After standing in front of both buildings like a madman caught in a dream, Vaelis chuckled silently to himself.
"No sane person would walk into a place filled with coffins," he thought. "Though my sanity's long gone, I might as well pretend it still exists."
With that, he stepped into the building on the left—the one filled with books.
The air inside was cool and dry, sterile in a way that didn't feel natural. A low, almost inaudible hum lingered in the background. The space felt... watched.
He glanced back once. The entrance was still open.
But only darkness stared back.
Turning his focus forward, he scanned the shelves. And then he noticed something odd:
The building was much larger inside.
Far larger than it looked from the outside. Row after row of perfectly aligned bookshelves extended out farther than the eye could follow.
Each shelf was labeled with Arabic numerals.
1, 2, 3… up to the hundreds.
"I can read them," he murmured. It was the first familiar thing he'd seen since arriving.
He approached shelf number 3. Dozens of books lined it—identical in shape and color, their spines marked only with minimalist symbols.
He reached to grab one.
A jolt snapped through his fingers as they met an invisible barrier.
Startled, he stepped back. "What the...?"
He reached again, slower. Still blocked. Zap.
Frowning, he moved on—shelf 4, 10, 21... all the same.
It was like a ghost town. Silent, vast, and unwelcoming.
Eventually, he reached Shelf 0.
He hesitated. Then reached out.
No resistance.
He exhaled slowly, unsure if he was relieved or more disturbed.
He picked up a book. It was heavy, cold. But the pages wouldn't open.
Annoyed, he threw it aside and slumped against the shelf.
"What's the point of giving me books I can't read?"
His head began to ache.
Then he noticed a book slightly out of place—sticking out from the shelf. He pulled it free.
The instant it left the shelf, it vanished.
Then pain. A sudden, violent headache.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head. Lights danced behind his eyelids. Voices. Images. Data.
A voice echoed in his mind:
[Sanctum Guide Activated]
Information surged into him. Details about the two structures. The layout of this strange land. Door mechanisms. Building functions. Material composition. Energy source placement.
It was overwhelming.
[Access Level: Initiate. Sanctum Interface Seeded. Current Permissions: 0-Tier Operations Only.]
Sweat trickled down his face. His hands trembled.
This wasn't just a building.
It was a machine.
A vault. A library. A lab.
And it had woken—because of him.
As the flood of information slowed, he collapsed to the floor, panting.
"Welcome. Sanctum orientation complete.."
Silence.
The beginning of something vast had just been unlocked.
Vaelis lay on the cold floor, breathing hard. His mind felt like it had been cracked open and filled with information he didn't ask for. But now, as the pain faded, he understood things—real things.
These two towers weren't just strange buildings. They were the most incredible things he had ever heard of.
The one he had just explored, filled with shelves and books, had a name: The Archive.
According to what he now knew, The Archive held hundreds of millions of books—not just from this world, but from other timelines and dimensions. Each book was stored with care, ranked by value and importance. But there was a catch: he couldn't open any of them unless he had enough points.
To earn points, he had to start a task. The place to do that was specific: Shelf 0, Row 6, Column 3. There, a special book would give him missions. Completing them would give him points. And with those points, he could unlock books—real knowledge from other worlds.
But that wasn't all.
Points weren't just for books. They could be used in the other tower too—the one he hadn't explored yet. That building had its own name: The Vault.
Inside The Vault were clones. Lots of them. According to the data in his head, he could unlock up to one million clones. Each one could be used like a normal human. Even better—he could give them personalities, emotions, and traits. He could shape them however he wanted. But that, too, would cost points.
The idea was insane. One million clones, each customizable? It didn't seem real. And yet, the knowledge in his head felt solid, detailed—like he'd studied it for years.
And there was still one more surprise.
The land he was standing on—the entire space with the two towers—was exactly 100 square kilometers in size. And time here worked differently. Fifty times faster than the outside world.
One day outside meant fifty days inside.
When he thought about it, chills ran down his spine. Access to otherworldly knowledge. A hidden army of human-like clones. A secret space where he could live out months while only a single day passed in the real world.
He didn't know if he was dreaming.
But if this was real—
Then he was no longer just some lost wanderer in a strange world.
He was standing at the center of something massive.
And it was all his to use.