Chapter 14: The Hidden Record
Morning came quietly to Arclight.
Evan walked toward the Archive with Kaela, Ronan, and Liora.
He had barely slept.
The message from the previous night continued to occupy his thoughts.
THE FIRST REMEMBERS YOU.
If the message had truly come from Elias, what did it mean?
How could Elias know Evan had arrived in this world?
And why had he waited until now to make contact?
Kaela glanced at him.
“Still thinking about Elias?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ll find your answers.”
Evan gave her a faint smile.
“I hope so.”
They entered the Archive.
The archivist was already waiting near the restricted section.
The moment he saw them, he waved Evan closer.
“I found something.”
Evan stopped.
“What?”
The archivist placed an ancient document on the table.
“This was hidden among Elias Veyr’s records.”
Evan carefully examined it.
Most of the writing had faded with age.
Several sections had been deliberately damaged, but a few sentences were still readable.
One line immediately caught Evan’s attention.
THE FOURFOLD TRAVELER DOES NOT ARRIVE BY CHANCE.
Evan stared at it.
“What does that mean?”
The archivist shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
“Then why was it hidden?”
“Because someone tried to destroy this record.”
Kaela examined the torn edges.
“Do you know who?”
The archivist hesitated.
Then he answered.
“Aurelion Veyr.”
Evan’s expression hardened.
Once again, Aurelion’s name appeared whenever the truth about Elias came up.
Evan looked at the next surviving line.
WHEN THE SECOND ARRIVES, THE GATE MAY AWAKEN.
His eyes widened.
“The second?”
The archivist nodded.
“The records identify Elias as the First Fourfold Traveler.”
Evan already knew what that meant.
“And I’m the second.”
“According to everything we’ve discovered, yes.”
Evan looked toward the enormous windows.
The World Gate was visible above the city.
Its glow seemed slightly brighter than it had the day before.
Then—
VMMMM.
A faint vibration passed through the Archive.
Several books trembled on their shelves.
Liora looked around.
“What was that?”
Kaela moved closer to Evan.
“Was that the Gate?”
The archivist watched the distant structure carefully.
“I don’t know.”
His Fourfold mark was warm.
But it wasn’t glowing.
The archivist noticed.
“Don’t assume every reaction from the Gate is caused by you.”
Evan nodded.
“So something is happening, but we don’t know what.”
“Exactly.”
Ronan crossed his arms.
“Then what do we actually know?”
The archivist returned his attention to the damaged document.
“Only that Elias was searching for something before he disappeared.”
Evan frowned.
“What?”
“A place.”
“Where?”
The archivist pointed toward a section of the document where the writing had been deliberately removed.
“The name has been erased.”
Kaela leaned closer.
“Can it be recovered?”
“Possibly.”
The archivist looked toward the deepest part of the Archive.
“Elias left another record somewhere inside.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed.
“Then let’s find it.”
“There is a problem.”
“What?”
“The section containing it has been sealed for decades.”
Ronan looked toward a massive doorway at the end of the corridor.
“Can it be opened?”
The archivist looked directly at Evan.
“Perhaps.”
Evan didn’t like the way he said it.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Because the seal was created using Fourfold magic.”
The group fell silent.
Evan approached the ancient doorway.
Four symbols were carved into its surface.
A flame.
A water droplet.
A lightning bolt.
And a dark crescent.
The same four elements that existed within Evan.
He slowly raised his hand.
Kaela caught his wrist.
“Be careful.”
Evan looked at her.
“I will.”
He gently placed his palm against the seal.
Nothing happened.
For several seconds, the chamber remained completely silent.
Then—
Glow.
The flame symbol illuminated.
The water symbol followed.
Lightning flashed across the third symbol.
Finally, darkness spread through the fourth.
The four symbols were responding to him.
Evan’s natural red eyes briefly shifted to violet-black as Darkness resonated with the seal.
A deep crack echoed through the corridor.
The seal began to split.
Evan immediately pulled his hand away.
The light vanished.
Kaela stared at him.
“Your eyes changed again.”
“I felt the connection.”
The archivist carefully examined the damaged seal.
“It responded to you.”
Evan looked at the door.
“Does that mean Elias created it for me?”
“No.”
The archivist shook his head.
“We don’t know who the seal was created for.”
Evan stared at the four symbols.
For the first time, he understood something important.
The Fourfold power wasn’t simply a weapon.
Someone had been using it long before he arrived.
And Elias had left something behind.
Something important enough that someone had tried to erase it.
Ronan looked toward the sealed doorway.
“Then our next destination is obvious.”
Evan nodded.
“The sealed archive.”
Kaela smiled.
“Looks like we have another mystery.”
Evan smiled back.
“Apparently, that’s becoming normal.”
They prepared to enter the sealed section.
But before Evan turned away, something caught his attention.
Beneath the four elemental symbols was a much smaller mark.
He had never seen it before.
It looked like a doorway surrounded by stars.
Evan reached toward it.
The moment his finger touched the symbol—
Everything went silent.
A faint whisper entered his mind.
Find the beginning.
Evan immediately pulled his hand away.
The symbol disappeared.
Kaela noticed his expression.
“What happened?”
Evan stared at the empty space.
“I don’t know.”
And that was the truth.
For now.
Far beyond Arclight, beneath the dark mountain sky, Aurelion Veyr stood before an ancient World Gate.
He could feel the disturbance coming from the city.
His eyes narrowed.
“Elias…”
Aurelion’s expression hardened.
“So you’ve left him another path.”
He looked toward the mountains.
“Then I’ll have to find it before he does.”
Back in Arclight, Evan and his companions stood before the sealed section.
They still didn’t know where the hidden record would lead.
They didn’t know whether Elias was truly alive.
And they didn’t know what Aurelion was planning.
But Evan could feel that something had changed.
His arrival in the World of Unknown had awakened a mystery that had been waiting for him for a very long time.
And now, for the first time, he had found a trail leading directly into the past.
The past of the First Fourfold Traveler.
The past of the World Gates.
And perhaps— the beginning of Evan’s own story.