Chapter 20: Shattered Paths, Hidden Fangs
The forest had changed. It no longer whispered; it listened.
Tory walked ahead slowly, his boots crunching through bone-dry leaves that had never known sunlight. Behind him, the faint glow of Jim's elemental aura flickered against the twisted trees, a fragile promise of fire in a world gone dark.
They had moved deeper into the inner region, where only fools or legends dared step. Here, the air itself could devour the unworthy.
"Still feeling like we're the hunters?" Jim asked, voice low but not playful.
Tory didn't answer. His gaze was on the ridge ahead, where runes older than the continent shimmered along cracked stone. He could feel something pulling—reality itself whispering of things forgotten.
---
The Legacy Vaults Begin
They reached the structure. It was a monolith, carved not by hands but by law—each mark etched with the raw truth of a forgotten age. A vault gate.
Above it hovered a translucent plaque: Vault of the Fallen Elementalist – Trial Active. One Entry per Bond.
Before they could move, more contenders arrived. Some faces were new—others were anything but.
Fang Zeryn stood at the center of his small faction, cloak billowing even in still air. Behind him, Fang Xehan and Fang Lila flanked him like twin storms.
"Well," Zeryn said, lips curling, "the dogs found the master's door."
Jim didn't blink. "Still barking?"
Before Zeryn could reply, the gate reacted to Tory's presence.
A pulse of ash-black light surged outward, knocking dust from nearby cliffs. The gate opened.
All turned to Tory.
Zeryn's smile dropped. "You—"
The vault recognized him.
> [System Alert: Reality Signature Detected. Trial Adjusted. Suppression Initiated.]
---
Inside the Trial
They stepped inside together. Jim. Tory. Zeryn. Lila. Xehan. A dozen others who had forced their way in before the gate sealed.
It was not what they expected. Not fire or stone or beasts.
It was a garden.
Flowers grew from cracked bones. Trees whispered names of the dead. Floating crystals hovered above them like watchful eyes.
Then the voice spoke.
"You who seek the power of the Fallen One… cast away your borrowed strength. Come only with the self."
One by one, their powers were stripped. Jim's flame vanished. Lila's gravity collapsed. Zeryn's aura dimmed.
Only Tory's body pulsed with internal light.
> [Reality Access Maintained: 2%. Elemental Lock: Partial Bypass Authorized. Reason: System Override.]
---
Trials of the Self
They were separated by force. Each thrown into their own illusion.
Tory stood in a city of glass, surrounded by reflections of himself. Weak. Mocked. Broken.
"Is this who you are?" the voice asked.
He didn't answer. He watched. Observed how the glass cracked not from pressure—but from within.
He raised his hand.
The reflections shattered.
> [System Upgrade: Emotional Will Parameter Increased. Mental Resilience: Enhanced. Time Affinity Stabilized.]
A door appeared.
Tory stepped through.
He was the first to finish.
---
Fangs and Fire
On the other side, the garden had changed. It burned now.
Jim stood over Xehan, bruised but alive. He had fought with nothing but his fists and will.
"You done playing hero?" he asked, spitting blood.
Tory helped him up. "It's not over."
Behind them, Lila emerged next. Quiet. Changed. She avoided Tory's gaze.
Zeryn was last.
He didn't speak.
He just stared at Tory.
"...You're not from this world," he said.
Tory met his gaze. "Neither is power."
Zeryn lunged.
He was fast—but not enough. Tory's hand raised, and the space between them bent.
Zeryn slammed into an invisible wall and dropped.
The vault opened again.
Outside, the real World Space shook.
---
Attempted Theft
Three factions had surrounded the exit. They had sensed the tremor, felt the power unleashed.
"Kill the silver-haired one. The dark-haired one's already used his trump card."
Jim stepped forward, fists glowing.
Tory stepped to the side.
They attacked.
But they weren't ready for Tory's time-slipping shadow strikes or gravity suppression field.
They fell like wheat before a scythe.
> [System Alert: Legacy Vault Registered. Reward: Array of Eternal Folded Space Acquired. Partial Reality Synchronization Achieved.]
His aura spiked.
Everyone felt it.
A power on par with peak King realm.
And that's when the crack in the sky appeared.
---
Separation
The vault destabilized. The mountain split.
Jim shouted, reaching for Tory.
A spatial quake knocked them apart. Tory fell through a swirling portal—one not of his own making.
"Tory!!"
He was gone.
---
Tory landed in silence. Alone. Somewhere deep.
The cave around him pulsed with strange light. A voice echoed—not from the system this time, but from the world itself.
"You are not yet worthy... but you will be."
He stood.
Alone. Evolving.