They carefully tucked the container back into their packs—by all logic, it was time to retreat.
But Adrian didn't move.
He stood there, back to Elise, staring down at the Holy Grail base now tucked against his chest. His expression seemed… distant.
Silently, he unfastened the pack once more. Wrapped in silk cloth, the ancient base now lay quietly in his hands. Its surface glimmered with a deep, cold light—as if some faint will was slowly seeping out from within.
Adrian murmured under his breath,
"Why… it's just a base, and yet it feels like something is whispering to me."
He could feel it—some deep, buried longing being gently stirred: the desire for power, for control, for meaning… and above all, to be recognized.
"Why should I hand it over?"
"I found it. I was the first to find it…"
"If I kept it—maybe I could change everything. I wouldn't just be the one carrying out orders anymore. I'd be the one shaping fate."
Unconsciously, he hugged the container tighter to his chest.
That sliver of reason in his eyes was slowly being swallowed.
His mind started conjuring plans—how to deceive the others, how to hide it, how to fabricate a reason, how to justify it all…
But just as he teetered at the edge of that silent abyss—
a warm hand landed gently on his shoulder.
Elise.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly.
There was no accusation in her voice—only concern.
Adrian stared at her blankly—then suddenly snapped back to himself.
The crashing wave of desire receded all at once, leaving a cold sweat across his brow.
He took a few deep breaths, swallowed hard, and rasped,
"Thank you… I nearly…"
"Didn't we agree?" Elise began as she started resealing the pack,
"Get it, stash it, and wait for further orders. If something happened to you, how do you expect me to explain it?"
Adrian gave a wry smile and nodded.
He was about to wrap the base again when he paused, his brow furrowing slightly.
In his earlier haste, he hadn't noticed—but now, as he lowered the base back into the pack, something beneath it caught his eye.
A layer of paper—thin, aged—shouldn't have been there.
He looked down and saw a faded, yellowing booklet tucked under the base.
Its edges had been gnawed by time. The cover was smooth, worn… and completely unmarked.
Adrian gently lifted it from the pack.
It had sat under the base for so long that even a slight tug caused it to come loose.
But he didn't open it.
Instead, he brushed his fingers lightly across the cover.
His gaze turned grave.
"This is…?"
Elise leaned in.
"Do you recognize it?"
"No," Adrian shook his head, "but it was hidden with the Grail—and to survive this long, untouched by decay… It's definitely not ordinary."
He hesitated, then said no more.
He simply tucked the booklet and the Grail base securely into the depths of his pack.
"I don't want to open it yet," he said softly.
"I have a feeling… there's a secret in there."
Elise didn't press further. She simply nodded, quiet and steady.
The wind rustled the dead branches overhead as the two of them shouldered their packs and slipped away—leaving behind a silent well and the whispers of the trees.
And that small, nondescript journal—now pressed beneath the Holy Grail base—rested like an unopened curse, waiting to speak.