---
The map burned a little in Kairen's coat pocket, even though it wasn't on fire. As if the paper remembered too much.
He stood before the Veritas Library — an impossibly tall structure built with blackened stone and brass-tipped arches.
Its plaque read:
"Free to All.
Except Those Who Seek."
He pushed the doors open.
---
đź“š Inside the Library
Silence.
Books hovered. Literally. Dozens of tomes floated above shelves, rotating slowly in the air. Some opened and flipped through themselves as if reading their own memories.
A librarian sat at a crescent-shaped desk.
Old. Thin. Eyes stitched shut.
"We remember your silence," she said softly, without looking.
Kairen didn't ask how she knew him.
Instead, he followed the map's ink trail — it moved, slightly shifting paths every few seconds, like the map was uncertain of its own truth.
---
🧩 The Shifting Archive
He descended a spiral staircase hidden behind a false shelf labeled: "Children's Fables That Cursed Empires."
Below was a long hallway filled with fog.
The floor was made of shifting panels — like pressure plates.
At the entrance: a plaque.
"Speak falsehood, and lose time."
"Step wrongly, and relive what was undone."
The air thickened. He walked. Carefully.
Each step, a clock ticked. But none of the clocks were his.
On the third panel, a voice spoke inside his head:
"Do you remember the name of your mother?"
Kairen froze. The answer didn't come.
The tile beneath him sank.
Suddenly — his vision fractured—
---
🌀 Memory Fragment: The Dining Table
A woman in a dark red veil placed warm soup in front of a young boy.
"Even if they take your name, ya Noorain..."
"...never let them take your Duas."
Then—shouting. A door slammed. A flash of gold. A clock falling. A scream.
Silence.
---
🕯️ Back to the Archive
He stumbled, breath ragged. The tile restored itself.
The map was now blank — completely white.
But before him, a wooden door stood, untouched by time.
He opened it.
Inside: a small chamber with walls covered in mirrors — but none reflected him.
Only… versions of himself.
One was chained. One was covered in glowing symbols. One wept. One laughed.
And one… had no face at all.
---
đź“ś The Forbidden Book
In the center of the room, resting on a pedestal of brass and bone —
A Book With No Title.
But when Kairen touched it, ink bled from its spine, forming a title:
"Kitab Al-Zaman – Fragment II: The Prophet of Dust"
The mirrors began whispering.
"He speaks truths that erase the tongue."
"He saw Time… and Time wept."
"If you read on, you must forget someone you love."
Kairen didn't flinch.
He opened the book.
---
⚠️ System Notification
[Sequence Pathway Unlocked: Cult of the Clockborne]
Fragment II Obtained: Prophet of Dust
⚙️ Ability Gained: "Echo Thought" — Hear the original intention behind spoken lies.
⏳ Side Effect: You may forget one real memory every time it's used.
---
He closed the book.
From behind him — a creaking step.
The librarian had followed him.
Eyes still stitched shut. But smiling now.
"You're not reading, child. You're… being read."
And then — she began to bleed ink from her eyes.
---
🕰️ To Be Continued…
Next: Chapter 5 – The Cult of the 13th Hour
Where Kairen enters a chapel built upside-down, lit by hourglasses instead of candles… and meets those who serve a god who eats time.