The Vault
The Vault is a space that is distinct and on its own, reached by passing through a many-colored Veil Gate found only in the Pale or by going along with the call of The Voes, which always ends at the Vault. Beyond the Pale, and through the Veil, one will find the Vault, which is a vast emptiness without feature or form, and this is called The Void.
To enter the Vault, one must pass three Trials, and each Trial conducts a test, puts the subject through an Ordeal: the Trial Of Flesh, the Trial Of The Heart, and the Trial Of The Spirit. These tests are for worthiness, for the Vault contains The Void and in the heart of The Void lies The Source.
The Trial Of The Flesh is filled with pain and suffering, a physical force that can destroy or rebuild the traveler many times in the instant of crossing the Veil. It tears apart the physicality of the person. Every single moment of pain or pleasure that a person has felt physically is revisited in the crossing. It turns you inside out and reassembles you, so long as you are not still hung up on your passage through the Veil.
The Trial Of The Heart, measures and judges the Heart – the personality, history, emotions, and values of the traveler, a mind wrenching horror as all that one has done and has been given back in the form of a test. It tears apart the personality, memories, emotions, and heart of the person, forcing them to look at themselves and their history and their actions towards others. It reveals every lie, no matter how inconsequential, every regret, every moment of doubt, every glimpse of forgotten faith, and allows one to remember everything they have ever experienced in gruesome detail and ongoing consequence.
The Trial Of The Spirit measures and judges the Soul and the Spirit of the person, weighing them against a measure that only the Veil or the Void knows. It weighs and judges you on the terms you have set for yourself– every value and every sin you have ever held, discarded, admired, disavowed, all of them are tested against you, and the failure is unimaginably painful.
Many will turn back, if they are allowed, when facing the Triple Veil of the Vault, for failure will result in complete destruction in some way of the person or result in being trapped in The Void for eternity in whatever damaged form The Void chooses.
And The Void does not choose well.
The Void
Within the Vault is The Void itself, and here there is nothing. Time is all that one brings with oneself as you enter it, and it is a vast empty space, save for something that may or may not appear on entry, for the Void is the location of The Source. It should be noted there is no air in the Void, but there is also no life, no death, no real, no unreal. It is the Void, and it is a contradiction, and it is inhabited by those who failed the tests.
The Source
Now and again, you will hear about The Source, or The Well, and people will say things like Souls, and Magic, and Power. The Source is all those things. It wanders the Void, and it is known that all the Powers That Be have been to the Source at least once. The Source does not always appear to everyone who reaches the Void.
The Source sometimes appears to a person who survives the tests, and the form of it varies according to judgment of the Void. Typically, it has been seen as a small old turn crank well with a rickety bucket and a frayed rope, a fire that burns but consumes nothing, a brilliant light, or a bottomless darkness.
It is said that those who see The Well of Souls become tied to the world, those who see the Eternal Flame become tied to the planes, those who see the Light at The End, are given to the Celestial, and those who see The Deep Dark are given to the Infernal. How this happens remains a mystery, for those who have reached the Source and been changed do not speak of it, while those who have reached The Source and not been changed cannot say.
