Joneb remained seated on the floor for several minutes.
The testimony was real.
At least, it felt real.
The paper had the texture of an old document. The handwriting was consistent. The seal on its lower corner was faint but recognizable.
He placed it carefully on the table.
Then he examined the metal seal.
A thin crack ran across the open-eye symbol.
He remembered Roderick's words.
You don't understand the rules.
Perhaps he was right.
Joneb had been moving from one discovery to another without fully understanding the consequences.
He knew that Educatia existed.
He knew that records could be altered.
He knew that people could disappear from memory.
But he did not know who had created the system.
Or why the outer world was involved.
He looked at the testimony again.
The phrase was unmistakable.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OUTER WORLD.
He wondered whether it referred to Luzonia.
Or perhaps to people from other places entirely.
At breakfast, Amira noticed that he was unusually quiet.
“Are you feeling well?”
“Yes.”
“You look like you haven't slept.”
Joneb smiled.
“Just thinking about work.”
Amira shook her head.
“You should learn to leave work at the office.”
He laughed.
“I'll try.”
She placed food on his plate.
“By the way, Jayvee needs money for his project.”
“I'll give him some later.”
“And Jaycee has an activity on Friday.”
Joneb nodded.
The ordinary responsibilities of his life continued.
He was grateful for them.
They reminded him that he still belonged to a world where problems could be solved through conversation, effort, and practical decisions.
But he also knew that the strange events were no longer confined to his dreams.
That afternoon, he reviewed the testimony again.
He photographed every page.
He did not take the original to work.
Instead, he stored it in a locked drawer at home.
He wanted to understand the document before allowing anyone else to see it.
At around four, he received an email from the personnel office.
The subject line read:
STATUS OF APPLICATION FOR PROMOTION.
He opened it.
The message informed him that his application had been recommended for final approval.
The appointment was expected to be released soon.
He read the email twice.
Then he looked at the metal seal.
It remained cracked.
He wondered whether the promotion was still part of the arrangement Roderick had offered. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Or whether the process was proceeding normally after all.
He decided to wait for the official documents.
That night, he entered Educatia.
The archive was in disarray.
Several shelves had been damaged.
The table where Orven usually worked was empty.
Elyra stood near the entrance.
“You found the testimony,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Did you read it?”
“Only part of it.”
“Then you know about the representatives.”
Joneb nodded.
“Who were they?”
Elyra walked toward the Register of Balance.
“Long ago, Educatia discovered that its records were connected to other worlds. At first, the connection was harmless. It allowed the archive to preserve events beyond the kingdom.”
“Like events in Luzonia?”
“Yes.”
“Who established the connection?”
“The first keepers.”
“Why?”
“To learn from other civilizations. To understand how institutions functioned, how decisions were made, and how ordinary people lived under different systems.”
Joneb looked around.
“What went wrong?”
“Some keepers realized that the connection could be used for more than observation.”
“Control?”
Elyra nodded.
“They began influencing records in the outer world.”
Joneb remembered the altered transactions in his office.
“Can they change real events?”
“Not directly. But they can manipulate the records through which people understand those events. They can hide evidence, distort history, and influence decisions made by people who rely on those records.”
Joneb thought about the promotion.
“So the records can influence who gets appointed?”
“Yes.”
“Who gets investigated?”
“Yes.”
“Who gets remembered?”
Elyra nodded.
“Exactly.”
He looked at the Register of Balance.
“Then the problem is not only in Educatia.”
“No. It is in both worlds.”
Joneb placed the testimony on the table.
“It says representatives of the outer world signed the agreement.”
Elyra opened the document.
Her expression changed as she read the final paragraph.
“I was afraid of this.”
“Who were they?”
She pointed toward the signatures.
There were several names.
Most were difficult to read.
But one remained clear. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
A. L. MERCADO.
Joneb stared.
“Who is that?”
Elyra closed the document.
“Someone who helped establish the first connection between Educatia and the outer world.”
“Was this person from Luzonia?”
“Yes.”
“Is he still alive?”
“We do not know.”
Joneb looked at the signature again.
There was something strange about it.
The ink seemed newer than the rest of the document.
He leaned closer.
A small mark appeared beneath the name.
A date.
The date was not from the distant past.
It was from the current year.
Joneb stepped backward.
“That's impossible.”
Elyra examined the date.
Her face became pale.
“Someone has renewed the agreement.”
“Who?”
She looked at him.
“That is what we must discover.”
A bell rang from somewhere deep inside the archive.
Orven emerged from the corridor.
He was holding a damaged book.
“Elyra,” he said. “The Council has received a new instruction.”
“What instruction?”
Orven placed the book on the table.
The cover bore the open-eye symbol, but the symbol had been crossed out.
He opened it.
A new record appeared.
THE OUTER WORLD HAS BEEN NOTIFIED.
Beneath it was another sentence.
THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK MUST BE REMOVED.
Joneb felt his heart sink.
“Who is the man behind the desk?”
Orven looked at him.
“You.”
The archive fell silent.
Then every lamp went out.
From the darkness came a voice.
“Not yet.”
A figure stepped forward.
It was the same woman Joneb had seen in his earliest dream.
The keeper of records.
But she was no longer wearing the dark robe.
Her clothes were ordinary.
Her face was familiar.
Joneb recognized her.
She looked exactly like someone he had seen in his own office.
Someone he had never suspected.