That night, Echo-Ward crawled through the shifting canyons between Cinderguard and Hollowfang. Its treads whispered against ancient stone, and the sky above was thick with red stars—embers watching from afar.
Inside, the crew gathered around the vault map Kess had recovered. Kian stood at the head of the table, arms crossed, eyes tracing every route.
"So this is it," he muttered. "The final road to the Hollowfang Vault."
"It's not a road," Kess corrected. "It's a snare."
She tapped a mark shaped like a spiral. "There are twelve false paths. Only one leads to the real Vault. The others loop through echo fields, memory storms, or dead-end ruins."
"Let me guess," Jerie said, chewing dried fruit. "Each of those ruins is probably cursed, explosive, or full of flesh-eating sand."
"Don't be ridiculous," Veyna said dryly. "Some are all three."
Gellon glanced over the edge of the blueprint. "And the one true path?"
Kess pointed to a narrow thread between two glyph-marked pillars. "Here. It's called the Thread of Shadows."
Kian raised an eyebrow. "That's not ominous at all."
They set out on foot at dawn, leaving Echo-Ward anchored in a cliff hollow. The landscape around them was cracked and blackened—scars left by long-forgotten system ruptures. Petrified trees stood like mourners in a graveyard.
The Thread of Shadows began as a canyon split barely wide enough for two to walk side by side. Every few meters, black glyphs shimmered across the rocks—echo-wards meant to confuse memory.
Jerie turned around after an hour. "Hey… didn't we pass that twisted root before?"
"No," Kess said. "That one had three knots. This one has four."
Jerie blinked. "Oh, excellent. We're counting trees now. Definitely not going insane."
Kian tapped his Codex.
[Memory Filter: Shadow Corridor Activated]
▸ Illusion Nullification: Partial
▸ System Signature: Residual Architect Field Detected
"They used Architect tech to protect the Vault," he said. "Whatever we're walking into… it was meant to stay sealed."
Veyna stepped closer, quiet. "Maybe we should've let it."
As they advanced, the canyon darkened—not from shadow, but from memory itself. The walls shimmered with scenes—half-formed moments from lives not theirs. A mother weeping over an empty crib. A soldier frozen mid-scream. A child clutching a book as it burned.
The team passed in silence, not daring to look too long.
[Warning: Echo Contamination Threshold – 72%]
▸ Projected Emotional Distortion: Moderate
▸ Personal Memories Vulnerable
Kian gritted his teeth.
Then a whisper—soft, familiar.
"Kian…"
He stopped.
It was his mother's voice.
He turned.
Nothing.
Only a shimmer of stone, reflecting nothing but ash and illusion.
"Keep moving," Veyna said, grabbing his shoulder.
He nodded.
But inside, his pulse had quickened.
By midday, they reached a broken stone bridge over a yawning chasm. The only path forward. Below, the void writhed with system feedback—static made physical, a storm of failed echoes.
Kess whispered, "One wrong step and we're deleted like bad data."
Jerie laughed nervously. "I really miss the times we only had to worry about being stabbed."
"Focus," Kian said. "One at a time."
He stepped first, each footfall lighting the cracked bridge faintly. Behind him, Veyna followed, then Jerie, then Kess.
Halfway across, the stone trembled.
[Alert: Proximity Trigger – Architect Trap Detected]
▸ Type: Echo-Inversion Loop
▸ Countermeasure: Manual Glyph Disruption Required
A glyph ignited at the bridge's midpoint—a swirling sigil of reversed time. The bridge began folding backward on itself, brick by brick.
"We have thirty seconds!" Kess shouted.
Jerie turned. "Thirty seconds until what?!"
"Until we get looped and rewritten into stone!"
"Oh! Good!"
Kian sprinted forward, spear in hand. He stabbed the glowing glyph and poured Codex energy into it.
[Codex Override: Engaged]
▸ System Integrity: Breached
▸ Feedback Resistance: 45%
The bridge shook violently.
Cracks formed under their feet.
Then the glyph cracked—shattering like glass.
The bridge held.
Barely.
They crossed the last few meters in silence, breathing hard.
"Let's never do that again," Jerie said.
"Agreed," Veyna replied.
Beyond the bridge, a doorway stood—carved into the canyon wall, half-buried in dust. Ancient runes pulsed faintly around its edges. At the center, a mural of a man without a face, holding both a sword and a scroll.
Kian stepped closer.
[Hollowfang Vault Identified]
▸ Status: Locked
▸ Access: Awaiting Architect Signature
He raised his hand.
The mural pulsed once.
Then the door opened.
Inside, they descended into silence. The vault wasn't dark—it was quiet. Sound itself felt hushed, like the very walls held their breath. Shelves lined the walls, filled with old architect tools: compasses made of bone, rulers of light, etching knives that pulsed with code.
At the center was a pedestal.
Upon it rested a crystal sphere, floating above a carved base.
[System Object: Prime Predation Core]
▸ Trait: Adaptive Devourer
▸ Status: Dormant
▸ Risk Level: Severe
▸ Extraction: Requires Dual-System Sync
Kian stepped forward.
The others formed a circle around him.
He reached out.
The Codex and Predation systems began to hum in unison—threads weaving between the air and his skin.
[Initiating System Fusion]
▸ Sync Progress: 12%... 26%...
The chamber trembled.
Far above, across the continent, in the ruins of Ashfall Bastion, The Inheritor jolted upright. His eyes burned.
"He's found it."
He turned to a hooded figure behind him.
"Ready the Harrow Mages. Send the Pale Choir. Bring me the Architect… alive."
Back in the vault, the crystal flared.
Kian gritted his teeth.
The fusion climbed.
▸ 67%... 84%...
Then the light collapsed inward.
And everything went black.
End of Chapter 39