Chapter 13: The First Trail
The message on the rooftop had disappeared.
But Evan couldn’t stop thinking about it.
THE FIRST REMEMBERS YOU.
Those four words followed him long after he and the others had left the Archive.
Elias Veyr.
The First Fourfold Traveler.
If Elias was still alive, then Evan needed to find him.
But there was another mystery that demanded attention.
The strange black object left behind by the masked attackers.
Ronan carried it carefully as they walked through the quiet streets of Arclight.
Evan glanced at it.
“What are you thinking?”
Kaela looked at him.
“Elias.”
“You think the message really came from him?”
“I don’t know.”
Evan looked toward the enormous World Gate in the distance.
“But I think someone wanted me to find it.”
Kaela nodded.
“Then we’ll find the answer.”
Evan looked at her.
“We?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to come.”
Kaela gave him a serious look.
“I know.”
Evan smiled.
“You’re stubborn.”
“So are you.”
A few steps behind them, Liora watched the two of them.
A small smile appeared on her face.
Ronan noticed.
“You find something funny?”
Liora quickly looked away.
“No.”
“You definitely do.”
“It’s nothing.”
Ronan raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
They returned to the inn before sunset.
Ronan placed the black object on the table.
Everyone gathered around it.
It was small, made from a strange material Evan had never seen before.
It wasn’t quite metal, yet it was harder than anything he had encountered.
A symbol had been carved into its surface.
A circle surrounded by four points.
Evan immediately recognized it.
“The Fourfold symbol.”
Liora leaned closer.
“This isn’t ordinary metal.”
“What is it?” Evan asked.
“I don’t know.”
She carefully touched the object with a small amount of magic.
The spell disappeared instantly.
Liora pulled her hand away.
“It absorbed my mana.”
Ronan’s expression became serious.
“Like Darkness?”
“Similar,” Liora said.
“But not exactly.”
Ronan looked at Evan.
“Try your Dark magic.”
Evan hesitated.
“What if it reacts badly?”
“Then we’ll stop.”
Evan slowly raised his hand.
Darkness gathered around his fingers.
His natural red eyes changed to violet-black.
A thin shadow extended from his hand and touched the object.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
FLASH.
The Fourfold symbol glowed.
Evan immediately pulled his hand back.
The light vanished.
Everyone stared at the object.
Kaela broke the silence.
“It reacted to Evan.”
“Just like the World Gate.”
Evan’s expression hardened.
“Then whoever left this behind knew about my power.”
No one answered.
The room suddenly felt much colder.
That night, Evan couldn’t sleep.
He quietly left the inn and sat beneath a tree nearby.
Arclight was unusually peaceful.
Magical lights illuminated the streets while the dark, star-filled sky stretched above the city.
Evan closed his eyes.
For a moment, he remembered Earth.
His old life.
The people he had known.
The life he had left behind.
He still didn’t know whether he would ever see Earth again.
Then he heard footsteps.
Evan opened his eyes.
Kaela sat down beside him.
“You disappear a lot.”
Evan smiled.
“I needed some air.”
“Thinking about Earth?”
“Yeah.”
Kaela looked toward the stars.
“Do you want to go back?”
Evan didn’t answer immediately.
“I used to.”
“And now?”
Evan looked at her.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Kaela turned toward him.
“Why?”
Evan looked away.
“Because I have people here I don’t want to leave.”
Kaela became quiet.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Evan noticed her cheeks were slightly red.
He smiled.
“You’re blushing.”
Kaela immediately looked away.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“It’s cold.”
Evan laughed.
“You used my excuse.”
Kaela lightly pushed his shoulder.
“Be quiet.”
Evan smiled.
For a brief moment, the mysteries of the Fourfold and the World Gates seemed far away.
Then his Fourfold mark suddenly became warm.
His smile disappeared.
He looked down at his hand.
A thin line of light appeared across the mark.
Kaela immediately became serious.
“Evan?”
“I feel it.”
The light formed a small symbol.
Then a faint direction appeared within it.
Evan slowly stood.
“It’s pointing somewhere.”
Kaela stood beside him.
“Where?”
Evan looked toward the northern part of the city.
“The mountains.”
The next morning, they returned to the Archive.
The archivist listened carefully as Evan explained what had happened.
When Evan mentioned the northern mountains, the old man’s expression changed.
“You shouldn’t go there.”
Evan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because the First World Gate is located beyond those mountains.”
Evan became silent.
Ronan immediately understood.
“That’s where Elias disappeared.”
The archivist nodded.
Evan looked at the map spread across the table.
“Then that’s where we’re going.”
Kaela stood beside him.
“We’ll need supplies.”
Liora nodded.
“And someone who knows the road.”
Ronan looked toward the mountain range marked on the map.
“There’s another problem.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“The road to the First Gate isn’t abandoned.”
“What do you mean?” Evan asked.
“Someone has been traveling through that region recently.”
The archivist frowned.
“Who?”
Ronan placed a small piece of parchment on the table.
“We don’t know.”
Evan looked at the symbol drawn on it.
The same symbol appeared on the black object.
His expression hardened.
“The people who attacked us.”
“Maybe,” Ronan said.
Evan clenched his hand.
“Then we’ll be ready.”
Before they left, the archivist stopped Evan.
“There is something else you need.”
He opened an old wooden chest.
Inside was a folded map.
The paper was worn and yellowed with age.
The archivist handed it to Evan.
“This belonged to Elias.”
Evan carefully unfolded it.
The map was covered with handwritten notes.
Several locations had been crossed out.
Others had been marked with strange symbols.
But one place immediately caught Evan’s attention.
Four symbols had been drawn beside it.
Fire.
Water.
Lightning.
Darkness.
Evan stared at them.
“What is this place?”
The archivist shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
Evan examined the map more closely.
At the bottom, he found a sentence written in Elias’s handwriting.
If another Fourfold comes after me, don’t trust the first person who claims to know the way.
Evan read it twice.
“Who was Elias warning?”
The archivist didn’t answer.
Ronan looked at the sentence.
“That sounds like he expected someone to follow his trail.”
Evan folded the map.
“Then he expected someone like me.”
Kaela looked at him.
“Whatever is waiting for us, we’ll deal with it together.”
Evan nodded.
“Together.”
They left the Archive and began preparing for the journey north.
Supplies were gathered.
Weapons were checked.
Maps were secured.
The mountains waited beyond the northern road.
None of them noticed the figure standing on a distant rooftop.
The stranger watched Evan carefully.
Then he turned toward the mountains.
“The Second Fourfold has found the trail.”
Far beyond Arclight, the First World Gate remained silent.
But deep within the mountains, something awakened.
A faint red light appeared between ancient stones.
An inscription slowly revealed itself.
WHEN THE SECOND ARRIVES, THE FIRST WILL REMEMBER.
The light faded.
The mountains became silent once again.
Evan was finally following Elias’s trail.
But he didn’t know who would reach the First World Gate first.
And somewhere ahead, someone was already waiting.