Chapter 18: Descent into the Forgotten Vault
Morning arrived sluggishly, as if the world itself were hesitant to awaken after the Echo's fall. The Hollow Sky shimmered with residual energy, golden cracks still healing where darkness had once poured. Kael stood before the shrine's altar, the stone steps leading into shadow beneath his feet. The crypt Vaeloria had detected pulsed with faint pressure, like a heartbeat beneath stone.
Behind him, his wives prepared in silence.
Selene rewrapped her gauntlets, inspecting every inch of her gear. Her form was rigid, shoulders taut — not with fear, but the memory of battle.
Thalaria checked the voltage inside her glaive, sparks dancing between her fingers as she tested the coils. Her earlier levity had faded, replaced by grim curiosity.
Vaeloria finished her ward-circle, sealing their camp and transferring the protective glyphs into a pocket scroll. "The leyline is thinner here. We'll be able to enter the Vault, but something's... watching."
Kael nodded. "Let's not keep it waiting."
They descended.
---
The passage was older than anything Kael had encountered before. It was carved from obsidian and bone. Lanterns that had not been lit in eons flickered to life with their presence.
> [Passive Skill Triggered: Shadow Perception — Visibility Enhanced in Dim Environments]
Hieroglyphs etched in infernal script decorated the walls. Images of winged horrors and chained gods stretched across the stone in a story untold.
"This wasn't built by mortals," Selene muttered.
"No," Vaeloria confirmed. "It predates even the Serenthaal line."
> [Mini-Quest Triggered: Vault of the Forsaken Flame — Locate the Sealed Origin]
They reached the first chamber — a circular sanctum ringed with six sealed sarcophagi and a domed ceiling lined with crystals.
As Kael stepped into the center, the doors sealed behind them.
> [Warning: Curse Trap Engaged — Initiating Trial of the Forgotten Flame]
The crystals turned red.
Ghostly figures rose from the sarcophagi — ancient warriors bound in silence and fury. Their eyes were hollow. Their armor dripped ether.
Thalaria grinned. "Finally, something I can stab."
Kael drew his blade, the system flooding his vision.
> [Combat Phase Initiated — Ghostbound Guardians (Elite Grade, Tier 5)]
Steel rang. Flame sparked. Lightning danced.
Selene engaged the two largest guardians, clashing swords in an echoing duel that lit the chamber with silver flashes. Thalaria darted through shadows, glaive slicing limbs and disrupting formations.
Kael faced three at once. They struck in coordinated patterns, relics of forgotten tactics. He parried and rolled, flame bursts countering their ghostfire.
Vaeloria stood at the rear, weaving spell sigils into the air, each one bursting into spheres of light that exploded across enemy ranks.
Minutes passed like hours.
Kael slammed his foot into the ground, igniting the floor in a column of heat. Two guardians vaporized. A third drove a spear through his thigh—
> [Pain Dampened: 23%]
—but he spun, blade humming, and cleaved it in half.
Selene knocked her opponent back, blade searing through its chest. "How many are left?!"
"Two!" Thalaria cried, glaive spinning like a cyclone.
The last guardian let out a silent wail before disintegrating under a trio of fire, lightning, and lunar edge.
Silence returned.
> [Trial Passed — Curse Lifted] [Chamber Access Unlocked — Proceed to Vault Core]
A stairway opened beneath the altar.
Kael dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
> [Level Up Achieved — System Level 9]
Bonus: +2 Strength, +2 Endurance, +1 Agility
Sin Affinity Increased
System Function Unlocked: Echo Archive (Battle Memory Replay)
He smiled. "We're close."
The Vault Core was cold. The walls pulsed with veins of silver energy, and at the far end floated a black obelisk suspended in mana.
Vaeloria approached it, lips parted. "That's... not a relic. It's a seal."
> [Major Quest Update: The Forgotten Vault — Unlock the Obelisk's Memory Sigil]
Kael stepped forward. As his hand neared it, runes flared on his palm.
> [Crown of Sin Recognition — Sin-Bearer Identified] [Memory Fragment Access Granted]
His mind was yanked elsewhere.
Visions poured in: A god slain in betrayal. Its followers burned and sealed in chains. A beast born from its final curse — the Echo of Ruin — left as a sentinel.
And something else...
A second pulse.
Buried deeper.
> [Warning: Residual Divine Will Detected — Dormant Threat Beneath Obelisk]
Kael staggered.
Selene caught him. "What did you see?"
"Something worse than the Echo," he whispered. "Something... waking up."
The vault trembled slightly, then grew still.
Kael turned to his lovers. "We need to prepare. The Echo was just the beginning."
And in the obelisk's reflection, for the briefest moment—Kael's eyes shimmered not with flame, but with something ancient.
End of Chapter 18