Jayden stood before the Bloodvault — a sealed gate etched with ancient runes, pulsing faintly in rhythm with his heartbeat.
The key given by the Elders hung heavy in his hand, warm and cold at the same time — like a living contradiction.
Beside him, Count Thorne watched with mild amusement.
"You realize," Thorne said, "no one has opened that door in over six hundred years?"
Jayden didn't answer.
He inserted the key.
The gate screamed.
Then — silence.
It swung open.
---
Vault of Memory
Inside, the chamber pulsed with reddish mist. Scrolls hung like organs on spines of black marble. Books bled from their covers. Statues whispered in tongues that no longer existed.
This was no ordinary library.
This was the Heart of Vampire History — every betrayal, every prophecy, every law and secret sealed in blood and bone.
Jayden stepped inside.
And the door vanished.
Trapping him.
---
The Voice in the Red
A low growl echoed from within the vault.
"Hybrid…"
Jayden spun.
From the shadows emerged a Bloodshade — the last surviving guardian of the scriptures. It was tall, cloaked in living parchment, and its mouth dripped red ink.
"You are not one of us," it said. "And yet… the vault opens."
Jayden clenched his fists. "I came for the prophecy."
The Bloodshade grinned. "Then bleed for it."
---
Trial of the Red Room
Jayden was pulled into a vision — no longer in the vault, but inside a cathedral of memories, surrounded by echoing chants and dying suns.
Twelve stone pillars rose around him, each one displaying a different version of his life:
Jayden as a tyrant-king.
Jayden dying as a child.
Jayden killing Elira.
Jayden never becoming vampire.
Jayden… forgotten.
The Bloodshade's voice boomed.
> "Choose the version you fear most."
He did.
The one where he let the world burn just to feel important.
And as he stepped toward it — it attacked.
Not as a vision.
But as a living doppelgänger.
---
Self Against Self
They fought.
Jayden vs. Jayden.
Same speed.
Same power.
Same thoughts — but twisted.
The dark version didn't hesitate, didn't care who got hurt. Every move was lethal. Calculated.
Jayden stumbled, overwhelmed.
"You're nothing without your cause," the shadow mocked. "You need to be special."
Jayden roared back.
> "No. I need to protect people who never got to be!"
And with a final burst of blood energy, he shattered the false Jayden — and the vision burned away.
---
Revelation of the Red
Back in the vault, the Bloodshade bowed.
"You have passed."
It turned and withdrew a single scroll — bound in chains, sealed with three sigils.
Jayden unrolled it.
And read.
> THE LOST PROPHECY OF VAMPYRA
> "When the line of Hollow fades,
and the Outsiders turn to ash,
the child born of no clan
shall wield both the blood of kings
and the sorrow of gods."
> "He will unseat the Ancient One —
or become Him."
Jayden's hands trembled.
The scroll bled onto the floor.
> He had just found the real ending to the story…
and it wasn't written in his favor.
---
One Last Warning
As he turned to leave, the Bloodshade spoke one last time.
"The Elders fear this prophecy."
"They will soon fear you."
And as the vault door reopened and Jayden stepped into the darkened corridor…
He didn't notice the final line of the scroll glowing faintly:
> "The moment he learns the truth… the Ancient One will awaken."
And somewhere deep beneath Vharnyx Keep…
Something ancient opened its eyes.
And smiled.