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The ashes of the silver-masked creature came drifting by in the stale air, and would not rest. Kael was silent and was watching them as they rose higher like the last gasp of some old thing. his brain was not silent, however…
The Grimoire didn't flip its pages. The Crimson Heart didn't pulse. Even the whispers had gone silent.
He hated it.
Silence now meant that something worse was coming.
Kael went still farther into the old forgotten tunnels under Silvergrave. These were not ruins made by vampires. And these were older, formed into the bones of the world, and the walls had been bulged by claws rather than chisels. The ancient magic was thick in the air, in the smoke and covered his skin and mind.
He found a rusted iron door sealed by three blood-etched runes.
His blood boiled just looking at them.
> "These marks... they're part of the Vire script," he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
He reached for the Grimoire.
The paper turned with agonised slowness. A diagram faded in,… the runes the same, but all in red. The blood left in new text.
> [Blood Key Access Detected]
Touch only with the left hand. Heart must be steady. Intent must be clear.
Kael took a breath. Calm. Focus.
He pressed his left hand to the door.
The pain was racing up his arm, and still he did not draw back. His blood boiled under his skin in answer to the magic. The runes glowed, one before another... till the third flared angrily.
A door did not open.
Instead, it did talk.
> "Name your burden."
Kael blinked.
> "...What?"
> "Name your burden," it repeated, voice deeper now. "Or be buried beneath it."
For a moment, Kael said nothing. Then:
> "I want to know who I am. Who I was. Who I'm supposed to be."
The runes blazed up!
Then faded.
across the very face of which the iron door slowly creaked and groaned, opening wide to the clear rays of day to exhibit a long hall, how loaded with stone coffins I did not then know.
Here the dead did not rest.
As soon as he entered he heard a chorus of voices.
"Vire the Flame-Eater."
"The traitor."
"The broken king."
"The last mistake."
Kael reeled and his hand held his head. They were not memories. They had been accusations, even after death marks that had been carved in the bones of Progenitor.
The Grimoire flipped again.
> [Burden Trial: Chamber of Names]
Endure the truths you've forgotten.
The first coffin cracked open.
Inside was a reflection of Kael. Pale, with bloodless eyes and a broken crown of bone around his head. It grinned.
> "You think you're Kael Vire," it rasped. "But you've only seen one drop of his blood."
Kael bared his teeth. "Then show me the rest."
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Crimson Core Cultivation Tiers
1. Dormant Core
2. Awakened Core
3. Tempered Core
4. Crimson Bloom Core
5. Sovereign Core
6. Progenitor Core
7. Mythic Crimson Core
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End Chapter
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