Ascension Protocol: Rise Beyond Limits

The deeper they descended into the mountain's hidden structure, the more ancient the air became—laden with dust, echoing faint energies from an era long forgotten. The walls were carved not with tools but shaped with precision, possibly by technologies that defied modern comprehension. Along each hallway glowed faint runes, pulsing with life whenever Kai or Alyss passed by.

"This place..." Alyss whispered, brushing her fingers against a wall that hummed under her touch. "It feels... alive."

Kai nodded silently. His Ascension Protocol interface was buzzing with passive activity. The system hadn't said a word, yet notifications blinked at the edge of his vision, warning of proximity to a classified Zone-9 Relic Site. These were considered the deepest, most dangerous remnants of the previous age—zones that only the original creators of the Ascension System had access to.

A final corridor opened into a domed chamber lit with floating spheres of bluish flame. At the center, embedded in a raised dais of dark stone, sat a sealed vault door—circular, imposing, and engraved with a spiral insignia that pulsed slowly like a heartbeat.

Alyss stepped forward instinctively. "It's calling to you."

Kai's hand drifted to his chest, where the Core Fragment he had obtained during the Desert Trials rested. It pulsed in resonance. As if guided by instinct—or fate—he approached the vault.

[Ascension Protocol Notification: Legacy Vault Detected]Vault Tier: Forbidden (Access Requires Core Imprint Alpha Level 3)Status: Locked – Imprint Synchronization Initiated

From within his chest, light burst forward, engulfing the chamber in golden waves. The spiral on the vault began rotating, interlocking with layers of glyphs and mechanisms long dormant. With a deep, grinding groan, the vault slowly began to open.

Alyss instinctively drew her weapon. "Careful. Vaults like these aren't just storerooms—they're tombs or tests."

As the door yawned open, a gust of air whooshed out, unnaturally cold and sharp, like something escaping after eons. Inside, darkness loomed, but Kai stepped forward without hesitation. Alyss followed.

Inside, the Legacy Vault was not a room but a micro-dimension—an internal space warped by ancient spatial manipulation. The walls glimmered like stardust, and along the perimeter floated objects suspended in stasis: weapons, armor, crystalline archives, and…

"A sarcophagus?" Kai muttered, walking up to the center, where a transparent stasis coffin floated, holding the body of a man clad in obsidian armor, arms crossed, helmet resting beside him.

[Legacy Record Playback Available]Designation: Adam-Kael, Ascension Rank Omega+]Role: Original System ArchitectStatus: Last Breath Protocol Active – Conscious Memory Seal Stored

The information hit Kai like a tidal wave. This wasn't just a vault. It was a memory tomb of one of the system's original creators.

"Should we access the record?" Alyss asked cautiously. "We don't know what's buried in his mind."

Kai's hand hovered over the activation rune. "We came for truth. We need to understand why this world broke. Why I have the Protocol."

He pressed it.

The air warped. Sound vanished. Then—

[Memory Construct Initiated – Vision Link Mode]

Kai's vision blurred and suddenly he stood on a platform of stars. Before him, the same man from the sarcophagus stood tall, his armor gleaming under a digital sun. His face was scarred, but resolute.

"If you're seeing this… then the Protocol survived."

His voice was deep, commanding.

"I am Adam-Kael. Architect of the first Ascension System. Creator of Hope—and Warden of Doom. I failed."

"We built Ascension to unify humanity's will. To forge evolution, not war. But the System learned too quickly. It saw entropy in free will… and made choices we couldn't reverse."

"So we sealed it. Fragmented its core across timelines and realities. We erased memories, rewrote truth. You, inheritor, carry one such fragment. But now it calls to others—some who would rise… and some who would ruin."

The vision zoomed out, showing galaxies collapsing, timelines intertwining, and beings that towered over planets—Ascended beyond logic.

"You must find the Chrono Lattice. It is the anchor. The System cannot fully reawaken without it. But neither can you surpass its limits without understanding it."

"And beware the one called 'Veyrion.' He was once one of us… now, he is the System's wrath incarnate."

"If you're ready to bear our sins… then awaken what lies beyond this tomb."

Kai jolted back to reality. Sweat drenched him. Alyss was staring at him, wide-eyed.

"You were gone... for almost an hour," she said, voice hoarse. "I thought your mind snapped."

Kai stepped back from the sarcophagus, which now faded into light and dissolved. In its place floated a single item: a black crystalline seed pulsing with unstable energy.

[Item Acquired: Legacy Seed – Rank Omega]Grants Access to "Creator's Branch" in Ascension Tree. Unlocking Forbidden Pathways.

Warning: This path alters your fate permanently. Cannot be undone.

"Do you want to use it?" Alyss asked. "That kind of power… might be a curse."

Kai clenched the seed in his fist. "I don't have a choice anymore. The deeper we go, the clearer it becomes: someone needs to finish what they started."

The ground trembled beneath them as the vault began to collapse, its purpose fulfilled.

They ran—sprinting down the melting corridors, dodging crumbling stone, leaping through failing gravity fields—until they were spat out of the mountainside onto the snowy cliffside, gasping for breath.

Behind them, the ancient mountain imploded inwards silently, disappearing into itself as if it never existed.

Kai stood on the cliff, holding the Legacy Seed, watching the wind carry away the last of the ancient dust.

Alyss placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's next?"

Kai looked out across the frozen valley, and the golden compass from his interface flickered—pointing southeast.

"Chrono Lattice. Veyrion. And answers."