The warehouse air hung heavily with the gravity of discoveries they had made. Asher was sitting down cross-legged on the floor in front of the scrolls prolong that dated back to times immemorial. Each page was a puzzle piece, a remnant of history buried beneath the legacy of Guild control.
Seraphine sat across from him, thumbing through another set of documents, a tense look on her face. "So let's recap," she said, muttering. "The Guild is only a component of a larger system. The real power lies with the Architects—individuals who have been manipulating the world's destiny for ages. And the Architect we encountered… he's one of them."
Asher exhaled slowly. "And he says I was one of them as well."
Seraphine glanced at him. "Do you believe him?"
A pause. He envisioned the image of the golden-armored figure overlooking a burning city. You've been through thousands of lives, Asher. Each time you die, and start over.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But whether or not I was one of them doesn't change what I have to do. The Guild and the Architects—they're doing all the pulling of the strings. This world will never be free if we don't stop them."
"What is this?" Seraphine rest back against a crate, crossing her arms. "Then we need a plan."
Asher nodded. "We can't just keep running. We need to strike first." He tapped one of the scrolls. "And I think I know how."
"The Sovereign's Vault."
Seraphine raised an eyebrow. "That's where you really want to go?"
Asher nodded. "The scrolls mention it. It's one of the Guild's most closely guarded places — believed to contain artifacts of ancient origin, heretical tomes, and other records that might expose their entire operation." He met Seraphine's gaze. "If we go in there, we're going to find what we need to take them apart."
She exhaled sharply. "Getting into the most secure building in the city? No problem."
"I never said it was going to be easy," Asher smirked. "But we have an advantage."
Seraphine raised a skeptical brow at him. "Which is?"
"We're already dead," Asher said. "I believe, as far as the Guild is concerned, we're fugitives on the run. "They're going to meet us to think we're going to be hiding and not walking into their freaking front door."
Seraphine's lips curled in a slow grin. "OK, I know where you're headed with this."
Reed's voice came through the earpiece, crackled and unfamiliar. "I hate to intrude on your little suicide pact here, but I just patched into the Guild's latest transmissions. They're increasing security around the Sovereign's Vault. Something BIG is happening there very soon."
Asher's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean 'something big'?"
"We have our Guild high-up in town tomorrow night," Reed said. "No name, only an encrypted transmission of the arrival. Whatever it is they keep in there, it is enough of a threat that someone very powerful is coming to look at it himself."
Seraphine tapped her chin. "So security will be as robust as ever. But also, this means they will be distracted."
Asher grinned. "Exactly."
Reed sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I will do what I can from my end. I can tap their surveillance, loop a few feeds — buy you some time. But if you get trapped in there, you're on your own."
"We're not going to get caught," Asher said as he rose. "We move at sundown."
The Sovereign's Vault was a fortress—an underground compound set deep within the roots of the city, layered with magical and technological defenses. At night, it was even more foreboding, silhouetted against the glare of high-powered spotlights and patrolled by enforcers in heavy armor.
Asher and Seraphine squatted on a rooftop with the facility in view. From their perspective, they caught a glimpse of the primary entrance, clad with checkpoint scanners and ramparts thick with armor. But that wasn't their way in.
Reed's voice sounded in their earpieces. "Okay, I've shut down their long-range sensors for the time being, but you've got ten minutes before they reboot. Make it count."
Asher nodded. "Understood."
Seraphine placed a hand against the top of the rooftop and murmured a spell beneath her breath. A dull frission rippled out around them—a concealment ward, one that would quickly obscure their presence.
"We enter through the west maintenance shaft," she whispered. "It's not as well guarded as the front, but you know, it's still got security."
"Then let's move."
They came down without sound, moving in the shadows as if they were shadows. The maintenance entrance was a fortified steel door embedded in the ground. Seraphine dropped to one knee next to it, laying a hand against the lock's rune markings.
"This is going to take a sec," she murmured.
As she toiled, Asher stood guard. He could see the Guild enforcers patrolling the outer perimeter in the distance. These were not ordinary guards; each was clad in exo-combat armor, weapons throbbing with magica. If they waited to get caught, it'd not be an easy fight.
A muted click filled the air.
"Got it," Seraphine said quietly, opening the hatch.
They ducked through an entryway, down a slim metal ladder to the depths of the vault.
The inside was a labyrinth of poorly lit hallways and security checks. The walls were lined with a metal imbuement, meant to muffle magic and makes teleportation almost impossible.
"We have to locate the records chamber," Asher hissed. "That's where classified information goes."
They proceeded cautiously, keeping to the shadows. Reed's voice directed them through their earpieces. "All right, I've looped the security cams in the adjacent hall. But you've got two guards positioned outside the chamber you're in search of."
Asher and Seraphine locked gazes.
"I'll go left, you go right?" she asked.
Asher smirked. "You read my mind."
They hit with silent precision.
Asher teleported behind his mark, wrapping one arm around the guard's throat before he could process what was happening. The enforcer writhed, but Asher's grip was iron. Within moments, the man fell unconscious to the ground.
Seraphine was just as quick, a twitch of electrical magic stopping her opponent in an instant.
They pulled the bodies into the shadows, then focused their attention on the great vault door before them.
"This is it," Seraphine said breathlessly.
Asher placed his palm against the lock. More high-tech than the entrance — biometric scans, magical seals, a thick steel barricade.
"I can break the spell." seraphine said. "But the biometric, we need a Guild official's access."
Asher's mind raced. Then be glanced at the guards that lay unconscious.
A sluggish grin crawled across his face. "Then let's borrow one."
They brought an enforcer closer and used a small arcane device to extract the man's fingerprint and biometric signature.
Seraphine entered the pilfered data into the scanner. The device beeped twice… and then turned green.
The big door unlocked with a hiss and creaked to open.
Past it stretched row after row of classified files, enchanted artifacts and ancient tomes.
Asher exhaled. "We're in."
Seraphine smirked. "Now let's see what the Guild's been keeping secret."