, young Grimstall. You have upheld your end of the deal, so I shall uphold mine.