Edmund Erwell descended into the Society's vaults alone.
He'd dismissed the guards at the third level, sent his assistant back to prepare the Council chamber. This was work he needed to do himself. Had to do himself. Because in forty years of documenting corrupted wielders and dangerous artifacts, he'd never personally sealed away something like the Perfection Slicer.
It had heavy sins:
This was a Legendary Tool that broke the world before the Cataclysm, and hallowed out Greaves for over seven years.
It would have taken Marron as well, if not for extraordinary intervention.
The stairs descended past the public archives—levels one through three, where scholars could request access to study approved artifacts. Past the restricted collections on levels four and five, where dangerous-but-documented items were stored under lock and key. Past the hazardous materials vault on level six, where artifacts that leaked magic or radiation were contained in lead-lined boxes.
