They reached the crest of the final hill just as the pre-dawn glow began to bleed across the eastern sky. Below them lay the Archway of the Great Confluence, a breathtaking and terrifying monument to the Grand Archive's power.
It was not a gate like the simple Ironwood structure of Veridia, but a soaring cylinder of black obsidian, pulsating with an internal, cool blue light. This structure didn't merely control access; it was the mechanism that bent the laws of space, allowing passage to other, distant Realms. The entire area was dominated by a single, colossal Rune of Spatial Integrity, holding the Archway firm against the terrifying possibility of dimensional collapse.
Beside the Archway stood the Guardian Outpost—a tiered stone tower bristling with defensive scripts.
Elias's exhaustion evaporated, replaced by a cold, hard dread. His defect-sight showed the Archway as a beautiful, agonizing nexus of power. But what truly stole his breath was the defensive perimeter.
The Null-Rune Sweep, which Kaelin had predicted would happen every ninety seconds, was now an almost continuous, strobing menace. A visible wave of anti-Aetheric energy pulsed out from the Guardian Tower, cutting the environmental scripts down to dull grayness, then retreating, only to be immediately followed by another wave.
"Ten seconds," Elias choked out, pointing at the rapid pulse. "It's running every ten seconds. Not ninety. We can't rely on the Aetheric static now. It would just highlight us."
Kaelin scanned the rapid, brutal sweep of the Null-Rune with her naked eye, calculating the danger. "The Overseer knew what you did. A ten-second gap is designed to prevent all but the most powerful Librarians from using complex scripts. It's an executioner's pattern."
The plan for subtlety had been instantly murdered by the Overseer's quick thinking. They were left with one desperate, suicidal option.
"We have to use the Dimensional Phase Shift," Elias stated, retrieving the parchment bearing the Rune of Conceptual Irrelevance and the complex Volume Exchange scripts. "I can't sustain the script for more than a second or two, and I need a two-second recharge between pulses. We have to step through non-existence, one pulse at a time."
Kaelin looked at the daunting complexity of the Archway, then back at the pale, young Scribe. "That Rune is designed to phase cargo out of reality, Elias. If we fail the re-integration script, we don't just fall; we get smeared across three different dimensions. If you falter, you lose your mass to the Zero-Vault forever."
"Then you must be my anchor," Elias said, his voice regaining its desperate focus. "The full script has three stages: Irrelevance, Exchange, and Return. I will handle the scripting. You handle the timing and the direction. I need you to physicalize the concept of safety in your mind. Focus on the location where we will reappear.
They dismounted and secured their horses behind a cluster of massive, Aether-absorbing rocks. Kaelin took point, her short-sword drawn and pulsing with a low-level Rune of Deflection—a simple, physical script that the Null-Rune wouldn't completely destroy.
The distance to the Archway entrance was a grueling forty yards across open ground.
The Guardian emerged from the tower, a hulking figure cloaked in gray ceremonial robes. This was not a mercenary; this was a high-ranking Archive functionary, possibly an Archivist Level Four. His protective gear was laced with high-grade Endurance Runes, and in his hand, he carried a scepter pulsing with the chilling energy of the Focus Null-Rune.
The Guardian stood right beneath the Archway, surveying the landscape with cool, professional malice. He didn't need to see them; he knew someone was coming due to the Overseer's warning.
"Ready, Kaelin," Elias whispered, his eyes locked onto the shifting, oppressive scripts of the Archway's perimeter.
Kaelin nodded, her expression grim. "First phase shift will be right after the Null-Rune passes. Three seconds to push the script. One second to exist. Two seconds to recover. Then back in."
Elias held his parchment, but he didn't draw. He ran the full sequence of the Dimensional Phase Shift in his mind, channeling his entire, exhausted Aether Ink reservoir into the conceptual flow.
Irrelevance, Exchange, Return.
The Null-Rune wave passed, washing the air with a brief, cold silence.
"Now!" Kaelin hissed, launching forward.
Elias pushed the Aether Ink, forcing the script into existence. He targeted the space around them, demanding that the Rune of Containment ignore their volume.
The world seemed to invert. The scripts of the Archway, the Guardian, and Kaelin's armor instantly vanished from his sight. He was floating in the Zero-Vault, a place of absolute conceptual emptiness. It wasn't dark; it was nothing. He could sense the raw, archived spatial data of every object in the Realm stored around him, humming with potential energy.
The effect lasted only a terrifying blink of an eye. The moment Kaelin's hand (which was locked on his wrist) surged with her physical intent, Elias forced the Return script.
With a dizzying lurch, reality slammed back into existence. They were five yards closer to the Archway, standing on solid ground, but Elias's head was spinning violently.
"Keep moving! The next one is coming!" Kaelin yelled, already running.
The sound of the oncoming Null-Rune wave was deafening in Elias's mind.