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Dialogue-Driven Scene
Scene: The Starwake's descent pod—Kaelen, Sylrae, and Thane prepare to infiltrate Vault 9B beneath the ruined monastery of Aetherhold.
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[Interior: Descent Pod—dim lighting, aether crystals humming faintly. The three sit in silence as the pod lowers into the cloud-choked abyss.]
Sylrae: (checking her weapon)
"If this is a trap, I'll say it now—I told you so."
Kaelen: (without looking up)
"It's not a trap. It's a test."
Thane: (twitches)
"What kind of test involves hands made of smoke?"
Sylrae:
"The ancient kind. The stupid kind."
Kaelen: (turns to Thane)
"When you saw the sigil—did you feel anything?"
Thane: (hesitates)
"Yes. Like my bones remembered something my mind didn't. Like falling... but up."
Sylrae: (scoffs)
"Comforting."
Kaelen: (quietly)
"The Empress once said the Bound live in forgotten things. They feed on what we erase. Regret. Guilt. Memory. That's why we sealed the Vaults."
Thane:
"Then why unseal one?"
Kaelen:
"Because something inside wants out. And we need to know why before it finds another path."
[A soft chime. The pod slows. Lights dim further.]
Aether Voice (automated):
"Descent complete. Atmospheric stability: compromised. Initiate breath-filter protocols."
[All three don breath-masks. The hatch hisses open. Mist floods the compartment—black mist, moving against the wind.]
Sylrae: (draws her blade)
"This isn't mist. It's residue. There was a presence here. Recently."
Thane: (backs away from the hatch)
"I changed my mind. I don't want to remember."
Kaelen: (places a hand on his shoulder)
"You already do. That's why it called to you."
[They step into the vault corridor—walls inscribed with pulsing aether-script, ancient Skyborne glyphs distorted and smeared as though by fire.]
Kaelen:
"Look. The script—it's rewriting itself."
Sylrae:
"Glyphs don't do that unless—"
(pauses)
"—unless something inside is dreaming again."
Thane: (shivers)
"It's humming. The song I heard—it's coming from below us."
Kaelen: (taps the glyph with a gloved finger)
"This isn't just a vault. It's a cradle."
Sylrae:
"Cradle of what?"
[A low, resonant tone pulses through the walls—a heartbeat, slow and deliberate. Stone shivers. Air grows thin.]
Kaelen: (grimly)
"Something we were never meant to wake."
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End of Chapter Five