The stone closed behind them with a sound like swallowing.Leonis didn't flinch, but Kael twisted at the waist, half-expecting blades or flames to erupt from the walls."Good," Leonis muttered as he took the lead. "You're finally afraid of something.""I'm not afraid," Kael replied flatly. "I'm alive. That's different."The stairwell dropped in a slow, spiraling descent. Each step was rough-hewn, but worn by centuries of passing... something. Maybe priests. Maybe monsters.Maybe ghosts.The air here was thick with old breath—the scent of dust, minerals, and candle wax long since gone cold.Leonis moved like a man who had walked these steps in a dream. One hand slid against the wall, where faint lines—once golden, now faded—marked the descent with divine script. His fingers tingled against the stone."Host proximity: Vault Core – 92 meters. Warning: ambient divine resonance detected."Kael spat into the dark. "You ever plan to explain this voice in your head?""No," Leonis said, without breaking stride."Figured."Another thirty steps down, the air changed again. Colder. Wetter. Heavier.Not in temperature—but in weight.Kael paused and glanced up the stairwell behind them. The narrow shaft above had sealed shut. No visible lock. No lever.Just blank, wet stone."Did we just walk into a tomb?" he asked.Leonis answered without turning."We walked into a prison."The whispers began five steps later.Soft. Subtle. Not words. Not even sounds.Just the sense of words forming behind your ears, curling beneath the skin.Kael froze. "Leonis.""I hear them.""What are they saying?"Leonis tilted his head. Listened."…'welcome home,'" he said after a moment.Kael looked at him like he might actually kill him.Leonis continued, eyes narrowing. "They're not voices. They're memories. This place remembers me."Kael snorted. "You've never been here."Leonis finally looked back—and smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes."Not in this life."They descended another spiral, and suddenly the corridor opened.The stair spat them into a wide, circular chamber lit by a strange blue glow—phosphorescent veins of crystal embedded in the ceiling. The walls were carved with scenes:A man falling from the sky, fire wreathing his body.
Hands reaching upward, clawing at stars.
A chain wrapped around the sun.
Leonis stepped into the center and exhaled, his breath visible now.Kael moved slower, eyes darting. "This is bad juju. All of it. I've seen blood altars. Void cult pits. But this?""This isn't human," Leonis said."Confirmed," the System murmured. "Vault belongs to an entity classed as Proto-Divine.""Caution: unstable essence. Prepare for resonance backlash."Kael didn't need a system to tell him they were close to something wrong.And then he saw the door.It stood twelve feet tall, circular, built into the far wall with no hinges or handles—just a series of overlapping rings, each etched in a different divine language.The center bore a sigil—familiar to both of them:A sun wrapped in chains.Kael took an involuntary step back. "That's the seal of Aurelion."Leonis approached, slowly. His hand hovered near the surface."What is this place?" Kael asked, voice barely audible.Leonis answered without turning:"A cage for something the gods feared too much to destroy."He sliced his palm.The blood ran down his wrist, thick and black-red in the blue light. When it touched the door—it hissed.Then the rings began to turn.Grinding. Shifting. Slowly, groaning like an ancient beast stirred from sleep.Kael raised his knives. "Do you even know what's behind that door?""No.""Do you care?""Yes."The rings aligned. Light surged.And then—The door unfolded. Not swung. Not rolled. Unfolded—like a puzzle collapsing inward, each section breaking and disappearing into itself.A gust of air hit them. Old. Dry. Hungry.Leonis stepped forward.Kael hissed, "Wait."The blood on the floor near his own boot glowed.Then flared.Kael stared. "What—?""Secondary resonance detected," the System said. "Companion shares bloodline fragment: Echo-Class."Leonis's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you?"Kael's jaw clenched. "Don't ask questions you don't want answered.""Too late."For a moment, neither moved.Then Kael chuckled bitterly. "Your family and mine go way back. Let's just say I'm what happens when divine blood mixes with someone the temple doesn't approve of."Leonis studied him in a new light."Useful," he said at last."Romantic," Kael muttered.Together, they passed through the door.And the dark swallowed them whole.