The staircase of shadows and moonlight trembled with every step I took, as if it was about to crumble to dust. I ran downstairs without looking back, even though the roar of my pursuers and Lyra's screams echoed in the air for a long time.
"Where is the Seer?!"
* "He's already gone!"* — Lyra's voice stopped abruptly, as if someone had grabbed her by the throat.
I squeezed the book so that the spine bit into my palm. Don't look back. Run.
But the stairs suddenly ended.
One step and I fell into the void.
I landed on a pile of sacks of something soft and smelly—grain? With rags? — and immediately rolled down into a narrow alley littered with garbage. The air here was thick, saturated with the smell of burning, metal and something sour - as if the whole city had been fermented in a giant cauldron.
Overhead, in the misty sky, hung something like a second sun, a huge ball of crimson light surrounded by black veins. The academy? No, it was something else. Something alive.
The book in my hands twitched.
I opened it—the pages turned over by themselves, and a new text floated out from the depths of the paper, like blood from a cut:
"They are following your trail.
The Guild of Seers is dead.
Don't trust the shadows.
Don't look into the eyes of the fire.
Ignis sleeps under the Stone of Lies —
look for someone who remembers his name."
— Excellent instructions, — I hissed, looking around. The alley was empty, but somewhere nearby, the hum of voices and the clang of weapons could be heard.
That's when I noticed him.
An old man was sitting in a corner, under a tattered tarpaulin canopy. His face was hidden by a hood, but long gray strands stuck out from the folds of the fabric, woven into strange knots. There was a bowl of steaming liquid on a box in front of him, and he was holding it in his hands... my book.
Exactly the same. *
—Sato," the old man rasped, not even looking at me. "You're late."
I froze.
"You.".. Do you know me?
He finally raised his head. His eyes were empty—not blind, no. Simply... flat as painted ones.
"I know everyone who comes up the Stairs of Shadows. But you were especially expected. He kicked the bowl, and the smoke from it reached out to me, wrapping around my wrist like a snake. "The guild is already here. You have a minute to decide whether to run on or find out the truth.
"What truth?"
The old man chuckled.
— The truth about who really runs the Academy.
Footsteps sounded somewhere around the bend.
The book in my hands howled—the pages shook, and a single word appeared on them, written so brightly that it blurred my eyes:
"RUN"
But I didn't move.
— Who is Ignis?
The old man slowly stood up. His shadow on the wall was wrong—too long, with horns.
—The one you wake up.".. Or you'll kill me.
And then they came out of the alley.
Three men in silver masks with eyes burned into their foreheads.
The Guild of Seers.
The ones that were supposed to be dead.
—Run, Sato,— the old man whispered, and his voice suddenly became Lyra's. —But remember, the flame lies.
I ran into the darkness.
And footsteps were already sounding behind him.
And laughter.
It was like it was all a game.