The Dead Library
They told her the Library of Vael was abandoned.
They were wrong.
Lyra Valeheart moved through the ruins like a shadow. Her twin daggers were sheathed; she needed silence more than steel right now. The wind pushed dust through cracked stained glass, and the scent of parchment and rot was thick in the air.
"Third floor," she whispered. "West wing. Ritual pit."
The map burned in her memory—a forbidden archive scribbled in an exiled scholar's dying breath. There's a dungeon beneath the stacks, he'd said. Older than the Kingdom. Older than the System.
She should've walked away.
She never did.
The stairwell groaned under her weight. Books lay torn and scorched. At the base of the final descent, she found the runes: Time-seals, etched in gold.
And blood.
⚠️ DUNGEON ENTRANCE DETECTED
Name: The Hourglass Vault
Type: Forbidden
Status: Uncatalogued
Classification: ???
Alignment Requirement: Temporal Affinity
The air shimmered.
Then the System whispered.
CLASS PATHWAY DETECTED:
ROGUE → ???
Unlockable: Chronomancer (Inceptive)
Conditions: Willpower 10+, Intellect 12+, Temporal Seal Broken
Lyra placed her hand on the seal.
And time broke.
She fell.
Not down—but through. Her body spiraled into frames that didn't exist, her thoughts scattered like shattered clocks.
Pain flared behind her eyes. She screamed, but the sound came late—like the world heard it after she did.
Then she hit stone.
⚠️ Unstable Dungeon: Hourglass Vault - Fractured Phase
Dungeon Modifier: Chrono-Slip – Time functions erratically. Skills may misfire.
Lyra staggered to her feet. Her reflection flickered in broken glass—each one a different version of her. In one, she was older. In another, she was dead.
"Perfect," she muttered. "Definitely cursed."
Ahead, a hallway stretched infinitely. Dozens of ticking sounds echoed from nowhere. Books hovered midair, frozen mid-burn. A woman was trapped in a mirror—still blinking, mid-scream.
Lyra drew both daggers. "Well, let's see what a forbidden class is worth."
The moment she stepped forward, they came.
Sand Wraiths—humanoid but weightless, made of clockdust and flowing robes. No faces. Just eyes like black hourglasses.
One surged forward. Lyra rolled low, swept her dagger across its waist—only for her blade to pass through it.
❌ Physical Damage: Ineffective
⚠️ Temporal Misalignment Detected
"I hate puzzles," she growled.
She pivoted, tried a backhand slash—but again, no impact.
Then she remembered the sealed mirror. Time-bound. Echoes. These things weren't real yet.
Her instincts screamed. She ignored them.
Closed her eyes. Slowed her breath.
Then lunged early—a full second before the creature moved.
✅ Strike Connected
☠️ Sand Wraith - Echo 1 destroyed
XP Gained: +27
Temporal Understanding +1
She smirked. "So that's the game."
She didn't fight them like a rogue. She fought them like a ghost.
They weren't enemies.
They were echoes.