Moonlight filtered through the shattered Vault seal, illuminating the spiral staircase that twisted downward into the earth. Otoku paused on the first step, Codex cradled in one arm, Gravy's soft growl at his side.
Arthelia glanced back, her blindfold catching the pale light. "Are you ready?"
Otoku inhaled. "Ready to face what we've kept buried."
Together, with Iseri, Maeve, and Korrin, they descended.
---
The air grew colder as they went deeper. Walls of ancient stone pressed close, etched with runes half-erased by time. Maeve's hand drifted over the carvings, her sightless eyes seeing stories in every curve.
> "These runes… they're warnings," she whispered. "Of sacrifices made and price unpaid."
Iseri's crystal blade hummed in her hand. "Then we tread carefully. One wrong step, and we may never return."
Korrin moved ahead, using his Null Zone magic to dampen the echo of their footsteps—stealth had become a necessity after the Vault's upheaval.
---
They entered a vast chamber where a single dais stood beneath a domed ceiling dripping with stalactites of black crystal. In its center lay a stone chest bound by iron hoops carved with the same shattered-star sigil as Otoku's mark.
Otoku approached, Codex thrumming. "This—must be where Lirael hid her missing chapters." He laid a hand on the chest. The sigil flared, and iron bars slid aside with grinding protest.
Inside, a small tome bound in white leather glowed softly: The Codex Companion. Otoku lifted it gently. On its cover, his mother's emblem—a single tear of starlight.
---
Maeve leaned close, voice hushed. "What secrets does it hold?"
Otoku opened to the first page. Words in Lirael's own script glimmered:
> "To master the loop is not to end it, but to choose its meaning."
A tremor ran through the chamber. Crystals overhead cracked. Dust fell.
Iseri called out, raising her blade. "Something's coming!"
From the shadows beyond the dais, a low roar echoed—a presence awakening to intruders.
---
Before they could react, the chamber's periphery erupted in shifting figures: Echo Wraiths, spectral echoes of past Vault guardians, drawn to protect the hidden lore. Their forms flickered between human and void, eyes empty hollows.
Gravy snarled, leaping forward as Iseri and Korrin formed a defensive semi-circle around Otoku. Maeve chanted, weaving a barrier of ghost-light. Otoku's eyes glowed gold and starless void as he began to speak the Companion's new spell:
> "By mother's grace and father's flame, I bind your echoes to silence and name."
A pulse of combined void and light surged from his palms. The wraiths shrieked—fragments of their forms collapsing into motes of energy that drifted upward like snow.
When the last echo vanished, silence reigned once more. The dust settled; only Otoku's group remained, heaving breaths in the dim glow.
---
Otoku closed the Companion and met his friends' eyes. "We have what we came for. But the price… we've marked ourselves in their memory."
Arthelia stepped forward, resting a hand on his arm. "Knowledge often demands sacrifice. But together, we've reclaimed a piece of your mother's legacy."
Iseri wiped sweat from her brow. "Let's return—before more guardians awaken."
Maeve nodded. "And share these words with the academy. The loop's true power lies in understanding, not fear."
Otoku tucked the Companion into his robes and turned. Gravy followed, ever at his side.
As they climbed back toward the light, Otoku felt the weight of destiny shift beneath his feet. With Lirael's missing chapters in hand, the path forward was clearer—and more perilous—than ever before.
---