Chapter 30: The Vault of Madness
The moment the first seal shattered, a tremor pulsed through the heart of the Seer Citadel. Stone walls wept blood. Arcanic alarms—long dormant—flared to life in eerie, violet pulses. Deep within the inner sanctum, the Vault of Madness groaned against its chains.
Vaelra stood alone before it, her hands shaking. The vault was a jagged mass of blacksteel and soulbone, pulsing with red runes that weren't etched—they grew like veins.
"You swore," she said, barely a whisper. "We sealed you for the good of the world."
The voice that answered came from every direction.
"You sealed me to hide your sins. To bury the truth of your System's origin. But now… now the child tears down your walls."
---
Miles away, Rayden and his group made camp in the ghostfields, a desolate plain littered with skeletal ruins and echoing cries. Lyss examined the child Sealbearer who now slept beneath a warded tent.
"She's stable," Lyss said. "But whatever she was tethered to… it's still active. The seal was just one of several."
Rayden nodded, his eyes heavy with exhaustion, but his resolve unbroken. "Then we break them all."
Kaelri walked over, her face unreadable. "The Seers used children like batteries, binding their Systems at birth, then channeling their power into the Citadel's defenses."
Rayden's gaze turned cold. "They'll answer for it."
---
That night, Rayden sat alone, staring at the horizon where the next storm brewed. He wasn't sure if it was weather or war. The Berserk System spoke in his mind—its voice oddly calm now.
"The Vault is stirring. The one who came before you… he sleeps there still."
Rayden's eyes narrowed. "The first Berserker?"
"No. The one before the first. The prototype. A failed experiment sealed in madness and wrath. If he awakens, the world will burn."
Rayden stood slowly. "Then we put him down before he rises."
---
In the Citadel, the Vault chains snapped one by one. Seers in their tower chambers scrambled in panic, arcane seals collapsing in cascading failure. One attempted to cast a restoration spell—but the runes turned black, and his skin peeled away in seconds.
Vaelra stood at the center of the chaos, trying to hold the breach closed with raw soulforce. "Don't do this," she hissed.
A whisper coiled around her neck like a snake. "You'll need him to survive what comes next. Rayden is just the beginning. The true threat… has not yet risen."
With a final scream of defiance, the Vault door exploded.
---
Out stepped a man—no, a thing. Tall, cloaked in layers of scorched flesh and charred armor, his face was hidden behind a mask etched with runes that dripped liquid obsidian.
He looked around slowly, stretching limbs that cracked like broken bones resetting. "How long… was I dreaming?"
Vaelra fell to her knees. "Ninety-seven years."
The figure's voice was like a blade dragged over stone. "And the world is still here? Pity."
He turned his gaze to the storm in the distance. "The Berserk child… I feel his rage. It sings to me."
Vaelra whispered, trembling, "What do you call yourself now?"
The figure smiled behind his mask.
"They called me Project Xel'var. But soon… they'll just call me End."
---
Back in the ghostfields, the sky split again.
But this time… it wasn't a seal breaking.
It was a prison door opening.
Rayden felt it immediately. He dropped to one knee, his heart racing. The System flared.
[Alert: Berserk Signature Detected – Class: Prime Anomaly]
[Risk Level: Catastrophic]
Kaelri ran to him. "What is it?!"
"A monster," Rayden said. "No… a mirror."
Lyss grabbed her blades. "Then we hunt him."
Rayden stood slowly, his aura flaring red and black.
"No. He's coming for me."
---
In the days that followed, whispers spread across kingdoms. Crops died without warning. Rivers flowed backward. The stars shifted. Something ancient had returned.
And at the center of it all stood a boy with red eyes and a shattered fate, marching toward his reckoning.