Chapter 7: The Keeper's Veil
The door creaked open, and Silas stepped inside with the practiced ease of a man entering his own study. He didn't look like a threat; he looked like a relic. His suit was a charcoal pinstripe, impeccably tailored but worn thin at the cuffs, and his presence brought with it the faint, comforting scent of old parchment and cedarwood.
"Close the door, Master Kaelen. Firmly, if you please," Silas said, placing the brown paper bag on the wobbly kitchen table.
Ren slammed the door and threw the deadbolt. He stayed by the entrance, his heart hammering against his ribs. "You said they're in the lobby. How? We were careful."
Silas didn't answer immediately. He reached into the bag and pulled out a small, ornate silver brazier and a tin of dried leaves. "Careful is a relative term when you are tethered to the most tracked biological signature in the northern hemisphere." He glanced at Elena, who was standing near the bed, her hand gripped tight around the bedpost. "Lady Valentine, your father's 'Blood-Seeker' hounds don't look for faces. They look for the resonance of the Valentine soul. And yours, currently, is screaming."
He struck a match. The flame was white, not orange. As it touched the leaves in the brazier, a thick, silver smoke began to pour out, pooling on the floor like heavy mist.
"What is that?" Mia asked, peering out from behind the privacy partition, her eyes wide.
"A masking agent," Silas replied calmly. "It recalibrates the local mana density. To anyone outside this room, 4B will currently register as a vacant space filled with nothing but dust and dead dreams."
As the smoke rose, the golden cord between the three of them began to dim, its vibrant glow fading into a dull, almost invisible shimmer. The oppressive feeling of being watched—a sensation Ren hadn't even realized he was feeling—evaporated instantly.
Downstairs, the heavy thud of combat boots echoed through the floorboards. Then came the muffled sound of a door being kicked in on the first floor, followed by a woman's scream and the barking of commands.
"They're starting a floor-by-floor sweep," Ren whispered, his hand white-knuckled on the kitchen counter. "If they reach the fourth floor..."
"They won't see you," Silas reassured him, though he continued to systematically lay out three porcelain cups on the table. "Provided you stay perfectly still and do not engage your new 'toys.' The manifestation of those weapons creates a localized rift that even my smoke cannot hide."
Elena took a step forward, her violet eyes narrowing as she studied the old man. "I know every butler, advisor, and high-ranking official in my father's court. I've never seen you. Who sent you? Was it the Weavers?"
Silas smiled, a small, enigmatic curve of the lips. "Sent is a strong word, Lady Elena. I am a Custodian. My role is to ensure that the foundation of the Sovereign's lineage is not crumbled before the first stone is even set. As for who I serve..." He gestured to the air, where the System notifications usually flickered. "I serve the same Fate that chose a street rat, a smith, and a princess to hold the weight of the world."
The sound of boots grew louder. They were on the third floor now. Ren could hear the rhythmic crash of doors being breached. His breath was shallow. He looked at Mia, who was trembling, and reached out, grabbing her hand. The moment their skin touched, the [TETHERED SENSE] flared, but instead of a map, it shared a feeling of absolute, icy calm.
It was coming from Elena. She had closed her eyes, her posture turning rigid and regal, her mana pulling inward like a retracting tide. She was anchoring them.
The heavy footsteps reached the fourth-floor landing.
Thud. Crash.
"Clear!" a voice roared from the hallway.
Ren held his breath. He could hear the heavy breathing of a man standing right outside his door. The shadows of two pairs of boots cut through the sliver of light at the bottom of the frame.
"Apartment 4B," a muffled voice said. "The scanner is dead. There's no mana signature here. Just a low-level background trace of old District 9 grime."
"Move on," another voice commanded. "The girl wouldn't be in a hole like this anyway. Check the roof."
The footsteps faded, moving toward the stairwell leading upward. Ren didn't move for a full minute, not until the sound of the rooftop door slamming shut echoed through the building.
He let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding since the Plaza. "They're gone."
"For now," Silas said, pouring the tea. The liquid was a deep, shimmering amber. "But the Valentine Empire does not fail twice. They will return with 'Void-Seers' by morning. You cannot stay here."
"We don't have anywhere else to go," Mia said, finally coming out from the partition. "Ren's place is the only 'Safe Zone' the System recognized."
"The System recognizes what you make safe," Silas corrected. He reached into his coat and pulled out a heavy, iron key attached to a leather cord. He laid it on the table. "District 0. The Old Archive."
Ren frowned. "District 0 is a ghost zone. It was leveled during the First Gate collapse. Nothing lives there but E-rank shadows and scrap metal."
"And a fortified basement that predates the modern System," Silas added. "It is the only place where the 'Trial of the Bloodline' can commence without alerting the world to your location. You have forty-eight hours to reach it."
Ren looked at the key, then at the golden cord, and finally at his two companions. The reality of their situation was settling in. They weren't just three kids who got lucky with a Class. They were fugitives of the state, chosen by a silent force to build a legacy that the current world was already trying to kill.
[NEW QUEST: THE LONG ROAD TO ZERO]
Objective: Reach the Old Archive in District 0 without being detected.
Reward: 15,000 Credits & [Base of Operations] Unlocked.
Failure: Capture / Termination.
"Why help us?" Ren asked, looking Silas in the eye. "What do you get out of this?"
Silas gathered his empty tea set and tucked the brazier back into the paper bag. He walked toward the door, stopping with his hand on the handle.
"I have seen a thousand timelines, Master Kaelen, where humanity burns itself to ash because those with power refuse to share the weight of it. This is the first time I have seen the Weight shared by three hearts instead of one." He looked back, his eyes momentarily glowing with a soft, golden light. "I simply wish to see how the story ends."
With that, Silas stepped out into the hallway. When Ren opened the door a second later to follow him, the hallway was empty. There was no scent of tea, no silver smoke. Only the flickering light of a dying bulb and the distant sound of sirens.
"Pack what you can," Ren said, turning to the girls. "We leave in ten minutes. We're going to District 0."