The woman in gold robes said her name was Vel Atra.
But she never blinked.
She never breathed.
And when she walked, the earth beneath her seemed to shy away, as if the land itself didn't trust what it was carrying.
"This Vault is older than the First," she said as the group descended into the fissure. "It was buried before the Dominion rose. Forgotten before memory had names."
Davin frowned. "Then how do you know about it?"
Vel smiled. "Because I never forgot."
The path led down through obsidian cliffs, where molten light pulsed from cracks in the walls like veins in an ancient body. The air smelled of ash and roses — too sharp to be natural, too warm to be safe.
Ansha walked in silence, fingers dancing in her sleeve. Trellen lagged behind, murmuring to the shadows. And Lira kept her eyes on the faint symbols carved into the black stone.
They weren't in any known language.
But she could read them.
"Flame was not the first light."
"Before fire, there was memory."
"Before memory, there was choice."
She didn't know how she knew.
Only that the words felt like her own bones remembering.
At the bottom, the Vault was not a door.
It was a mirror.
Fifteen feet tall. Seamless. Framed in gold and silver that shimmered as if underwater.
Vel Atra stopped before it and bowed her head.
"This is where the First Flame was divided."
"Half became light."
"Half became voice."
"And the voice has been waiting for you, Lira Virelth."
The mirror rippled — and a second Lira stepped forward inside the glass.
She looked the same.
She moved the same.
But her eyes were ancient, and in her hand she held a flame that flickered backward — burning from end to beginning.
"Do you know me?" the mirror-Lira asked.
Lira's voice was steady. "You're not real."
Mirror-Lira smiled. "Then why do you remember my dreams?"
Suddenly, a scream echoed behind them — Ansha.
A wall of fire rose from the ground behind the group, separating them from the surface.
Vel Atra turned, calm as dusk. "The Vault opens with or without consent. But only one may pass through it."
Davin drew his blade. "She's not going alone."
Vel raised her hand.
Davin's sword melted.
Lira turned to the mirror.
She reached forward.
And her fingers passed through.
The Vault did not resist her.
It recognized her.
And as she stepped through the surface, the mirror did not close.
It swallowed her.
And for a heartbeat, the entire mountain held its breath.
Inside, Lira found nothing.
Only a single ember, floating in a void of white.
It pulsed.
I remember you, it said.
You were the first to forget.
You are the last to choose.
Then the light shattered.
And Lira screamed.