Chapter 387: The Forbidden Archive

The page had gone dark, but the words were still burning in Kai’s mind.

And something has chosen you.

Nobody spoke until Sera broke the silence. "I really don’t like these ruins."

"Neither do I," Lily said.

Aren looked at the ancient book. "That’s the first thing we’ve all agreed on."

Gabriel didn’t laugh. She was staring at the empty shelf where six records had once been, and then she looked at Kai, and he could see her make a decision. "Come with me. The sealed archive is below us, and there’s something there you need to see."

Sera stepped forward immediately. "I’m coming."

"All of you can come," Gabriel said.

Aren raised an eyebrow. "That sounds important."

"It is."

Gabriel walked to the far wall and pressed her hand against the ancient stone. Nothing happened, and she pressed harder, but it still didn’t move. Then she whispered something in an ancient language, and a thin line of blue light split the wall.

Aren’s expression changed. "I’ve never seen that door."

"You’re not supposed to," Gabriel said.

The stone slowly separated, revealing a staircase that descended into darkness.

Lily stared down it. "How far does it go?"

"I don’t know."

"You’ve never been down there?"

"Not recently," Gabriel said. "And never this far."

Lily blinked. "Then how do you know what’s down there?"

Gabriel’s expression grew complicated. "Because I was told."

"By who?"

Gabriel didn’t answer.

Kai looked at the staircase. The ruins outside had felt abandoned, but this place felt different. It felt hidden, protected, and waiting.

The moment he set his foot on the first step, Tiamat’s voice filled his mind.

Do not go further.

Kai stopped. Why?

Tiamat was silent for a moment. Because I know what places like this are meant to contain.

You’ve seen an archive like this before?

Not this one. But I remember the people who built them.

Kai kept walking down the stairs. You know something about the System.

It wasn’t a question, and Tiamat didn’t deny it. Yes.

How much?

Enough.

That’s not an answer.

It is the answer you can safely have.

Kai frowned. You knew the System wasn’t always here.

Tiamat said nothing, and her silence was answer enough.

When did it arrive? Tiamat.

You are asking questions that belong to a stronger version of yourself.

Kai stopped walking. What does that mean?

It means you are not strong enough to know.

His expression darkened. You’re hiding things from me.

Yes.

There was no hesitation at all. Kai had expected an excuse, but Tiamat simply admitted it.

Why?

Her voice softened. Because there are truths that can be learned, and truths that must first be survived.

Kai stared down into the dark. What happens if I learn them too early?

You may attract a reckoning you cannot withstand.

From the System?

Perhaps.

Or something else?

She didn’t answer.

You know.

Yes.

Kai clenched his hand. Then tell me.

Not yet.

When?

When you are strong enough that the truth cannot break you.

Kai took another step. And if I never become strong enough?

This time, Tiamat answered immediately. Then I will never tell you.

Kai stopped again. That answer carried more weight than any explanation could have. She wasn’t playing with him or pretending not to know. She was protecting him.

He finally nodded. Fine.

You accept that rather easily, Tiamat said, sounding faintly amused.

No. I just know I’ll become strong enough eventually.

After a quiet pause, she answered. That confidence is one of the reasons I chose to stay beside you.

Kai almost smiled. You chose?

Don’t become arrogant.

Too late.

For the first time in several minutes, Tiamat laughed softly in his mind. Then her presence settled back into silence, still there and still watching.

The staircase ended, and Kai stepped into a massive chamber. Unlike the ruins outside, everything here was perfectly intact, with no broken statues, no collapsed corridors, and no vines creeping across the stone. Thousands of records filled the room, books and crystal tablets and strange metal plates, and some were suspended inside transparent containers.

Lily slowly turned in place. "This is..."

"The Forbidden Archive," Gabriel said.

Aren looked around. "Why have I never heard of this?"

"Because nobody is supposed to."

Sera looked at Gabriel. "Not even the Church?"

"The highest levels of the Church know it exists, but most of them have never seen it."

"And you?" Kai asked.

"I’ve been here once, nine years ago, before I became Archbishop."

Aren frowned. "Then why bring us here now?"

Gabriel looked directly at Kai. "Because what’s happening around you has crossed a line I can no longer ignore." She walked toward the center of the chamber. "There are records here that the Church sealed deliberately."

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Not because they were evil," Gabriel said, looking at the shelves. "Because we couldn’t understand them."

That made Kai more uneasy than if she had said they were dangerous, and Aren seemed to feel the same way. "How can you seal something just because you don’t understand it?"

Gabriel gave him a tired smile. "Very easily." She touched one of the crystal containers. "Knowledge becomes dangerous when people pretend they understand it. We preserved these records because destroying them would have been worse."

Lily’s eyes were already moving across the shelves. "How many have been translated?"

"Less than one percent."

Lily froze. "One percent?"

"Some languages have no modern equivalent, and some symbols don’t correspond to anything we know." Gabriel looked toward the deepest part of the archive. "And some records appear to describe things that shouldn’t exist."

Kai followed her gaze. "Like what?"

Gabriel didn’t answer. She stopped in front of a black crystal tablet with no writing on it, only a single symbol, the broken circle.

"The Candidate," Kai said.

"That’s one interpretation," Gabriel said.

"Then what is it?" Lily asked.

"We don’t know."

"Again."

Gabriel smiled faintly. "You’re going to have to get used to that."

She touched the crystal, and a projection rose from it, showing an ancient city unlike Aegis. It had no massive walls, no armies, and no weapons. People walked through its enormous streets while machines drifted through the air between towers that reached into the sky. It looked peaceful, and far more advanced than anything they had seen.

Lily stared at it. "This is older than Aegis."

"Yes."

The projection changed. The city faded, and a group of people appeared, gathered around a strange structure. Then a symbol appeared above them, and Kai’s eyes widened. It was the System’s symbol.

There, Tiamat said.

Kai froze. You recognize it?

Yes. I know what it was.

The distinction caught him. Was?

You are looking at the beginning of something that became very different later.

Did the System exist before this civilization?

No. The answer came immediately. The record is true.

Kai looked at the ancient city, and he didn’t bother asking when the System had arrived. He already knew she wouldn’t tell him.

Some questions are dangerous even before you know their answers, Tiamat said softly, as if she had heard the thought.

Then I’ll get stronger.

I know.

The projection shifted again, and the city disappeared, leaving a black screen and a single line of text. Lily began to translate, her voice growing quiet.

"The System arrived after the first civilization."

Even though Tiamat had already confirmed it, seeing it written by an ancient civilization made it feel different. Kai had always assumed the System had simply been there, that classes, Hunters, skills, and the Disasters had all come from it together. But if this record was right, then the System wasn’t the beginning. The first civilization had already existed before it, and the System had come afterward.

Lily stared at the words. "That can’t be right. The System is supposed to be the reason Hunters exist."

"That is the modern understanding," Gabriel said.

"But if it arrived later..." Aren said.

"Then Hunters may not have been the beginning," Gabriel finished.

Sera looked at Kai, who hadn’t said a word. "What are you thinking?"

Kai looked at the projection. "That we’ve been looking at history backward."

Gabriel nodded slowly. "The System may not have created the world we know. It may have entered it."

Lily’s eyes widened. "Then who created the first civilization?"

Nobody answered.

You know, Kai thought.

Yes, Tiamat said.

And you’re not going to tell me.

No.

Kai sighed. I hate this rule.

You hate being told to wait.

Same thing.

No, Tiamat said, with the faintest hint of amusement. You simply haven’t learned the difference yet.

Kai almost smiled.

Then the archive shook.

BOOM.

Dust fell from the ceiling, and the crystal tablet flickered.

Kai turned. "What was that?"

"I don’t know," Gabriel said, looking toward the entrance.

A second tremor hit, and the doors behind them slammed shut. Sera drew her sword, and Aren moved beside her.

"Wait," Lily said, grabbing the crystal tablet. "The archive is locking down."

Gabriel’s face changed, and she rushed to the entrance as the ancient door sealed itself completely. Symbols spread across its surface one after another.

Lily studied them. "These aren’t Church seals. The archive is sealing itself."

Gabriel stopped. "Why?"

"I don’t know."

Distortion reacted, but this time it wasn’t showing Kai a path. It was showing him attention. Something had noticed them, and it wasn’t outside. It was inside the archive.

Kai slowly turned. At the far end of the chamber, one of the sealed crystal containers had begun to glow, even though nobody had touched it or even gone near it.

Kai, Tiamat said.

I know.

No. Her voice turned serious. You don’t.

Kai’s eyes narrowed. What is it?

Tiamat was silent, and for the first time since entering the archive, Kai sensed something from her that wasn’t calm. It wasn’t fear. It was concern.

Tell me.

I cannot.

The crystal grew brighter.

Then tell me what you can.

After a long pause, she answered. Do not let the archive show you everything.

Why?

Tiamat’s reply was quiet. Because it remembers too much.

The archive went dark, and then every sealed record opened at once. Books flipped open on their own, crystal tablets flared to life, and metal plates began to glow until thousands of records lit up the chamber. Projections filled the walls, showing civilizations, wars, Disasters, Hunters, Candidates, the System, and things Kai had never seen before.

Sera moved closer to him. "Kai..."

He couldn’t answer. Among the thousands of records, one image had appeared directly in front of him. It showed a civilization standing beneath a sky full of stars, and at its center stood a single figure. It wasn’t someone who looked like him, or someone similar. It was Kai.

The image was ancient, and it was impossible.

Beneath it, a single line appeared.

THE RECORD OF THE NEXT CANDIDATE BEGINS HERE.

Distortion exploded outward from Kai, and the whole archive shook.