Isaak stood in the middle of the Silent Spiral corridor as if he had arrived there on foot, casually, strolling through forbidden levels and sealed halls without meeting a single obstacle. He looked impeccable, as always. His black hair fell smoothly over his shoulders, his eyes were twin wells of ink that revealed no emotion, and his dark mantle swallowed what little light remained in the chamber.
He was not a shadow.But the shadows seemed to listen to him.
"I've been looking for you," he repeated, in a tone that wasn't friendly nor hostile. It felt… inevitable.
Cedric let out a strangled noise. "Why—why were you looking for us? I didn't do anything! Maybe they did, but I—"
Aurelian made a gesture so minimal that even Cedric's panic obeyed it instantly.
Isaak's gaze settled on Marikka. Not on the room. Not on the Grand Bibliarch. Not on the book.On her.Calm. Surgical. As if he were flipping through a page.
"The Whisperer Archivist," he said. "We finally meet… properly."
Marikka didn't move.Not because she was afraid, but because every fiber of the Athenaeum around her vibrated erratically. The Silent Spirals did not like Isaak. They recoiled from him. The floating columns trembled subtly, like animals ready to flee.
The book in her arms pulsed with short, sharp beats.Fear.Danger.Memory of pain.
Isaak noticed.And the worst part was that he smiled.
"I see the fragment has begun to recognize you."He tilted his head. "Or to bind to you. Fascinating."
Aurelian stepped half a pace forward—a gesture that silently communicated one wrong move and the Athenaeum will chew you apart."This area is forbidden to the Order of Black Pages, Isaak. Leave. Now."
"'Forbidden' is an interesting word," Isaak replied, ignoring the command entirely. "Especially when the Athenaeum's barriers feel… weakened."
Cedric twitched in horror. For him, nothing was scarier than a weak Athenaeum.
Isaak advanced one step. The Spirals' columns pulled back. The floor vibrated, deciding whether to accept his presence or split beneath him.
Marikka studied the rhythm carefully. It wasn't random.Isaak was tuning himself to the place.
A man shouldn't be able to do that.A Collector of Black Pages might.
"The book showed you something," Isaak said to Marikka. "Something from before the world was corrected. I'd like you to tell me what you saw."
Marikka stiffened.Cedric stepped in front of her instinctively, which was brave and utterly suicidal.
"She won't tell you anything!" he shouted, failing miserably to regulate his volume.
Isaak looked at him with a calmness that froze the room."Cedric, yes? The clumsy apprentice. I read your file. You're better than you think, you know?"Then he smiled in a deeply unsettling way. "And far more vulnerable than you should be here."
Cedric stopped breathing.
Aurelian lifted his hand. The entire chamber tensed like a drawn bow. "Do not approach my Archivists."
Isaak sighed. "Archivists… always so attached to your rules. But the world is changing. And this time you are not the ones setting the tempo."
Marikka felt a vibration under her feet—a message. The Silent Spiral was warning Isaak as well.
You are not welcome. Leave.
Isaak smiled faintly, as if he had read the vibration. "Oh, Spiral… I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not here for you."He looked at Marikka again. "I'm here for her. And what she carries."
Marikka raised the book.The page opened. On its own.The text shifted, forming a single vibrational word:
No.
Isaak's eyes lit up. "Oh… it speaks already? Fascinating. Most fragments take months to articulate refusal."He stepped forward. "What do you want to show me, little fragment?"
The book trembled so hard it shook Marikka's arm.
Danger.Deception.Corrupted memory.
A column broke its rotation and fell toward Isaak, as if trying to crush him. Isaak lifted a single finger, and the column froze in midair.
Marikka had seen many types of magic in the Library.That wasn't magic.That was authority.
Aurelian spoke, voice low and icy. "Isaak. I command you to leave now."
Isaak regarded him. And for a moment, irony vanished from his eyes. "Aurelian… this time your command is not enough."He pointed at the book. "Because something has already begun. And you know it."
The Spirals' vibrations grew frantic.Something was entering the chamber.Not through a door.Not through a hall.
Through the fractured threshold the incomplete fragment had tried to open.
An emotional breach.A living memory.
Cedric went pale. "Aurelian… what is THAT?"
The wall began cracking—not physically, but emotionally. A fissure made of vibrations trying to take shape.
Isaak smiled. "There is my invitation."
The air froze around Marikka.She couldn't let that thing enter.Not now.Not with Isaak watching.
The book pulsed a command:
Close.
Marikka pressed her hand against the vibrational fissure.And saw everything.
A golden city.A rewritten sky.An infinite library swallowed by acidic light.A faceless creature walking through its corridors.And a voice:
Incomplete. Incomplete. Return.
The fissure slammed shut.Marikka stumbled backward.
Isaak whispered, "So it's true. The Rewriting was not perfect."
Aurelian's glare was glacial. "Do not touch what you do not understand."
Isaak chuckled. "Oh, but I understand far too well."He stepped back, ready to vanish among the Spirals. "We'll meet again soon, Archivist. You… and your fragment."
The Spiral opened a path for him.And closed it immediately after, like a creature afraid of him.
Cedric collapsed to the floor. "I don't like this. I don't like any of this. Why does everyone know more than we do?!"
Aurelian looked at Marikka.His face remained expressionless.But the vibration around him revealed the truth.
Fear.Not of the threat.Of what she was becoming.
Marikka tightened her grip around the book.It answered with one final vibration:
You are not alone.
For the first time, the words did not comfort her.