The ancient doors groaned open.
Stone scraped against stone.
The sound echoed across the entire Sixth Floor.
No one moved.
Not Selene.
Not Lucien.
Not even the Verdant Guardian.
Every gaze was fixed upon the radiant hall beyond the threshold.
Golden light spilled across the frozen forest.
The moment it touched the snow...
The ice melted.
Flowers bloomed through shattered earth.
Dead trees straightened.
The forest itself seemed to breathe again.
Laura stared in disbelief.
"...The Hall of Oaths..."
Noah looked at her.
"You know this place?"
She swallowed.
"My grandfather used to tell me stories."
"I thought they were myths."
Freya’s crimson form trembled ever so slightly.
"I never believed it still existed."
The System appeared.
Its interface flickered, then changed completely.
The familiar blue windows dissolved into polished gold.
Divine Sanctuary Detected
Location: Hall of Oaths
Status: Outside Tower Jurisdiction
System Authority: Suspended
Access Granted: Seventh Successor
The screen faded.
Lucien’s cheerful expression disappeared.
"So..."
"It really chose him."
Selene slowly lowered her rapier.
Her icy eyes remained fixed on the open doorway.
"I was too late."
Without warning...
The Hall released another pulse of golden light.
This time...
It wasn’t gentle.
It struck everyone like a tidal wave.
Laura staggered backward.
Lucien was forced to shield his face.
Even Selene slid several meters across the frozen ground.
Only Noah remained standing.
The light flowed around him.
Welcoming him.
A voice echoed from within the Hall.
Neither male nor female.
Ancient.
Boundless.
"Bearer of the King’s Seal..."
"...approach."
Noah hesitated.
Freya looked at him.
"You have to go."
Laura grabbed his arm.
"It could be a trap."
Freya shook her head.
"No."
"If the Hall wished to kill him..."
"It wouldn’t need a trap."
The Verdant Guardian slowly knelt.
An eighty-meter giant...
Kneeling.
Its deep voice rolled through the forest.
"Go..."
"...Little King."
Noah took his first step.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold...
The doors began closing.
Laura rushed forward.
"Noah!"
She slammed her hand against the narrowing gap.
An invisible force threw her backward.
The doors continued to close.
Freya smiled softly.
"Only the chosen may enter."
BOOOOM!
The doors sealed shut.
The Hall vanished.
Along with Noah.
Silence.
Inside...
Noah found himself standing in an endless chamber.
There were no walls.
No ceiling.
Only an ocean of stars stretching into infinity.
Ancient pillars floated in the void.
Each pillar carried countless names carved into black stone.
Thousands.
Perhaps millions.
Footsteps echoed.
Slow.
Measured.
Noah turned.
An elderly man approached.
His silver hair reached his waist.
He wore simple white robes.
No crown.
No armor.
No weapon.
Yet...
The pressure surrounding him eclipsed everything Noah had ever experienced.
He smiled warmly.
"You’ve grown."
Noah frowned.
"We’ve met?"
The old man chuckled.
"Not yet."
"...Who are you?"
The old man stopped before him.
"My name has been forgotten."
"My titles buried."
"My kingdom reduced to dust."
He looked into Noah’s eyes.
"But once..."
"I was called..."
"...the First King."
Noah’s heartbeat stopped for an instant.
"The First... King?"
The old man nodded.
"I built the Hall of Oaths."
"I forged the Seven Seals."
"And..."
His smile faded.
"...I made the greatest mistake in history."
Before Noah could ask another question...
The endless chamber trembled.
One of the floating pillars cracked.
A deep fissure spread across its surface.
Then another.
And another.
The old man’s expression darkened.
"It has begun."
"What has?"
He looked upward.
Beyond the sea of stars.
Beyond the Hall itself.
His voice carried a sorrow that felt older than time.
"The prison is failing."
"If another Seal breaks..."
"...the war we ended ten thousand years ago..."
"...will begin again."
At that very moment...
A deafening crack echoed through the Hall.
One of the Seven Seals shattered.
Golden fragments drifted into the endless void.
The old man slowly closed his eyes.
"...We’re out of time."
The Hall trembled.
Golden fragments drifted through the endless sea of stars.
One of the seven floating pillars continued to crack.
The sound was slow.
Steady.
Like glass breaking beneath an ocean.
Noah instinctively tightened his grip around Shadowfang.
"...What was that?"
The elderly man watched the broken pillar in silence.
His expression remained calm.
Yet...
For the first time...
Noah noticed sorrow in his eyes.
"A promise."
The old man replied.
"Breaking."
Silence returned.
Noah waited for him to continue.
He didn’t.
Instead...
The old man slowly walked past him.
His white robes barely disturbed the sea of light beneath his feet.
He stopped beside the fractured pillar.
One wrinkled hand rested against the ancient stone.
The cracks stopped spreading.
Only for a moment.
"You have many questions."
Noah nodded.
"I do."
"Good."
The old man smiled faintly.
"Keep them."
Noah frowned.
"What?"
"If someone answers every question too early..."
"...they steal your journey."
Those words lingered in the endless hall.
Noah remained quiet.
He couldn’t argue.
The old man turned away from the pillar.
"You met Ragnar."
"Yes."
"And he gave you a choice."
"He did."
The old man nodded.
"He always preferred choices over commands."
Noah hesitated.
"You know him."
A small chuckle escaped the old man’s lips.
"I know many people."
"Some remembered."
"Most forgotten."
Again...
No explanation.
Only another mystery.
The old man looked toward Shadowfang.
"The blade accepted you."
"It did."
"It shouldn’t have."
Noah blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"Shadowfang has rejected stronger men than you."
The old man smiled.
"So..."
"I’ve been wondering."
He looked directly into Noah’s eyes.
"What did it see?"
Noah didn’t know.
He couldn’t answer.
A soft laugh echoed through the Hall.
"Good."
"You didn’t invent one."
The old man began walking again.
Noah followed.
The endless chamber slowly changed.
The floating pillars disappeared.
In their place...
Ancient murals stretched across an impossibly long corridor.
Most had been shattered.
Others had their faces deliberately carved away.
Some depicted kingdoms.
Others showed great battles.
One showed seven figures standing beneath a sky filled with stars.
Every face...
Destroyed.
Noah stopped.
"Who did this?"
The old man didn’t even look back.
"Someone."
Another answer that wasn’t an answer.
As they continued walking...
Noah noticed something strange.
None of the murals mentioned Ragnar.
Not one.
It was as though he had never existed.
Before Noah could ask...
The old man spoke.
"You’re observant."
Noah looked up.
"There’s no record of him."
"There isn’t."
"Why?"
The old man remained silent for several steps.
Finally...
He answered.
"Because history..."
"...rarely belongs to the people who lived it."
The corridor ended.
Ahead stood a simple stone pedestal.
Nothing ornate.
Nothing majestic.
Resting upon it...
Was a weathered wooden box.
Noah’s eyes widened.
"The Guardian..."
The old man nodded.
"So."
"It found its way here."
The box was identical to the one the Verdant Guardian had placed before Noah.
Its surface was worn smooth by time.
Ancient runes glowed faintly beneath the wood.
Noah reached toward it.
"Can I open it?"
"You may."
"But understand this."
The old man’s voice became firm.
"Some gifts..."
"...are also responsibilities."
Noah placed both hands on the lid.
The wood felt warm.
Almost alive.
He took a slow breath.
Then...
He opened it.
Inside...
There was no weapon.
No legendary artifact.
No glowing crystal.
Only...
A small, faded cloth wrapped around something.
Noah carefully unfolded it.
A simple iron key rested within the cloth.
Old.
Rust-covered.
Ordinary.
He stared at it.
"...A key?"
The old man smiled.
"So that’s where it went."
Noah picked it up.
Nothing happened.
No light.
No System notification.
No burst of power.
It was...
Just a key.
"What does it unlock?"
The old man shook his head.
"I don’t know."
Noah frowned.
"You don’t?"
"I’ve never owned it."
The key suddenly felt far heavier than iron.
A low chime echoed throughout the Hall.
The old man looked toward the ceiling that didn’t exist.
"They’re waiting."
"Who?"
"Your friends."
Noah looked confused.
"They cannot enter."
"They cannot."
"But they can wait."
The old man turned toward Noah one last time.
"Our paths will cross again."
"Will you tell me your name then?"
A gentle smile appeared on the old man’s face.
"If you’ve earned it."
Golden light began gathering around Noah.
The Hall was sending him away.
The old man raised one hand in farewell.
"Noah Blackwood."
"Do not spend your life searching for answers."
"Spend it asking better questions."
The light swallowed everything.
Outside...
The massive doors of the Hall of Oaths trembled.
Laura stood closest.
Her sword was still drawn.
Lucien leaned against a shattered pillar with folded arms.
Selene remained perfectly still, her rapier lowered.
The Verdant Guardian watched in silence.
Then...
The doors slowly began to open.
A warm golden light spilled across the forest.
A lone silhouette stepped through.
Noah.
He looked exactly the same.
No new armor.
No divine weapon.
No overwhelming aura.
Only...
A small, rusted iron key hanging from a leather cord around his neck.
Laura let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
"...You’re back."
Noah looked at the key in his hand.
"...Yeah."
He wasn’t sure why.
But somehow...
He felt that the most ordinary object he had ever held...
Would one day change the fate of the world.