The third Vault welcomed her not with silence — but with song.
Low, haunting, echoing off the water-slick walls as Aelira stepped through its ancient doors. Light flickered along the stone, revealing murals—scenes of her as Seraiya, painted in fire and shadow.
She paused before one: Seraiya seated on a throne of obsidian, crown ablaze, her eyes molten gold.
Not merciful. Not wise.
Just… terrifying.
Ashar and Riven followed, silent. Kaelen—still dazed from the unbinding—waited outside with a protective ward around him.
"She ruled like a storm," Ashar whispered, tracing a mural's edge. "I never knew how much she gave up."
"She didn't give it up," Riven corrected. "She buried it. And now it's waking up."
The Vault's Heart
At the chamber's center was a raised platform — above it, suspended midair, a glowing crown of fractured crystal. Flames danced inside it, flickering between red and gold.
Aelira stepped toward it, heart pounding.
As she reached out, fire coiled around her wrists, gentle but firm. The Vault recognized her.
And then—she was no longer in the temple.
A Memory Reborn
She stood in a battlefield of ash.
Around her, bodies of kings and monsters alike. The sky bled silver rain.
Seraiya — her past self — stood at the center, eyes glowing with unleashed fury, the crown now whole upon her head.
"Is this what you came for?" the memory whispered."To be this again?"
The air trembled.
Behind Seraiya stood a boy—barely older than Kaelen—with golden eyes full of betrayal.
"You chose power," he whispered. "And lost us all."
Aelira gasped. She remembered him now — the first soul she ever bound herself to. A friend. A brother. A love she failed.
The memory crumbled into embers.
And the flame whispered:
"Take back the crown, and take back everything. Or walk away, and be nothing."
The Choice
Aelira's hand hovered over the fractured crown.
Behind her, Riven's voice pierced the illusion. "Aelira! Something's here!"
The Vault trembled.
Something else had followed them in.
The flames recoiled, shrinking away from the darkness seeping through the stone.
A figure stepped out of the shadows.
But it wasn't a creature.
It was a woman.
Tall, robed in deep emerald, her face hidden beneath a veil of moon-thread. Her voice echoed like glass breaking.
"You're not ready."
Aelira turned, hand still raised. "Who are you?"
"I am the one who broke your first crown. And I will not let you wear another."
She lifted her hand—and the flame lashed out, clashing with hers in a blaze of gold and green.
Clash in the Vault
Ashar cast a barrier just in time, shielding them from the impact. The Vault exploded in color and magic.
Aelira shouted over the chaos, "Why are you stopping me?!"
"Because power like yours doesn't stay righteous," the woman snapped."You forget, Seraiya. I was your closest friend. I saw you lose yourself once. I won't watch you do it again."
Her name echoed through Aelira's bones: Liora.
The woman from her dreams. The one who once stood at her side… and destroyed her crown to save the world.
The clash ended as suddenly as it began. Liora vanished into smoke, but not without a final warning:
"The last Vault doesn't open with power.It opens with grief."
The crown dropped to the platform — flickering, unstable, waiting.
Aelira stared at it, breathing hard.
"We move at dawn," she whispered. "To the final Vault."