Part 1
Viewpoint: Yuna
The next day, I returned to the library.
I stopped in front of the entrance, observing the stone building, as massive as ever, silent and cold as a tomb.
A shiver ran down my spine.
Was it really worth it? Was I making a mistake?
I huffed, gathered my courage and pushed open the door.
The woman at the entrance - the one with the bun pulled back to a rope. I nodded at her, not slowing my pace, and headed for the same room as the day before.
At the far end, behind the table we were at, were stairs leading down to the lower floor. Access was normally reserved for staff.
The famous archive room.
I activated my clairvoyance.
A figure. A presence. It was there.
Its dense aura swept through me again, oppressive, thick.
I froze.
Did I really have to go? Was it dangerous? What was I risking?
Drops of sweat trickled down my forehead. My breath quickened.
Then his voice came from the bottom of the stairs.
- What are you waiting for, Miss Mizuki?
She'd said the words with a smile in her voice. A mocking smile. A smile that knew...
No choice.
I had to get off.
One by one, I climbed the steps, slowly, silently. With each step, she revealed herself a little more: an old woman sitting perfectly upright, as if she'd been waiting for me for hours.
Her eyes sparkled, and that grin... always stuck to her face.
The air was heavy. My breathing was labored.
I had no idea what I'd find down there. But I was scared.
And I was curious.
She got up without saying a word, walked over to a shelf I'd never noticed before, and pulled out a book. Then she slowly walked around the table and pointed to a chair.
- Sit down," she said.
The space looked like a room forgotten by time. A low table, shelves full of nameless grimoires, a blackboard on which symbols had been traced in white chalk, some of which I recognized. And in the center of the table, a small black lantern cast a dim light.
She placed her gnarled fingers on the wood and stared at me.
- You've already figured out that I'm like you," she said. Carrier of an element.
I opened my mouth. I was ready to propose a deal: exchange my information for hers, establish a bond of trust... or at least a basis for dialogue. But she cut me off.
- Everything you know, I already know," she said with that distorted smile that seemed to want to swallow the words before they left my mouth.
I froze. How... how had she known what I was going to say?
- I'll explain it to you later," she added, as if she'd read my mind. For now, just listen to what I have to say.
She leaned back in her chair, staring into space for a moment.
- When I was your age, I was between life and death, in a hospital bed. I had an incurable disease. I thought it was the end. Then I saw a flash of white. I thought I was dead," she laughs. But no... that's when it appeared to me.
She smiles. A much wider smile this time.
- Onizuké," she said.
That name.
I frowned.
No... No, Leo had told me that the entity was called Onizuké. With an e, but he was wrong. Only Léo calls it that, I'm sure. She couldn't have known. Unless... his power...
- I see," she said abruptly. I see futures. Fragments. Branches. Sometimes they contradict each other, sometimes they fade away. Nothing is certain. But everything is possible.
- Like... foresight?" I murmured.
She shook her head.
- She shook her head. Foresight is a limited thread. Me, I see the whole tree. And sometimes... it burns.
There was a heavy silence.
- You mean... danger is approaching?
She closed her eyes. A long breath escaped her wrinkled lips. Her tone was serious.
- The gods. The ones you call Onizuki and the others. They haven't come to help us. They want to take over this world. Or erase it. I haven't yet seen which. But the signs are there!
I felt my stomach knot.
It was absurd. It was delirious.
But... that aura, that feeling she gave off...
She continued, lower:
- You must be discreet, Yuna. You can't tell your friends. Not yet. Not until you understand what you really are.
She suddenly grabbed my hand, her fingers dry as paper.
- Maybe they're not ready to hear.
I was petrified. I didn't know whether to run away... or listen to her.
Then, in a calmer voice, she added:
- Let me tell you the story of the bracelets. The first texts we tried to erase from history. The Relics.
She opened a page and began to read in a low voice:
🪶 The Relics of the Invisible
When heaven was still young, there came a day when the gods sealed a fragment of their will in five scepters, each adorned with an obsidian bracelet.
Four were entrusted to the first men:
Geb for earth, Tefnut for water, Shu for air, and Sekhmet for fire.
But the fifth... no one wanted to take it on.
For this fifth scepter was the oldest, born of the Void, forged before the first dawn.
Its breath was clear, and its shadow bore forgotten faces.
Then a child was chosen. He was named Rê-Déroutené.
He wore the Inverted Eye on his forehead, and walked with a scepter raised to the sky. This gesture alone made the temples tremble.
He was both call and refusal, light and silence.
He became the king of Men, their representative to the gods.
What happened next... no one knows. Even the elders are silent.
The scepters fell, one by one.
Some say they were corrupted by their own power and rebelled against the gods.
Others say, on the contrary, that they stood up to protect mankind, when the gods, in their pride, wanted to annihilate everything.
The only certainty is that the gods stopped interfering in human affairs.
And little by little, they fell into oblivion.
Ra was the last to fall.
He possessed the most terrible of gifts:
The ability to copy all others, to reproduce them... or to erase them.
Feared even by his own people, he used his last strength to forge bracelets linked to the four primordial elements.
He created other elements, born of emotions, abstractions or the rupture of the world.
Whether this was a final plan of attack against the gods... or an act of defense in anticipation of their return, no one knows.
Perhaps neither.
She finished reading.
A strange silence fell. Not a sound. Even the lantern seemed to flicker more slowly, as if time itself were holding its breath.
I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. Not from fear, not really. More because of this... dizziness.
This story - it couldn't be just a story. Not with the way she'd read it. Not with that voice.
I couldn't speak.
She looked at me, waiting for a reaction. But I didn't even know where to start.
- Is this text true?" I asked at last, my voice more fragile than I would have liked.
She gave a hoarse chuckle.
- Is it true? Hahaha... Little girl, at your level, you're asking the wrong question. Don't ask if it's true. Ask yourself: what if it is?
My mind was whirling.
Rê-Déroutené. The five scepters. The gods who would have wiped out mankind. The power to copy... and erase gifts.
And this fifth scepter... born of the Void.
Is that where our powers come from?
And Onizuki... who is he in all this? A god? A survivor? Something else?
What are we, after all? Chosen ones? Mistakes? Pieces in an ancient war beyond us?
A cold sweat ran down my back. And yet... I was fascinated.
My curious nature led me to believe Madame Anyathel.
The bracelets couldn't be mere artifacts. They had a past. A price. An origin no one dared name.
- Why are you telling me this?" I murmured, my throat closing.
She leaned forward slightly, her face distorted by the dancing shadows of the lantern.
- Because you're not just a carrier. You're a key, Yuna. A piece I'd rather have with me... than against me.
I stepped back, almost in spite of myself.
She raised a hand, palm up to me, in a soothing gesture.
- Don't be so nervous. I mean you no harm. Not today, anyway. But the simple days... will soon disappear. So listen. Learn. And above all... keep silent.
I nodded slowly. Not because I trusted her.
But because she'd already won something. A piece of my attention. Maybe more.
Part 2
Leo's point of view
It had been a week since Yuna had spent all her time at the librarian's house. She'd been coming to training sessions less and less, and it had now been two days since I'd seen her at all.
I had this strange feeling that she was avoiding me and Naël. As if she were gradually withdrawing.
At the end of the afternoon, I decided to go over to her place. Just to check on her.
It's a large, warmly-colored suburban residence, with a gray-black gate we've all passed a million times. It was open.
His brothers and sisters were running all over the playground. The one we used to spend our days in.
Arthur, the youngest, was running with a ball at his feet and ran straight at me without slowing down.
- Hi Leo! Come and play soccer with us!
- Sorry, not today. I'm looking for Yuna.
He shrugged as if it was no surprise.
- She's not here, not out yet.
I already knew where she was. I sighed and turned around, heading for the library.
- Say hello to your mother for me!
I'd just stepped out of the gate when I saw her. There she was, Yuna.
Standing, frozen, as if hesitating whether to come or go. She held a book in one hand, her notebook in the other. The one she used for training.
One detail jumped out at me.
She only took out the notebook to work seriously on our powers. And she only worked seriously with us. So why keep it if she spent her days with Anyathel?
There was no doubt about it.
The old woman is a carrier of elements.
I thought back to what Onizuké had said:
"Carriers always end up crossing paths. If you accept this power, others will come to you. Some as allies... others as adversaries."
Whose side was she on, this librarian? And Yuna... did she know?
- Hi Yuna, how are you?
I smiled, genuinely happy to see her again. Even if I wasn't serene.
She avoided my gaze. She mumbled something I didn't understand, then huffed:
- What are you doing here, Léo?
She didn't look well. Not sad, not angry. Just elsewhere. As if my presence bothered her.
- Long time no see. So I thought I'd drop by.
How's your search going with Mrs. Anyathel?
She nodded, slowly.
- Yes, a little. She knows a lot about aether. It's... interesting.
Her voice was calm, but not quite natural. As if she were reciting an answer she'd already rehearsed many times, in her head or in front of a mirror.
- And... it helps you progress?
A short silence. Then she shrugged.
- It's not really like training with you. It's a bit different. More... theoretical.
I held back a sigh.
With us, she was running, testing, sweating.
Here, she was reading books and locked up with an old woman we knew almost nothing about, only that she was strange, even crazy, when we were kids.
- Are you planning to come back and train with us?
Naël is starting to worry too.
She finally turns her eyes to me. Just for a second.
- I know... I'm sorry. It's just... I need to figure some things out first.
I didn't push. I didn't want to upset her.
- It's okay. If you need us, we're here.
She remained silent. But her fingers tightened on her notebook.
I glanced at the book she was holding. The cover was worn, with no apparent title. One of those old books you can only find in the back of a library.
She noticed it and immediately brought it against her.
- It's... just aetheric flow theory. No big deal.
Clumsy lie. Or half-truth.
Yuna used to hide nothing from me. Now, she was selective about what she wanted to say.
It was as if she were protecting me from something I didn't yet understand.
I put my hands in my pockets.
- Well... I'm going to go. Let me know when you want to come back to practice. Or just... chat.
She nodded. But without answering.
I left, my stomach in a knot.
I headed for Nael's to explain the situation, my concerns...
I froze for half a second. Then I resumed my walk.
Mrs Anyathel wasn't a danger. Not directly.
At least, I hoped not.
And if Yuna trusted her, it must have been all right.
But even so, I continued to worry about her.
Maybe because she'd changed. Maybe because she was drifting away.
Or simply because I cared about her.