Lior sat alone in the dim light of the ancient library, where silence wrapped around him like a heavy cloak. Dust motes floated lazily in the sunbeams that pierced the high, stained-glass windows, casting fractured colors on the rows of crumbling tomes. The air smelled of aged parchment and forgotten knowledge — a fitting atmosphere for a scholar burdened by secrets too vast to comprehend.
Before him lay an old map, its edges tattered and worn. The fragmented isles hovered like broken jewels in the endless sky, drifting farther apart with each passing day. Lior's fingers traced the faded lines carefully, as if by touch alone he could hold them together. The truth was more elusive than the ink on the parchment. The Celestial Code, the ancient system now awakened inside him, pulsed faintly beneath his skin — a mysterious force that both intrigued and terrified him.
His thoughts swirled, filled with questions without answers. Why him? Why had the system chosen a mere scholar, a man who preferred dusty books over battlefields? The weight of expectation settled heavily on his shoulders. If he failed to unravel the code, if he failed to reunite the shattered isles, the world might never heal.
A gentle knock at the heavy wooden door broke his reverie. "Lior? You're needed downstairs," came Elyra's calm, steady voice. Elyra, the stoic knight assigned to protect him, was always a grounding presence amidst the chaos.
Closing his book with a soft sigh, Lior rose and tucked the map away. Every incident at the edges of the isles was another warning, another thread pulling him deeper into a journey where knowledge alone might not be enough.
As he followed Elyra through the winding corridors, his heart pounded with equal parts dread and determination. The path ahead was uncertain — but one thing was clear: the burden of the Celestial Code was now his to bear.