The vault

Chapter 2 – "Ash Protocol"

Part 4 – "Ash Protocol"

They emerged from the Synapse lab into the hushed corridors, where the dust of abandoned biotech and violet vein-roots hung in stale air. Each footstep felt amplified, the silence bleeding gravity. The tension pulled the bond's echo between them, pressing Kael's chest with every heartbeat.

Dax paused before a reinforced door. His goggles flickered. "Passcode here. Vault ahead."

Marion slid the Ash-Core flash drive into the interface. A soft glow traced the inscription on the door—a spiral entwined with broken lines. The glyph language was Primeclade. No error slipped through.

Kael pressed the symbol on the door. It flared in response, panel sliding away with an aged hiss. The room beyond was vast—a semi-circular chamber lined with six vaults, each behind its sealed gate. In the center, on a raised silver dais, floated the Ash Core—a crystalline orb etched in blood-glyphs, shimmering with crimson energy.

Kael's breath caught. The orb's glow pulsed – slow, hypnotic – like a heartbeat in crystalline form.

"This is it," whispered Marion. The porcelain mask glinted under torchlight.

Vireya moved closer to Kael. "This drives the bond," she murmured. "If we do not stabilize it soon, it will mutate beyond recall."

His thyroid tightened. He swallowed hard. "Stabilize it, or break anything it touches."

Dax strode to a control console, holograms flickering beneath his fingers. "Containment fields engaged. Isolation begins."

Vireya reached out, brushing the air near the orb. Its pulse in response made her eyes glow faintly. She withdrew. "It knows us."

Marion nodded. "Primeclade relics always resonate with bonded subjects."

I. Preparation

The orb floated in its cage; the chamber's half-dome ceiling mirrored the vault's curve, dotted with faded glyph-signs that murmured their history. Dust lay thick on the floor, disturbed only by fallen debris from a time when the Clades enforced silence.

Marion set three containment barriers around the orb, each lined with ash-resist filters. "Prepared for injection."

He handed Kael a vial filled with shimmering grey fluid. "Primeclade catalyst—the dilution we'll use is safe, but potent. Drink it."

Kael could feel the glyph curled around his spine like a living thing. "And if I don't?"

Marion's voice was kind but firm. "Then this bond runs to completion on its terms. It will mutate you—first mind, then flesh."

He raised the vial. Vireya placed a reassuring hand on his arm, and he tipped the fluid down his throat. It burned cold as ice, then in his stomach.

He staggered, clutching the dais.

"Stabilizer protocol?" Marion asked Dax, who nodded. Dax tapped a glyph interface; the orb's container began emitting a low hum.

Kael steadied himself with Vireya's help. His vision blurred—dark thoughts swirling in his mind. He forced focus on the orb.

II. Catalyst Ritual

The hum grew louder, resonant. The orb responded in kind—the energy pulsing in sync with Kael's heartbeat. His breath became ragged.

Marion adjusted containment frequency. "We stabilize with Ashserum injection at the next pulse."

Kael inhaled, steeling himself. The orb pulsed again, a heartbeat crackling in his chest.

Marion raised a stylus syringe. The glass barrel filled with fire-blue liquid. "Ready."

Kael felt his blood surge. His heart pounded in the cavernous chamber, reverberating against the walls like war drums.

Dax stepped away; safe distance logic.

Kael felt the glyph intensify in his spine—cold, bright, alive. He clenched teeth.

"One," Marion intoned.

The orb glowed.

"Two."

He pressed forward.

"Three."

The syringe plunged. Serum shot into his forearm.

All at once: an insane burst of power—electric light through his veins, surging up to his spine. He howled, falling to his knees; jaw clenched, fists gripping dais stone.

A shockwave rippled out—glyph lines on the walls flared with energy. The containment grids held, humming with stress.

Vireya dropped to her knees beside him, chanting a quiet protective prayer in Old Primeclade.

Kael's mind exploded with memory—hers and something older. He FELT: the cathedral during her coronation, a crown floating above her head, silver-washed night watered in moonlight. He FELT the blade in her chest. He FELT betrayal like hot iron.

He saw her standing on the altar—fire in her eyes. He saw himself—thrown down. It was hers. It was his. It was both.

He yanked himself away.

"Let… it… stop," he gasped.

Marion manipulated glyph conduits by the containment system—narrowing frequency windows, dampening the waves. The chamber vibrated.

Kael bit his lip, vision fading.

III. Calamity and Stability

Then—silence.

The orb dimmed. Its containment hum stilled. Kael collapsed to the dais, chest heaving. Vireya held him tight.

"Scan readout?" Marion asked.

Dax checked his holopad, exhaling. "Eighty-two percent coherence. Magno-stable. Functioning within safe margins."

Marion nodded. "Enough for us."

Kael closed his eyes. Memory echoes faded, leaving spots of black.

Vireya caressed his face. "You're safe."

He coughed, blood on his lips. "So are you."

Marion collected the flash drive. "We store this formula. We have a foundation."

Kael drew in a deep breath—the glyph pulsed softly, unthreatening.

But as he looked at Vireya, emotion cracked his voice. "That was… ours."

She closed her eyes. "Our past. And maybe our future."

IV. The Aftermath

They rested a moment. Kael's pulse slowed, vision returning to normal. The ash smell filled his lungs.

Marion addressed them. "We must leave—bounty scans sweep overhead. Nightfall is our only window."

Dax nodded, scanning channels. "They're looking for bond-read signatures citywide."

Kael nudged himself upright. "Good time to leave."

They moved as one.

V. Exodus

Returning through the corridor, each step echoed finality. The flash drive secured in Marion's coat, Kael's hands on his side.

"Where to now?" Vireya asked quietly.

Marion glanced at her. "We hole up at Sanctuary Reef. It's remote—outside patrol zones. We can begin final severance or complete the bond there."

Dax concurred. "Extraction pick-up in thirty—window's closing."

They hurried; the corridors shifted with vein-root biometric locks, old systems primed against unwelcome guests.

As they ascended a shaft, Kael checked his wrist mod. No locks. Just static.

He turned to Vireya. "We did this. We made it."

She looked to Marion. "We hold now."

And then—

The corridor shuddered, lighting pulsing—an alarm.

Kael's heart slammed: "Protocol alert: Bond abnormity detected. Escalation pending."

He exchanged a glance with Marion.

Dax hissed: "We have seconds."

They sprinted.

VI. Cliffhanger & Last Beat

The corridor ended in a grated exit onto a service shaft. Vireya paused, eyes fixed forward, cloak drifting in the dim breeze.

"Think they could follow?" Kael asked.

She shook her head. "Not without us leaving a signature."

They stepped out into open tunnel—quiet except for distant drone hum.

Marion gave the signal. Dax vanished ahead to hold shadows.

Kael grabbed Vireya's hand.

"I don't know what tomorrow brings," he said softly.

She tightened her grip. "But I do."

He took a breath, turning toward the deeper darkness ahead.

They – together – walked in.