By midday, the trees had given way to broken hills and tangled stone. Grass grew in brittle tufts between cracks. The air here felt thinner, as though some enormous thing had once drawn breath and never exhaled.
They reached the Vault without words.
It rose out of the cliff face like a scar — arched stone half-buried by vines and creeping moss. The entrance was a jagged oval, not carved by tools but eroded by something deeper, like time had worn its way in until the rock gave up.
"This is it," Lira said, stepping forward. "The outer mouth."
Kael hesitated before crossing the threshold. As soon as he entered, the air changed. It grew denser, tinged with something electric. His skin prickled.
The walls inside shimmered faintly. Embedded in them were hundreds of glass crystals — some clear, some cloudy, some pulsing with slow inner light. Each was the size of a human eye and arranged in spirals and lattices.
Lira stopped beside one cluster.
"Memory storage," she said. "Not the kind you can read with ink. These are direct captures, distilled essence. They hum when they react to someone who shares resonance."
Kael moved slowly through the chamber, letting his fingers brush the air near the glass.
One of the crystals lit up.
He froze.
It flickered once, then flooded with amber light. A low note rang out, almost like a voice buried beneath metal. Without meaning to, Kael touched it.
His mind snapped inward.
He stood in a wide courtyard of marble and black stone. Around him, robed figures waited in silence. Before him, a kneeling line of captives—eyes downcast, wrists bound.
He recognized the shape of his own hands. They were steady. Unshaking.
"I speak now the Name Unmade," his voice rang out. "Let it bind this oath."
The captives bowed their heads lower. The robed figures echoed back his words in perfect sync.
He was not a bystander. He was the center of it all.
He released the crystal and staggered back.
Lira caught him before he hit the floor.
"What did you see?" she asked, eyes sharp.
Kael shook his head slowly.
"I wasn't just someone dangerous," he said. "They followed me. I had power. Authority."
He looked at her, voice trembling.
"And I used it."