Chapter 20: The Vault That Remembers

Rain had not touched the streets of Zion in weeks. But as Abraham and Saral crossed the courtyard toward the Vault of Judgment, it poured like heaven was weeping.

The doors opened without keys.

The Ark had already called them.

Inside, the Vault was nothing like they expected. No stone pillars. No scripture on the walls. Only mirrors. Hundreds of them, each tall as a man, lining the long hallway that led downward into the darkness. The walls shimmered as if watching.

Saral looked into one.

Instead of her reflection, she saw a different version of herself — younger, alone, inside the Church dormitory, crying silently under a white blanket.

Abraham stepped forward.

They are memory mirrors, he said. Reuel mentioned them in a report. Only used in the deepest vaults. They store what the Church cannot afford to remember but also cannot destroy.

Then why show them to us now? she asked.

Because the Ark is no longer under the Church's control.

He touched one of the mirrors.

It turned to fire and revealed a scene — an ancient battlefield, thousands of flamebearers kneeling before a tree with golden leaves, light pouring from their hands like rivers returning to a source.

The Tree of Zion, Saral breathed.

The flame was never a weapon.

The vision ended.

Behind them, a heavy voice echoed through the Vault.

And yet they made it one.

Reuel stood at the entrance, robes wet, eyes sharp. But there was no malice in his voice. Only regret.

You are out of time, he said.

Saral raised the Ark.

You're here to stop us?

Reuel shook his head.

No. I'm here to tell you the truth before it's erased. Lior has activated the Ecclesia Protocol. Full purge. Every seal, every flamebearer, every orphan with a fireprint in their blood. They're erasing the entire generation.

Abraham's eyes darkened.

Then we have to end it now.

You can't, Reuel said. Not with force. If you open the Gate in anger, you'll become the very thing they claim you are.

Then how? Abraham asked.

By choosing not to become them. By refusing to let your flame be turned into fire.

Reuel handed Saral a small cube. Inside it, a recording.

What is this?

Proof, Reuel said. The original memory. Of the Church's betrayal. Of Seraph Zero. Of the Tree's burning. You show this to the world — and the Ark will make its final decision.

Then he left.

Without fighting. Without fear.

Saral looked at Abraham.

We're not just the next seals. We're the correction.

He nodded.

And we begin by remembering what they forgot.

They reached the final gate.

The door opened not with force — but with fire that bent like scripture and breath.

The Sixth Seal was waiting.

End of Chapter 20