Yuvan's head throbbed. As he left the circle of floating books in the Forbidden Library, strange murmurs lingered in his ears.
Whispers.
Low, echoing voices.
"The boy carries the scent of the First Flame…"
"Break the chains, awaken the flesh…"
"He is the Key… the Key… the Key…"
He looked around, but the library had fallen deathly silent once more. The books were still. The shelves no longer shifted. Even the floating runes had faded into dust motes.
Yet the whispers would not stop.
"Who's there?!" Yuvan shouted, spinning, but there was no one.
Except… one book.
It hovered alone in the center of the room. Unlike the others, this one was chained—wrapped in countless iron seals glowing crimson. Runes flickered over the surface like angry brands, and an oppressive aura rolled off it like waves of boiling oil.
[Warning: You are in proximity to a Sealed Fiend's Tome.]
[Touching this book without permission of the Academy Lord may result in soul corruption or instant death.]
[You are not authorized.]
Yuvan backed away instinctively. His body screamed danger, but the whispers were growing louder.
"You… can… free… us…"
Suddenly, the Keeper appeared, his voice cold as death.
"Do not entertain the voices of the Sealed Fiends, child."
Yuvan turned, startled. "What… are they?"
The Keeper raised a hand, and the chained book shimmered before vanishing into the floor, sealed once again.
"They are remnants of ancient beings from before the Dao Era," the Keeper said gravely. "Gods, demons, and monsters that tried to devour the universes before laws were formed. Dev Yadav sealed many here personally."
Yuvan blinked. "So this place… is not just a library…"
The Keeper's mask shimmered with sorrow. "It is a prison. A sanctuary. A graveyard. A test."
"And you… protect it all?"
"I am only a warden. The true guardian lies elsewhere."
Outside, the sky above Heaven Defying Academy darkened briefly. Storm clouds gathered unnaturally, and the earth rumbled faintly.
Dev Yadav opened one eye from beneath his tree, sensing the stirring of a seal deep below the academy.
He closed his eyes again.
"They've noticed the boy. That's fine… Let them test him. If he breaks, he's not worthy."
That night, Yuvan could not sleep.
The whispers followed him even into his dreams.
He saw visions—of a flaming battlefield between gods and devils, of a colossal being chained under a shattered mountain, of a beautiful woman with star-like eyes whispering to him through blood.
"Find me, Yuvan."
"Save me from the Dao Ancestor's curse."
Yuvan jolted awake, sweating.
"…Why me?"
Unbeknownst to him, far beneath the academy, in a layer no student had ever reached, a single iron shackle cracked open with a soft click.
And a pair of burning red eyes blinked into the darkness.