Chapter 51: The Vault

Kren’s mind seemed to buckle under the weight of the notifications hanging at the edge of his vision. But this was his engagement ceremony, and unfortunately he had to...engage.

Pina did not seem to have a problem exchanging words with the seemingly endless crowd of well-wishers. Aki and the rest of his team just watched on, their faces caught between amusement and vigilance. With Pina now bonded to Kren, their bubble of protection had to expand to include her, much to the chagrin of Fima.

Kren shrugged. They all had to make sacrifices for survival, so there was nothing to be said or argued about it. Either way, the Storm Eagles were a very...grateful people. Except for the very young, anyone above ten years old in the village now had access to Aura. Kren could not even begin to imagine how they felt, or how deep this change truly went. And he was curious, not just about what he had gained from the bond, but about this new crest that had come into being for the Storm Eagles. He had to be sure it could hold up against the real thing. The moment news of this bonding went out, Kren would have every ambitious family, clan and tribe with a crest knocking on his door. Worse, he would have those who had never had a crest, or had lost theirs over the years, all coming to him for a chance to cultivate. That would bring the full weight of the Zar Draconic Empire down on top of them. Kren knew there was no time to waste.

Eventually the whole meet and greet ended, and Pina led Kren back through the barn to the secret entrance of their last vault. Normally this could have waited until morning, but Kren was leaving at first light with a group of Storm Eagle craftsmen, and with whatever secret was hiding behind those doors.

"This just feels wrong. We just got engaged. Can this not wait till dawn?" Pina asked, an exhausted look in her eyes as she stood before the silver doors. Kren shook his head.

"No. My people are dying, and I’ve already saved yours. Now you will do everything in your power to ensure I can save mine. There will be no rest for anyone until I’ve gotten what I came for."

Pina frowned, but said nothing else as she stepped forward and placed a hand on the gates. Unlike the last time they had been here, the inert gates responded to Pina’s presence almost immediately. A wild spread of aura danced along the seams, accompanied by the cry of an eagle. Everyone took a step back as both doors let out a dull groan, a subtle screech of protest after so many years locked shut.

They opened slightly, releasing a trail of stale air that smelled of cold iron and old dust, before parting wide enough for Pina to slip through, Kren right on her heels. Aki followed, with the old chief and Jomin bringing up the rear.

"Fima, Toa, no one else gets through those gates unless I say so. Ruhu, stop studying the gates. They’re just doors, not weapons. We’re on the clock here and I need your eyes."

Ruhu chuckled sheepishly and moved away from the doors. The rest of the Storm Eagle elders were stopped at the threshold. This vault might be their ancestral inheritance, but from this moment on, it belonged to Kren.

The interior was dark. Pina took a few steps forward and stopped where she found a set of stairs leading down. Her newly enhanced eyes were still not strong enough to pierce the flood of darkness, which, funnily enough, was the same for Kren. He had almost perfect night vision, so being unable to see through this darkness was not normal. Then there was a click. Seams along the floor glowed to life with a soft whine, and Aura crawled outward in thin lines of pale blue light, climbing the walls and washing over a vault the size of two football fields.

Pina let out a soft gasp. Her father shook so hard he would have fallen if Jomin had not been holding him upright.

Shelves rose before them in endless rows, each one ten meters tall or more and almost as wide, their iron frames vanishing into the gloom above. Smelted ore lay stacked in neat, heavy bricks, silver and copper and darker metals Kren could not name, each stamped with a faded mark. Beside them, weapons and tools gleamed as if they had been forged only yesterday, not a speck of rust on any of them, the edges still sharp enough to catch the light and throw it back.

Other shelves held armor, built in sizes for every variety of beastman. Kren even noticed plates shaped for horses and for the giant mountain goats, the metal curved and fitted with a care that spoke of hands that had loved their work. Beyond them lay a staging area where the artillery waited. Ballistae sat beside massive ammunition barrels, and cannons glimmered under the dull blue light, their sides etched with precise filigree and their frames heavy with aura. The air itself felt thick here, like the breath of something dangerous.

There was so much more, but at the center of it all, four pedestals rose from the stone. Three of them ringed the fourth, and each of those three held something.

The first was a pitch-black sword. Even from this distance it was screaming at Kren, calling to him and to the inner beast born of his bloodline. The second was a great silver bow, its string pulsing with an almost prismatic glow that left Kren wondering what materials it had been made from. The third held a rifle, but it was unlike any of the muskets Kren knew. It was longer, with a scope mounted on top of the barrel. Just past the stock, the midsection held a rotary chamber similar to a revolver’s, before the barrel stretched forward to end in a broad muzzle. Every one of them screamed to Kren’s senses. It was like looking at living beasts trapped within the confines of the weapons on display.

And finally, the fourth pedestal, the one ringed by the other three. The only thing on it was a book with, surprisingly, a blazing white cover.

There was almost no aura coming from it, but considering the way Pina had her eyes locked on it, it was probably more important than everything else around it. She swallowed, then turned to look at him. Her words came to him not through her mouth, but through the bond they shared, her thoughts his to glean and his hers to sift through.

It was a rather invasive experience for both of them. But this was life now, and the sooner they got used to it, the better.

"I can almost swear that’s my people’s legendary Forgebook."

Kren did not respond, but Pina could feel it through their bond. He was ecstatic. Of all the weapons, armor and materials left within this vault, the Forgebook was the most valuable. Everything the Storm Eagles had ever forged, everything they could forge now, and even things that, as the legends said, had never been forged at all, had been recorded and passed down to future generations through it. It was this very book that had made the Zar Draconic Empire unleash Gamade N’Kora Blackmane on the Storm Eagles. And now...it belonged to Kren.