Chapter 11: The Vault of the First Accord

BUTTERFLY CASCADE — CHAPTER 11 BRIEF

State entering Ch11:
- Mira and Dorian are at or near the Original Breach Site.
- Ministry army converging — 12-hour window.
- The Starfall Drift is at critical threshold: if not sealed in the next 24 hours, it becomes irreversible.
- The permanent mana-bond is their key: only the combined Solas/Vasquez mana signature (Grey) can seal the Original Breach.
- Malchor is using the Soul-Tether back-door to track them.

CHAPTER 11 BEATS:
1. ARRIVAL: The Original Breach Site is the ruins of the First Accord Vault — where the original Solas Architects made their disastrous choice. The air itself is wrong here: time moves strangely.
2. ECHO OF THE PAST: A vision — the exact moment 300 years ago when the Solas Architect chose power over stability. Dorian experiences it through the Grey bond. He sees his ancestor's face in a mirror — it looks like him.
3. THE WEIGHT: Dorian almost breaks — the guilt is literal and physical here at ground zero. Mira pulls him back using the bond. "You are not him. You chose differently. You chose ME."
4. THE SEALING RITUAL: They attempt to seal the Breach using the Grey. It requires sustained simultaneous output from both of them — exhausting, dangerous, possibly fatal if they lose sync.
5. MALCHOR ARRIVES: Just as the ritual begins. He activates the Severance Key AGAIN — this time it partially works. The bond wavers. The ritual nearly collapses.
6. CLOSING HOOK: Mid-ritual, at the worst possible moment, Mira realizes the Soul-Tether back-door isn't just a tracking device — it's a KILL SWITCH. If Malchor activates it fully, it will sever the bond and kill them both. She tells Dorian. They have to complete the sealing ritual before he triggers it.

TONE: High stakes, emotional, mythic. The weight of generations.