Update 4/19/2019: Runes are back, baby, and right in time for Fortnite Season 9. A floating, metallic object appeared near Paradise Palms today players quickly discovered they could damage it.
The mysterious object has massive health meter, and it's shared by all players simultaneously. Once players have done enough collective damage to the object, it lurches forward a few feet towards an unknown destination. Since the metallic architecture closely resembles the vault at Loot Lake, it's very likely they're connected.
Rune #1 is now in Paradise Palms! It moves everytime someone hits it. It currently has 15 million HP, but it loses 10 million HP every ~20 seconds. pic.twitter.com/Gv6SVjTXCDApril 19, 2019
The runic vessel is almost certainly heading to Loot Lake, likely the first key for the huge vault unearthed beneath the cube's final resting place. We'll keep an eye on the object throughout the day and update if any significant changes occur.
Original story: We're already closer to Fortnite Season 9 than the beginning of Season 8, which means it's time for Epic to rev up interest with another in-game event. While last season's volcano reveal was a bit of a gimme, Season 9 looks like it's returning to obtuse MacGuffin magic again, tugging on the classic purple cube mystery once more.
With the v8.40 update, a massive vault has been unearthed beneath Loot Lake, which also happens to be where the cube's remains were laid to rest after a transdimensional butterfly made it explode or something. I'm not sure what happened either, but I liked it.
Players are reporting a low, lurching noise at the sight, and low, lurching noises beneath massive vaults probably aren't a good omen.
At certain intervals, you can hear a sound from below Loot Lake. The timing at which the sound occurs is not yet clear, but according to @HYPEX to sound occurs approximately every 5 to 20 minutes.(via @HYPEX)pic.twitter.com/GYGwweM6REApril 17, 2019
Expect that sucker to open in the next couple weeks. But what could be inside? I'm suspecting cube activity, or some evil purple stuff to emerge at the very least. Maybe the dark cube energy has been chilling while the Ice King and Fire King duke it out, assuming a new form while the elements do their thing. Side note: what the hell is Fortnite lore?
Let's just hope nothing too wild happens during the Fortnite World Cup qualifiers. Short of the vault opening only to suck up all the ballers and lock again forever, I'm not sure pros want another in-game event to screw up their shot at a piece of the $100 prize pool.
We'll keep an eye on the vault and update if anything happens.
