After darkness swallowed Theo and the massive door slowly closed behind him, Celia remained outside, alone, surrounded by corpses and blood. Her severed hand began to heal slowly, but the pain remained sharp, not only in her body but in her soul as well.
With the faint light emanating from the engravings on the closed door, it seemed to pulse with life. These were the same engravings Theo had seen in the cave. Celia ran her fingers over the intricate lines, feeling a strange energy radiating from them, an ancient and powerful energy, confirming to her that this place was not just a library, but a living entity holding the secrets of the universe.
"Theo…" Celia whispered in a faint voice, barely audible, as she felt anxious for him, but she knew he had to face his destiny alone. She had long suspected that Theo carried a strange secret.
It seemed mysterious to her, even when she hid most of the information from Elena and Kyle, they felt a strangeness about Theo. Since his birth, he had lost control over his shadows and empty dreams, and was coincidentally imprisoned in a cave, then witnessed the annihilation of his entire village, and she personally was relentlessly hunted by an unknown sorcerer, and also most of the information about the shadow element disappeared from the world.
And now he was the only one capable of entering the "Silent Archive."
If we go back to how he appeared, he emerged as a result of Elanor's heinous experiments that attempted to create monsters and modify humanity, and they did not stop there, but sought to manipulate time, which was the primary reason for their destruction and the appearance of the river of blood and corpses.
They coveted all knowledge terribly, and did not care about the consequences of their actions, but cared about success, and they actually succeeded, as a huge door appeared out of nowhere. But what happened after that?
A fierce battle ensued over which faction would enter the "unknown" door, and those who survived that battle did not survive the attempt to enter the door by force. And now, even though hundreds of years have passed, the river has not yet dried up and the corpses have not decomposed.
Inside, Theo was still frozen in place, the black book in his hands. The blind old man's words echoed in his mind, like an echo of emptiness, breaking everything he believed in. "You were always the shadow… not for a voice, but for an echo, in a dream never fully heard." This sentence evoked in him a feeling of loss, of nihilism. Was his existence merely an illusion? Was his life just a dream no one had heard?
He was indeed trying to understand the nonsense spoken by this old man, whom he would have tried to kill already if it weren't for his fear of the place.
Theo raised the book, and tried to open it. But it was tightly sealed, as if its pages were stuck together. He tried again, with more force, but the book didn't move. He felt frustrated, angry. He had come looking for answers, for power, for a way to survive. Instead, he was stripped of everything, even the illusion of his will. He was left with a sentence he couldn't understand and a book whose title he couldn't read, and in his heart an emptiness wider and darker than the Silent Archive itself.
Theo sat on the cold ground, the book in his lap. The faint lights from the glowing crystals cast long, dancing shadows on the high shelves, creating an atmosphere of mystery and awe. He felt alone, a loneliness he had never experienced before.
Hours passed, or perhaps days, Theo no longer felt time. He stared at the book, trying to understand it, trying to understand the words the blind old man had said. He felt there was something connecting him to this book, something deep, something ancient. He felt that this book held a key, a key to understanding himself.
Suddenly, Theo felt a flicker of energy. It wasn't mana, but something else, something more primal, more powerful. It came from the book. The book began to glow with a faint light, a dark red light, like blood. And the engravings on the book's cover began to bleed, as if they were pulsating with life.
The book began to tremble in his hands, and the pages slowly opened, as if breathing. There were no words written on the pages, but there were images, moving images, changing images. They were images from his life, from his past, from his future. They were images of forgotten memories, unfulfilled dreams, and nightmares that had not yet ended.
Theo saw himself as a small child, playing in his village. He saw his mother's face, his trainer's face. He saw his village burning, and heard the screams of people. He saw Celia pressing on her severed hand. He saw the blind old man, and heard his words about fate and the future. He saw himself fighting shadow monsters, saving the village, leading people.
The images changed rapidly, like a fast-forwarded film. They showed him moments of happiness, and moments of sadness. Moments of strength, and moments of weakness. Moments of hope, and moments of despair. He saw himself changing, growing, becoming stronger.
Then, the images stopped. The book stopped glowing, and the pages slowly closed. Theo felt dizzy, confused. He had seen so much, learned so much. He had seen the truth, the truth that had been hidden from him his entire life. He had seen that his life was not just a shadow, but part of a larger fabric, a fabric that no one could see completely, except one who is above all things.
Theo stood up, the book in his hands. He no longer felt alone, no longer felt despair. He felt strength, the strength that comes from knowledge. He felt hope, hope for change, hope for breaking the chains of fate. He knew that his journey was not over yet, and that many secrets awaited him, and many challenges he had to face. But he was ready. He was ready to face fate.
"Now, what did you see, boy?" The voice echoed throughout the entire place, now majestic and suffocating, as if forcing Theo to answer.
"Oh… I saw? What did I see?" His heart was beating very fast now, and his breathing became much quicker.
He tried to recall what he had seen, but he could not remember anything to utter.
He had forgotten everything he had seen!
"The engravings on the book's cover are your destiny, and what's inside is your past, present, and future. And what you saw is never complete, you only saw what you needed to see, even if you forgot it. Perhaps you will remember it one day, but that will be when your role, which was asked of you since you were born, ends."
The blind man was smiling now, and his smile reached his ears. If Theo didn't know the truth of the place, he would have thought he was just an old man, but now he felt terrified to the bone by that smile.
Theo lost his mind from overthinking, and tried to attack the old man with his shadow, but what he didn't expect was to be violently pulled backward, disappearing from in front of the blind man as he heard his last words.
"If you meet me, boy, take good care of me."
Outside, Celia was still waiting. She felt a glimmer of energy emanating from inside the Silent Archive, and then the massive door slowly began to open.
Theo emerged from the darkness like a projectile, crashing into the ground, shattering several trees and creating a massive crater around him. Celia rushed towards him, astonished to see that Theo had not suffered a single injury!
Theo was unharmed by that dreadful throw!
On the other hand, inside the Silent Archive, the blind man was still smiling, but his smile faded as he ran his fingers over his neck, where a scratch from Theo's attack appeared.
"Hmph~~ He actually hurt me."