Chapter 18 — The Hidden Vault Opens
Chapter 18 — The Hidden Vault Opens
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The group stood silently at the marked spot.
Cold winds blew through the hollow field. The moons above cast pale light over the strange gathering — heirs of the most powerful bloodlines ever known, and one anomaly standing among them.
Cyrus narrowed his eyes, scanning the surroundings again.
There was nothing here. No entrance. No marks. Just flat stone ground and a few dead roots curling up from the cracks.
Yet Adrien stood confidently.
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Vera (soft, curious tone):
"I see nothing."
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Shun (playful tone):
"Is this some kind of joke? If this is just some lost ruin, I swear..."
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Adrien didn't react to their words.
He walked slowly to the center of the stone floor and raised his hand.
The air suddenly shifted.
A faint hum vibrated beneath their feet, almost like a heartbeat.
Cyrus felt it instantly — dimensional energy, but not stable. Distorted.
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Cyrus (sharp, calculating tone):
"It's cloaked in a temporal displacement field... buried beneath reality."
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Selene's eyes sparkled faintly at those words.
Selene (calm, almost impressed):
"Good eyes. You noticed."
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Adrien smiled slightly.
He pressed a strange black sigil into the ground. The moment he did, the stone rippled like liquid, warping space.
Cyrus instinctively prepared for an attack. His senses were screaming for caution.
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Then...
The floor folded inward, revealing a spiraling descent of dark crystalline stairs.
The dungeon had appeared.
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Aurora (whispered):
"Incredible. It's not even listed in Dominion Archives."
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Ren (stoic):
"Because it was meant to remain hidden."
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Adrien (calm tone):
"The Hollow Vault was erased from existence long ago. Only those outside the system can see it now."
His gaze briefly landed on Cyrus as he said that.
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Cyrus remained silent, but in his mind:
> His information... it reaches beyond even the Twelve Thrones.
He knows too much.
> And this dungeon... it's dangerous not because of what's inside... but because it was hidden.
Erased by design.
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The group descended carefully.
The walls of the Vault pulsed faintly with ancient runes — runes older than most existing civilizations.
The air was cold. Not naturally cold — this was dimensional cold — like the place was half-phased between planes.
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As they descended deeper:
The runes flickered in response to their presence.
Their footsteps echoed unnaturally.
The silence wasn't empty — it listened.
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Daiki (firm, uneasy tone):
"This place... it doesn't want us here."
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Iris (soft, eerie tone):
"Places like this remember death."
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Vynne Alaric stumbled slightly on a step, sweat forming on his forehead.
Vynne (nervous tone):
"Are we sure this isn't cursed?"
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Liora (smirking):
"Oh it is cursed. That's what makes it fun."
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Suddenly, ahead, the pathway opened into a vast underground chamber.
It was massive — a dome-shaped hollow where multiple floating platforms rotated slowly in the air.
At the very center: a colossal sealed door of black crystal, with glowing threads of gold running like veins across its surface.
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Seraphina (calm tone):
"This... is the Vault proper."
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Aurora (quiet admiration):
"This architecture isn't Dominion-made."
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Adrien (smiling, voice low):
"No. This was made before even the Twelve Thrones ruled."
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Everyone stood still for a moment, realizing the true weight of what they were witnessing.
> Forbidden knowledge. Sealed power. And no rules.
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But Cyrus...
Cyrus remained locked in thought.
His gut told him this wasn't simply some power vault.
This was something far older, far darker.
> Why hide this? Why erase this?
> Whoever sealed this didn't do it to protect others from power...
> They did it to protect themselves.
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Suddenly, Adrien spoke again.
Adrien (almost whispering):
"From here on, the real test begins."
He looked at all of them.
Adrien:
"No one can open the Vault alone. But together... we just might."
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Everyone exchanged glances.
Unspoken alliances, rivalries, ambitions swirled in the air like poison.
They had come this far.
Now the game truly began.
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End of Chapter 18