Chapter 10 – Whispers in the Dust
The underground archive was silent—too silent.
Shayan stepped inside, the air thick with the scent of forgotten history. The temperature dropped with every step he took, his presence alone stirring layers of dust that had remained undisturbed for decades. Ancient tomes lined the walls, most sealed with protective scripts and blood-locked sigils.
He wasn't here for books.
No… he was here for the Vault of Reversed Time—a forbidden chamber that could only be opened by those who understood time as more than just linear flow.
Using his photographic memory, Shayan reconstructed the sequence from an old family scroll he had read as a child.
Left palm. Drop of blood. Silence. Pause. Then the phrase.
He followed it precisely.
> "Time bows before knowledge, and destiny kneels before memory."
A ripple surged through the room. The stone wall trembled as a circular doorway revealed itself, slowly grinding open with a groan that echoed through the cavernous dark.
Inside, it was not darkness that welcomed him—but light. Ethereal, unnatural light pulsing from ancient relics suspended mid-air.
Among them, a crystal orb whispered his name.
> "Shayan… heir of the Devkarin line… Watcher of Shadows… Architect of the Silent Crown…"
He didn't flinch. He had expected this.
What he didn't expect was the second voice.
> "You are not the only one who remembers everything."
His eyes sharpened.
Someone else was in the archive.
A second memory-keeper?
A spy?
A future threat?
He stepped closer to the orb, eyes unblinking. "Show me," he commanded.
The orb pulsed once, then again—and suddenly, visions flooded his mind.
—A man cloaked in shadows, building an empire in the underworld.
—A woman bearing his family crest… but unknown to him.
—A sealed letter… signed with his own name, written in someone else's hand.
Someone had rewritten a future he hadn't seen.
The game had changed. And he hadn't made the first move this time.
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