The room was silent. Vast. Dim.
Not sterile like the labs. Not ceremonial like the panels. Just... withheld.
It felt like a chamber forgotten by design.
Unlike the rest of Avalon's polished architecture—glass composites, kinetic walls, light-responsive alloy—this place felt grounded. Heavy. As if it had been built, not assembled. The air held weight, not just from altitude, but from age.
The floor wasn't reflective. It was matte. Stone? No—some denser alloy meant to mimic stone. The walls bore no glyphs, no scrolling code, no responsive panels. Just brushed surfaces, layered with intention, not interface.
It was still elite. Still pristine. But not for show.
There were no screens. No ambient data fields. No soft ONYX glow. This wasn't a place designed to impress.
It was a place designed to remain.
There was no motion in the space, except for the whisper of recycled air and the faint hum of something buried deeper still.
Aiden stood still. Listening. Not for footsteps. But for answers that didn't arrive in sound.
This room wasn't waiting for him.
It had been waiting for someone like him.
At its center, something stood—something Aiden had only ever heard in whispers: a single obsidian ring, taller than him, anchored by no visible mechanism. No control panel. No light display. No signal. And yet—
He knew what it was.
Legacy Circuit.
The sovereign students never spoke of it directly, but the rumors drifted through the gaps between Prestige ranks and security tiers. A hidden transit system. Private. Untraceable. Not connected to the visible network of Gravity Loop Rings used across Avalon.
This wasn't transport.
It was permission—granted not by rank, but by resonance.
The system didn't move for credentials.
It moved for belief.
Even among Avalon's elite, access to these transport pads wasn't guaranteed. Being Sovereign was merely the first requirement. The system didn't respond to status—it responded to alignment. If you weren't meant to reach the destination, you wouldn't. The pod wouldn't move. The entrance wouldn't open. Nothing would happen.
Aiden stepped toward the ring.
It didn't scan him. It didn't flash. It didn't reject.
It simply responded.
There was a pause—quiet, deliberate. Then a single, neutral voice echoed into the air around him.
System message:
Sovereign route validated. Sublevel Zero authorized. Initiating descent to Core Nexus.
The ring pulsed once. A faint shimmer traced its edge, like condensation on air.
The capsule formed within the loop. No doors. No panels. Just a slight pull—subtle but certain—drawing him forward.
Aiden stepped in. No pause. No hesitation.
He didn't flinch. Didn't check for exits. Didn't think about coming back.
YOU ARE READING
Valmont Series - Inheritance Code
Teen FictionWhat if your perfect life was just a rehearsal? On their twelfth birthday, Aria and Aiden Lancaster wake expecting luxury, freedom, and the future they were promised. Instead, they're given an ultimatum: Leave everything behind - their friends, thei...
