The vault was silent.
Not the kind of silence that comes from emptiness, but a weight in the air—a silence so thick it pressed against their skin, heavy and unnatural.
Budi didn't move. Didn't blink.
Neither did the mask sitting on the pedestal.
Hikaru felt his instincts screaming at him. Not in fear, not in warning, but in something worse—curiosity. He had seen a lot of things since coming to this world, but this? This was different.
The mask was waiting.
Selene was the first to break the silence. "Budi."
Her voice was sharp, but Budi didn't answer.
Hikaru's eyes flicked to his friend. The way Budi stood—rigid, tense, like he was being pulled toward it but resisting. His usual sarcasm, his usual casual ease? Gone.
Hikaru took a slow step forward. "Budi, buddy. You good?"
Budi finally spoke, his voice lower than usual. "…I've seen this before."
Hikaru blinked. "Oh. That's bad."
Selene's silver eyes narrowed. "Where?"
Budi exhaled. "In my dreams."
Yeah. That was definitely bad.
Hikaru sighed, rubbing his temple. "Budi. I say this as a concerned friend. If you've been dreaming about ancient eldritch masks, that is something you should have mentioned."
Budi finally turned his head, giving him a flat look. "Oh, sorry, Hikaru, I forgot to bring up my mild night terrors about cursed artifacts. My bad."
Selene stepped forward cautiously, her magic humming at her fingertips. "This isn't just a mask, is it?"
Hikaru adjusted his glasses, flicking a card between his fingers. "Nope."
Aldric's voice cut through the vault. "Step away from it."
The knight had finally broken through the rubble behind them, his greatsword gleaming in the dim light. His expression was unreadable.
Budi didn't move. "Why?"
Aldric's steel-gray eyes didn't leave the mask. "Because that is not something you can simply wear."
Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Well, it is a mask. I feel like wearing it is kind of the point."
Aldric's voice was flat. "That is not a mask."
Selene frowned. "Then what is it?"
Aldric exhaled. "A fragment."
The room grew colder.
Hikaru tilted his head. "A fragment of what?"
Aldric's grip on his sword tightened. "A Forgotten One."
Budi finally turned away from the mask. His breathing was controlled, but Hikaru knew him too well.
That was the look of someone who knew something they shouldn't.
Hikaru exhaled. "Alright. Gonna need some elaboration here."
Aldric didn't answer immediately. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, careful.
"The Forgotten Ones were never supposed to leave anything behind."
Selene folded her arms. "And yet, here we are."
Hikaru flicked a card between his fingers. "I'm guessing this isn't just some cool antique, then?"
Aldric's jaw tightened. "That mask is a piece of something that should not exist. It is not an artifact. It is not a weapon."
His gaze shifted toward Budi.
"It is alive."
Budi flinched.
Hikaru's smirk finally wavered. "Ah."
That wasn't what he wanted to hear.
Budi exhaled, shaking his head. "No. That's not right."
Aldric's voice remained steady. "It is."
Budi stepped forward. "If it's a Forgotten One, why does it know me?"
Aldric didn't answer.
Budi didn't back down. "I've seen this mask before. I've felt it before. It's been in my dreams since we got here. And I don't know why."
Selene's silver eyes flickered. "That's… not normal."
Hikaru sighed. "Nothing about this world is normal."
Budi's fingers twitched. "If it's calling to me, there has to be a reason."
Aldric's voice was sharp. "That is exactly why you shouldn't touch it."
Hikaru finally exhaled. "Okay, okay. Everyone take a deep breath. Nobody is touching the cursed nightmare mask—"
Then the mask moved.
Not much.
Not obviously.
Just a slight shift, a faint pull.
But Budi felt it.
Hikaru saw the exact moment something changed. Budi's mask—the one he was already wearing—reacted.
A sharp pulse of energy rippled through the room.
Budi winced. "Tch—"
The ancient mask pulsed back.
Selene stepped back. "What's happening?"
Aldric's sword was already drawn. "It's recognizing him."
Hikaru gritted his teeth. "Budi. You might want to—"
But it was too late.
The mask leaped from the pedestal.
Straight toward Budi.
Budi instinctively raised his hand, and the moment the two masks connected—
The world shattered.
Not physically. Not magically.
Perception itself broke.
Hikaru wasn't standing in the vault anymore.
One second, he was staring at Budi—
The next, he was somewhere else.
The sky above was endless, dark, shifting.
The ground beneath him was not ground.
It was nothingness.
And in the middle of it all—
Budi stood there, alone.
But he wasn't alone.
Hikaru saw them.
Figures. Shadows. Reflections.
Masks, countless masks, floating in the air like whispers of something long forgotten.
And in the center of it all—
The mask.
No longer just a thing.
No longer just a fragment.
A presence.
A voice.
"Ah... you finally remember."
Budi froze.
Hikaru tried to move, tried to reach out, but the world wasn't listening to him anymore.
The shadows shifted.
The voices whispered.
And Hikaru realized something very, very bad.
They weren't in the real world anymore.
They were inside the mask.
And something else was waiting for them.