The air surrounding Lord Kaelen Varr felt dense and cold, charged with the raw power of a Blue Level Peak Arcanist. His gaze, devoid of the gentleness Elara remembered from the novel's descriptions, was sharp and lethal. He didn't wait for her to speak, the Staff of Obsidian held loosely, yet ready.
"You have no magic. Your clothes are an insult to the Whisperwood. You look utterly lost, yet you stare at the discarded scroll casing of my house like a collector viewing a prize," Kaelen continued, stepping closer. "The Obsidian Line guards its secrets with life. Speak now, outsider, or face a fate worse than any execution."
Elara didn't flinch, even though her heart was pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She knew acting timid would only confirm his suspicion that she was a spy. She had to use her trump card immediately.
"I know what will happen to you in three years, Lord Varr. And I know the name of the woman who will cause it," she stated, her voice shaking slightly but holding firm. "If I were a spy, I would be interested in your present power, not your future death."
Kaelen paused. The claim was outlandish, yet the strange dissonance of her presence resonated with the memory of his own rebirth.
"My future death?" he scoffed, though the muscle in his jaw twitched. "Prophecy is an ancient art, rarely accurate and never specific."
"This isn't prophecy. It's a manuscript," Elara retorted, stepping forward into the silver light of the Aether Blooms. "You were a supporting character in a popular romance novel in my world, called The Weaver's Scroll. I know every chapter. I know that three years from now, you will meet a dimensional traveler named Lyra, who falls right where I am standing now."
She pointed to the ground, her gaze fixed on him.
"You will be kind to her. You will teach her magic. And she, blinded by her infatuation with Prince Valerius, will give him the exact ritual knowledge he needs to steal the Codex of Echoes from your grandfather's vault. The loss of the Codex weakens the Obsidian Line, and Valerius, who hates your independent power, uses it as an excuse. You are stripped of your title, branded a traitor, and publicly executed in the Veridian square—a slow, excruciating death that takes three days to complete."
Silence devoured the Whisperwood. Kaelen's face was a mask of cold fury and profound shock. The details were too specific, too agonizingly correct. No living soul knew the method of his demise, or the exact sequence of events that led to the Codex's theft. Only he, the man who lived through it, knew.
"The Codex... the execution," Kaelen finally whispered, his grip tightening on his staff. "If you know all this, then you know I am already reborn. And if I am reborn, I am no longer the victim you read about. I am dangerous."
"That is exactly why I'm here! Because your rebirth fractured the world-law, and I, your most infuriated reader, fell through the crack!" Elara insisted. "I am not the heroine Lyra. I am a librarian, Elara. I have no magic, but I have the complete, detailed blueprint of every major player in this political game. I know Valerius's deepest weaknesses, the names of his early collaborators, and the exact location of the forbidden knowledge he will seek next."
Kaelen moved with terrifying speed, closing the distance between them. He stopped inches away, his cold energy washing over her.
"Prove it, outsider. If you read my life, tell me this: Why am I truly here, right now, in the deepest part of the Whisperwood, rather than securing my position at the estate?"
Elara met his frigid gaze, knowing this was the final test.
"You are here for the Sunstone Shard," she said without hesitation. "You took a massive risk pushing your cultivation from Green Level to Blue Level Peak using forbidden methods. The Aether influx has risked destabilizing your mind, and you need that Shard to stabilize your focus and prevent Aether Fatigue. You need it because you are determined to never be weak again."
Kaelen stepped back slowly, his staff lowering. The intensity in his eyes did not lessen, but the threat of immediate violence vanished, replaced by an unsettling calculation. She was right. Every detail, from the hidden Sunstone Shard to the risk of Aether Fatigue, was known only to him.
"A reader," he murmured, a ghost of a chilling smile touching his lips. "You are not a spy; you are a weapon of fate. You are an asset."
He walked over to the ravine, extracted the rare mineral with a silent surge of Blue Level power, and sealed it in a leather pouch.
"My goals remain simple: vengeance and survival. I will accept your alliance, Elara. But understand this: I am not the honorable scholar you mourned. I am a man who has already died once. I will not hesitate to use or sacrifice anyone to achieve my ends. You provide the foresight, and I provide the power. Do you agree to those terms?"
Elara took a deep breath, the cold reality of their partnership settling over her. This was not a romance novel, it was a war.
"I agree," she said firmly. "I won't let them destroy you again. Now, we need to move. Valerius's spies begin mapping the outer Whisperwood trails two days from now. We need cover, a local identity for me, and a secure base of operations."
"We will head to the small town of Greyhaven. It is neutral territory near the King's Road and harbors enough criminal element to ensure anonymity," Kaelen decided, turning towards the forest edge. "Come. The timeline may be broken, but destiny always tries to repair itself."