Orleans Mansion, Marseille.
Hours passed, and night fell over the Mediterranean. The waves reached the shore with a chilling calm, as if the sea itself wanted to hide the battle taking place on the coasts of the American continent.
Noah sat on the balcony of his room, his legs hanging over the void. A faint discomfort, a small burning sensation on his back, would not let him relax.
Beside him, Eleonor stood leaning against the railing, her shoulder still immobilized and her wound bandaged. Her gaze was lost in the dark horizon.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
Noah took a breath and shook his head.
"Right now, I don't know what the meaning of truth is. You heard it yourself, and the leaders didn't deny it. That's what's bothering me the most."
Five hours earlier…
In the Orleans Mansion meeting hall, Etienne had called an emergency meeting. Present were Luc Bernerd, the family's chief archivist—arguably the man who knew the most about history—as well as Elena, Kenji, Sophie, Eleonor, and me.
Etienne looked at each of us before speaking.
"We received a copy of the video of the conversation Mrs. Maeve had with one of the Kartnod leaders. But that's not the most important part. Hidden within the video signal, they sent an encrypted message."
"How is that possible?" Kenji asked, unable to hide his surprise.
"Our communication system uses a code that no one in this world knows. How could they have interfered with it? I believe someone provided it to them," Luc said. "But that concern can wait. The important thing is the content. The message says they are fighting for their freedom, that the Supreme Beings used them as experiments, that they did not start the war, but they will end it, and that it will depend on us which side we choose when all of their forces return to this plane."
Eleonor remained silent, listening carefully.
"Was there anything else in the transmission?" Kenji asked.
"Yes," Luc replied. "There was an image of what appears to be the supercontinent, but it doesn't match any record we have. We all know that, at the beginning of time, the continents were united into one and later split apart into what we know today. However, this map doesn't match its supposed structure or geographic position, even for that era. So we can't say it's the supercontinent Pangaea."
"On the same image, they wrote: 'I'll give you one piece of advice: seek the truth for yourselves, and then decide which side you want to fight for.'"
"And some numbers? A code?" Sophie asked.
"No. Coordinates. But they don't match our system in any way, so they're still being analyzed to determine what they mean."
"Can we help?" Elena asked.
"Of course. In fact, I called you here to ask for your assistance."
"That's everything we needed to tell you," Etienne said. "When we learn more, we'll inform you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to contact your leaders."
With that, the meeting ended.
Eleonor and I were in my room when the door suddenly opened. Sophie entered carrying two cups of coffee, offering one to each of us. I accepted mine gratefully.
"Kenji and Elena have been analyzing the transmission," Sophie said, leaning against the doorframe.
At that moment, Elena came running in, out of breath.
"Follow me!"
Without asking what had happened, Eleonor and Sophie ran after her, and I followed immediately.
She led us to one of the rooms beneath Orleans Mansion, where several people were gathered around all kinds of documents and electronic and magical devices. It was a scene that would have been impossible for anyone outside the guardian families or Atlas to comprehend.
"You're here," Elena said to Luc.
"Good. I want you to see this."
He picked up a document covered with a thin layer of insulation and looked at us.
"Do you recognize this place?"
The document showed an image of an island.
Eleonor stared at it for a moment.
"It's the island where the seal that maintained the magical veil was located."
"Correct," Luc replied.
Since I had abandoned my training to move to Canada, I had no idea what they were talking about.
"Could someone explain it? Because I don't understand any of this."
"I'll explain," Elena said. "Thanks to a pattern Kenji found in the coordinates from the message, we were able to determine that they correspond to the locations of seals hidden within the bases of the five families. Those coordinates don't appear in the modern system because they're extremely old. He compared one of them to our current location and discovered a discrepancy of several kilometers—seven thousand, to be exact. Even with that offset, it still pointed to this seal, the one in the Chamber of Memory, which is supposed to have existed for five thousand years."
"So we compared the rest of the coordinates with the seals located in the primary and secondary bases of the five families, and that led us here."
They displayed a map marking five sites near the territories of the five families. When the points were connected, they converged on a place that had already been discussed in a previous meeting: a location in China where the ley lines appeared to vanish.
"We believe there's something there," Elena continued, "but we have no records and no authorization to investigate. For now, all we can do is report it to the leaders and let them decide what to do with this information."
At that same moment, Etienne was meeting with Ciara, Haruki, and Isabela.
"Thank you for responding to such a sudden summons," Etienne said, "but this is extremely important."
"No need to apologize," Ciara replied. "Tell us why you gathered us in such a hurry. This is only the fourth time in our history that we've used the magical security seals for communication."
"As you know, we have infiltrations. The return of the Eagle faction proves it, and so does the Kartnod leader contacting Mrs. Maeve. No matter how advanced their magical technology is, I don't believe they could decipher our signals this quickly, especially while engaged in active combat. That's why I chose this method."
"What I'm about to say will likely anger you, and I apologize in advance. But not everything you know about our origins is true. What the man called Kaisel told Mrs. Maeve contains some truth."
"What are you saying?" Ciara demanded, clearly furious. "Can you explain that statement?"
Etienne sighed deeply.
"There are records that are strangely ambiguous, as if parts of them had been altered, omitted, or erased. Twenty years ago, when I was chosen by the Mark of the Guardian of History—or rather, even earlier, when I was still studying at the academy—I began finding these gaps. The leader at the time ordered me to stop investigating. He said our duty was to preserve and document history, not to search for answers in the past."
"I disobeyed him and continued. I discovered entire stretches where time seems to jump, as if nothing happened. Even more contradictory, recorded history begins abruptly, with everything already in place. At first, I thought they simply started documenting events once civilization became advanced enough. But the records begin with technology that far surpasses what ordinary people possess even today. It's not comparable to mastering fire or using stone and bone tools."
"And if the one who spoke those words is a man who literally comes from that era…"
Silence fell over the meeting.
After several seconds, Isabela spoke.
"When Iara betrayed us and attacked our mansion, stealing the Gem of Consciousness, she said something similar—that we were living a lie, and that the time had come for everyone to learn the truth."
At that moment, Etienne's personal communicator began to glow.
"There must be an emergency. Otherwise, no one would interrupt this meeting."
He touched it and spoke firmly.
"I hope this is a matter of life and death if you're interrupting this meeting."
Noah's voice came through the device.
"Sir, this is Noah. I need to speak with my leader and everyone else."