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The wind howled through the crumbling towers of Viremoor Keep.
A single torch flickered in the hallway, casting shadows that danced like ghosts.
Kaelen crouched behind a broken pillar, clutching the scroll he’d stolen.
“You shouldn’t be here,” whispered a voice from the dark.
He spun around, heart pounding.
A girl stepped into the light, her eyes glowing faintly blue.
“Who are you?” Kaelen asked.
“Someone who knows what that scroll really is.”
He glanced down at the parchment, its runes pulsing.
“It’s just a map,” he lied.
She smirked. “It’s a key.”
“To what?”
“To the Vault of Echoes.”
Kaelen had heard the legends.
A place where memories lived.
Where time bent.
Where truth could be rewritten.
“Why do you want it?” he asked.
“Because my brother is trapped inside.”
“That’s impossible.”
“So is surviving the Vault. But I intend to do both.”
Kaelen hesitated.
He’d come for treasure.
Not ghosts.
Not lost siblings.
But something in her voice made him stay.
“Fine,” he said. “We’ll go together.”
She nodded. “I’m Lira.”
“Kaelen.”
They shook hands, sealing a pact neither fully understood.
