Chapter 70. Vault of Ashes

The deepest scars remember what the light forgets.

“You’re going to open it.”

Harper’s voice was a command.

She hesitated at the threshold.

Lucien stood behind her, breath quiet, the base humming with dormant power.

Knox lingered at the edge—barely a shadow, solid as gravity.

The vault door gaped open—a monument of sponsor plaques, framed op-eds, ceremonial keys from decades of Ledger mythmaking. Beyond it lay a scene she had only glimpsed in her father’s private streams: a console, two safes, and a wall of data drives—organized like relics from a forgotten war.

Elira’s key glinted in her palm—cold and human.

She slid it into the lock. It turned with a click.

The inner vault was larger than she expected. Pale light glowed from beneath the console—like the tomb heard the heartbeat of the world above and chose to witness.

She stepped forward.

“These are operational backups,” Lucien said, pointing to tiered drives labele