Lucas stood at the threshold of the sealed mausoleum, its twin obsidian doors humming with residual blood magic. The runes had cracked—not cleanly, but jagged, like something inside had tried to claw its way out.
"Well," Lucas muttered, "that's not ominous at all."
Mira, flanking his left with a glaive and a bad mood, replied, "On a scale of one to 'we accidentally woke a sleeping god,' how bad is this?"
Lucas stared at the glowing glyphs, then back at the rest of his hand-picked squad:
Dreg, the hulking brute with a skull helmet and the intelligence of moss.
Lila, a shadowstep rogue who refused to walk—she just blinked everywhere and scared people.
Rook, an ancient scribe-turned-sorcerer who kept muttering to himself in dead dialects.
And that one bat who insisted on wearing a scarf and thought he was part of the crew. No one had the heart to tell him otherwise.
Lucas sighed. "Oh, it's a solid nine-point-five. Minimum."
[System Alert: Crypt Descent Initiated]
Crypt Layer: VII
Blood Pressure: Rising
Curse Ambient: Dense
Danger Rating: ???
Goat Detected Nearby: Unknown How It Got Here
Inside the Crypt…
The descent was steep. Every level they passed smelled older—dust, dried blood, and something floral. Why was there jasmine in a death crypt?
Lucas lit a bloodflare and stepped onto the seventh layer's floor. The moment his boot hit the black stone, a shockwave pulsed outward. The glyphs on the walls lit up, one by one, in a circle of red.
Lila whispered, "This was sealed for a reason…"
"No kidding," Lucas said. "This was sealed harder than my love life."
A coffin at the center stirred.
Dreg, predictably, poked it.
The lid slid open an inch.
Mira instantly had her glaive at Dreg's throat. "Touch nothing else."
Dreg nodded solemnly, then proceeded to touch the wall next to the coffin. A hidden panel opened. Inside: a mirror.
Lucas approached it slowly.
It wasn't his reflection staring back. It was… older. Taller. Eyes like dying stars. Fangs longer than his. A version of himself—but not him.
The reflection spoke: "You wear my blood, boy. But you are not me."
Lucas blinked. "Okay. That's definitely not a compliment."
[System Warning: Ancestral Bloodline Recognition Pending]
Mirror Entity: ???
Compatibility: Partial
Blood Trial Opportunity: Available
Retreat Option: Not Recommended (Mirror is watching)
"Do I want to do a trial today?" Lucas asked aloud, arms crossed.
"Absolutely not," Mira answered.
"Do I have to?"
"Absolutely yes."
The reflection stepped out of the mirror. Not fully—just a ghostly outline. It held out a blade made of marrow and shadow.
"Bleed, heir. Or break."
Lucas sighed, cracking his neck. "Fine. But if this turns into some weird vampire Zumba dance, I'm out."