The bridge shimmered like woven light — threads of stardust held together by willpower and something ancient. Kael led the way, each step weightless, as if the laws of physics had loosened their grip in this place-between-worlds. Behind him, his companions followed in silence, awe reflected in their eyes.
Below them, galaxies spiraled.
Above — nothing but possibility.
Ashara whispered, "This bridge… it's not just between places. It's between realities."
Veyna let out a low whistle. "Whoever built the Vaults wasn't just powerful. They were interdimensional architects."
Thorne grunted. "Let's just hope they weren't bored architects with a taste for chaos."
Kael's gaze focused ahead. At the end of the bridge, a swirling sphere waited — like a pearl floating in twilight. As they approached, the sphere expanded until it enveloped them.
And then—
They fell.
They landed in a forest.
But not any forest they knew.
The trees were crystalline, humming with low frequencies. The leaves shimmered in iridescent blues and purples. Insects shaped like tiny mechanical birds flitted between branches. The sky above was gold — not from sunlight, but from the radiance of twin moons.
Ashara knelt, running her fingers over the soil. "It's organic… but carries magnetic resonance. This planet's biology might be partially synthetic."
Lysara drew her blade. "I don't care if the trees sing lullabies — I still don't trust a place that glows like it's been painted by gods."
Suddenly, a pulse echoed through the air.
A soundless ping, like a sonar calling across dimensions.
Kael felt it burn in his chest.
"The Vault is here," he said. "Or… something linked to it."
They didn't walk far before finding the ruins.
Ancient towers, half-sunk into the ground, their architecture a fusion of stone and shimmering circuits. Symbols not of any known language covered the walls. Floating stones orbited the ruins, unaffected by gravity.
Thorne placed a hand on one wall. "It's active. The structure is asleep… but not dead."
A sudden click beneath Veyna's foot caused everyone to freeze.
"No one panic," she said, raising her hands.
The ground beneath them dissolved — not violently, but like an invitation.
They fell again.
This time, they landed in a dome.
Inside, projections flickered to life. Beings of light, humanoid but with elongated features and eyes like nebulae, appeared around them.
A voice echoed:
"You who bear the Spark… welcome to Nul'Vareth."
Kael stepped forward. "Where are we?"
"You stand in the Remnant Vault — a relic of the Forgers."
Ashara's breath hitched. "The Forgers… I thought they were myth. The beings who seeded power across dimensions…"
"We are echoes. What remains of the architects."
The lights swirled. One approached Kael, gaze piercing.
"Your Spark burns with the resonance of a dying star. But it is incomplete."
Kael tensed. "What do you mean?"
"The Vaults were never meant to contain. They were meant to prepare. The trials you passed are fragments — keys to awaken the True Core."
Another projection gestured, and a section of the dome dissolved, revealing a cosmic map.
"The last core lies in the Wound of Realities — the place where dimensions bleed."
Ashara's eyes widened. "That's in the Drift. A place so unstable, even the gods abandoned it."
"And yet, you must go. For the Spark you carry is a seed. And only in the Wound can it be reborn."
Outside the dome, the forest began to shift.
An alarm.
Creatures — twisted amalgams of flesh and metal — stormed toward the ruins, drawn by the activation.
Thorne cursed. "Looks like the neighbors aren't friendly."
Kael turned to the projections. "Can you help?"
"We are memory. You are will. Fight, or perish."
The lights faded.
The chamber reassembled — weapons rose from hidden caches: blasters, blades of light, kinetic bows. The team armed themselves quickly.
Kael grabbed a spear humming with plasma. "Form a perimeter!"
The first wave hit hard.
Quadrupeds with razor-edged limbs, shrieking in frequencies that caused hallucinations. Ashara deflected the sonic bursts with barriers. Veyna moved like a shadow, slicing between them. Lysara's fire exploded across the clearing.
Kael let the Spark flow — his flames were now laced with gravity bends, pulling enemies into collapsing singularities before incinerating them.
But the waves kept coming.
"I thought this was a forgotten world!" Thorne shouted.
Ashara gritted her teeth. "It's not forgotten. It's guarded. These aren't wild beasts — they're custodians."
Kael raised his hand — the spear extended, absorbing the Spark, and then he threw.
It became a streak of pure energy.
A blast tore through dozens of enemies, opening a path.
"Move!" he roared.
They retreated into a narrow tunnel hidden beneath the dome.
The walls pulsed with bioluminescence. The air was thick with humming energy. The tunnel led them down, deeper and deeper, until it opened into a chamber that defied understanding.
The ceiling was space.
Not a projection — but real.
Stars twinkled above. Planets drifted lazily in the void.
And in the center…
…a seed.
Glowing with the same flame Kael bore. But older. More refined.
"The First Spark," Ashara whispered.
"The Core," Lysara corrected.
Kael stepped toward it.
The flame within him roared in response. His heart pounded like a war drum.
He didn't need the projections to tell him.
This was the piece he had been missing.
But as he reached out — a voice echoed from behind.
A new figure emerged from the shadows.
Clad in armor black as the void, its face hidden by a mask forged from dying stars.
"You are not the first to seek the Core."
The figure stepped forward, a blade of silence in hand.
"But you will be the last."