The next morning came quiet, cloaked in the same golden mist that always draped Vayron Rafael. But something felt different.
Akian sat cross-legged in his attic room, the mysterious book resting on the floor in front of him. He had barely slept. The symbols etched into the worn pages stared back at him — strange, curling shapes and lines that moved like wind-blown smoke. It wasn't any script he'd ever seen.
He flipped the pages slowly. No diagrams. No images. Just lines and symbols that filled the book like secrets waiting to be told.
"I don't understand any of this..." he muttered.
He tried comparing it to the Order's sacred texts — they were kept at the temple and written in the High Script, which all Raels were taught in school. But this… this was different.
He kept the book inside his cloak.
" I must go to the ruin today ."
" There should be something with which I can decipher these writing ."
---
Elsewhere, inside the palace of the holy order.
Two robed figures knelt before the Council of the Holy Order, their heads bowed low.
"My Lord," one of them said, "there are whispers… someone saw shadows near the southern ruins."
"Those ruins are forbidden," a Watcher replied coldly. "Who would dare?"
"We do not know yet. But the witness swears it."
The High Seer raised a hand.
"Send the Watchers," he said. "Find the truth. And bring us the culprit."
There was no further discussion.
---
Back at Akian's home, the smell of herbs and steamed grain drifted up from the kitchen. Akian closed the book, tucking it under a loose floorboard just as footsteps reached the stairs.
A knock at the attic door.
"You're not skipping breakfast again, are you?" came a warm voice.
Akian stood up quickly. "Coming."
Downstairs, his mother stood near the stove, her back turned, dark hair tied neatly. She moved with a quiet grace, pouring tea into two wooden cups.
Her name was Eliah — a woman soft in voice but firm in presence. She wasn't born in Vayron Rafael, or at least, that's what the quiet rumors said. But no one ever dared ask. To Akian, she had always been mother — the only family he could remember.
"You've been in that attic all morning," she said, setting his cup down. "What are you working on now?"
Akian hesitated. "Just… reading."
When Akian tries to sit on the chair. They book he hides inside the cloak , fall on the flood .
Eliah picked the book before he could,she glanced the book . "This doesn't look like one of the holy books "
She flicked the page and sees the writing, her expression changed — just slightly — but Akian noticed.
She touched the writing lightly with her fingers. "Where did you find it ?"
Akian swallowed. "I found the book. In the ruins."
Eliah's smile faded. Her fingers stilled on the page.
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then, she handed the notebook back, her face unreadable. "Be careful what you keep, Akian. Some things are left behind for a reason."
She turned away, back to the stove — as if nothing had changed.
But Akian could feel it.
She is hiding something...
To be continued...