Chapter 28: The Library's Secret Invitation
Two nights after the Council's meeting, the summons arrived.
Not from the Headmaster.
Not from any House.
It came on pale parchment, inked in silver threads, slipped under Ren's dormitory door.
To Ren Kamizuki, Bearer of Nullum.
The Library of Forgotten Tomes requests your presence.
No chains bind you. No gods command you. Only knowledge calls.
Come before the third bell tolls, or be forever turned away.
Selvara frowned as Ren showed her the letter.
"The Library…" she murmured. "It's older than this academy. Older than some gods. Are you sure you want to go?"
Ren's answer was simple.
He tucked the Codex under his arm and stepped into the night.
At the Library Gates
The Library of Forgotten Tomes was no ordinary archive.
It was alive.
Black stone steps twisted toward an impossible tower of ink-dark glass and molten gold. Statues of forgotten deities lined the entrance, their faces erased by time.
The gates creaked open on their own.
No guards. No librarians.
Only a single figure waited: a girl in flowing silver robes, her hair a river of moonlight.
She smiled faintly. "Ren Kamizuki."
Her voice was soft—and strangely familiar.
"Who are you?" Ren asked warily.
"An archivist," she said. "A guide. And perhaps… something more."
She held out her hand.
"Come. Before the chains find you again."
Inside the Library
The walls whispered.
Bookshelves spiraled endlessly upward, packed with grimoires bound in dragonhide, celestial metal, or raw memory itself.
Ren followed the silver-haired girl down corridors that seemed to fold and shift with every step.
Finally, she stopped before a mirror framed in thorns.
"This is why we summoned you," she said.
Inside the mirror… was himself.
But older. Cloaked in voidlight. Eyes burning with power—and sorrow.
A text floated beside the reflection:
Codename: The Nullborne King
Status: Lost
Recovery Probability: Rising
Ren's heart hammered in his chest.
"What is this?" he demanded.
The girl only smiled again, bittersweet.
"Your shadow," she whispered. "And your future… if you dare reclaim it."
Meanwhile: Elsewhere in the Academy…
Auron moved unseen through the underground courts.
Tonight, he would stage it: a public mock trial.
The charges?
Treason against the gods. Possession of forbidden power.
His goal?
To break Ren Kamizuki before he could rise.
Auron's lips curled into a hungry grin.
"Let's see if the gods still remember how to punish monsters."