The gate's eye—an enormous, rune-carved stone disc embedded in the mountain—glowed with a pulsing golden light. It shifted as Leo approached, slowly rotating along unseen mechanisms with the deep grinding sound of ancient gears stirring after centuries of stillness.
Fang bristled beside him, low growls rumbling from his throat.
Leo didn't move.
The Obsidian Heart in his hand throbbed now, its glow synchronized with the gate's pulse. The symbols etched into its surface shimmered, no longer inert stone—but a key waking to its lock.
And then, the gate spoke.
Not in words. Not in sound. But in a sensation that burrowed straight into Leo's mind.
"Blood of the Tamer. Flame of the Beast. Wielder of the Heart. You are known."
The mountain groaned, and the gate's seams split open like eyelids.
A blinding light poured forth—and beyond it, darkness.
Leo took a step forward.
Fang hesitated, then followed.
The Vault of Echoes was no mere cave. It was a city of the dead, carved deep into the heart of the mountain.
Pillars rose into endless black above. Stalactites dripped glowing silver liquid into still pools below, casting flickering reflections along the obsidian walls. Massive statues lined the path—figures with wings, horns, claws, and halos, some angelic, others monstrous, all forgotten gods of a time lost to history.
Their faces watched silently as Leo passed.
Each step echoed.
Each breath felt loud.
The Obsidian Heart led him, glowing brighter with every corridor. Sometimes the path forked—sometimes stairs spiraled downward into smoke—but always the Heart pulsed with certainty, tugging him forward like a compass of will.
Fang stayed close. His eyes now burned faint red. His fur shimmered as if mirroring the glowing pools. A slow change was overtaking him. Something old awakening in his blood.
They passed beneath a giant arch covered in runes.
A whisper rose.
Not a voice, but a memory—carried on the very walls.
"He came with fire in his veins and wolves at his side. The First Tamer. The Betrayer. The Lord of Chains. He opened the Vault… and never returned."
Leo stopped.
"The First Tamer?"
He touched the wall. It was smooth, cold.
Another echo answered.
"He wore the Crown of Claws. And it wore him."
The air grew heavier the deeper they went.
Time itself seemed slower. Leo checked his interface—static. No functions. No map. The Vault was beyond magic's reach… or outside its rules.
Then came the throne room.
A massive circular chamber.
Its ceiling was so high, even the light of the glowing pools couldn't reach it. The floor was carved with ancient lines—a magic circle of incomprehensible depth. Floating above it were dozens of crystals, each humming, each containing… voices.
Leo couldn't understand them, but he felt them. Screams. Warnings. Pleas.
Fang stepped forward and howled once. The echoes rose like wind, shaking the chamber.
Then the crystals shattered.
One by one.
And from the center of the circle, something rose.
Not a monster.
Not a person.
A memory given form.
He was tall, draped in black and red armor shaped like bone. His face was hidden behind a broken mask, cracked where one eye should've been. From his back spilled a cloak made of fur—not cloth—and Leo recognized it instantly.
Fang's fur.
This was him.
The First Tamer.
The Betrayer. The one who opened the Vault.
He didn't move, but the memory watched Leo.
"So. It begins again."
Leo's throat tightened. "Who are you?"
The figure didn't speak, but Leo understood.
Not in words—but in thoughts. In emotions. In pain.
The First Tamer had once been like him. Scorned. Cast out. Bonded with a beast considered weak. But he had climbed—fought—killed his way through the world until his name was etched into the bones of nations.
He had found the Obsidian Heart. He had entered the Vault.
He had found the Crown.
And then… he had become it.
The memory raised its hand. The air rippled.
A test.
From the ground, shadows rose.
Three monstrous beasts took shape—one made of bone, one of fire, one of mirrors.
Leo's interface buzzed back to life.
[Trial Initiated: Echoes of the Tamer][Survive. Bond. Endure.]
The bone-beast charged first.
Leo ducked left, calling to Fang mentally. Their bond reacted instantly—Fang tackled the creature mid-leap, his claws scraping across the skull-like plating.
Then the fire-beast breathed a wave of flame. Leo rolled behind a fallen slab of stone, coughing.
The mirror-beast didn't attack—it simply watched.
Leo emerged and reached for the Obsidian Heart.
"If I can bond with one…"
The Heart pulsed.
His instincts sharpened.
He focused on the fire-beast.
[Attempting Bond…]
The flames hesitated. Wavered. The beast stopped moving.
Then it shrieked—and the Heart flared.
[Bond Denied – Existing Host Detected]
Leo blinked.
Then the mirror-beast moved.
It shimmered—and became Leo.
Identical. Clothes, scars, expression, even Fang at its side.
It looked at him and smiled.
Then it attacked.
The fight felt endless.
Each strike from the mirror-beast was one Leo had used before. Every dodge it made was one he would've made. He couldn't outthink it—because it was him.
So he changed the rules.
He whispered something to Fang—words they had never used before.
A new command.
Fang paused.
Then he obeyed.
Instead of attacking, Fang ran straight into the fire-beast and merged.
Flames curled around him—not burning, but bonding. His fur became embers, his breath smoke.
A new form.
Fang: Ember Variant – Hybrid Achieved.
Leo grinned.
The mirror-beast hesitated.
And Leo struck.
With Fang's help, the mirror shattered.
The fire-beast faded.
And the bone-beast simply knelt.
[Trial Complete.]
The memory of the First Tamer watched.
Then, for the first time, he spoke.
"You will be hunted. Hated. Feared. And in time, you will have to choose."
"To tame the world. Or to let it burn."
His form dissolved.
In its place, something floated down.
A circlet of black metal. Studded with fangs. Glowing faintly with ancient fire.
The Crown.
But not the Crown of Claws.
This was something lesser.
A shard.
A fragment.
Leo reached out.
His hand closed around it.
And every beast in the Vault howled.