The cry that shattered the stillness of the mirror-hollows was no mere utterance. It resonated like a symphony of despair, a haunting blend of anguish and authority, as if countless voices were echoing through the cracked veneer of a single, broken mind.
The alcoves stirred in eerie union.
Each half-erased archivist shifted, a disjointed ballet of movement. Some jerked their heads, startled from a waking slumber, while others turned as if breaking free from a suffocating dream. A few merely rolled their vacant eyes, or what remained of them, until they rested upon us with a predatory focus.
Sareth gripped my hand tightly. "Vaerin--run!"
We dashed forward, the lantern swaying erratically between us as we raced down the corridor, our frantic footsteps ringing against the chill of the stone floor. Behind us, the unsettling sound of movement intensified--a cacophony of bodies dragging and shuffling, unfurling from their stony prisons.
The first archivist emerged fully from its alcove.
Its eyes glimmered with a ghostly silver-light, an inner reflection of madness. Limbs twisted in unnatural angles, joints bending grotesquely as though held together by fraying strings of fate. It did not cry out. No, it moved with dreadful resolve, its hands reaching out in unnatural, jerking motions.
And then, more followed. Dozens, a relentless tide.
Their luminous eyes illuminated the darkness behind us, glowing like scattered lanterns amidst the shroud of the dead.
Sareth yanked me to the right. "The map claims the First Book lies in the lower vault--keep on pressing on!"
A bone-chilling vibration pulsed through the floor beneath us, as if the very heart of the Calyra had lost its steady beat. The corridor quivered, and fine dust cascaded from the ceiling like shimmering tears.
I dared a glance over my shoulder--just once--and the sight nearly stole my breath away.
The Indexed archivists had begun their horrifying pursuit.
Their legs moved in unnatural ways; some skittered sideways like fractured insects, others stumbled in grotesque bounds, while one crawled forth on all fours, limbs extending like the tendrils of some dark vine upon cold stone.
All glowing-eyed.
All fixated upon us.
We plunged into a constricted passage.
The building responded, alive with a ravenous hunger.
The walls trembled, groaned, and then constricted like a throat tightening around something forbidden. A handful of the Indexed collided with the narrowing gap--their hands thrusting through the fitting passage, fingers stretching and clawing, carving desperate lines into the stone.
Sareth's voice sliced through the tension: "RUN!"
We dashed forward as the walls sealed shut behind us, plunging the passage ahead into an all-consuming darkness.
Only the lantern flickered in the gloom -- a feeble, flickering flame struggling against the encroaching shadows that threatened to suffocate us.
We pushed ahead until the corridor opened into a spacious, circular antechamber.
Bending at the waist, I braced my hands on my knees, fighting against the bile of sheer terror rising in my throat.
Sareth pressed her ear against the cold stone wall. "They'll find another way. These halls weave like veins. We must move before--"
A soft, wet footstep reverberated behind us.
Not the Indexed.
This presence was all too familiar.
A shape materialized from the doorway -- tall and hunched, its limbs trembling with a grotesque multitude of joints. But it was its eyes that haunted me most: an unsettling swarm of Luthens blinking in an erratic rhythm.
Its face contorted, a nightmarish ballet of twitches.
"Vaerin."
The name wasn't voiced; it rippled through the air, as if the very stones of the labyrinth were murmuring it in dread.
Sareth's instincts kicked in. She shoved me aside just as the Luthen-think lunged, its arms stretching in an impossible arc, fingertips scraping the stone where I had stood an instant before.
It dragged itsself upright once more, joints popping like the snapping of brittle twigs.
I caught a glimpse of his chest -- hollowed out as if an unseen force had scooped out its ribs, leaving a mirrored cavity that pulsed with an eerie light.
The Calyra had consumed him.
had wielded him like a weapon.
Sareth positioned herself between us, her resolve hardening. "We can't outrun both it and the Indexed. We need a distraction."
"We need the First Book," I gasped, desperation igniting within me.
"Then we'll go through him."
The Luthen-thing tilted its head sharply, the bones in its neck cracking with a sound that shivered like breaking glass. It lunged again, swifter than before, propelled by an unfathomable hunger.
Sareth steeled herself.
In a flash, she threw the lantern at his face.
Light erupted in a radiant wave--not an inferno, but a blinding illumination. His reflective skin glimmered far too intensely, provoking a terrified shriek that twisted from a hundred anguished voices into a single, desperate sound.
We fled as he clawed at his own face, frantic to extinguish the relentless glow.
The corridor before us sloped downward, leading us deeper into the ominous heart of the Calyra. The Luthen creature behind us regained its composure, crawling forward--its elongated limbs pulling it through the shadows in a grotesque dance, skittering across walls and ceiling alike.
Sareth pointed toward a colossal iron door looming at the passage's end.
"The Vault!"
The entrance to the Archivist Vault was intricately carved, depicting early Mythshapers--cloaked figures clutching quills like daggers, inscribing the world into existence. Their eyes had been meticulously scratched away, replaced by small inset mirrors that flickered to life, tracking our every move.
With a fierce determination, Sareth slammed her shoulder against the door, but it refused it yield.
"Open!" she cried. "OPEN!"
Silence answered.
The Luthen creature inched closer, its limbs clattering like unsettling chimes made of bone.
I pressed my palms against the cold metal, desperation pooling within me.
The surface began to warm beneath my touch.
It recognized my presence.
Then--
The engravings shifted before our eyes. The mirrors blinked in unison. The locks shrieked open.
As the door cracked wide, the Luthen creature's outstretched fingers reached for us.
Sareth seized my arm and yanked me inside.
The door slammed shut with a resounding BOOM.
Silence enveloped us, a heavy cloak of stillness.
I collapsed onto the floor, my chest heaving, my heart racing as if it were trying to escape.
Sareth leaned her forehead against the door, tears glistening in her eyes.
"We're alive," she whispered, wonder lacing her voice. "We're actually alive."
It was only then that I noticed:
The Vault shimmered with light. Soft. Warm.
Tall shelves graced the chamber, each one filled with tomes bound in materials unfamiliar to me--shimmering hides, ancient vellum, and pages spun from thin molten glass. The air was thick with the scent of aged ink and an elusive sweetness, like cherished memories preserved in time.
At the heart of the room rose a solitary pedestal, unwavering in its ancient stance.
Upon it rested a tome.
More voluminous than anything my gaze had ever beheld. Bound by ten silver clasps, each gleaming ominously. Its cover was adorned with intricate, swirling engravings that seemed alive, twisting and writhing beneath the flickering torchlight.
The First Book.
The very essence of the Calyra. The foundation of the Mythshapers. The genesis of every tale...
...and every obliteration.
Sareth drew near, her breath quaking with anticipation.
"Vaerin," she murmured, her voice trembling like fragile glass. "We've found it."
But as my fingers reached for the tome, a tremor rippled through the air around it--a voice emerged from the shadowed corners of the Vault.
"Not yet."
We whirled, startled.
A figure hovered between the shelves.
Caught in a dance of reflection and reality.
Kallith.
Her form flickered like a candle's final breath -- one moment tangible, the next, a mere shadow.
A smile graced her lips.
Yet, terror lurked in her gaze.
"You must not open the First Book," she breathed, her words a haunting echo that shimmered with dread.
"For first, the Scribe Below must awaken you."
And then--
The lights of the Vault dimmed, casting ominous shadows.
The walls exhaled, restless and alive.
The Calyra began to constrict around us.
