The following morning arrived quietly over Valenor.
Golden sunlight spilled across the rooftops, reflecting from countless windows and turning the white stone streets into rivers of warm light.
Inside the Silver Stag, the aroma of freshly baked bread and roasted coffee beans drifted through the halls.
John slowly opened his eyes.
Unlike the previous morning, his mind was already awake.
He knew exactly where he wanted to go.
The library.
His thoughts returned once again to the damaged manuscript.
*"Guardians appointed during the world's earliest age..."*
The sentence echoed in his mind.
There had to be more.
There had to be another record somewhere within those endless shelves.
John climbed out of bed and stretched before opening the window.
A cool breeze entered the room.
Below, the streets were already beginning to fill with merchants preparing their shops for another day.
The city never truly seemed to sleep.
It simply slowed down.
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