A few minutes before Frank took the book he wanted from the shelf, the security team monitoring the castle routinely watched the cameras spread across its labyrinthine halls. However, they were shocked to see an unauthorized soul being this close to the vaults, a place heavily guarded and rarely approached without clearance. At first, the cameras only managed to capture a blurry image of Frank since he quickly drifted from one tile to the next, never settling long enough for a clear shot. Yet as they continued watching, the officials realized the intruder was indeed unauthorized when the trap in front of the third vault snapped shut around him. The lead security official could not believe what happened next, because he saw clearly the soul being struggling to drift out of the trap with no avail. What followed was even more shocking—he had never witnessed any soul being rise to their feet and walk out of the trap, defying every expectation of their advanced defense system.
Seeing this forced the security official to act in two decisive ways. First, he called upon all the other officials nearby using a device similar to a walkie‑talkie, urgently instructing them to close in on the intruder who had breached the third vault. Next, he began reasoning about the bizarre action the soul being had just performed. It was strange—unnerving even—that someone could reach the vault undetected by their top‑notch surveillance system, bypassing layers of magical wards and mechanical safeguards. One thing was certain: this intruder was no ordinary being. With that realization burning in his mind, he ordered the nearby soul beings to hasten their approach and changed the directive from "observe before open fire" to the chilling command: "shoot to kill."
***
Meanwhile, the intruder himself—Frank—stood frozen in shock before the compartment that had just opened. He had always suspected the castle contained mechanisms like secret rooms and trap doors, but never imagined he would witness one firsthand. Even more astonishing was what lay only a few meters ahead: gallons and containers of life energy, the very treasure he had scoured the entire castle to find. His excitement surged uncontrollably as he debated whether to abandon the useless luxury items he had painstakingly gathered and instead seize as much life energy as possible from the newly revealed chamber.
Yet as Frank's thoughts raced, his mind drifted back to the strangeness of the moment—the compartment had opened unexpectedly, almost as if triggered by something beyond his control. Adjusting his vision, he stopped focusing on the riches beyond the door and instead studied the mechanism itself. His eyes settled on the bookshelves, which had shifted to reveal a space that hadn't existed moments before, and a door that should never have been part of the vault's flawless design. More unsettling still was the figure just beyond it: an absentminded soul being clutching a device, scrolling and clicking without looking where he was going, wandering forward as if oblivious to the danger around him.
At first, Frank dismissed it as coincidence, assuming he had stumbled upon a mechanism that opened the secret room. But his brain struggled to process the cascade of revelations—the existence of a hidden chamber, the fact that the fourth vault was not empty, the sudden proximity of the life energy he had long desired, and the presence of a soul being walking straight toward him. Only belatedly did it dawn on him that the figure was not a fellow intruder but someone who belonged here, a guardian of the vaults. By the time realization struck, it was already too late. The absentminded soul being finally looked up from his device, eyes locking on the unknown figure before him, and in that instant both stood frozen, each trying to comprehend how the other had arrived here—and what should happen next.
***
Ralph was the soul being who had absentmindedly opened the door of the fourth vault. He drifted forward, eyes glued to the device in his hand, clicking away as he tried to sort resources—separating those already catalogued from those still unsorted—while calculating how much remained in the inventories of the other vaults. The work was tedious, and his mind wandered as he moved, expecting nothing unusual. But when he unconsciously looked up from the device, his gaze fell upon the intruder before him, and he froze. Perturbed, his thoughts shifted from numbers and inventories to questions: Who was this soul being? Why was he here? How had he gotten this far, and what did his presence mean?
The figure before him did not appear threatening at first glance. Clad in a miner's gear and clutching a pickaxe, the intruder looked more like a worker than a trespasser. Ralph's face softened, and he prepared to ask what the supposed miner was doing so far from the vault. He braced himself, absentmindedly beginning:
[What are you doing…]
But he never finished the question. A flurry of events erupted before him, cutting his words short.
***
As Ralph attempted to speak, a gang of security officers surged forward with momentum, rushing toward the third vault. By then, however, the intruder was already in motion. Frank accelerated with uncanny speed, crashing headfirst from the entrance of the fourth vault straight into a massive vat of green life‑energy storage, the very heart of the chamber's reserves. The impact drew every eye in the room. Servants and officials turned, their faces shifting through a storm of emotions—confusion, panic, disbelief, and raw fear—as they watched the chaos unfold before them.
Frank's body became a violent spectacle of transformation. On one side, green liquid spilled and vaporized into turquoise gas, shimmering like a living aura of rebirth. On the other, red liquid spurted from within him, oxidizing into black gas, while sharp crimson light flared like a dying lightning bolt. His blank eyes, ashen expression, and burnt cheek painted a haunting image. A strange wind lifted his clothes, and dark green liquid drooled from his mouth as the vault's energy surged through him.
Yet amid the agony, exhilaration coursed through his veins. The life energy healed his wounds even as pain wracked his body, knitting flesh before damage could spread. He was suffering, but he was also being remade. One thing was undeniable: Frank was not merely surviving—he was being reborn, reshaped by forces far beyond mortal comprehension, and every soul being present knew they were witnessing something extraordinary and terrifying.