The storm hit at dusk - sharp wind, needling rain, no shelter in sight but the hollow of a half-collapsed ruin. They huddled under it, damp and tired, sharing silence and dry rations. Until Kael asked the question none of them had dared voice aloud.
"How did you know how to read that script on the library wall?"
Lyra looked up too fast.
"I didn't," she said.
Eren frowned. "You read the spell's trigger glyph. Perfectly. Even I couldn't—"
"I guessed."
"No, you didn't."
Miri's voice was soft. Not accusing. But the kind of soft that says: Don't lie to us.
For a moment, Lyra said nothing. The wind howled through the stones like a voice remembering itself. Then, slowly, Lyra pulled something from the inside of her coat - a worn sigil carved into silver.
The crest of the royal house.
Kael stood immediately. Miri reached for her pack.
"Put it away," Lyra said. "I'm not one of them."
"But you were," Eren said quietly.
She nodded. "My father was Captain of the Guard. I grew up in the palace. I knew the halls, the libraries, the codes. I saw what the king did to the mages. To the Spellbound. I ran away when I was sixteen."
Kael's voice was cold. "How many of us did your family put in chains?"
Lyra didn't flinch. "Too many."
"And now you want us to trust you?"
"No," she said. "I want you to know. Because if you don't, and someone else finds out first… it could kill us all."
The silence that followed was longer than the storm.
Trust had been fragile before. Now, it was cracked and bleeding. Eren looked at her, not with anger, but something heavier - disappointment.
"Why now?" he asked.
"Because sooner or later, secrets get louder than silence."
And for the first time since they met her, Lyra looked scared. Not of them.
Of herself.
——-
They didn't mean to open it.
The chamber had been sealed behind layers of ancient wards and riddles - some already broken, some weakened over time. But it was Eren's touch, his uncertain magic pulsing with something older than the library itself, that made the last glyph crumble.
The stone wall didn't rumble or crack. It breathed open - like it had been waiting for someone.
A long, narrow stairway spiraled down into blackness.
"No one said anything about a second level," Miri whispered, staring into the dark.
Lyra's face had gone pale. "This wasn't on the map."
"That's because it wasn't meant to be found," Kael said. He reached for his sword. "That's always how the worst things start - with doors that were never supposed to open."
Eren stood at the edge, the weight of the air pressing against his skin. Cold. Heavy. Familiar in a way that made his bones ache.
"I think it's calling me."
"No," Miri said instantly. "Not alone."
Kael nodded. "We go together. Or not at all."
They lit torches, one by one, until the flicker of flame danced along the spiral.
The first step groaned like a warning.
And then they descended.
They didn't notice the door seal shut behind them.
They didn't hear the whisper on the stone that followed:
"Welcome back."
———
The chamber wasn't made of stone. Not entirely.
It felt alive — pulsing gently, like the hollow ribs of a sleeping beast. As they moved deeper, the walls shimmered with threads of gold and ash, like veins carrying magic itself. In the center stood a pedestal, cracked and weathered, and on it sat the last thing Eren expected:
His mother's necklace.
"It can't be," he breathed, reaching out - but Miri stopped him.
"Wait. Look."
On the wall behind the pedestal, writing flared to life. Not carved, but burning - steady, silent flame that didn't consume.
Lyra read it aloud, slowly. "The heir returns not to rule, but to choose. One path saves the kingdom. The other… burns it to ash."
Eren's chest tightened. "That necklace… it was my mother's. She said it was older than our bloodline."
Miri's voice was hushed. "It's not just a keepsake. It's a key."
Kael circled the room warily. "A prophecy, hidden beneath a forgotten library, tied to a boy born with forbidden magic… This isn't fate. It's design."
Eren stared at the flames. The words still burned.
He didn't feel chosen.
He felt trapped.
Lyra placed a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever this is - we face it together. But you need to decide what kind of heir you want to be."
Eren didn't speak. Not yet.
Because deep inside, something had started to stir.
And it wasn't finished waking.
——-
The night was heavy with silence, broken only by the crackle of their small campfire. The group had barely settled when a shadow moved - swift, silent, and deadly.
Kael was the first to notice. A whisper of movement behind the trees. His hand went to his sword, but before he could draw, a blade flashed in the moonlight.
The strike was precise - a clean slash across his side. Kael stumbled, pain exploding through his ribs, the firelight catching the cruel glint of the assassin's dagger.
"Kael!" Eren shouted, rushing forward, heart pounding. Miri was already kneeling, pressing her hands against the wound, murmuring soothing words. But the blood kept seeping, a dark stain spreading across his tunic.
The assassin vanished as quickly as they'd come, leaving only a chilling promise in the air: they would come back.
Lyra's eyes burned with fury and fear. "They're closer than we thought. We can't afford mistakes."
Kael's breath was ragged, but his gaze stayed steady. "Then we fight smarter. Not just for survival… but for each other."
Eren clenched his fists. The cost of their journey was no longer distant - it was bleeding right before them. And the darkness hunting them wasn't just a shadow anymore. It was a threat that cut deeper than any blade.
*
The fire had barely died down when Miri pulled Eren aside, her voice low and urgent.
"There's more at play than just the king's soldiers," she said, eyes flickering with unease. "I heard rumors in the village before it fell - whispers of a traitor. Someone high up, feeding information to the crown."
Eren frowned, heart tightening. "Who?"
She shook her head, voice barely above a breath. "No name, just shadows and secrets. But it means our path is even more dangerous. We can't trust anyone - not even those we thought allies."
Lyra appeared beside them, arms crossed, her usual smirk gone. "That explains a lot. How else did the soldiers find us so fast, every time?"
Kael grimaced, wincing from his wound. "We're being hunted from inside and out. If we don't find the traitor, this fight might already be lost."
Eren swallowed hard. The weight of betrayal pressed down on him. The kingdom's greatest enemy wasn't just the crown - it was the invisible hand tearing them apart from within.
"Then we find them first," Eren said, voice steady despite the storm swirling inside. "Before they destroy us all."
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