A sudden, echoing vibration resonated through the stone floorboards. The deep rumble rattled the dust from the ruined portraits along the walls. The glowing golden runes on the giant black doors flared brightly for a fraction of a second before dimming back to their normal state.

Zoro instantly ignited a bright crimson fireball in his right palm. The sudden light cast dancing shadows across the gallery. "Did either of you step on a hidden switch?"

Miro directed her shadow panther to sniff the base of the gate. The beast hissed and quickly retreated from the dark metal. "I have not touched anything since we entered."

Vlad kept his posture completely relaxed. He simply rested his silver blade over his shoulder and watched the dark metal with an expectant gaze. "The ruins are simply shifting. Ancient architecture tends to fall apart over the centuries."

A sudden screech of grinding stone and snapping iron interrupted the mage before he could respond.

The leftmost golden rune on the giant black doors fractured into pieces and dissolved into a shower of glowing sparks. A loud metallic clank rang out as the first internal locking mechanism disengaged entirely on its own.

Zoro frowned at the royal. "A magically sealed vault door does not casually unlock itself because of old age. Someone or something is actively triggering this sequence from the outside." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"We just need to wait." Vlad leaned against a nearby stone pillar. "The core of the corruption is located behind these gates, and the path is opening for us."

They left the doors alone and inspected the chamber to search for anything that could have triggered something.

A few minutes passed in complete silence before another mechanical groan tore through the gallery.

The gears beneath the cobblestones shrieked against each other. The rightmost golden rune fractured into dust, triggering a secondary lock to disengage. The twin iron slabs shuddered and shifted inward by a fraction of an inch.

Miro immediately summoned an armored bear to act as a living barricade. An unnatural chill washed out from the slight opening in the vault, instantly freezing the loose dirt particles around their boots.

Zoro fed more mana into his fireball, turning the crimson flames white-hot. "That is definitely not a structural collapse. The mechanisms are tethered to an external sequence. We should investigate the perimeter and find the source."

"Hold your position," Vlad commanded. He checked the edge of his silver blade and casually inspected his gauntlets. "Wandering blindly through an unexplored area is a foolish decision. The target is presenting itself to us right here."

Zoro extinguished his flames and drew a specialized combat wand from his cloak. "You are acting incredibly nonchalant about a ghost opening a boss room for us. Do you actually know what is happening?"

"I know that patience is a virtue." Vlad stepped directly in front of the slight opening. "Whatever crawls out of that gap dies immediately."

A fourth roar of scraping metal shook the foundation of the palace. The central golden rune split apart, dropping a shower of glowing dust onto the cobblestones. The twin iron doors groaned loudly against their ancient hinges. The black slabs parted by another fraction of an inch, revealing a pitch-black gap.

Miro commanded her armored bear to step closer to the opening. The creature stood directly in front of the gap to act as a living shield.

Zoro gripped his wand tightly. "The front door is almost wide open. Whatever is inside must be trying to break out."

Vlad raised his silver blade and stood beside the mage. "We hold our position. The final locking mechanism is currently grinding."

A final screech of metal echoed from the depths of the palace ruins. The sound reverberated through the stone floorboards.

The last golden rune on the towering black doors disintegrated into dust. The final locking mechanism disengaged completely. The twin iron slabs groaned one last time and pushed entirely open.

Zoro ignited both of his hands with blinding crimson fire. Miro commanded her armored bear to step forward. Vlad gripped his silver sword tightly and peered into the pitch-black chamber. The supposed source of the anomaly lay hidden in the darkness right in front of them.

The twin iron slabs ground to a halt, leaving the illuminated gallery completely devoid of any ambush.

They waited a few seconds, but nothing happened.

Vlad lowered his silver sword and rested the blade against his shoulder. His face remained entirely blank, treating the screeching metal and shifting architecture as an ordinary occurrence. He fully expected the doors to operate exactly like this.

Pure blackness filled the space beyond the doorway. The bright light from the hallway illuminated the cobblestones right up to the entryway and completely failed to penetrate a single inch into the vault.

Zoro ignited a sphere of crimson fire in his palm to test the boundary. He pulled his arm back and hurled the projectile directly into the center of the darkness.

The blazing sphere crossed the stone archway and instantly vanished. The flames winked out of existence without illuminating a single piece of architecture.

’That defies basic physics,’ Zoro thought, stepping closer to the boundary. He kept his hands carefully away from the edge. "It looks exactly like a dimensional tear. A portal leading somewhere else entirely."

Miro pointed at the empty space. "Maybe the dimensional archaeologists never actually recovered this specific fragment of the palace. The missing rendering easily explains the blackout."

Vlad adjusted his grip on his hilt and walked straight toward the entrance. "There is already one way to find out."

The royal swordsman stepped forward and walked directly through the doorway. His golden hair and silver armor disappeared instantly into the blackness.

Zoro and Miro exchanged a quick glance before following him past the stone frame. They fully expected to step into a hidden subterranean floor or a corrupted royal vault.

Instead, total darkness swallowed them entirely. Zoro brought his hand up to his face and saw absolutely nothing. He could not even perceive the outline of his own fingers or the combat wand clutched in his grip.

Miro bumped into his shoulder while her boots echoed faintly against an unseen floor.

Suddenly, a single drop of bright white light ignited in the extreme distance. The glowing speck flickered like a dying star isolated in the void. While the illumination initially appeared close by, the true distance quickly became apparent.

The light originated from a location thousands of miles away. No physical chamber beneath the ruins could possibly contain that amount of empty space.

"Get out right now!" Vlad roared from somewhere in the dark.

Zoro spun around on his heels and dove back toward the entrance to escape. He reached his hands out to grab the stone frame of the archway. His fingers grasped at empty space.

The glowing doorway to the cavernous gallery was completely gone. They were entirely surrounded by nothing but pitch-black emptiness.