The palace was a labyrinth.
After leaving the library, I had tried to orient myself by looking at the sun. But there was no sun. The sky above the Golden Kingdom was uniformly gray, without shadows, without direction. As if someone had erased even time itself.
So I walked randomly, following corridors that seemed to call me. Or perhaps it was just my imagination. It was hard to tell in a place where the silence was so heavy it seemed alive.
I climbed a spiral staircase. The steps were gray marble, worn in the center by centuries of steps that were no more. The walls were covered with portraits - faded figures in elegant clothes, faces staring at me with empty eyes. Kings? Queens? Nobles? Impossible to say. The gray had erased everything except the shapes.
The staircase ended in a narrower corridor. More intimate. The doors here were smaller, closer together. Private rooms, I realized. Not the state rooms or public halls. These were the apartments where people lived.
I stopped in front of one particular door.
I didn't know why. From the outside it looked identical to the others - gray wood, dull metal handle, no distinguishing marks. But something pulled me toward it. A magnetic attraction. Or perhaps just curiosity.
I opened it.
And my heart stopped.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was a child's room.
There was no doubt. The bed was small, too small for an adult. The walls were covered with drawings - or rather, shadows where drawings had been. I could see traces of erased color, vague shapes of flowers, animals, people.
A small desk in the corner, with a low chair. Shelves full of gray toys - faceless dolls, wooden horses with broken manes, building blocks collapsed into little piles of dust.
And in the center of the room, next to the bed, a teddy bear identical to the one in my pocket.
Perfect twin. Same format. Same worn fabric. Same missing eye.
"Aura," I whispered.
"My... room..."
Her voice was closer than ever. As if she were in the room with me. As if she were seeing through my eyes.
"I slept... in that bed... drew... at that desk... played... with those toys..."
I approached the bed with slow, almost reverent steps. The mattress was gray and stiff, the blankets reduced to rags. But I could imagine it as it had been. Colorful. Warm. Alive.
On the pillow there was something. A book. Small, with a fabric cover. I picked it up carefully.
It was a diary. Or perhaps an album. The pages were full of drawings made by a child's hand. Some were just scribbles - random lines, colors mixed without sense. Others were more elaborate. Stylized figures. Houses. Trees. People.
I turned the pages slowly.
Here, a drawing of a blonde girl in a yellow dress. Below, written in uncertain calligraphy: "ME".
There, a drawing of a tall man with dark hair and a big smile. "PAPA".
And then one that made my chest tighten. The girl and the man together, hand in hand. A bright yellow sun above them. Hearts floating in the air. And below, in larger, prouder letters:
"HAPPY FAMILY"
"I drew it... the day before I got sick..."
Aura's voice broke.
"I was so... happy. I didn't know... I didn't know it would be the last time..."
I closed the book carefully and held it to my chest. I felt the weight of that lost happiness. Of that moment frozen in time, when a little girl didn't know her world was about to end.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."
"It's not... your fault..."
"I know. But I'm sorry anyway."
I put the book back on the pillow. My eyes fell on the wall next to the bed. There were marks there. Not drawings. Something else.
Scratches?
No. More regular. More deliberate.
I moved closer. They were numbers. Carved into the wall with something sharp. Perhaps a toy. Perhaps just a fingernail.
1... 2... 3... 4... 5...
They continued. Up and up. Until I reached the last one:
...847
"What are these?" I asked.
"Days... that papa searched... after I died... each day he marked... a day without me... a day closer... to finding me again..."
847 days. More than two years. Elias had marked every single day on his daughter's bedroom wall. Like a prison. Like a countdown to something that would never come.
Until day 847.
When he found the Eighth Artifact.
And everything ended.
✦ ✦ ✦
I wanted to leave that room. It was too much. Too much pain. Too many memories of a happiness that no longer existed. Too much awareness of how desperate a father who had lost the only thing that mattered had been.
But as I turned toward the door, I saw it.
On the dresser in the corner. A small wooden chest. No bigger than a shoebox. It was the only object in the room that didn't seem completely consumed by gray. It glowed faintly, as if inside there was...
Light.
I approached. The chest was closed, but not with a normal lock. There was a symbol engraved on the lid. A number. No, more numbers. A sequence.
3... 7... 11... 19...
Prime numbers.
I didn't know how I knew. But I knew. As if that knowledge had always been there, buried in my empty mind, waiting to be awakened.
I touched the symbol.
The light in my hands pulsed. The symbol glowed. And the chest opened.
Inside, wrapped in gray fabric, there was a fragment.
Not large. Perhaps the size of my thumb. It was gold - real gold, not the dull gray that had invaded everything else. It shone with its own light, warm and pulsing like a miniature heart.
I took it.
And the world changed.
✦ ✦ ✦
It wasn't a vision. Not like before. It was more real. More intense.
I was still in Aura's room. But it was no longer gray. It was colored.
Yellow walls. Pink blankets. Red and blue and green toys scattered on the floor. The sun - a real golden sun - entered through the window, casting warm rays on the bed.
And there, sitting at the desk, a little girl.
Aura.
Not a spirit. Not a vision. But as she had been. Alive. Real. With blonde hair shining in the sunlight and golden eyes focused on a drawing.
She was drawing the image I had seen in the book. The happy family.
The door opened. A man entered.
Master Elias.
But different from how I had imagined him. Younger. With kind eyes and a natural smile. He wore simple scholar's clothes, stained with ink.
"Aura, sweetheart," he said in a warm voice. "It's time to sleep."
"But papa," the girl protested, "I haven't finished the drawing!"
"You'll finish it tomorrow. The night is for dreams, not for drawings."
Aura pouted. But then smiled. "Will you tell me a story?"
"Always."
Elias picked her up - so small, so fragile - and carried her to the bed. He tucked her in carefully, kissing her forehead.
"Once upon a time," he began, sitting on the edge of the bed, "there was a kingdom where numbers were alive..."
"Like us?"
"Just like us. And every number had a special power. One was the power of creation. Two was the power of balance. Three was the power of growth..."
"And eight?" Aura asked, yawning.
Elias hesitated. Just for a second. But I saw it.
"Eight is special," he said softly. "Eight is the power of change. Of weaving. Of modifying what is to create what could be."
"Wow..." Aura was already closing her eyes. "I wish... I had the power of eight..."
"Maybe one day."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
But when Aura fell asleep, I saw Elias's expression change. The smile vanished. His eyes became distant. Worried.
He gently touched his daughter's forehead. And I saw - just for an instant - that "shadow" he had written about in the diary. Something subtle. Something wrong. The beginning of the illness that would take her away.
"No," Elias whispered. "No, no, no..."
And the vision dissolved.
✦ ✦ ✦
I blinked. I was back in the gray room. The fragment glowed in my hand, warm against my skin.
"That... was the last night... before papa discovered..."
"I know," I said quietly. "I saw."
"He was... happy. I was happy. We were..."
"A family."
"Yes."
I looked at the fragment. So small. But so full of memory. Of pain. Of love.
"This is one of the pieces of the Crown?"
"Yes. One of four... in the palace. Papa hid them... after... after what he did. He scattered them... hoping no one would ever find them. Hoping no one could use that power... again..."
"But I have to find them."
"Yes. To rebuild... to stop... to save..."
I nodded. I squeezed the fragment and put it in the pocket opposite the teddy bear. Two pieces of Aura. One from the happy past. One from the present pain.
I turned toward the door.
And stopped.
Something had changed.
The air. The temperature. The silence.
It was no longer... silence.
There was a sound. Subtle. Like a rustling. Or a whisper. Or the sound of something crawling in the darkness.
"No..."
Aura's voice, suddenly terrified.
"What? What is it?"
"The fragment... you've awakened it... the shadows... they sense the light... they're coming..."
"Who's coming?"
But I didn't have to wait for the answer.
Because at that moment, through the open door, I saw the first shadow.
✦ ✦ ✦
It wasn't what I thought "shadows" should be. It wasn't a silhouette. It wasn't an absence of light.
It was... present.
It was black, yes. But not normal black. Black that absorbed light. Black that seemed like a hole in reality. It had a vaguely humanoid shape - head, body, arms - but blurred. As if looking through distorted water.
And it whispered.
"Lost... lost... lost..."
Not with a voice. With sensation. The words appeared directly in my mind, cold and empty.
Another shadow appeared. Then another. And another.
Four. Five. Six.
They were filling the corridor, moving toward me with inhuman movements. They didn't walk. They slid. They floated. Like heavy smoke snaking across the floor.
"Run!" Aura shouted. "You can't—"
But I didn't run.
I don't know why. Maybe because I was tired of fleeing. Maybe because the fragment in my pocket pulsed warm against my chest, giving me courage. Or perhaps simply because I understood, somehow, that this was a test.
If I wanted to be a Guardian, I had to learn to fight.
"Come," I whispered, raising my hands. The light shone brighter. "If you must come... come."
The first shadow lunged at me.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was fast.
Much faster than it seemed. One moment it was three meters away. The next moment it was on me, the black smoke arms reaching toward my face.
Instinct. Pure instinct.
I raised my hands. The light exploded.
It wasn't a conscious thought. It was survival. Like an animal scratching when trapped. Like a child screaming when afraid.
The light hit the shadow like a physical wave.
The creature screamed.
Not with sound. But I heard it anyway. A cry of agony that pierced my skull like a nail. Then the shadow dissolved. Simply ceased to exist. Like fog struck by the sun.
The other shadows stopped. For one second. Two seconds.
As if they were... thinking? Evaluating? Learning?
Then they moved again. All together.
✦ ✦ ✦
What followed wasn't a battle in the traditional sense. There were no swords. There were no fists. Just light against darkness. Heat against cold. Life against non-life.
The shadows surrounded me, attacking from every direction. Each time I touched one, I felt that cold that burned. Like plunging my hand into ice water. Like touching solidified death.
But each time the light in my hands shone, they dissolved.
One.
Two.
Three.
"Lost... fault... dead... papa... why..."
Their words hit me as much as their touches. Fragments of despair. Echoes of the pain that had created this place.
"Stop!" I shouted, my voice hoarse. "You're not real! You're just... just memories! Just pain!"
But they kept coming.
Four.
Five.
Six.
My hands were trembling. The light was beginning to weaken. Or perhaps it was me weakening. Each time I dissolved a shadow, I felt part of my energy go with it.
And there was still a seventh shadow. The largest. The darkest.
It moved more slowly than the others. More deliberately. As if it were... more real? More formed?
"Lost... all lost... she's dead... and I... I..."
That voice. It was different. Deeper. More personal.
"You what?" I asked, gasping. "Who are you?"
"I am... what remains... when love... becomes... madness..."
The shadow raised what looked like arms. And in the gray of the room, I saw something shine between its hands.
An echo. A memory of an object.
The scepter.
The Eighth Artifact.
This wasn't just a random shadow. It was a fragment of Elias. Of his pain. Of his madness.
"I don't fear you," I said, though it was a lie.
"You should..."
The shadow lunged.
✦ ✦ ✦
I didn't think.
I didn't plan.
I just did what felt right.
I took the fragment from my pocket. The small golden shard pulsing with warm light. And I held it high.
"This is Aura's!" I shouted. "It's her memory! Her happiness! And you can't take it away!"
The fragment glowed.
Not like the light in my hands. Stronger. Purer. As if all the love, all the joy, all the happy moments Aura had known were concentrated in that small piece of gold.
The light struck Elias's shadow full in the chest.
And the creature screamed.
Not in pain. In something else. Recognition? Regret? Pain so deep it had no name?
"Aura... my little one... forgive me..."
And then it dissolved.
Not like the others. Not in a violent erasure. But slowly. Gently. Like smoke dispersing in a gentle breeze.
And for an instant - just an instant - I thought I saw a face in that smoke. The face of a man. With eyes that had once been kind. And full of tears.
Then there was nothing left.
✦ ✦ ✦
I fell to my knees.
My hands were trembling. My heart was beating so hard I could feel the blood pulsing in my ears. Sweat ran down my forehead despite the dead cold of the palace.
But I was alive.
I had fought. And won.
"I'm... I'm still here," I whispered to myself. "I'm alive."
"You were... you were incredible..."
Aura's voice. Full of wonder. And perhaps... pride?
"I didn't feel incredible. I felt terrified."
"But you fought... you used... the light... like a Guardian..."
I looked at my hands. They still glowed, but more faintly. Like embers slowly dying. I could feel the energy flowing through me, but also the cost of having used it.
This was my power. My... mastery.
Not complete. Not perfect. But real.
"I really am a Guardian," I said quietly.
It was no longer a question.
It was an affirmation. An acceptance.
"Yes... you are... and I... I can feel it... your acceptance... is... strengthening me..."
"What do you mean?"
"Before... I was just... a whisper... an echo... but now... your will... your purpose... gives me... form..."
"Aura?"
"Tomorrow... when you descend... into the crypts... you won't be alone... tomorrow... you'll see me... truly... not just the voice... but me... all of me..."
My heart raced. "You'll be able to manifest?"
"Yes... thanks... to you... thanks to what you've become... I can... anchor... to the world... for a while..."
"Then tomorrow," I said, standing up. My legs still trembled, but they held. "Tomorrow we'll descend into the crypts together. We'll find the other fragments. The other allies."
"Yes... together..."
I looked at Aura's room one last time. Gray. Dead. But with a small piece of light now in my pocket. A fragment of what she had been.
And tomorrow, I would have Aura herself by my side.
No longer just a voice.
But an ally. A companion.
A friend.
✦ ✦ ✦
I left the room and closed the door carefully. The corridor was empty now. The shadows were gone. But I knew more would come. Stronger. More numerous.
Because each fragment I found awakened the curse. Each step toward salvation was also a step toward danger.
But it didn't matter.
Because now I knew who I was.
I was the Guardian.
And Guardians don't flee.
They fight.
I squeezed the golden fragment in my pocket. Warm against my chest. Pulsing with the rhythm of my heart.
One step at a time.
Toward the crypts.
Toward the truth.
Toward the end.
Or perhaps... toward the beginning.
END OF CHAPTER 4
Continues in Chapter 5: "The Manifestation" Complete Levels 1-5 to unlock Code 2001 unlocks Chap 1-5