Part 1
Five weeks had passed since the start of the summer vacations. For the past two weeks, our training at Champs-Fort had become a daily routine. We still had two weeks left here, before devoting the very last - the eighth week of the vacation - to discovering Konfrant and its boarding school.
In two weeks, we'd all made good progress. Whether it was me or Yuna with our powers, or Naël, focused on boxing. Training had become our routine.
In the morning: running, breathing exercises, stretching. Afternoon: sparring at the club, sparring with Naël. In the evening: precision exercises, in our clearing, between two rays of sunshine, always under Yuna's guidance.
I finally understood how my foresight worked. The more aether I sent into my eyes, the further into the future I could see. I was two seconds ahead. Two seconds... sounds short, but in combat, it's a decisive one. And just as Yuna had predicted, my duration of use had almost doubled: around twenty-five minutes continuously.
My precognition was still instinctive - I can't change that - but I felt I was gaining control. I could dose the aether in my body, direct its flow. It was less raw, more fluid.
Yuna had made progress too. She now lasted ten minutes at a time and could feel presences eight meters around her.
One Thursday afternoon, during a training session, Yuna closed her notebook and looked up at us.
- We've got to go to the library.
Naël looked at her sideways.
- Did you find something weird?
- Just a note. Something about aether. Last night I was watching a documentary, and it mentioned a similar phenomenon from ancient beliefs. It may have nothing to do with it... but I want to know for sure.
We shrugged. I don't see why not. It didn't cost anything.
The municipal library was right in the center of town. A massive, cold, white stone building. Its high windows cast pale reflections on the cobblestones. Inside, silence reigned, almost religious. We entered.
Behind the counter, a woman looked up. She wore a tightly pulled-back bun, a perfectly ironed black blouse, and glasses so thin-framed you'd have thought they were floating on her face.
She watched us for a moment, a thin smile frozen on her lips.
- Hello," she said in a soft voice. Can I help you?
Yuna answered as quickly as she could:
- Yes, we're looking for a book in the esoteric section. The one on Middle Eastern talismans.
The woman nodded slowly, her eyes slightly wrinkled. Three teenagers interested in talismans wasn't a common sight.
- I see... Relics of the Invisible. Please, follow me.
His voice was calm. Her every gesture seemed meticulous. She guided us between the shelves, her heels clicking on the floor. Then she stopped in front of a half-empty room.
She turned around, hands clasped behind her back, still smiling.
- If you need any help with... your research... don't hesitate.
And she walked away, slowly.
Yuna frowned.
- She's weird, isn't she?
Nael and I shrugged.
Part 2
Yuna's point of view
Last night, as usual, my mother was watching her program on archaeology. She's passionate about it. I had nothing better to do, so I joined her on the sofa, vaguely interested.
The subject was ancient Egypt. I almost gave up immediately. This kind of documentary always rehashes the same things: divinities, pyramids, funeral rites. Nothing really new.
But at one point, an image caught my attention. Barely a second. An object that the camera quickly scanned, sitting in a display case in a Cairo museum.
It wasn't an unfamiliar object.
It was my bracelet.
I immediately paused, my heart pounding. My mother grumbled, annoyed, and immediately restarted the video. But I had time. Just enough to observe the details.
The bracelet on the screen was identical to mine. Same matte black color. Same strange, almost organic texture. Same row of moving symbols... except for one detail.
The stylized daggers, featured prominently on my bracelet, weren't there.
In their place, another symbol: the inverted Ouas, a sacred scepter in ancient Egypt, often associated with divine power, linked to Set, god of chaos, storms... and lightning.
It wasn't insignificant.
I immediately drew the bracelet in my notebook, symbol by symbol, to make sure I didn't forget anything.
The next day, I convinced Naël and Léo to come with me to the library to investigate. Maybe I should have gone alone... Ever since we arrived, they've done nothing but delay me with their jokes and pointless bickering.
We'd been sitting at the back of this almost empty room for almost an hour now. An hour of frantically turning pages, comparing my sketches with illustrations from dusty old grimoires.
I was looking for correspondences. Clues. For something.
But all I could find were mythological tales I already knew. Isis, Ra, Osiris... The symbols were close, sometimes, but never exact. Not enough to establish a solid link...
Across from me, the contrast was stark. Léo and Naël were clearly dying of boredom. Their patience had melted in less than ten minutes.
I ignored them at first. But after a while, the noises... started.
Rolling chairs. Crumpled paper. Muffled laughter. When I looked up, Léo was holding a leaf ball like a basketball, while Naël, on guard, was imitating a fencer with a ruler.
Seriously...
- Keep it down," I shouted.
They nodded vaguely, then immediately resumed their "impromptu Olympics".
Naël was already far away, sliding on a wheelchair with an ill-contained laugh. And of course, Leo, the sore loser, suddenly increased his aether flow. I felt it before I even saw it: a little shiver in the air, a familiar vibration.
Strangely enough, I was beginning to feel this kind of thing. Maybe this is another aspect of my power that I'm discovering. I haven't told anyone yet because I'm not sure.
Leo used his precognition to adjust his kick and threw his chair forward with controlled force.
He caught him with a perfect leap.
But no sooner had they shared a triumphant glance than a crash echoed through the room.
I looked up sharply, my heart pounding. They stopped dead in their tracks, staring at each other in confusion.
Then... bam.
They collided head-on with a shelf. A cloud of dust rose up. Miraculously, it didn't fall.
- We were lucky," said Léo, out of breath. We'll never do that again.
- Yeah, but... it was funny, you have to admit, replied Naël with a smirk.
They burst out laughing together. I came running, arms raised.
- What have you done now?!
- It wasn't us!" answered Nael immediately. The noise... it came from somewhere else.
I squinted. Instinctively, I closed my eyelids and immersed myself in my perception. I slowed my breathing, directed the aether to my center, then slowly spread it around me like waves.
...I slowed my breathing, directed the aether to my center, then slowly spread it around me like waves.
The world fell into a thick silence. I could no longer hear Leo and Naël's laughter, nor the faint hum of neon lights. Nothing. Just this invisible field I was projecting, this bubble pulsing gently around me.
Within a five-meter radius, things took on a different shape.
I could no longer see details or colors. Only white, vaporous, almost translucent shapes. A blurred human silhouette could even be seen behind the bookshelf they'd knocked over. Wood, books, walls... everything became transparent, as if matter no longer mattered.
It was strange. And beautiful.
I could feel the density of a presence. No face. No emotion. Just someone.
Leo and Naël were there, clear, radiant, familiar.
But just below, barely at the edge of my field, there was another silhouette. Motionless. Hard to make out. Not just a visitor. His presence was like the others, but I sensed an imposing aura.
Lately, I'd been seeing a distinct halo around Léo - and nothing around Naël. I had deduced that my clairvoyance might enable me to recognize element carriers, and that this aura corresponded to a concentration of aether.
But the halo I perceived below...
It was different.
Imposing. Overpowering. Far too overwhelming.
I opened my eyes suddenly.
- Someone's there," I breathed. On the floor below.
Leo sat up straight.
- Are you sure?
I nodded.
- I'm positive. I feel... something strange
Naël frowned.
- Maybe it's just the old librarian who's come back and landed in the basement. She's always been strange-no wonder you see her like that, even with your clairvoyance.
It's possible she's the old librarian. But that doesn't justify this aura.
- Come on, let's get out of here
I stood up, gathering my things in a bag. My heart was beating a little faster than usual, but I couldn't ignore the sensation. My power had rarely deceived me.
Léo and Naël followed me in silence. We were already close to the door, about to leave the room, when a voice sounded behind us - low, drawling, almost enigmatic:
- Miss Mizuki...
I turned around suddenly, frozen. I knew that voice. I knew it by heart. A voice that had chilled my blood so many times as a child.
It was Madame Anyathel.
The old librarian. The one who told stories from nowhere. Her complexion, once matte, now tended towards an almost waxy pallor. And her eyes - big, round, always too open - stared unblinkingly.
Every other tooth was missing, making his mouth perpetually unbalanced. Her face, carved from a child's nightmare, was as fascinating as it was frightening.
There she was. Unmoving. As if from a forgotten page.
- What you hold... is only a redacted copy, Mademoiselle Mizuki," she said slowly. The original, the one that was kept in Cairo until its disappearance, is in my possession.
My breath caught in my throat. I nodded gently, in spite of myself, as if to appease a predator that only attacks if contradicted.
She continued, in a voice suddenly softened, almost compassionate:
- There's an interesting story in there... A story that was torn out, ignored, banished, precisely because it contradicts everything the Egyptian myths let appear.
She approached. Slowly, slowly. Each step sounded like a note too low in the frozen air.
Then, just inches from me, she lowered her voice - so low that even the walls, if they had ears, would have had to strain their ears to hear her:
- It's a heretical fragment, they say. An ancient vision... older than the first temples, older than the first offering or prayer.
Some call it the Fifth Verse.
Others... prefer not to name it at all.
She inhaled. The air around her smelled of burnt parchment, rusty metal...
She stepped forward again - too close. And it was only then that I really noticed.
All along... she'd been looking only at me.
Not a glance at Leo. Not a word for Naël. Her eyes, wide and empty as ancient wells, were fixed on me. As if she could read my skin.
It was Naël who broke the strangeness of the moment, in a voice a little too loud to be natural:
- Yeah, ma'am... Your stories are nice, but we've got to go now.
A tense silence followed. I almost expected her to block our path, to say something cryptic, or worse... But no.
She did nothing.
She let us pass.
Just before I crossed the threshold, she added, in an almost gentle tone:
- Come and see me tomorrow, if you want to know more.
She was smiling. A strange, quirky smile. Like an enigma to be deciphered...
Afterwards, we went out, in the direction of my house. Just to lighten the mood a bit. The air seemed fresher than earlier, as if the library had enclosed a heaviness we were leaving behind. I walked in my thoughts, Mrs Anyathel's words still spinning in my head. Around me, Léo and Naël's voices echoed, distant, as if blurred under water. Then they became clearer.
- She's still as weird as ever," laughed Léo.
- Yeah... I can't believe you had the idea of going to her for advice," added Naël, mockingly.
- Woah, that's crazy! I was really in a panic, okay?" replied Léo with an embarrassed smile. Then he turned his head towards me. - Hey, Yuna, you're all quiet. What's up?
- You're forgetting that she's really scared of the librarian," sneered Naël.
- Pff, that's not funny," I grumbled. I was just... thinking about his proposal.
A silence fell.
- Are you serious?" exclaimed Naël. Are you going back there?
- He's right," agreed Leo. You're not going to get anything out of that crazy old woman. Just nightmares and the smell of formaldehyde.
I didn't answer right away.
Then, in a calmer but confident voice, I blurted out:
- Mrs. Anyathel... she's an element carrier.
They both stopped, as if frozen.
- I'm almost certain. I felt her. I saw a kind of aura around her with my clairvoyance.
The same aura I see around you, Leo... only denser. She gave off an overwhelming aura.
- What?" exclaimed Leo, suddenly much less mocking.
- She probably knows a lot more than we do. Maybe even more than we realize.
She's wacky, yes... crazy, maybe. But if she really does have the original text, then she could enlighten us. And advance our knowledge. We could be holding a scientific feat!
Leo shook his head skeptically.
- Or it could make you go crazy, yeah..." said Naël.
But this time, none of us laughed.
- So it's decided, tomorrow I'm going to see her.
Bonus - Character card: Mrs Anyathel
Full name : Gueil Anyathel
Age : Between 70 and 80
Status : Librarian of Konfrant
Physical description:
Height : small
Complexion : Waxy, formerly matte
Hair: voluminous white hair, often arranged in two braids.
Eyes: black, very large, always too open, with a disturbing emptiness.
Distinctive feature: Every other tooth is missing, giving her mouth a disturbing asymmetry.
Power : According to Yuna, her aura is dense and overwhelming, perceptible through clairvoyance.
Personal history: Former Egyptian archaeologist. She claims to hold the original of an ancient manuscript that disappeared in Cair under unknown circumstances. It is assumed that this is why she now lives in the village of Champs-Fort.