Kai's footsteps echoed down the ancient stairway.
One step.
Then another.
Each step caused the glowing runes beneath his feet to brighten, while those behind him faded into darkness.
It was as though the path existed only for those willing to continue forward.
Ashren followed close behind.
The old wanderer came next, leaning on what remained of his cracked staff.
Lyra and Seris exchanged a glance before descending together.
Above them, the entrance slowly sealed itself.
The last sliver of moonlight disappeared.
Only the silver runes remained.
The air grew colder.
Not the cold of winter.
The cold of a place untouched by time.
The walls were carved from smooth black stone unlike anything Kai had seen before.
No cracks.
No dust.
No signs of decay.
As if they had been created yesterday.
Yet every instinct told him they were older than the First Era.
Seris ran her fingers across one of the carvings.
"They aren't words."
The old wanderer nodded.
"They're stars."
Everyone looked closer.
The carvings weren't symbols.
They were constellations.
Thousands of them.
Some familiar.
Most completely unknown.
Kai frowned.
"Why carve stars underground?"
Ashren answered quietly.
"They aren't maps of the sky."
"They're maps..."
"...of what the sky used to be."
The corridor finally opened into an enormous chamber.
No one spoke.
The cavern was beyond comprehension.
Its ceiling could not be seen.
Instead...
An endless night sky stretched overhead.
Stars shimmered above them.
Some burned with silver light.
Others had gone dark.
Floating in the center of the chamber was a massive sphere of black crystal, nearly the size of a mountain.
Countless silver chains wrapped around it, each engraved with ancient seals.
Inside the crystal...
A faint heartbeat echoed.
THUMP.
Kai's Coreless Heart answered.
THUMP.
The two rhythms synchronized for a single instant.
The entire chamber shook.
The voice returned.
Closer this time.
"You came."
It did not echo.
It came from everywhere at once.
Kai stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
Then—
"I no longer remember my name."
Ashren closed his eyes.
"...Another Nameless."
The old wanderer's expression became solemn.
"No."
"Worse."
The silver chains rattled.
One by one, ancient seals illuminated.
The black crystal became transparent.
A figure could finally be seen inside.
It was neither old nor young.
Its body was wrapped in robes woven from fragments of starlight.
Its face...
Was completely blank.
No eyes.
No nose.
No mouth.
Only smooth silver skin.
Where its heart should have been...
There was nothing.
An empty void.
Lyra instinctively took a step back.
"What... is that?"
The figure slowly raised one hand inside the crystal.
The chamber responded.
The stars above began moving.
Not randomly.
They shifted into formation.
A single constellation.
Kai stared.
It resembled the symbol burned into the heavens after the Keeper's hand vanished.
The same impossible shape.
Four circles.
One cracked.
The figure spoke again.
"You carry..."
"...the Fourth Pulse."
Kai nodded cautiously.
"I've heard those words before."
"You heard them."
"But you do not understand them."
The black book in Kai's hands suddenly flew open.
Its pages turned wildly.
Silver ink spread across the paper.
The nameless librarian's handwriting appeared.
If you are reading this... the Vault has awakened.
Do not trust everything you see.
Memory and truth parted ways long before the First Era.
The final line wrote itself as Kai watched.
Especially if he smiles.
The ink stopped.
The book slammed shut.
The blank-faced figure tilted its head.
"She always worried too much."
For the first time...
A mouth slowly formed on its featureless face.
Then eyes.
Then a nose.
Its appearance shifted again...
Until it looked exactly like Kai.
Even the silver eyes.
Even the Coreless Heart glowing within his chest.
Seris instinctively drew her sword.
"Another one?"
Ashren's face darkened.
"No..."
"The Trial created a reflection."
"This..."
"...is an original."
The figure inside the crystal smiled warmly.
Not maliciously.
Not mockingly.
Like an old friend seeing someone after a long journey.
"Welcome back."
Kai's voice was steady.
"You keep saying that."
"I've never been here."
The figure's smile widened.
"No."
"You simply don't remember."
Without warning—
The chamber trembled violently.
A deafening crack echoed through the Vault.
One of the silver chains binding the crystal snapped.
The old wanderer's eyes widened.
"It can't be..."
Ashren looked upward.
"No..."
"Someone is breaking the seals from outside."
A second chain shattered.
Then a third.
The endless sky above the chamber rippled.
Through it descended a beam of pale golden light.
Not from the Keeper.
Not from the Veiled Court.
Something else.
Something older.
The blank-faced figure looked toward the light...
And for the first time...
Its smile disappeared.
It whispered a single name.
"Elyndor..."
The entire Vault fell silent.
Ashren stumbled backward as if struck.
The old wanderer's cracked staff slipped from his hand.
Even the stars above dimmed.
Kai didn't know the name.
But every cell in his body reacted to it.
The Coreless Heart beat once—
Hard enough to shake the mountain.