Secrets of the Vault

Following the agreement between Loki and the city lord, Loki's group was escorted to a private villa on a hill some distance from the town.

"This was where my mother met with her many lovers in secret," Margaret explained, "when she died, it was passed on to me. I haven't had a use for it since."

"So you're giving us your mothers sex cabin?" Fen huffed

"It'll do," Loki said.

Once they were left to their own devices, Fen and the twins got to work.

"Let's go, you two," Fen barked, "we need to make sure this place is worthy of Lokkun,"

"Uh, r-right," Petra and Tetra said,

They got to work, cleansing the entire villa. It was late afternoon by the time they were done.

As Loki and the others gathered in the lounge, Skoll reappeared, zipping in as a ribbon of light from the window.

"What do you have to report?" Fen asked her familiar.

The golden wolf bowed its head before her, so Fen knelt before it and touched her forehead with it. Afterwards, Skoll faded away as Fen stood up.

"Skoll had finished scouting the vault," Fen reported, "your suspicions were correct Lokkun, it is an alternate space."

"I could've told you that," Thor scoffed,

"What about the crypt that Thor came from?" Loki inquired

"It was sealed off," Fen replied, "apparently, no one has been able to get in there since Thor first emerged."

"We need to get into that crypt," Loki decided.

She hadn't realized it at the time, but Fen's crypt had all sorts of details that she had unfortunately overlooked when she destroyed it. Now she had an intact crypt chamber and wanted to take her time investigating it.

"Apparently, only adventurers can explore the vaults and other such ruins." Fen reported

"You'd need to register with the adventurers guild," Petra added, "there should be a branch in this city."

"Adventurers?" Thor mused, "I think I fought a bunch of them when I first got out,"

"Were they strong?" Fen inquired

"Barely counted as a workout," Thor scoffed,

"So, we'll be registering as adventurers?" Fen asked Loki

"First we'll need to see if the city lord can get us in," Loki stated, "but registering wouldn't be such a bad idea, it could help us when looking for other crypts."

* * *

Margaret was indeed able to get them access to the vault, and even went as far as to close it off from all other entrants, giving them complete privacy. Loki had since changed into his male form, which had been a shock to the city lord when it happened in front of her.

With permission in hand, Loki led a small group deep into the vault, consisting of Thor, the twins, and a guide provided by the city lord. Fen had refused to participate, opting to spend the time securing their current accommodations.

The vault of this city was located in the middle of a park, and was a small squat mausoleum on the outside, but was apparently over twenty stories deep within. As soon as they stepped into the vault, a notice came up for Loki.

[YOU HAVE ENTERED AN ISOLATED SPACE. CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE HAS BEEN RESTRICTED.]

"So how do these vaults work anyway?" Loki asked

"Well, the working theory is that we're in a pocket dimension," their guide stated, "and even though there can be all types of environments, we're essentially underground. At the end of the vault is a chamber where the hidden treasure are stored, but between the entrance and that chamber are the vault guardians, monsters, traps and other such defenses that we need to get through. Every vault is different in one way or another, and according to account from past vault Conqueror, each one has some sort of trial or test so only the 'most worthy' may make it to the treasure chamber."

"And what sort of treasure lays in the heart of this vault?"

"I don't know, this vault hasn't been conquered yet." The guide explained, "but the treasure could be anything from hidden knowledge to lost technology, or even actual treasure with high grade items."

"Like the terminals," Tetra said, "we found hundreds of them in the first vaults to be conquered, and it took centuries before we were able to reverse engineer it."

"And then there's the other lost items discovered that we still don't fully understand." Petra added.

Loki shared a look with Thor,

"I could probably clear this place in a few days," Thor said, "even as I am now."

"It would be interesting to see what lays hidden in the treasure chamber." Loki mused

The proceeded down to the twentieth floor, where yhe double vault was located.

Before the small group was a large set of dull stone double doors superimposed over a section of the wall.

"So this is the entrance to the double vault?" Loki asked their guide.

"Yes," the elderly man said, "after that one came storming out, everything was a mess," he cast an eye towards Thor, who was looking around nonchalantly.

"It wasn't until everything calmed down that we came to investigate, and found the doors had sealed themselves again. No ones been able to get them open since."

"Hmm," Loki mused to himself as he examined the doors.

Suddenly, a notification popped up before his eyes.

[NOTICE! THIS AREA HAS BEEN RESTRICTED UNDER ADMIN AUTHORITY. ENTRY IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.]

[ALERT! YOU POSSESS SPECIAL PRIVILEGE TO BYPASS THE SEAL AND ACCESS THIS RESTRICTED AREA.]

"What?" Their guide exclaimed as the characters engraved onto the door started to glow, then the doors slowly and loudly swung open.

There was a sudden gust of wind as the doors swung open.

"I don't believe it," their guide gawked stepping back, "I-I need to report this,"

"Hold off on that," Loki ordered as he stepped towards the newly re-opened section.

The crypt was just a single chamber, similar to what Loki remembered of Fen's crypt.

There was a raised dais in the middle of the room upon which sat a large pale stone casket.

"So this is where I was?" Thor mused, looking inside the empty casket.

"What is this made of?" Petra asked, inspecting the walls of the chamber, which were made of the same material as the casket.

They all suddenly jumped as Thor's hammer came down on the casket, shattering the empty container with a crack of thunder

"Well done, I wanted a sample anyway." Loki nodded, picking up a chunk of the stone.

Inside the pale stone was covered with odd shifting patterns. The patterns seemed to radiate power that enveloped the immediate area once exposed, and it screamed out into the minds of everyone within range.

BIND... HOLD... SEAL...

"Wh-what is that?" The guide demanded, holding his head.

"That is ynvok." Loki sighed, as ever chunk of broken rock was covered in the same shifting patterns.

"What kind of language is it?" Tetra asked

"It's less a language, and more a manifestation of power given form through purpose." Loki said, "it's what you get when enough power is concentrated on a specific intent, its basically the soul of existence made manifest."

"How is that even possible?" Thor inquired

"The how isn't nearly as interesting as the why." Loki explained, "You can find ynvok everywhere if you look hard enough, but it's usually buried deep, down in the conceptual plane. This was just under the surface, not much substance within. It's a false existence, and a tacky one at that."

He squeezed the chunk of rock in his hand and it crumbled to dust with little effort.

Around them, the chamber trembled as other chunks began to crumble. Then, an alert appeared in the middle of the chamber, for all to see.

[WARNING! THE CORE EXISTENTIAL STRUCTURE OF THIS EXTENDED SPACE HAS BECOME DESTABILIZED. CONCEPTUAL COLLAPSE IMMINENT.]

"We need to leave," Thor stated, urgency evident in her voice, "now."

"What's happening now?" Their guide demanded

"This chamber is coming apart," Loki said, "we'd best get out if here before we're fall into the empty along with it."

"What's the empty?" Petra demanded

"We really don't have time for these questions," Thor said as a large crack appeared in mid-air, with nothing beyond. More cracks started to appear as they made their way to the entrance.

Loki was the last to pass through the entrance as the last of the chamber fell away, leaving behind a black void, then the entrance itself was consumed into the nothingness.

"That's the empty?" Tetra asked

"How am I going to report this?" Their guide wondered to himself.

"Right, sorry about this," Loki said, grabbing tge man's face. Loki was incredibly strong and tge elderly man struggled in his grip as Lokis hand glowed. When he let go, the man collapsed to the ground.

"Is he alright?" Tetra asked.

"He'll be fine," Loki said, "he should wake up in a while, without the last several minutes of memory."

"For the best really," Thor shrugged, slinging her hammer back over her shoulder, "we couldn't let him leave with that information. Loose lips and all that."

"You would've killed him?"

"The second he turned his back, if lord Loki hadn't wiped his mind." Thor said, picking the man up by his coat and throwing him over her shoulder.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Loki said walking away.

In the moment before the entryway collapsed, Loki had sensed something, deep in that abyss, staring at him. Something very hungry.