The entrance to the royal vaults loomed before them, half-buried beneath the collapsed remains of what was once the grand castle of Eldoria. Jagged stone and crumbling marble framed a massive iron gate, its intricate carvings dulled by centuries of neglect. A faint shimmer of protective enchantments still clung to the metal, flickering weakly in the dim light.
Caius stepped forward, brushing his fingers against the surface. The touch sent a ripple of energy through the gate, and the faded runes carved along its edges glowed faintly before dimming once more.
"It's still sealed," Elias observed, stepping beside him. "But the magic's deteriorating. If we apply the right amount of force, it should break."
Selene cracked her knuckles. "Or we just kick it down."
Elias gave her a dry look. "That would be a mistake. The enchantment might be weak, but it could still retaliate if we brute force it. We need to disable it properly."
Caius nodded. "Then let's do it quickly. We don't have the luxury of time."
Elias knelt and traced a glowing sigil into the dirt, whispering incantations under his breath. The sigil pulsed, and the air around the gate wavered. Cracks formed along the ancient enchantment like fractured glass before shattering in a cascade of faint light. The iron groaned as the protective ward crumbled.
Selene wasted no time. She planted her foot against the gate and shoved. With a deep, echoing creak, it swung open, revealing a long, spiraling stairway descending into darkness.
A gust of stale, cold air greeted them. The scent of dust, stone, and something older—something wrong—lingered in the vaults below.
Caius tightened his grip on his weapon. "Let's move."
The deeper they ventured, the more suffocating the air became. Shadows danced along the walls, their torches barely penetrating the abyss ahead.
"This place is untouched," Elias murmured, his voice hushed as though afraid to disturb the silence. "No signs of looters. No signs of life at all."
"Which means whatever's down here hasn't been disturbed in centuries," Selene added. "That doesn't mean it's safe."
Caius felt it too—that eerie sensation of something lingering just beyond sight, watching, waiting. He had learned to trust his instincts, and right now, they screamed at him to be wary.
Then the first whisper came.
It wasn't from any of them. It was faint, like wind through hollow corridors, but layered with voices—many voices. They were speaking in hushed, hurried tones, in a language that shouldn't exist anymore.
Elias stiffened. "Did you hear that?"
"I'd be more worried if you didn't hear it," Selene muttered, drawing her blades.
The whispers grew louder as they reached a massive set of doors at the bottom of the stairway. The doors were crafted of dark, ancient wood reinforced with metal bars shaped like interlocking serpents. Runes pulsed along its surface, reacting to their presence.
Caius placed his hand on the door. A jolt of energy surged through his arm, and images flashed through his mind—a time long past, when these vaults were still in use. He saw hooded figures moving with purpose, carrying something wrapped in cloth. He saw the door being sealed, and then... darkness.
He pulled back, heart pounding. "The Chronomancer's Heart is in there."
Elias stepped forward. "Then we open it."
With careful precision, he placed his palms against the door and began murmuring another spell. The runes flickered erratically, resisting at first, then slowly dimming as the spell unraveled their ancient bindings.
Then, the whispers turned into screams.
The doors burst open, revealing a cavernous chamber lined with towering shelves of gold, jewels, and artifacts lost to time. But in the center of the vault, encased in a pedestal of glass and obsidian, was what they sought.
A crystalline sphere, pulsing with an ethereal glow—the Chronomancer's Heart.
But they weren't alone.
The shadows slithered, coalescing into twisted, humanoid forms with glowing white eyes. These weren't the same creatures they had faced before. They were something else, something older.
Guardians of the vault.
Caius clenched his fists as the first creature lunged.
"We fight our way through!"
The first guardian struck with unnatural speed, its elongated limbs stretching unnervingly as it lashed at Caius. He barely dodged, rolling aside as its clawed fingers raked through the space where he had stood just moments before. The stone beneath its touch blackened, crumbling into dust.
Selene met another guardian head-on, her twin blades flashing in the dim light. She severed an arm, but instead of collapsing, the creature only shrieked—a shrill, piercing sound that sent waves of nausea through them all.
"They don't die easily!" she snarled, pivoting to block another strike.
Elias muttered a quick incantation, summoning chains of light that wrapped around the nearest guardian, constricting it. The creature thrashed, its body flickering between corporeal and shadow.
"They're bound to this vault! We need to sever their connection to this place!" Elias called out. He gestured toward the pedestals lining the walls. "Destroy those artifacts—they might be anchoring them here!"
Caius didn't hesitate. He darted toward a cluster of ancient relics, shattering them one by one with powerful blows. With each destruction, one of the guardians let out a horrible wail before dissolving into smoke.
Selene followed suit, driving her swords through glowing gemstones embedded in the chamber walls. The moment they fractured, another guardian fell.
The vault trembled as the final relic was obliterated. The remaining guardians shrieked, their bodies unraveling into wisps of darkness before vanishing entirely.
Panting, Caius turned back to the pedestal. The Chronomancer's Heart pulsed with an eerie rhythm, almost as if it had been watching everything unfold.
Elias approached cautiously. "This is it. The source of everything."
Selene sheathed her blades. "Then let's take it and get out of here before something else wakes up."
Caius reached out and wrapped his fingers around the sphere. The moment he did, a surge of power coursed through him, and the world around them shifted.
Time itself trembled.