By morning, the plains were empty. Cled and Mairen had begun their journey north, toward the ancient ruins spoken of in the king's last words. The path wound through forests that no longer sang, across rivers that reflected the fractured sky.
For three days, they traveled in silence. Cled's aura was unstable — his energy flaring at odd intervals, shifting between calm light and chaotic blue flame.
Mairen finally spoke as they reached a ridge. "You're changing. The fracture's power isn't fading."
"It's not meant to," he said. "It's aligning. There's something ahead that it recognizes."
She hesitated. "The Vault?"
He nodded. "The place where heaven first stored its memories. If the Shattered King fell from grace, that's where his soul's fragments would hide."
They climbed higher until the ridge opened into a vast plateau. At its center stood a colossal gate of silver and glass — cracked but still standing. Symbols shimmered faintly across its surface, each one pulsing like a heartbeat.
Cled placed his palm on the gate. Instantly, the sigils flared to life.
> Heir of the Sky, return the fragments.
Reclaim what was sundered.
Mairen stepped back, shielding her eyes. "It's responding to you!"
Cled's expression hardened. "No… it's testing me."
The gate shuddered and began to open, revealing a tunnel of swirling light. From within came voices — thousands, overlapping, speaking every language and none at all.
They stepped through.
---
Inside was not darkness, but a sky turned inside out. Stars hung below their feet, and clouds drifted above. The entire vault was a sphere of reversed creation — the world inverted, where thought became form and memory became substance.
Mairen whispered, awestruck, "This isn't a vault… it's a soul."
Cled looked around, eyes glowing. "The heavens stored their will here. Every fallen immortal, every forgotten law."
As they walked, figures began to form — silhouettes made of mist and light. They bowed as Cled passed, whispering fragments of prayers once offered to the skies.
But then, the light dimmed. A cold wind swept through.
From the far end of the vault, a second voice spoke — smooth, bitter, familiar.
> "You should not have come here, Heir."
Cled turned sharply. A man stood there — identical to him, but his aura burned crimson. His eyes were filled with fury and sorrow.
Mairen gasped. "What— who—"
The twin smiled faintly. "I am what you cast away when you chose restraint. I am your sky unbound — your rage, your will to rule. I am the other half."
Cled clenched his fists. "A fragment of me born from the fracture."
"Exactly," the echo said. "And now that you've opened the Vault, I am whole again."
The twin raised his hand, and energy exploded outward, tearing through the starlit void. Cled barely blocked the strike, his feet skidding back across the shimmering air.
"Why fight me?" Cled demanded.
"Because only one of us can carry the heavens' memory — and you would waste it on mercy."
Their auras collided, blue against crimson, shaking the vault's foundations. Stars cracked, collapsing into streaks of light. Mairen screamed his name, but Cled's eyes had already shifted fully to gold.
"I won't destroy you," he said through gritted teeth. "You're part of me."
The twin smiled cruelly. "Then you will lose."
The next blow shattered the platform beneath them, plunging both into the heart of the inverted sky.