Location: Vanyress – Gate of the Deep Spire Archive
Time: [Memory Vault Access Thread Re-Established]
Ren walked up to the Archive Keeper with the calm confidence of a man who had not just committed micro-espionage in a public jail cell.
She was still there.
Still unreadable.
Still wearing that keyhole-shaped mask that pulsed with passive judgment.
ARCHIVE KEEPER (bland):
"...You're back."
REN (grinning):
"Yup. Fresh out of Vanyress's Five-Star Reflection Cube.
Excellent service. Loved the trauma replays. Would rate again."
The Archive Keeper said nothing.
But her mask dimmed for a moment.
Then slowly tilted to the left.
She was definitely staring at him.
ARCHIVE KEEPER (flat):
"You accessed the metaphor vault, didn't you."
REN (innocently):
"What vault? I was locked in a shame box."
ARCHIVE KEEPER:
"The shame box does not open.
Unless triggered by a previous violation key."
She stepped forward slightly, robe swaying with near-glacial grace.
ARCHIVE KEEPER:
"And yet… your phrasing has changed.
You carry words like someone who knows which ones were banned."
BLAZE (quietly):
"Oh crap. He left fingerprint sarcasm again."
FROST (aside):
"She's gonna hit him with a temporal thesaurus, I swear—"
The Archive Keeper extended her hand.
Ren tensed—
—but instead of arresting him again…
She handed him a thin silver sigil-ring glowing with archival permissions.
ARCHIVE KEEPER (quietly):
"You're not the first version of you to come here.
But you may be the last one to leave."
REN (taking the ring):
"...Cryptic. Weirdly sexy. Thank you."
She didn't respond. Just stepped aside.
And the ancient violet-lit door behind her unlocked with a deep chime — like a bell echoing through space-time.
The massive doors hissed open. Cold air swept out like the breath of a thousand forgotten thoughts.
Inside was a staircase carved in an impossible spiral.
Lightless. Endless.
Dripping with condensed memory.
AETHERIUM CORE:
> MEMORY STRANDS IDENTIFIED > INITIATING RIFTPRINT ALIGNMENT > CAUTION: IDENTITY DISTORTION LIKELY
REN (to the others):
"Okay. Deep breath. No touching cursed books. No drinking wine.
And if someone tries to sell you your own past, don't buy it."
SNARKSTEEL (cracking his hilt):
"If I see a version of you with a top hat and a monocle, I'm stabbing first."
FROST:
"I'm scanning everything. This place smells like archived regret."
BLAZE (lighting up a flame in her palm):
"Good. If anything down there screams in Latin, I'm setting it on fire."
REN (stepping forward):
"This is it. The blueprint of the dimensional core. The real memory vault.
Let's see what broke me into two."