The newly-formed doorway pulsed with a golden light, its edges rimmed with runes that shimmered like starlight. The Vault itself had gone quiet, as though holding its breath, watching.
Liara stood at its threshold.
She could feel it before she saw it—a presence, vast and unknowable, waiting just beyond the veil. Her fingers curled tightly around Cassian's hand. Aeron flanked her left side, every muscle coiled in quiet readiness.
Together, they stepped through.
Beyond the Vault door was a chamber unlike any they had seen. The air was cooler here, fragrant with old incense and forgotten time. The walls were carved from smooth obsidian, yet the entire space glowed from within—lit by a ceiling of crystals suspended like a sky of frozen lightning.
And at the center of it all, standing atop an elevated dais, was a monument: a triad statue.
Three figures, faceless and robed, stood intertwined in a circle of unity. One bore a sword across its chest. The second held a book cradled to its heart. And the third raised its hands to the heavens, palms glowing with etched stars.
Auron whispered, "This isn't just a Vault… it's a temple."
"No," Liara breathed, her voice trembling. "It's a memory."
As they stepped closer, the air shimmered—then fractured like glass.
Suddenly, the room faded around them, and they stood amidst visions—not dreamlike, but alive.
A world in ruin. Cities collapsing into the sea. Sky torn by shadow.
And in the center of it all stood a woman, her hands glowing with light, her eyes lined with tears.
She looked exactly like Liara.
Cassian took a sharp breath. "That's not you… is it?"
"I—I don't know," Liara whispered, drawn toward the vision. The woman raised her hands—and the sky responded. Magic exploded outward. But not just from her—from the two who stood beside her.
One was cloaked in silver and fire.
The other in darkness and starlight.
Their faces weren't visible, but the feeling was unmistakable.
Aeron.
Cassian.
And between them, a woman made of flame.
The vision faded, and they were back in the Vault chamber once more, standing before the statue.
A symbol began to glow beneath their feet—the same that had appeared during the binding.
Three lines, converging into one.
A trinity.
A bond that had once saved the world… and was being forged again.
Liara turned to the two men, her voice low. "We've done this before… haven't we?"
Cassian looked shaken but sure. "In another life, maybe."
Aeron's voice was quiet. "Or maybe time is folding in on itself—bringing us back to where it all began."
Behind the statue, a small stone altar emerged, cradling something ancient and glowing softly—a key made of light, pulsing in time with Liara's heartbeat.
Not metal. Not real.
But it was hers.
The Vault had given them their first answer.
But it had also raised a deeper question:
What did they open it for?