Chapter 47: The Gate of Secrets Breaks
The howling winds of the eastern crags carved merciless trails through the canyons, but Jean and her companions pressed on. The sky darkened as they approached the boundary of the Forgotten Vale, where few dared tread and fewer returned.
There, built into the side of a mountain veiled by enchantments and ancient fear, stood the Vault of the First Spell—a colossal door sealed by nine interlocking rings, each etched with glyphs no mortal tongue could decipher.
Even Silvia paused.
"I've seen many gates," she said. "But this one feels like it's watching us."
Jean stepped forward, hand brushing Eclipsion's hilt.
Whitney stood at her side, fur bristling, divine light flickering along his spine.
And then—the rings began to turn.
The glyphs ignited in eerie blue fire.
The mountain trembled.
A piercing scream echoed from within the stone, not of pain—but release.
---
Beneath the gate, hidden by rock and magic, Ryan Magus watched from within a warded cavern, flanked by two Sages cloaked in smoke.
"She triggered the seal," Ryan murmured.
One of the Sages nodded. "Her presence awakened the gate. As predicted."
Ryan stepped forward, raising a vial filled with liquid starlight—the Essence of the Lost God, stolen from a ruined shrine months before.
"The door may open to her," he said coldly. "But the Vault's secrets will belong to the one willing to bend the divine."
He poured the essence onto a glyph-inscribed stone.
The ground shattered.
And a second gate, hidden beneath the surface of the mountain, slowly cracked open.
---
Above, the final ring turned.
Jean took a step back.
The glyphs pulsed once—twice—then exploded into radiant light.
The gate split down the middle.
Beyond it was not stone, nor darkness.
But a sky filled with stars, endless and shifting—an impossible realm carved from the fabric of creation.
Jean's heart thundered.
"This is…"
Silvia stared, stunned. "Not of this world."
A voice boomed from the starscape:
> "Only one shall bear the burden. Only one shall walk forward."
The ground beneath them began to vanish, turning into stardust.
Jean stepped forward without hesitation.
"I'll go."
Silvia reached for her, but Jean was already gone.
And the gate sealed shut behind her.
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