Chapter 8 — "The Bleeding Vaults"
The moment Erik's body hit the ground, the world screamed.
It wasn't a noise made of sound—but of pressure, weight, meaning. Aether twisted in the air like a living mist, red and gold tendrils coiling around shattered architecture that pulsed as though alive. The Bleeding Vaults lived up to their name—walls that dripped crimson essence, machines fused with bone, engines groaning with sorrow. Everything looked ancient, yet still functional, as though some unknown force had kept the Vaults preserved for an eternity.
Erik staggered upright, eyes wide.
He was inside a multi-tiered dungeon unlike anything Earth could've imagined. It reminded him of cathedrals and laboratories fused together, with molten glyph-circuits glowing in the floor, walls pulsing like arteries, and massive metallic cogs turning in silence overhead.
A notification bloomed in front of his eyes—Aetherglyphic, not digital:
[TRIAL ZONE — BLEEDING VAULTS: Θ-CLASS]Time Remaining: 11:57:41Objective: SurviveOptional Objectives:— Terminate 3 or more Warden Entities [REWARD: Glyph Augment]— Form a pact/alliance and complete a Bloodsigil Binding [REWARD: Soul Cohesion Boost]— Discover 1+ Forbidden Node [REWARD: ???]Death Penalty: Soul DisintegrationEstimated Survival Rate: 6.27%
Erik's heartbeat pounded. This is insane.
He turned just in time to see someone bolt past him—a girl with copper-blonde hair, eyes glowing cyan. She raised her hand, forming a complex sign, and a wall of transmuted crystal blocked a corridor just as three Warden Shades descended like wraiths. They howled, clawing at the crystal barrier, spitting strange black sparks.
The girl snarled, darting into a side passage.
Another scream echoed behind him—this time not from a monster, but a boy, encased in luminous armor, who was torn in half mid-air by a slithering, multi-jointed machine-serpent that burst from the wall. It hissed, scanned the area with red lights, then retracted back into the pipes like it had never existed.
Erik ducked, breathing hard. I have to move. I have to—
"Hey! Orphan!"
He turned sharply. The platinum-haired noble from earlier—Lucien Drachenlicht—stood flanked by two others: a hulking brute with glowing tattoos and a slim, robed boy whose fingers sparked with electrical runes. Lucien's coat was clean. Too clean.
"Want to survive? Then don't get in my way. And don't die before I get the chance to beat you properly."
Erik grit his teeth. "Noted."
Lucien turned and vanished into the mist with his group, leaving Erik alone again—until—
"You look like you need a team."
The voice was calm, female, and had a hint of an accent Erik couldn't place. A figure stepped from the shadows—dark robes, silver stitching, and an emblem of a spiraling sun eclipsed by thorns. She was maybe his age, maybe older. Hard to tell. Her irises flickered with shifting constellations.
"Name's Selara Veyne. House Veyne—minor noble. Specialization: Aether Resonance and Soul Threading. I patch people up. You kill things. Sound fair?"
Erik blinked. "Sure. I'm Erik."
"I know. You're already being tracked by three entities. Move."
They dashed into a corridor, avoiding detection. Selara weaved sigils into the walls, obscuring their presence. As they ran, Erik saw things he didn't understand—hanging effigies with runes etched into their bones, strange aether-conduits bleeding silver fog, and large doors with warnings written in every tongue imaginable, even English:
DO NOT ENTER — SEAL NOT STABLE
Selara led him to a quiet alcove—an old lab filled with defunct machines and broken glass vats. The door sealed with a soft hiss.
"Safe. For now. Let's talk tactics."
Erik leaned against the wall, panting. "Is this... is this what it's always like?"
Selara looked at him with something like sympathy. "This? This is the easy part."
She waved her hand, forming a circular glyph of burning silver. Lines formed a crude map.
"There are three major Warden Entities inside this sector. If we kill one, we might make it out with our minds intact. Maybe even earn a rank. But the real prize... is here."
She pointed to a dark spiral in the center of the map.
"Forbidden Node. No one's ever reached one during the Trials. They say it's where the Academy hides pieces of discarded gods. Relics. Secrets. Weapons."
Erik stared. "And you want to go there?"
She smiled. "I didn't come here to be average."
Erik exhaled, steadying himself. The Glyph on his hand pulsed again. Faint lines extended up his arm—new circuits forming. A whisper echoed in his mind:
Deeper.
He stood.
"I'm in."
End of Chapter 8