Chapter 1: The Forbidden Text
The candlelight flickered as Lior carefully turned the brittle page. The ancient tome before him was unlike any he had ever seen—its cover woven with silver thread, its words inked in a language older than the kingdom of Vareth itself. He glanced over his shoulder. The Royal Archive was empty at this hour, but the silence felt unnatural, as though the shadows themselves were watching.
His hands trembled as he traced the symbols on the parchment. According to this forgotten scripture, the gods of Vareth had never walked the land, never blessed the royal bloodline. The entire foundation of the kingdom—its divine rulers, its sacred laws—was a carefully woven lie. The text spoke of a great deception, a spell cast centuries ago to shroud the truth from the world.
A soft creak echoed through the chamber. Lior froze. Was it just the old wood settling? Or had someone followed him? He quickly closed the book, stuffing it into the satchel at his side. He had to get out. If the High Scholars or, worse, the king’s enforcers discovered him with this forbidden knowledge, he would vanish like so many others before him.
Holding his breath, he extinguished the candle and slipped between the towering shelves. The night air was cold against his skin as he stepped into the moonlit corridor. Every instinct screamed at him to run, but he forced himself to walk, steady and silent, towards the servant’s passage.
Just as he reached the archway, a voice cut through the stillness.
“You were not supposed to find that.”
Lior spun around, his heart hammering in his chest. A hooded figure stood at the edge of the corridor, half-hidden in shadow. Though he could not see their face, he felt their gaze pierce through him.
“What… what do you mean?” Lior stammered, gripping his satchel.
The figure stepped forward. “That book holds the truth. A truth men have died to keep buried.”
Lior swallowed hard. He should run. He should call for the guards. But something in the stranger’s voice—calm, knowing—rooted him to the spot.
“If you value your life,” the figure continued, “come with me now. Before they realize what you’ve done.”
Lior hesitated only a moment longer. Then, clutching the satchel tighter, he followed the hooded figure into the unknown.
The tunnels beneath the palace were damp and filled with the scent of aged stone. The hooded figure moved swiftly, guiding Lior deeper into the labyrinth. Torchlight flickered on the walls, casting strange shadows that danced like silent specters. Lior’s mind raced. Who was this person? How had they known what he had discovered?
After what felt like an eternity, they emerged into a small chamber lined with bookshelves filled with tomes just like the one in Lior’s satchel. His eyes widened as he took in the sight—these were books long thought to be lost, manuscripts the scholars had claimed were destroyed in the Great Purge centuries ago.
A woman stepped forward from the shadows. She was tall, with piercing dark eyes and an air of authority.
“We’ve been expecting you, Lior,” she said.
Lior blinked. “Expecting me? How? I don’t even know who you are.”
The woman smiled. “We are the Keepers of the Unseen. And you, young scribe, have stumbled upon a truth that could bring the kingdom to its knees.”
Lior felt the weight of his discovery pressing down on him. He had thought himself alone in this revelation, but now, as he looked around the chamber filled with forbidden knowledge, he realized that the conspiracy ran far deeper than he had ever imagined.
“Sit,” the woman instructed, gesturing to a wooden bench near a long table covered in parchment and ink.
Lior hesitated but eventually complied, lowering himself onto the bench. The hooded figure who had led him here remained standing, their presence still a mystery to him.
“You must have many questions,” the woman continued, her voice measured. “And in time, you will have answers. But first, tell me—how did you find the book?”
Lior hesitated. He had no reason to trust these people, and yet, they had saved him from what could have been his death. “I work in the Royal Archive,” he admitted. “I came across a hidden compartment behind a shelf. The book was there, waiting. As if it wanted to be found.”
The woman exchanged glances with the hooded figure. “Fate has a way of guiding those who seek the truth,” she said. “But you must understand the danger you are in now. The king’s enforcers will not stop until the book is back in their hands—and you are silenced.”
A chill ran down Lior’s spine. He had known he was taking a risk, but he hadn’t fully grasped the gravity of the situation until now. “What do they fear?” he asked. “Why hide the truth?”
“Because the truth threatens everything they have built,” the woman said. “The royal bloodline is not divine. The gods never chose them. It is all an illusion, a grand deception maintained by powerful magic. If the people were to learn this, the monarchy would fall, and the kingdom would descend into chaos.”
Lior clenched his fists. He had been raised to believe in the gods’ divine will, in the sacred rule of the king. To learn it was all a lie—it made his blood boil. “Then we must tell the people,” he said. “They deserve to know.”
The woman shook her head. “It is not so simple. The magic that sustains this lie is woven into the very fabric of the kingdom. If it is shattered too suddenly, the consequences will be catastrophic.”
Lior’s mind swirled with possibilities, with questions, with fear. He had set out only to satisfy his curiosity, but now he found himself entangled in a secret war that had been waged in the shadows for generations. He had a choice to make—return to his old life and pretend he had never seen the book, or step further into the unknown and risk everything for the truth.
He looked up at the woman. “What do I have to do?”
Her smile was grim. “First, you must survive the night.”
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