Westbridge. The name had a strange ache to it. For Kael, it was more than a city, it was a scar that had never quite closed. Now, as the old bus rattled through winding roads and early morning mist, he sat by the window, shoulders hunched, staring at the skyline rising like a broken crown.
Sai sat beside him, silent but awake. Her head rested against the window frame, though she hadn't closed her eyes once. In her lap, her grandfather's journal sat open, a corner bookmarked with the map they had found. She flipped through it again, eyes scanning the loops of ink and half-legible scribbles.
"We're almost there," Kael said, his voice hoarse. "This road leads to the Old Quarters. That's where the ledger should be."
Sai nodded, but her mind seemed elsewhere.
"You ever think maybe the truth isn't meant to be found?" she asked.
Kael didn't answer immediately. "All the time. But it keeps finding me anyway."
---
They got off at a small, almost-forgotten stop on the outskirts of the Old Quarters. The air was damp, the streets quieter than Kael remembered. A church bell rang in the distance. They walked in silence, moving past old bakeries, shuttered windows, and homes with laundry lines stretched like weary arms.
Their destination stood at the end of a sloping street—a gray building, older than the rest, its sign half-fallen: WESTBRIDGE HISTORICAL REGISTRY.
Inside, the air was thick with dust and the scent of leather and ink. Rows of wooden shelves lined the room like sentinels, each one heavy with record books, maps, and ledgers. Behind a desk sat an old man with paper-thin glasses, hunched over a volume, scribbling in small, deliberate strokes.
"Excuse me," Sai began.
The man looked up, blinking slowly. "Research or retrieval?"
"Retrieval," Kael said. "We're looking for something very specific. The Keeper's Ledger. It's supposed to record protected vaults and ancestral registries."
The man froze. "That's not a public document."
Kael reached into his jacket and pulled out the pendant. The three-eyed crown shimmered faintly in the room's dim light.
The man's expression changed.
He stood slowly and motioned them to follow. Through a small door behind the main shelves, they descended into a basement lit by old lamps and the glow of a single stained-glass window high on the wall.
He stopped before a locked drawer.
"I haven't opened this in twenty-three years," he murmured.
"Why?" Sai asked.
"Because no one bearing that symbol has come since."
He unlocked it, pulled out a thick leather-bound book with metal corners and a rusted clasp. The words on the front were worn but still legible:
The Keeper's Ledger.
---
Kael took the book gently. It was heavier than he expected. Inside, the pages were filled with drawings, seals, handwritten notes. It wasn't just a ledger. It was a history.
They flipped through pages of royal lines, ancient vows, oaths taken in blood and ink. Then Kael saw it.
Eron Bloodline - Archive 72-A
There was a diagram. A circle split in two halves. One marked Guardian. The other Heir.
Sai leaned in. "Your father was the Guardian."
Kael nodded. "And I was the Heir."
Below that, a note scratched in hurried script: "Heir relocated. Guardian compromised. The seal was split. Search abandoned."
Kael swallowed hard. "They stopped looking for me."
Sai touched his shoulder. "Or someone made sure they did."
---
They spent the next hour reading. One entry mentioned a prophecy.
"When the heir forgets and the vault sleeps, the crown shall bleed."
Kael closed the book. "It's not just about my father or Madam Elsie. There's a whole system built around hiding this."
"And maybe you're not the only one like you," Sai added.
Before they left, the old man handed Kael a key wrapped in cloth.
"This was stored with the ledger," he said. "I never knew what it opened."
Kael opened the cloth slowly. The key was shaped like a tree with three eyes at the center. The same symbol again.
He pocketed it without a word.
---
As they walked out into the misty afternoon, Kael felt like a door inside him had creaked open... the voice inside screamed "reveng!". He is not backing out now..
He looked at Sai. "There's more to this. The vault, the seal, everything."
"Then we keep going," she said. "Even if we're scared."
Kael exhaled. "Especially if we're scared." but I am not, not anymore...
The two of them walked into the fog, the Keeper's Ledger clutched in Kael's arms, the key heavy in his pocket, and the future uncertain, but finally beginning to speak.