The stone hall felt alive.
Not metaphorically—each etched rune pulsed faintly, like the walls themselves were breathing.
Kael could hear it now.
A slow, rhythmic thrum beneath the stone.
A heartbeat buried deep in the Labyrinth.
Riven walked ahead of him, blade in hand, scanning the shifting arches and walls as they moved.
Mr. Han walked beside Kael, leaning slightly on him but no longer unconscious. His skin was pale, veins still threaded with faint black mist from the Convergence's corruption.
"Stay close," Riven said without looking back.
"This floor isn't meant for normal people. The Vault likes to test whoever enters."
Kael stared at the glowing sigils ahead.
Each one stretched upward like a crack in reality.
Each one responded to him.
Pulling him forward.
"What is the Vault, really?" Kael asked.
"I know what you said. Prison. Library. Grave. But what does that mean?"
Riven's grip on her blade tightened.
"It means this place was made for Monarchs… and made to contain Monarchs."
Kael frowned.
"Contain?"
Riven nodded.
"Every Monarch eventually becomes too powerful. Too unstable. Too dangerous. So the Labyrinth created a place where they could… store pieces of themselves. Memories. Techniques. Echoes. Or even parts of their Dominion."
"So pieces of dead kings."
Riven stopped walking.
Turned.
Looked Kael straight in the eyes.
"No. Pieces of kings who refused to die."
Kael felt a cold pulse run through his veins.
His shadow flickered—
fractured
crowned
alive
Riven pointed at it.
"That's why the Vault opened for you. It can sense what you're carrying."
Kael didn't respond.
He didn't trust his voice right now.
Mr. Han let out a shaky breath.
"Then is this… safe?"
"No," Riven said immediately.
Then softer,
"But it is necessary."
They continued.
The hall narrowed, walls bending inward until Kael could touch both sides by stretching out his arms.
The runes glowed brighter.
The breathing sensation intensified.
Then the hall ended.
A massive door stood before them—
a slab of obsidian cracked down the center, glowing pale blue within the fractures.
It towered above Kael like a monolith to forgotten gods.
And on the center of the door…
A symbol.
An eye formed from broken shards.
When Kael stepped his foot forward, the symbol pulsed like it recognized him.
A whisper echoed through the hall.
Soft.
Old.
"Return…"
Kael froze.
He wasn't sure if Riven or Mr. Han heard it.
But the shadow behind him trembled like something inside it had stirred.
Riven exhaled slowly.
"Put your hand on it. The Vault won't open for anyone else."
Kael stepped closer.
Every instinct screamed at him to run.
But something else—
instinct
Echo
Destiny
—pulled him forward.
He placed his hand against the cold obsidian.
The cracks lit up instantly.
Blue light surged through the stone like veins awakening.
And then—
The world screamed.
Not with sound.
With force.
With pressure.
With memories that weren't his.
Kael's vision blurred.
A flood of images crashed into him.
A throne shattering.
Monarchs kneeling.
Worlds collapsing.
A blade made of pure fracture cutting through the sky.
A voice roaring:
"No more gods."
Kael pulled his hand back, gasping.
His knees trembled.
Riven caught him before he fell.
"Easy. The Vault is testing you."
"That wasn't a test," Kael whispered.
"That was a warning."
Riven nodded grimly.
"It's both."
The door split down the middle.
Cold air swept over them—dry, ancient, filled with old power.
The Vault's interior stretched into darkness, lit only by glowing cracks in the walls.
Kael stepped forward.
Riven followed.
Mr. Han walked last, clutching his chest.
The door closed behind them silently, sealing out all light.
Only a single line appeared ahead on the floor—
a crack of blue light guiding deeper.
Kael took the first step.
Immediately the Vault reacted.
A whisper slithered through the dark.
"…you… returned…"
Kael froze.
That voice—
It was the same one that touched him in the Convergence.
The same one behind the Echo.
"Do you hear that?" Kael asked.
Riven's hand tightened around her blade.
"No. What is it saying?"
Kael didn't answer.
He was afraid of the answer.
Mr. Han swallowed nervously.
"I hear… nothing. But I feel eyes."
The crack of light beneath them brightened, illuminating the chamber.
Shelves rose from the floor—
not made of wood
but bone
and stone
and memories made solid
Each shelf held shards.
Glass
metal
crystals
fragments of Monarch Dominions frozen in time.
"This…" Riven whispered in awe.
"…is the Archive of Sovereigns."
Kael stepped toward the shelves.
The moment he came close, dozens of shards lit up at once—
like they were waking to his presence.
Riven backed up immediately.
"That is not normal. Kael, be careful."
Kael reached for one shard—
a cracked piece of blue crystal.
It pulsed with the same energy as his Dominion.
When his fingertip touched it, the shard projected an image—
a silhouette of a Monarch wearing a crown of fractured mirrors.
The figure raised a blade of pure crack-light.
A voice whispered:
"Marrowstorm.
Learn it, and reshape the bones of worlds."
Kael's breath caught.
"That's… a technique."
Riven looked horrified.
"You can't just take Monarch techniques. They will rip your soul apart if you're not ranked high enough."
Kael didn't respond.
The shard floated toward him.
Awaiting acceptance.
Mr. Han placed a trembling hand on his arm.
"Kael… please be careful."
Kael stared at the glowing shard.
Its light reflected in his fractured shadow.
And then—
a new presence formed behind him.
Cold.
Old.
Familiar.
A tall silhouette made of crack-light stepped out from Kael's shadow.
A crown of broken shards floated above its head.
Eyes glowed like dying stars.
Riven screamed and raised her blade.
Mr. Han stumbled backward.
But Kael already knew.
He recognized the presence.
The Echo stepped fully out of the shadow.
Its cracked lips parted.
"Take it."
Kael inhaled sharply.
"Why?"
The Echo tilted its head, smiling with no warmth.
"Because you are mine.
And if you wish to rise…
you must learn the techniques that killed me."
The Vault pulsed violently.
Shards across the hall lit up.
Walls cracked.
Riven shouted,
"We need to MOVE! This thing is waking the entire Vault!"
Kael reached for the glowing shard—
the technique of a dead Monarch
the first step toward becoming something the Labyrinth feared.
The moment his fingers closed around it—
everything exploded into light.
And Kael's mind opened into something vast.
The Vault of Sovereigns had begun teaching him.
Whether he survived the lesson…
was entirely uncertain.