The slope beyond the contested plaza funneled into a ravine. Obsidian teeth jutted overhead while lightning flickered along the rims, revealing a squat structure carved into the mountainside—layered walls that overlapped like stone pages half-turned.
Elias's breath caught. "Paradox Library. Architect tried to trap knowledge in loops of time."
Kael adjusted his grip on the glaive. "Then time's our next opponent."
They advanced in single file along a ledge barely wider than a banquet table. Fog churned below; scraps of parchment drifted upward, covered in crimson script that crumbled to powder before touching stone. A whisper brushed Kael's ear:
[Veilcore Sync 44 %]
Rei limped from earlier Blink overuse but kept pace. Thorn's forearm blistered where Emberguard had over-stoked, though he carried the shield without complaint. Veyra's figments pulsed in and out of view with the ravine's shifting light.
Halfway across, a loose sheet slapped against Kael's chest. Words crawled across it—Welcome, Reader. The next sentence costs you a memory. He tore it free; the page hissed and dissolved. A pulse pricked behind his eyes—nothing missing, but the threat felt real. "Don't read stray pages," he warned. Elias nodded, careful not to look at any drifting script.
A lattice bridge of ink-black slats spanned the final gap. In its center waited a silver-armored lieutenant—broad-shouldered, moon crest on his breastplate, spear grounded like a flagpole. Havel: Ariss Valen's second, famous for methodical cruelty.
Kael approached, glaive low. Havel lifted an empty hand. "Parley. Only talk."
Kael stopped a blade's reach away. Thorn and Rei held flank positions.
"The Library devours those who rush," Havel said. "My commander offers a truce. One hour. We explore separate wings. First cohort to secure a Codex Key departs unchallenged."
"And if both secure one?" Kael asked.
"Then we part ways alive—equal trophies."
Kael read the man's posture: relaxed, but tension flickered in micro-shifts around the eyes. "Agreed," he said, and signaled his team across. Rei muttered, "Minimum trust." Kael replied under breath, "Enough to pass the doorway."
They entered through a fractured arch. Dust and ozone mixed in the stale air. Stone tablets floated mid-room, spinning slowly; each carried inked text that glowed in pulses. Corridors branched at impossible angles—some rose to meet the ceiling; others looped into half twists that defied normal geometry.
A single System line formed:
[Objective – Acquire Codex Key]
[Cognitive Load Hazard]
Rei rubbed her temple. "Walls humming inside my skull."
"The Library defends itself," Elias said, scanning glyph-beacons floating overhead. "Keys hide behind logic constructs." He pointed down three branching corridors. "One puzzle each."
Kael assigned pairs: Thorn with Elias—brawn and brain; Rei with Veyra—speed and deception. Kael took the third path alone, choosing the corridor whose ceiling pinwheeled like a gear.
Thorn and Elias reached a vaulted chamber with marble scales taller than a wagon. One plate bore a feather, the other a basalt slab. Runes hovered: Add weight to find truth. Remove to find lie. Thorn shrugged, set his shield down, hefted a fallen stone block onto the feather plate. Nothing changed—the feather didn't budge. Elias removed the basalt slab instead; both plates leveled. A bronze key clicked into existence. Thorn snatched it before the scales could ask another question.
Rei and Veyra faced a zig-zag hall of mirrors. Each reflection showed blurred copies of themselves—some smiling, some twisted. Near the end a pane depicted Rei with a ragged wound in her chest. She felt her heartbeat skip. Veyra's fox-mask figment stepped into the reflection and shattered the glass. All images reset to neutral. A silver token slid across the floor.
Kael climbed a spiral staircase that never gained height. Words spiraled on each step—Step past yourself or tread forever. Phantom Step couldn't cheat the loop. He closed his eyes, felt the nerve-echo timing he'd stolen from the Mirrorwalker, pivoted, and cut through the balustrade. The railing swung open, revealing an alcove with an iron quill-shaped key.
They regrouped in a sunken atrium, slotting their three fragments together. The silver-iron token fused, runes snapping tight.
[Codex Key Assembled — East Wing Cleared]
Sync ticked to 46 %. A warm ripple refilled Essentia pools—small but noticeable. Rei flexed cramped calves; Thorn's burns cooled. Elias's gauntlet hummed steadier.
They retraced steps toward the bridge. White torches burned hotter—Havel waited where stone met lattice, spear lowered.
"Hour isn't done," Kael called.
"We found no key." Havel's voice rumbled like distant thunder. "Efficiency demands new options."
Two Malkyre archers slipped from behind pillars, bows drawn. Havel drove forward. Spear tip skimmed mirrored flooring, aiming for Kael's chest.
Kael blurred sideways—free Phantom Step—steel flashing past. Thorn intercepted, shield ringing. Emberguard heat flared, but Thorn absorbed it with a grunt. Rei blinked behind an archer, dagger hilt crunching helm; the man sagged. Veyra's sorrow-mask figment intercepted the second arrow, letting it shatter on illusionary stone.
Kael parried another thrust, felt the nerve-echo whisper timing. He rammed the spear aside, inside Havel's guard. At that instant he burned six Essentia—Shardwalk two metres—reappeared behind the lieutenant, cracking the shaft with a reverse swing. Thorn bashed Havel's back, Rei flicked a dagger pommel against the visor. The silver helm rang; Havel dropped.
Kael's Essentia meter slid to 28/60. He breathed steady. Rei wiped her blade. "Truce lasted—what? Twenty minutes?"
Elias crouched, checking the fallen archer's quiver. "More arrows than honesty."
Thorn bound Havel's wrists with veil-tape. The lieutenant's helm dented but breathing steady. "Leave him?" Thorn asked.
"Let him report failure," Kael said. "It stings more than death."
They crossed, Codex Key secure in Rei's pouch. Behind them, recovery noises echoed—Ariss's voice sharp in command. Kael didn't slow.
Fog thinned outside the Library, revealing chains drooping from black clouds, wrapped around a vast shape thrashing against the sky. Lightning stuttered, illuminating scales the size of rooftops.
Rei watched the silhouette. "Next coin looks expensive."
Kael felt Sync pulse in his Veilcore, as though the Gate measured resolve with each heartbeat. "Then we earn more."
They turned east, following a fractured path that rose toward jagged ridges. Broken moonlight cast their shadows long—stretched shapes of people who still believed payment would buy survival.