The Cosmic Riddle
Mary lifted herself above the ground, floating in the strange gravity of the forbidden outer district. She had come to this place to discover the ancient myths of the gods, but instead, she had found a dark riddle that now hung over her life like a sentence. Drawn to the flesh-bound book, she reached out to touch the weeping pages once more.
“Mary, back away! Don’t touch it!” Kaelen barked, his silver runes flaring to life. He pulled her away forcefully. “That book houses a locked, ancient spirit. If you force its parameters, the localized radiation will scramble your cells before we can even attempt to warp out of here.”
Mary landed heavily, her boots striking the concrete floor. She stared at the interface flickering before her eyes, displaying a critical degradation warning.
Lucas stepped up behind them, his breath hitching as he stared at the writhing face bound into the leather. “The Vanguard archives said this library was abandoned. They didn’t say it was alive.”
“It’s not alive,” Mary said quietly, watching the screaming face slowly recede back into the leather. “It’s an execution block. And it just put a rope around our necks.”
