Lyra led Liam to a quieter, more solemn wing of the Royal Library. Her steps were purposeful, taking them to a single, protected display case in the center of the room. Inside, resting on a velvet cushion, was an ancient book, its cover made of weathered, plain brown leather, looking deceptively simple.
"This is it," Lyra said softly, her voice barely a whisper. She unlocked the case, carefully lifting the book and placing it on a nearby table. "Most think it's just a story for children now, but it's one of the oldest texts we have."
Liam looked at the book, feeling a strange thrum of energy from its pages, a faint echo of ancient magic.
"The story goes," Lyra began, "that a long, long time ago, a dungeon just... appeared. No one knew where it came from. But when it did, it brought magic into this world. They say the master of that first dungeon wrote this book. A party of hunters found it after they cleared the dungeon, or so the legend claims." She sighed, her expression growing serious. "I think it's more than a legend, Liam."
She opened the book. The pages were brittle, the ink faded. She pointed to a specific passage. "Listen. 'The day this world faces its biggest threat is the day a one magic caster will have all three root magic attributes.'"
Her words struck Liam with the force of a physical blow. He stared at the text, seeing his own impossible existence written in the ink of ages past.
"But that's not all," Lyra continued, turning a few more pages. "Look." She indicated a section where the book abruptly ended, the stubs of several torn-out pages clearly visible. "There are pages missing. I know someone didn't want people to see what came next."
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with a memory. "When I was a child, I questioned my father about the missing pages. He told me a secret he was told by his father: 'If someone wants to read all of it, he has to go and clear all the layers of the dungeon. The dungeon itself will reward him with the book again, complete this time.'"
"No one has managed to do it again for years," she said, her voice dropping lower. "They say there are two powerful beings protecting the last layer. It's a 100-layer dungeon, but most people don't even get close to the end. Layer 50... they say it's a slaughterhouse. So many have died there."
She paused, taking a breath. "The kingdom officially closed the dungeon for the safety of the hunters. The casualty rates were horrifying. Sometimes, a group of a hundred hunters would go in, and only two would survive and come back. The creatures let them go, just to tell people not to enter the dungeon again."
Liam froze. The pieces clicked into place in his mind with chilling clarity. The prophecy, the missing pages, the dungeon that birthed magic, the guardians... There is something in this dungeon, he thought, a certainty settling deep in his core. I know it. They are protecting something.
He broke the silence, his voice firm. "I have to go."
Lyra looked at him, not with surprise, but with sad understanding. "I knew you would say that."
"Where is this dungeon located? Is it close?" Liam asked, his mind already on the journey ahead.
"No, it's not," Lyra replied, shaking her head. "It's a ten-day journey by a wagon . Maybe you can find some travelers heading that way who will take you. The dungeon is closed, but people don't care. They still go, thinking it's full of gold and silver." They say if the dungeon cleared another dungeon will appear in the random area each time will a better reward
Liam nodded, his gaze distant. Gold and silver were irrelevant. He was hunting for something far more valuable: the truth of his own existence and and why they protect this dungeon