The wind hadn't stopped. It howled through the narrow passes of the frozen ridge, sweeping down like a predator with no face. By the time they left the depot, the storm had thickened into something primal—an atmosphere of sound and biting air that scraped at skin and metal alike.
They moved as ghosts across the ice.
Calyx led at the front, her cloak drawn tight and visor gleaming with overlays. Arix followed, his breath ragged in the cold, the Echo Fragment pulsing slow and deep within him. The shard was adapting to the elements faster than his body could. He felt warmer than he should, clearer than the rest, and it unsettled him.
Selis brought up the rear, flanked by Kael and Thorne, who bore most of the heavy equipment. Despite the weather, no one complained. Not even Thorne, whose frame cut through the snow like a charging mech. His silence carried weight since the Vault—the kind Arix recognized but hadn't yet dared ask about.
> [Environmental Hazard: Sub-Zero Winds. Body Temperature Regulation Compensating.] [System Sync: Stable. Echo-Knight Resilience Enhanced.]
Every step forward brought them closer to the coordinates Selis had triangulated: a Vault-like structure buried deep within the glacial shelf, unmapped and likely unclaimed. But nothing about the path forward felt abandoned.
"Hold," Calyx ordered, raising a fist.
They stopped.
The ridge opened into a shallow basin, blanketed in powdery snow and rimmed with jagged stone. In the center, half-buried under ice, was a dome—angular, blackened, its surface marked by runes glowing faintly in the falling snow.
"The Vault," Kael muttered. "Or a variant."
"No Obsidian presence on thermal," Selis said. "Yet."
"Visual scan?" Calyx asked.
Arix stepped forward. The moment he neared the basin, the Echo Fragment surged.
> [Fragment Recognition: Active. This Vault is Not Dormant.]
He felt it before he heard it.
A vibration in the air. Not a sound, but a pressure, as though the earth beneath them was holding its breath.
Then the snow shifted.
Three shapes burst from beneath the surface, humanoid but crystalline, limbs jagged with black and violet shards. They moved with terrible speed, charging the group in a silent blur.
"Contact!" Calyx shouted.
Thorne met the first with his hammer, shattering it mid-lunge. Kael pivoted and dropped another with a three-shot burst. Arix didn't think—he moved, blade drawn, the Echo energy crackling down his arm.
> [Ability Activated: Rift Lash]
A streak of violet light slashed through the third creature's chest. It stumbled, fell apart into shards, and hissed as it melted into the snow.
"They're Vault-born," Selis said, voice tight. "Defense protocol. This place knows we're here."
The ground trembled again.
The dome split open.
Panels of black metal peeled back like a blooming flower, revealing an interior of shifting light and stairs descending into dark. A cold, rhythmic beat echoed up from the depths—familiar, unnerving.
"Inside," Calyx ordered. "Now."
They descended quickly, weapons drawn. The Vault's interior shimmered with raw energy—walls shifting, humming with echoes of power. The architecture was more alien than the last—taller, less symmetrical, like it had been grown instead of built.
> [Echo Resonance Increasing. Cognitive Sync Under Stress. Suggested: Rest Cycle After Infiltration.]
"No chance," Arix muttered under his breath.
"Something wrong?" Calyx asked.
He hesitated. "It's louder here. The shard—it's trying to talk."
"Then listen carefully," she said. "And stay with me."
The first chamber they entered pulsed with heat and color. A broken pedestal at its center leaked Riftlight across the floor. Symbols lined the walls—hundreds of them, pulsing in sync with Arix's heart.
> [System Note: Emotional Anchor Link – Increased. Calyx proximity is stabilizing cognitive function.]
He felt it, too—her nearness kept the fragment from spiraling. But it wasn't just her presence. It was her watching him. Trusting him.
Something moved in the chamber's edge.
Calyx raised her rifle. "Upper ledge. Movement."
The team adjusted formation. Arix stepped to the side, letting instinct and fragment alignment guide him. A crystal blade arced down from above—a fourth Vault-born had crept close.
Arix caught it mid-strike, locking blades, then twisted and drove his own through its neck. It shrieked once—then vanished.
He breathed hard. Calyx was already scanning for more.
Selis stepped beside him. "Your reaction time's improving."
"I didn't think," he replied. "The shard knew."
"Careful," she warned. "Let it help. Don't let it drive."
They pressed on, deeper into the Vault, toward the pulsing core chamber that called to Arix with every step. The path narrowed, the walls growing more organic. Veins of Riftlight pulsed with faster cadence. Heat rolled up from below like breath from a sleeping creature.
> [Warning: Core Activation Imminent. Prepare for Confrontation.]
They passed a corridor of mirrors—crystalline surfaces that reflected not their bodies but flashes of other lives. Arix saw his own face twisted in agony, Calyx screaming with blood on her hands, Kael falling backward in slow motion.
Illusions—or warnings?
The visions faded as they stepped beyond the threshold.
"Everyone ready?" Calyx asked.
The team nodded. Even Thorne grunted a quiet affirmative.
Arix placed his hand against the final door. It was warm, alive.
And the Vault opened.
A wave of heat and Riftlight swept over them, and the world turned violet.
Beyond the threshold was something massive—a sphere of shifting energy, rotating slowly in a pool of liquid crystal. Above it hovered a construct, larger than any Vault-born they'd faced. It watched without eyes. Waited without breath.
And as the light struck Arix, the shard in his chest sang.
> [Echo Integration Threshold Approaching – Unique Fragment Detected – Awaiting User Command]
And deep inside, something answered.
Arix stepped forward.
And the fight began.