The first night in the ruined cathedral was spent clearing bodies. Not out of disrespect—but necessity. Ayra and Zayen moved quickly and silently, dragging the dead Ancestor Priests out of the zone, burying them in the shallow earth behind the broken pillars. Neither of them spoke. Not when they covered the wounds. Not when they saw how some had been burned by the Vaultfire boy's loss of control. Not even when Ayra found a child clutching a book of bloodline prayers, her skin charred but her fingers still holding tight.
Only when the sun began to rise, painting the world in dim silver, did Zayen whisper, "There will be no forgiveness for what's coming."
Ayra stood beside him, the ash of the night still clinging to her skin. "There was never forgiveness to begin with."
The Vaultbearers were three now. Ayra, Zayen, and the girl—who, when she finally woke, gave her name: Lirien.
She spoke slowly. Carefully. Like someone used to holding secrets in her mouth.
"My Vault was forced open by a group calling themselves the Devourers," she said, seated beneath a broken altar. "They take people like us—Nullborn—and use artificial systems to tear the Vaults out of us."
"Tear them out?" Ayra asked. "That's possible?"
Lirien nodded. "They drain the echo. Reforge it. And inject it into soldiers. The results are… unstable. But strong."
Zayen paced. "That explains the others. The ones I saw. Their power felt wrong—like it didn't belong to their body."
"It didn't," Lirien murmured.
Ayra crossed her arms. "So what do we do now? If we're being hunted by Vault thieves and tracked by the Code System itself… what's our next move?"
Zayen pointed at the system interface glowing faintly in the air between them.
> [Zone Stabilization: 28%]
[Status: Unsecured]
[Recommendation: Establish Control Node]
[Resources Detected Nearby: Memory Crystal (x3), Echo Ore (x1), Power Core Fragment (x1)]
Ayra stared at the list. "It's giving us a blueprint."
"Or bait," Lirien said. "Why would the Null Code want us to build anything? That's not what Vaultbearers do. We're meant to collect. Store. Not… rule."
Ayra shook her head. "That's what they told us. But this system—this version—is different. It's not just waking up Vaults. It's trying to take something back."
Zayen stepped toward the old archive platform in the center of the cathedral. A raised slab of stone and metal once used for ancestral memory ceremonies. "This was a connection point to the High Archive. Maybe we can repurpose it."
"Into what?" Ayra asked.
"A Node," he said. "A place that says: this zone belongs to us now."
Ayra walked beside him and placed her palm on the slab. The system pulsed.
> [Node Connection Established]
[User: Ayra Vantheir — Echo Holder: Vareth, Kael]
[Authorization: NULLBOURNE]
[Zone Marking Initiated… Uploading Will Signature…]
Light exploded from beneath her feet, swirling outward in sharp glyphs. The cracked marble glowed with her bloodline's heat—half fire, half chain. The ash in the air lifted. The broken statues flickered, then turned to watch.
Ayra gasped. "It's taking part of me."
"No," Lirien whispered. "It's recognizing you."
The system's voice echoed inside their heads.
> [Zone: Claimed]
[New Title: Nullborn Stronghold — Cathedral of Forgotten Fire]
[Zone Power Access: LIMITED]
[Daily Echo Resource Generation: Active]
Zayen grinned for the first time. "We have a base."
Ayra turned, her face calm—but her heart pounding. "Then we defend it."
---
The next two days passed in fragments of planning and rest. The system began producing basic materials from the remaining Vault energy embedded in the cathedral stones. Lirien recovered slowly, though she still suffered from occasional echo flare—visions of strangers' dreams, bleeding into hers. Ayra helped her train her focus. Zayen scouted the nearby zones, collecting small caches of energy fragments.
Each night, Ayra sat alone before the altar.
Each night, she spoke to her ancestors.
Vareth. Kael. I don't know why I was chosen. But if I was meant to awaken you… to carry you… then tell me who's behind this. Show me where the Devourers sleep. Show me where the system ends.
They didn't answer in words.
But every morning, she woke stronger.
Until the third night.
When they came.
It started with silence.
Too much silence.
The kind that presses against your ears like someone holding their breath behind your neck.
Then came the scent—ozone and blood.
Zayen shouted from the outer wall. "Contact!"
Ayra was on her feet instantly.
Lirien darted to her side. "Echo signature?"
"No," Ayra said, eyes narrowing as her system flashed red.
> [WARNING: Foreign System Detected]
[Origin: DEVOURER ENGINE — Type 2]
[Carrier: Subject 847: Sevrak the Spine-Eater]
[Status: Multiple Vault Signatures Detected (4 Combined Echoes)]
Four?
Ayra ran to the edge of the ruined balcony and saw the figure approaching.
Tall. Barefoot. Shirtless. His back arched and broken, bones sticking out like jagged wings. His face was smooth, untouched by scars, but his eyes were hollow sockets of spinning white.
He walked like a man who had forgotten what skin was supposed to feel like.
Ayra whispered, "That's not a Vaultbearer…"
Lirien finished it, "That's a Vault-Eater."
Sevrak lifted his head and grinned, his mouth too wide for a human jaw.
His voice rolled across the stone like rotting silk.
"You have what belongs to me."
Ayra stepped forward. "I don't belong to anyone."
He twitched.
Then the air shattered.
He moved faster than Ayra could follow.
Only Zayen's wall of bone saved her—the shards rising in a dome around her just in time to catch Sevrak's claws.
"Scatter!" Ayra shouted. "Don't let him take you whole!"
Sevrak's laughter echoed. "Take you? Oh no… I want to be you."
He attacked again.
Lirien cast a dream-surge field around the boy, distorting space—but it barely slowed him. Ayra activated both Vaults at once, fire and chains wrapping around her arms as she launched a blast of molten light at his chest.
He screamed—but kept coming.
Zayen tackled him midair, bone spikes driving into Sevrak's side. "Get the injector!"
Ayra reached into her belt and pulled out the last suppression needle. Lirien charged it with dream stabilizer. They only had seconds.
Sevrak's hand clamped around Zayen's neck.
Ayra threw the injector—
And the monster caught it midair.
Then crushed it.
"Cute trick," he whispered.
He threw Zayen against the wall. Blood sprayed.
Ayra screamed—and something inside her broke.
> [New Trait Unlocked: Vareth's Wrath]
Temporary Boost: +40% Echo Output
Burnout Risk: 89%
She didn't care.
Fire burst from her skin.
Not violet.
Not blue.
White.
Sevrak flinched. "That's not Vareth—what is—"
She moved like lightning, her body forgotten, her mind a storm. Every chain in Kael's memory wrapped around Sevrak's limbs. Every flame in Vareth's soul burned into his mind.
"You don't get to steal me," she said, her voice not entirely her own.
"You don't get to rewrite my blood."
She drove her fists into his chest.
Chains tightened.
Flames roared.
And Sevrak… shattered.
His system core burst apart, spraying corrupted memory fragments across the stone. Ayra collapsed beside him, panting, eyes wild.
> [Enemy Echoes Reclaimed: 2]
[New Vault Signatures Stored]
[Warning: Echo Contamination Level – Medium]
Zayen crawled over. "You good?"
Ayra sat up slowly. "No."
"But alive?"
"Barely."
He smiled, blood on his lips. "Then that's a win."
Lirien arrived with healing shards, pressing them against his wounds. "We need to burn the body. His system might regenerate."
They did.
Together.
Silently.
As the fire consumed what was left of Sevrak, Ayra turned her eyes to the cathedral walls.
She didn't feel victorious.
She felt hunted.
But not alone.
Not anymore.
> [New Title Earned: Flamebearer of the Forgotten]
[Zone Loyalty: 61%]
[System Status: Partial Rebellion Achieved]
[Next Vault Signal: Awakening… Location Unknown]
Ayra looked up.
And whispered, "Come find me, then."