Chapter 113: Whispers Beneath the Flame

The Vault had given them the Heart—but it wasn't done yet.

As Chen steadied himself, still reeling from the fire now woven into his soul, the chamber shifted. The dome above shuddered and peeled away, layer by layer, revealing concentric rings etched in celestial script. Each spun slowly, revealing not only history—but warning.

Lanmei's hand tightened around his. "It's a lock. Or maybe… a sequence."

Sarina stepped forward, her eyes narrowed. "A trial. Not of battle, but of truth. This place… it was designed to test more than strength."

Ye Yue stepped into the center, where the Heart had floated. Her fingers brushed a hollow recess in the pedestal. With a faint click, a panel opened—inside, a prism of fractured glass and divine ore pulsed softly.

"A Memory Core," she breathed.

It was ancient. But unlike the other memories shown, this one was sealed. It pulsed in rhythms matching Chen's heartbeat—and hers.

The system responded.

[SYSTEM NOTICE] Hidden Memory Core Identified: "Lysaria's Final Covenant" —Requires Divine Resonance to unlock.

Chen stepped forward, placing his hand over Ye Yue's, their bond igniting. The Soulflame merged with her lunar essence—gentle, radiant, strong.

The prism cracked.

Light spilled out—gold, silver, blue, and a burning crimson. Visions flooded their minds.

A younger Lysaria, robed in white and crimson, stood before a council of gods. She did not kneel. She did not beg.

"You ask us to burn them out—their hearts, their desires. That is not purity. That is tyranny."

"If you move against them, I will stand against you."

And she did. Alone.

The memory warped, twisted—the moment of her fall. Her wings torn from her. Her name erased. Her sanctuary buried.

But… she was not alone in the end.

Another figure, cloaked in midnight violet, helped her escape. Faceless in the vision—but familiar. Too familiar.

Lanmei gasped. "That… that's the Matriarch of the Obsidian Court."

Sarina paled. "They helped her? Then the rebellion goes deeper than we thought."

The vision ended, and silence fell again.

Only now did Chen notice the final structure—at the back of the Vault. A sarcophagus. Covered in obsidian, flame-scorched, but intact.

It pulsed.

A name etched along the side in divine script: "For the One Who Remembers."

Ye Yue's voice was barely a whisper. "She left a piece of herself behind…"

Chen stepped forward—Soulflame burning anew, no longer just his.

When he placed his hand against the sarcophagus, it opened—not to reveal a body—but a blaze of raw divinity.

Inside, floating gently… was a single feather.

Snow-white. Tipped in crimson. Still warm.