Kael stood in the hushed, cavernous space of the Inner Sanctum, the smell of ancient power heavy in the air.
He had the List the metallic ledger detailing the names of every collaborat or in the Agenda tucked safely inside his water-resistant tunic.
The silence of the vault felt deafening after the chaos of the sea cave.
He approached the center pedestal, where the Ancient Scroll rested on a stone table.
The scroll was thick, bound with leather thongs and radiating a deep, pulsing energy. This was it the unedited, unadulterated history of the Sunstone founder and the Mixed Blood crisis.
He reached out a bruised hand and brushed the edge of the parchment.
The moment he made contact, the air crackled.
A silent, non-violent ward activated, throwing Kael back a step.
The scroll did not harm him, but a shimmering script of impossible age flared into existence above the parchment, hovering in the air.
The text was a poetic, archaic riddle, and Kael translated it instantly in his mind:
"The truth of the First Pact remains sealed by the Hand of the Loyal Steward. Only a tongue descended from the Line of Valerius may break the final seal and whisper the ancient oath."
Kael staggered back, his blood running cold. Valerius.
Commander Valens's lineage. The very family that had hunted and policed the Lycan world for centuries was also the key to unlocking its foundation.
The revelation was brutal the entire Agenda conspiracy was so deeply layered that the final, critical piece of evidence was protected by the genetic lock of the most trusted policing family in the Sunstone Pack.
He had the evidence to start a war, but he needed a Valerius to win it.
He needed someone he could trust, someone outside Valens and Elder Lysandra's control.
He needed Seraphina.
He turned away from the Scroll, realizing the extraction had just become far more important than the acquisition.
Kael focused his attention on the surrounding walls.
The Inner Sanctum was not just a library; it was an ancient power core.
He searched the massive, rune-covered walls, not for an exit sign, but for a disruption in the ancient energy flow.
He was looking for an ability he had only read about in folklore the Alpha-Shift.
He found the source a faint, recurring pattern on the ceiling that mapped the constellations above the citadel.
He channeled his fading Lycan energy the same energy that saved him mid-fall into the pattern.
His body seized up, not in pain, but in a strange, dimensional recoil.
With a sound like tearing fabric, the air beside him ripped open, forming a small, jagged dimensional tear.
It wasn't a door; it was a momentary, direct portal, fueled by immense concentration and consuming the last of his strength.
With a grunt, Kael shoved the metallic List through the tear, followed by his own injured, exhausted body.
He landed hard on cold, wet earth, the air tear snapping shut behind him.
He recognized the scents pine needles, deep earth, and the faint, familiar scent of the river that marked the border of his own territory.
He had traveled hundreds of miles in an instant, but the cost was near incapacitation.
He collapsed, struggling for air, the cold brass key still clutched in his hand. He was safe, but bleeding, exhausted, and carrying a bomb of evidence.
He pulled out his last remaining communication device a heavily shielded wafer and fought through the pain to input a coded message.
He sent it to the only person he believed could navigate the political chaos and potentially hold the Valerius key.
To Seraphina: I have the List. The truth is deeper than blood. It is locked by Valerius. Meet me at the border. Now.
The fortress was locked down, Valens was hunting him, and the ultimate truth was sealed by the very bloodline dedicated to maintaining the lie.
Kael had started the war, and now he needed his allies to survive the first battle.
The familiar scent of Seraphina's unique, sharp bloodline, mingled with the faint, cold iron scent of her hidden weapons, reached Kael's senses before he could even raise his head.
She arrived silently, moving through the deep pine shadows like a ghost, her face a mask of controlled alarm.
She was not a fighter like Valens, but a political operator sharp, discreet, and utterly loyal to the rebellion's true cause.
She knelt instantly, recognizing the lethal fatigue in his posture.
Kael was a wreck bleeding, shivering, and the dimensional shift had left his Lycan energy grid fractured and sputtering, causing his eyes to flicker between human blue and Lycan gold.
"Kael. What is this?" she demanded, her voice a low, urgent whisper that wouldn't carry past the dense foliage.
"The entire coast is locked down. Valens is leading a purge."
Kael couldn't speak a full sentence.
His voice was a rasp, and the dimensional energy residual made his words slightly distorted.
He pushed the heavy, silver-wire-bound List into her hands. The metallic book was cold, shocking her palm.
"Not... mine," Kael wheezed, his eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of pursuit. "The List is the name. The names. Not... the truth."
Seraphina immediately understood the weight of the metallic book.
She opened it to the first page, her face draining of color as she processed the names of the most revered Elders and Council members etched into the silver.
"This is treason," she breathed, her fingers tracing the ancient script.
"This indicts the entire high command. This is... impossible."
Kael shook his head slowly, the effort nearly blacking him out.
He pointed a trembling, blood-stained finger toward the center of the list, where the archaic script noted the nature of the deception.
"The Labyrinth," he forced out, the word sounding like dry stone.
"Only a Valerius... can speak the oath. The scroll... is protected by the Steward's Blood."
Seraphina stared at the name, her mind racing to connect the final, missing piece of the puzzle.
The most trusted family in the Pack, the guardians of the law, were also the keepers of the ultimate deception.
It was a twist of loyalty and constraint that perfectly explained the paradox of the Agenda's power.
"They sealed their own truth," Seraphina murmured, realizing the depth of the betrayal.
"They entrusted the final lock to the one family they knew would never dare break it."
Kael, now operating purely on adrenaline and coded urgency, pressed the glowing brass key into her hand.
His eyes fixed on hers, conveying the gravity of her mission.
"You have the name," Kael whispered, the Lycan glow in his eyes flickering violently before fading entirely, leaving only exhaustion.
"You must find the key-holder.
The one who believes. Use the List to expose the lie, and use the Valerius the right one to unlock the final truth."
With that, Kael's consciousness finally gave way.
He collapsed fully onto the forest floor, the energy drain complete. He was not dead, but he was utterly spent a tactical necessity that had nearly killed him.
Seraphina, left alone with the metallic List and the mysterious, glowing brass key, looked back toward the high, jagged peaks of the Sunstone fortress.
She now held the evidence to start a civil war and the unsolved mystery to end it.
She had to identify the right Valerius before Commander Valens and the full might of the Agenda found her and the evidence she now cradled.