The door creaked open.Air leaked out—cold, old, wrong.
Nyra stepped back.Even Reylen flinched.
Vael said nothing.But his crown hummed.
The word "Tenebris" burned in his mind.It wasn't just a name.
It was a warning.
They stepped through.
The chamber beyond was massive—like the inside of a mountain.
Pillars rose, twisted like roots.Statues lined the walls.
Each statue wore a crown.Each face was different.
One was smiling.One was weeping.
One was screaming.All were broken.
"They wore the crown," Nyra whispered."And were lost."
No one replied.
At the center—an altar.And behind it, a wall of black glass.
It reflected nothing.Not even light.
Words etched into the glass shimmered:"To wear the dark is to forget your name."
Vael stepped forward.The altar lit up.
Images swirled in the air.Not memories—echoes.
Warlords. Tyrants. Kings.All touched by the crown.
All fell.
One voice echoed through the room.A whisper, ancient and dry.
"Welcome, bearer.What name do you remember?"
Vael frowned."Vael."
Silence.
Then:"Wrong."
The glass rippled.A figure stepped through.
Old, cloaked in black.His face—half bone, half rot.
"Your name was lost the moment you wore it."He pointed to the crown. "This remembers."
Vael's head ached.A rush of images—flashes.
Not his life.Others'.
Murder. War. Betrayal.
His knees buckled.Nyra caught him.
Reylen raised his sword."Who are you?"
"I am Nethryn," the figure said."First of the crowned."
The name echoed.
Nyra's breath caught."That's… the name of this place."
"No," Nethryn replied."It was my name. Before I forgot."
He raised a skeletal hand.
Vael's crown burned—bright, sharp.
"You're next," Nethryn said."To forget. To become."
Vael stood.Eyes burning.
"Then I'll remember one thing," he said."I'll never become you."
Nethryn laughed.Soft. Hollow.
"None of us wanted to.But the crown always wins."
He vanished.Into the glass.
The room dimmed.The altar cracked.
Vael turned to Nyra and Reylen.
"I need to know what this crown really is.Before it decides for me."
They nodded.And walked on.
Behind them, the glass pulsed.A new name etched itself in.
Vael.