The hidden staircase spiraled downward.
Each step echoed through the silence.
The deeper they descended...
The older the stone became.
Modern brick gave way to smooth, ancient rock.
The walls were no longer built.
They had been carved directly into the mountain itself.
No one spoke.
Alaric led the way with the lantern.
Professor Astrid walked beside Noah.
Professor Ingrid brought up the rear.
After several minutes...
The staircase ended.
Before them stretched a vast underground chamber.
Noah stopped.
His breath caught.
The chamber was enormous.
Far larger than the Headmaster’s Tower above.
Hundreds of stone columns supported the ceiling.
Each column was engraved with names.
Thousands of names.
"What is this?"
Noah asked quietly.
Alaric’s voice echoed through the hall.
"The Foundation Hall."
He walked between the pillars.
"Every student who changed the course of history..."
"...has their name recorded here."
Noah looked closer.
Some names glowed softly.
Others had almost faded.
Some pillars carried dozens of names.
Others...
Only one.
Professor Astrid smiled faintly.
"History isn’t measured by strength."
"It’s measured by impact."
As they continued walking...
The pillars gradually became fewer.
Older.
More weathered.
Eventually...
They reached seven enormous monoliths.
Each stood nearly fifteen meters tall.
Unlike the other pillars...
These carried no lists.
Only a single name.
The First.
The Second.
The Third.
The Fourth.
The Fifth.
The Sixth.
The Seventh.
Noah looked around.
"Where are the names?"
Professor Ingrid answered.
"They were removed."
"Why?"
Alaric stopped before the Seventh Monolith.
His fingers brushed the ancient stone.
"Because..."
"...their identities ceased to matter."
"What mattered..."
"...was their choice."
Noah looked at the Seventh Monolith.
Unlike the others...
Its surface wasn’t smooth.
A long crack ran from top to bottom.
Almost as though...
Someone had struck it with tremendous force.
The rusted iron key grew warm again.
The crack suddenly glowed.
Silver light spread slowly across the stone.
Astrid took a small step backward.
"It reacted."
Professor Ingrid looked at Noah.
"It never has before."
The silver light formed words across the monolith.
Not carved.
Written in light.
The Bearer has returned.
The entire chamber trembled.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Far below...
A deep mechanical sound echoed.
CLUNK.
Alaric sighed.
"...So it finally acknowledges you."
A section of the floor slowly opened.
Revealing a circular chamber beneath.
In its center...
Rested a massive stone table.
Round.
Perfectly carved.
Upon its surface...
Seven empty seats surrounded a beautifully detailed map of the world.
Noah stepped closer.
The continents carved into the stone...
Didn’t match modern maps.
There were lands he had never seen.
Kingdoms that didn’t exist.
Entire oceans absent from academy records.
Damien would’ve spent days studying it.
At the center of the map...
Rested a single empty socket.
Exactly the size of Noah’s rusted key.
Professor Astrid looked at Noah.
"Don’t."
He hadn’t even reached for it.
Alaric nodded.
"Not yet."
"The table..."
He said quietly.
"...is incomplete."
Noah frowned.
"What does it do?"
The Headmaster smiled.
"I’ve wondered that myself..."
"...for forty-two years."
Silence.
"You don’t know?"
"No."
Alaric answered honestly.
"I inherited this chamber."
"My predecessor inherited it."
"So did his."
He looked at the ancient round table.
"No Headmaster has ever activated it."
Noah slowly looked around.
The Foundation Hall...
The Seven Monoliths...
The ancient map...
Every answer they found...
Created three more questions.
Then...
The Bell of Returning chimed softly on Noah’s belt.
Ting...
Everyone froze.
The sound wasn’t answered by the hall.
It was answered...
From somewhere else.
Far beyond the chamber.
Deep beneath the academy.
Another bell rang.
Older.
Lower.
Heavier.
DOOOONG...
Professor Ingrid’s face immediately changed.
"...That bell..."
Astrid whispered,
"Impossible."
Alaric didn’t speak.
He simply stared into the darkness beyond the chamber.
His expression had become more serious than Noah had ever seen.
Finally...
He spoke.
"...No one has rung..."
"...the Eighth Bell..."
"...in over a thousand years."
The lantern flames flickered.
A cold wind swept through the Foundation Hall.
From somewhere deep below...
A calm voice echoed upward.
Neither hostile.
Nor welcoming.
Simply ancient.
"...Another move has been made."
The chamber fell silent.
Noah slowly turned toward the darkness.
Someone...
Was waiting below.
DOOOONG...
The ancient bell echoed once more.
Its deep resonance passed through the Foundation Hall.
Through the Headmaster’s Tower.
Through every stone of Valhalla Academy.
Above ground...
Students stopped in the middle of training.
Wooden swords froze in mid-swing.
Spell circles flickered.
Even the academy’s birds took flight all at once.
A first-year student looked around nervously.
"...Did you hear that?"
His friend frowned.
"Hear what?"
Some students heard nothing.
Others felt only a strange vibration beneath their feet.
A very small number...
Felt something awaken deep within themselves.
Back inside the Foundation Hall...
The sound lingered.
Noah instinctively reached for the rusted key.
It wasn’t hot.
It wasn’t cold.
It simply...
Pulsed.
Professor Ingrid immediately drew her sword.
The metallic sound echoed sharply.
"Headmaster."
Alaric nodded once.
"I know."
Professor Astrid spread her mana throughout the chamber.
Golden magic circles appeared beneath her feet.
She frowned.
"...I can’t detect anyone."
The calm voice echoed again.
Not louder.
Just closer.
"...Do not search for me."
Eric would’ve jumped.
Noah simply listened.
Alaric stepped forward.
"...Show yourself."
Silence.
Then...
A laugh.
Not mocking.
Not cruel.
Almost...
Amused.
"...You’re still impatient, Alaric."
The Headmaster froze.
His golden eyes widened ever so slightly.
"You..."
Professor Ingrid looked toward him.
"You recognize the voice?"
Alaric didn’t answer immediately.
After several long seconds...
He nodded.
"...I’ve heard it once."
"When?"
Noah asked.
"...Forty-two years ago."
The Foundation Hall fell silent again.
Alaric slowly walked toward the darkness beyond the Round Table.
"I was a first-year student."
"My Headmaster brought me here."
"He wanted to show me the Foundation Hall."
His voice became distant.
Like someone remembering another lifetime.
"We heard the bell."
"Just once."
"The same voice spoke."
"What happened?"
Astrid asked quietly.
"My Headmaster ordered me to run."
Everyone looked at him.
"I refused."
A faint smile appeared on Alaric’s face.
"I was young."
"I thought I could help."
He looked toward the endless darkness.
"I’ve regretted that decision ever since."
Before Noah could ask why...
Footsteps echoed.
Not approaching.
Walking away.
One...
Two...
Three...
Measured.
Unhurried.
Noah looked into the darkness.
He couldn’t see anyone.
Yet he knew...
Someone was there.
The Bell of Returning suddenly chimed.
Ting...
The unseen footsteps stopped.
A gentle voice answered the bell.
"...So."
"...The little bell found its way home."
Noah’s heart skipped.
That voice...
It wasn’t the Keeper.
It wasn’t Lucien.
It wasn’t the fisherman.
It was someone else entirely.
The darkness slowly shifted.
A silhouette appeared.
Still too far away to distinguish.
Only one detail could be seen clearly.
A long coat...
The same deep crimson color as dried blood.
Professor Ingrid immediately stepped in front of Noah.
"Stay behind me."
The silhouette didn’t move.
Instead...
It bowed politely.
"...Forgive me."
"I cannot come any closer."
"Why?"
Noah asked.
The stranger looked toward the Round Table.
"...Promises."
Silence.
"I made one."
The crimson-cloaked figure slowly raised a gloved hand.
In its palm...
Rested a small silver coin.
The coin floated gently through the air.
Landing softly on the edge of the Round Table.
No one sensed mana.
No one saw a spell.
It simply...
Arrived.
Noah stepped closer.
One side of the coin bore the symbol of a rusted key.
The other...
An unfamiliar crest.
A crown surrounded by eight stars.
Professor Astrid frowned.
"I’ve never seen that emblem."
The stranger smiled faintly.
"You weren’t meant to."
The silhouette slowly began fading back into the darkness.
"Wait."
Noah called.
"Who are you?"
The figure stopped.
For several moments...
There was only silence.
Then...
A quiet answer.
"A man history forgot..."
"...because I survived."
The silhouette disappeared.
The darkness became still once again.
Noah looked down at the silver coin.
Tiny letters had appeared around its edge.
He read them aloud.
"When the eighth seat is no longer empty..."
He turned the coin over.
The remaining words completed the sentence.
"...the forgotten kingdom shall awaken."
No one in the Foundation Hall spoke.
Not because they didn’t have questions.
But because they all understood the same thing.
The mystery surrounding the Seven...
Had just become a mystery surrounding...
Eight.