The silence in the vault had a weight to it.
Not the absence of sound, but a presence — as if something was waiting for them to speak the wrong word, breathe too loudly, think the wrong thought.
Cael's hand hovered over the ancient book. The first lock had come undone at his mere presence. Not by force. Not by sigil.
Recognition.
Selene slowly circled the pedestal. "This isn't just a record. It's a binding," she said. "Every lock… a ward. The kind used to trap spirits. Or gods."
Cael couldn't look away from the book. His heart pounded in his chest, but it felt distant, like it belonged to someone else. "Then what's inside?"
Selene didn't answer. Her expression was unreadable, like someone trying to remember a nightmare they'd been forced to forget.
Instead, she asked, "What's your real name?"
He looked at her, confused. "Cael."
But even as he said it, something shifted — not in the room, but inside him.
Like he was lying. Not to her.
To himself.
The second lock clicked open.
Neither of them moved. The sound echoed too long, as if the vault wanted them to notice. Cael stepped back instinctively, his throat dry.
Selene drew a line in the air with two fingers — a protective ward, old and sharp. It flickered, then vanished. "Whatever is in there… it's not just responding to you. It's remembering you."
Cael shook his head. "That's not possible."
"It's already happening."
Another click. A third lock. No touch, no trigger.
Just truth, peeling itself back, layer by layer.
Selene grabbed his arm. "We have to go. Now. Before the rest—"
The fourth lock opened.
The air turned bitter. Cael's eyes watered. The temperature plummeted, but the heat in his chest rose.
He stepped forward, despite every instinct screaming to stop.
"Cael—!" Selene's voice sounded far away.
He placed his hand on the cover.
And saw everything.
A sky that bled. A city made of mirrors, torn apart by silence. A tower that screamed. A child standing in the center of it all, untouched, eyes glowing like broken moons.
The visions shattered as he was pulled back — Selene yanking him away with a desperate shout.
The fifth lock had clicked… but the sixth remained shut.
Cael collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The book sat still, silent again. As if nothing had happened.
But something had changed. The vault no longer felt neutral.
It watched.
Selene knelt beside him, furious and afraid. "You need to tell me everything, Cael. What aren't you saying?"
He looked at her, voice hoarse.
"…I think I've been here before."