NOVEL WEB Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Vault Xeros
[Scene 1 – Descent into the Rift]
The mountain split open at midnight.
A violent quake tore through Ashlock's lower chambers. Runes that hadn't glowed in centuries flared to life in violent red. The sky above dimmed, though no clouds passed.
Orlan stumbled into the chamber, breath ragged.
> "Kael's triggered a backdoor seal—he's opening Vault Xeros beneath us."
Elira's blade was already drawn. "So this was a trap?"
"No," Kun whispered. "It was a message."
The floor beneath them collapsed—not falling, but folding, like a scroll of reality being turned inside out.
They plunged into darkness.
---
[Scene 2 – The Labyrinth of Forgotten Flame]
They landed standing—but in a place none of them recognized.
Not quite real. Not quite dream.
It was a ruined city made of mirrored stone. Every surface reflected only the past.
One wall showed Kun during his first battle in the grasslands.
Another reflected Elira weeping beside her father's coffin.
Rhea stood frozen before a mirror that showed a version of her that had never left the assassin's guild.
"This is Vault Xeros," Orlan said softly, awestruck. "A memory maze."
"Built to house knowledge too dangerous to remember."
---
[Scene 3 – Trial One: The Weeping God]
A long corridor twisted ahead.
As they moved forward, the air grew thick. The silence grew louder. At the corridor's heart sat a figure on a stone throne—gigantic, featureless, and weeping stars.
> "That's not a statue," Rhea warned.
It turned its head.
The air screamed.
They collapsed to their knees. Thoughts fragmented. Memories warped.
Elira forgot her name.
Orlan couldn't recall the shape of time.
Even Kun felt his vision split—into three timelines:
1. One where he died in the crash.
2. One where he never left Earth.
3. One where he became Kael's heir.
But then the Eidolon Flame burned inside him.
Not hot. But anchoring.
He shouted, "Remember yourselves!"
Their real names echoed.
The entity froze—and cracked.
The Weeping God turned to ash.
They moved forward.
---
[Scene 4 – Trial Two: The God You Could Be]
The next chamber was circular and vast, with constellations drifting like dust.
In the center stood a man.
Kun.
But taller. Armored. Eyes glowing.
Crowned.
He wore the seven-flame halo.
> "Welcome," the copy said. "I'm what you become if you stop resisting."
> "I saved the world. I remade it."
Elira stepped forward, blade in hand.
"That's not saving. That's replacing."
The crowned Kun looked at her, then at the real Kun.
> "They'll never understand the price."
> "But we do."
He raised his hand—flames of all seven colors erupted.
Kun did not fight with fire.
He stepped forward.
And embraced the vision.
> "I know what you are," he whispered. "My fear. My ambition. My potential."
> "But I am me."
The echo shattered.
---
[Scene 5 – The Heart of Xeros]
The final chamber was a starless void.
In the center floated a coffin made of obsidian and gold.
Inside: a young girl, asleep. Unmoving. But radiating unimaginable flame.
Lirian's voice echoed from nowhere.
> "That is the first flamebearer."
> "Her name was once a song."
> "She burned too brightly, and the stars chose to forget her."
Orlan gasped. "She's still… alive?"
"No," Kun said.
"She's waiting."
A shadow fell over the void.
Kael's voice entered.
> "Now you've seen it."
> "This is what awaits you at the end of your flame."
> "Not a throne. Not death. But containment."
"Like her."
> "Sleep. Forever. Holding the fire so no one else can misuse it."
---
[Scene 6 – Return and Revelation]
Kun reached out.
His flame touched the coffin.
And he remembered her name.
The vault trembled.
They were thrown back, upward through collapsing dimensions, until the air returned and light re-entered their lungs.
They were back in Ashlock.
The vault had sealed behind them.
Kun stood in the middle of the ruins, shaking.
Elira rushed to him. "What happened? What did you see?"
He looked at her, dazed.
Then said her name.
Then Rhea's.
Then Orlan's.
Then—quietly—
> "Her name was Serai."
> "She was the first. And I'm… not the last."