They didn't mean to find it.
Kael had only wanted shelter from the rain - an abandoned watchtower, crumbling from time and disuse. They broke in with the quiet desperation of people who'd learned not to ask the world for kindness.
Lyra was the one who noticed the strange markings beneath the loose stone tile. "This isn't just a floor," she muttered, kneeling. "It's hiding something."
Miri tried to wave it off—"We don't have time for riddles." But even she paused when the tile gave way with a hollow click, revealing a scroll wrapped in worn leather, sealed with a sigil none of them recognized…except Eren.
"I saw this," he whispered, "in the vision… when the fever took me."
They spread the scroll across the floor. Not just any map — this one breathed with enchantment. Faint lines shimmered when touched. It was old, forgotten, dangerous. But it was clear:
The Forbidden Library.
Where the lost magic of the world was hidden.
Where the truth had been buried.
Eren stared at it, fists clenched. "This… this might tell us why I have this power. What the king's hiding."
Kael grunted. "Or it might get us all killed."
Miri stood slowly, eyes still fixed on the map. "Everything worth finding comes with that risk."
For the first time in days, no one moved to pack up and leave. They simply stood there, four strangers bound by fear, and now - by possibility.
Lyra gave a dry laugh. "Guess we're going on a treasure hunt."
But none of them smiled.
They knew what they were really hunting:
Answers. Redemption. A way to survive.
———
They found a clearing near the river, hidden by thick trees and the sound of rushing water. It was the first place that felt still. Safe. If only for a moment.
Kael tossed a wooden staff at Eren's feet. "Again."
Eren picked it up with a wince. His palms were blistered, his shoulders aching. "What good is swinging a stick if I can't stop the magic from—"
The ground cracked beneath his feet. A pulse of heat shot through the air, rippling like lightning without light. Kael didn't flinch. He never did.
"Exactly," the warrior said. "Control isn't just stopping the magic. It's knowing when not to use it."
Eren gritted his teeth. The magic inside him didn't listen. It burned, whispered, begged to be let out. Like a flood behind glass.
Lyra sat on a rock nearby, peeling an apple with a dagger. "You're thinking too much. Or not thinking at all. One of the two."
"Thanks," Eren muttered. "That's helpful."
Miri watched from a distance, arms crossed, saying nothing. But when Eren's knees buckled after another surge of power, she stepped forward. Hands glowing faintly, she steadied him.
"It's not just about will," she said quietly. "It's about trust. If you keep fighting it like it's the enemy… it will be."
He looked at her, breathing hard. "What if I lose control?"
"You already have," Miri said. "The point is learning to lose it less."
That night, while the others slept, Eren stood by the river. He whispered the old words under his breath - ones he didn't remember learning. The water glowed faintly. Then went still.
He didn't tell them.
But for the first time, the magic didn't feel like a curse.
It felt like a question.
One only he could answer.
———
They should've known the quiet wouldn't last.
It happened just after dusk - when the trees turned to shadows and the wind carried every sound a little too far. Lyra was the first to notice. She always was.
"Don't move," she hissed, hand already on her dagger. "We're not alone."
The others froze. Eren's pulse spiked, magic fluttering at his fingertips like nervous birds. Miri slipped behind him, clutching her satchel, her breath sharp. Kael drew his blade without a sound.
Then came the whistle - low, cruel, deliberate.
Three figures stepped into the firelight. Mud-slick cloaks. Smirking mouths. Steel glinting at their sides. The one in front grinned like he'd already won.
"Spellbound boy," he said, eyes on Eren. "There's a price on your head. Dead or breathing—it doesn't say which."
Eren stepped back, but Kael moved in front of him, sword raised.
Lyra's dagger was already flying.
It struck one bounty hunter in the throat - fast, silent, fatal. Chaos followed. Steel clashed with steel. Eren's hands shook, the magic building with no place to go. A surge of heat cracked the earth near the fire. The second bounty hunter staggered, blinded.
Kael fought like a storm - controlled fury, every movement earned by war.
But the last one —tall, scarred, cruel —reached Eren.
"You don't even know what you are," the man spat, dragging him to the ground. "You think you're special? You're just a weapon waiting to be—"
Eren's fear snapped.
And so did the air.
A shockwave burst from his chest, throwing the man across the clearing. Silence fell, thick as ash.
Miri rushed to Eren, checking his pulse, ignoring the tremble in her hands. Kael wiped his blade clean. Lyra stared at Eren—not afraid, not surprised. Just… watching.
"Next time," she said, "don't wait that long."
Eren looked at the bodies. The broken trees. The scorched ground.
"I didn't mean to," he said.
"Maybe not," Kael muttered. "But you did."
And they all knew the truth, though none of them said it:
The king wouldn't be the only one hunting him now.
———
They made camp beneath the twisted branches of a deadwood tree, the fire a flickering promise in the dark. Eren sat with the map stretched across his knees, tracing the faded ink with a fingertip. He didn't understand most of the symbols, but something about them made his pulse race. Like they were watching him back.
Lyra sat across from him, sharpening her blade in steady strokes. She hadn't said much since dusk. Not since Kael had asked where, exactly, the map had come from.
Now, as the fire crackled low, she finally spoke. "There's something I didn't tell you."
Eren looked up. "About the map?"
Lyra nodded. Her face was unreadable, mouth set in that familiar, stubborn line. "It's not just a guide to the Forbidden Library. It's a trap."
Kael stopped chewing mid-bite. Miri stiffened.
Lyra sighed. "The map was drawn by a Spellbound scholar. Before the purge. But after the king found out, he added false markers - cursed routes, wrong landmarks - so anyone who followed it would either die or lead the soldiers straight to the survivors."
Eren's hands clenched the edges of the parchment. "You knew this?"
"I did," Lyra said. "And I also know how to read what's real and what's not. I wasn't going to say anything until I was sure I could get us there alive."
"Why not tell us?" Miri asked, voice cold.
Lyra's eyes met Eren's, quiet and unwavering. "Because trust doesn't come cheap in a world like this. And I wasn't sure I had yours."
The silence that followed wasn't angry. Just heavy - with the weight of truth, of risk, of what came next.
Eren folded the map carefully. "You do now."
And he meant it. Even if it scared him.
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