The first thing Aiden noticed was the silence.
It wasn't the peaceful kind of silence that soothed the heart.
It was the kind that pressed down on his chest, crawling into his ears, suffocating and oppressive, as if the air itself was holding its breath.
When he opened his eyes, the world around him was not a world at all.
He stood on endless marble floor, polished so bright that his reflection stared back at him. Rows upon rows of towering shelves stretched beyond the horizon, climbing high into a ceiling that disappeared into shadow. Each shelf groaned under the weight of books—ancient, cracked, some glowing faintly, some chained in iron, some whispering as though the words inside were alive.
A library. But not like any library of men.
Aiden staggered forward, clutching his head.
The last thing he remembered was… nothing. No home, no family, no life. His memories were torn pages, shredded and scattered. All that remained was his name—Aiden.
And the library.
As he moved, the silence broke. A whisper curled around his ear, too close, too sharp.
"Read…"
He spun, but no one stood there. The shelves loomed, their books quivering, their chains rattling softly as though stirred by breath.
Aiden swallowed. His throat was dry.
He felt it—something was pulling him. Not toward the glowing books of gold and silver, not to the safe and beautiful tomes. But to a single shelf tucked in shadow, half-buried beneath dust.
There it lay.
A book bound in black leather, its cover scorched, its title erased by fire. A rusted chain coiled around it, locked by a clasp that looked more like a jaw of teeth than steel.
Aiden's hand shook. Every part of him screamed to turn away. But the whisper returned, this time inside his skull.
"Read me, and I will give you power. Read me, and you will not vanish."
His heart hammered. He didn't know what vanish meant, but instinct told him—if he ignored this, he would be swallowed whole by the library, another forgotten shadow drifting between shelves for eternity.
"I… don't have a choice, do I?" His voice cracked in the silence.
He reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed the book, the chain snapped open like a predator's maw. The air collapsed inward with a deafening rush. Black smoke coiled out, wrapping around his arm, burning ice and fire in his veins. His knees buckled, his vision blurred.
Words, thousands of them, carved themselves into his skin like glowing scars. They slithered up his arm, across his chest, engraving themselves onto his very soul.
Aiden screamed.
The sound echoed endlessly, swallowed by the shelves, fed back to him a hundredfold. His body convulsed. His veins lit with violet lightning. The black smoke drove itself into his lungs, his eyes, his bones. He felt pages turning inside his skull, his blood rewriting itself, his flesh burning away and stitching back together.
"Read. Accept. Become."
His heart stopped.
For a single breathless moment, Aiden swore he was dead. The marble floor was gone. He was floating in a void of paper and ash, words swirling around him, tearing him apart and sewing him into something else.
And in that void, he saw it—an endless throne, shattered and broken, dripping with black blood. On it sat no king, no god. Only a shadow with too many eyes, watching him.
The shadow whispered.
"You are mine now, Reader."
Aiden's scream broke into silence—
—and when he opened his eyes again, he was still in the library, sprawled on the marble, smoke rising from his skin.
The book lay open beside him. Its pages had vanished. Every word, every letter, every curse had burned itself into his body.
And in his chest, his heart now beat with two voices. One his own.
One belonging to the thing inside him.
Aiden gasped, dragging himself upright, clutching at his scorched chest. His reflection in the marble stared back at him—not the same boy. His eyes glowed faintly with violet sparks.
The silence returned.
But this time, it was watching. Waiting.
For the first trial had only just begun.
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Author's Note:
Hey Readers 👋 This is my first story on Webnovel, Archives of God. I'm writing it with love and passion, and I hope you enjoy diving into Aiden's cursed journey. If you like it, please leave a comment, add it to your library, and drop some power stones ❤️ Your support will help me keep writing more chapters every day!