A heavy, restless silence hung over the Imperial Palace long after the midnight storm had cleared.
The rest of the palace remained suspended in a fragile, uneasy calm. Most of the servants had already retired for the night, leaving only a few guards and attendants moving quietly through the halls.
In the eastern wing, the lanterns inside Prince Cassian's quarters flickered faintly behind the high stained-glass windows, casting long shadows across the snow-dusted courtyard below.
Down in the lower corridors, Elias moved quietly through the stone halls, carrying a tray of fresh linens toward Prince Adrian's private suite.
He slowed near a heavy archway.
Someone was standing by the garden terrace.
Elias immediately recognized him.
Lucien.
The Duke of the West stood completely still against the stone railing, his silver hair catching the faint blue light of the moons above. One hand rested loosely against the hilt of his sword, but he wasn't looking at the gardens.
His eyes were fixed on the distant sky.
Toward the east.
Toward the place where Cassian had vanished.
Elias watched him for a moment before stepping closer.
"Sir Arden..."
Lucien didn't respond.
Elias bowed his head slightly.
"It is nearly three in the morning. You should rest. The Emperor has granted you full access to the archives, but you cannot search them if you collapse from exhaustion."
Lucien finally moved.
Only slightly.
He took a slow breath, allowing the cold night air to fill his lungs.
"Sleep does not come easily, Elias."
His voice was quiet.
Steady.
But the exhaustion around his eyes betrayed him.
"Every time I close my eyes, I hear the sound of his voice..."
His fingers tightened slightly around the sword hilt.
"...telling me he never wanted to see me again."
Lucien swallowed.
"I know now that it was a lie forged by Ruby."
"But my heart still bleeds from it."
Elias's expression softened as he stood beside him.
"His Highness Cassian is resilient."
His eyes moved toward the same distant sky.
"He crossed worlds once out of sheer determination. Wherever he is now..."
Elias paused.
"...he is holding on."
"You must hold on as well."
Lucien remained silent.
For several seconds, only the cold wind answered them.
Then he slowly turned toward Elias.
A faint but firm light returned to his blue eyes.
"I will."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Tomorrow morning, I enter the deep archives beneath the central library."
"I will read every ancient text."
"Every record."
"Every scroll."
"Every useless piece of parchment that has been sitting underground for centuries."
His jaw tightened.
"Until I find the key to opening the dimensional boundary."
Elias nodded.
"I pray you find it."
"But please remember, Sir Arden..."
"His Highness would not want you to destroy yourself trying to reach him."
Lucien looked back toward the sky.
"Then he should come back and tell me that himself."
Elias had no answer to that.
He simply bowed before excusing himself.
"I shall leave you to your thoughts."
With that, Elias continued toward Prince Adrian's residence, leaving Lucien alone beneath the cold moonlight.
For a while, Lucien remained where he was.
Then he finally turned.
His steps carried him back toward Cassian's chambers.
The guards quietly opened the doors for him.
Inside, everything was exactly as it had been left.
The bed.
The curtains.
The books.
The faint scent of Cassian still lingering in the room.
And Cassian himself. He lay peacefully against the pillows, completely still.
His face looked almost peaceful.
Almost as though he were simply sleeping.
Lucien slowly approached the bed.
He knelt beside it.
For a moment, he only stared.
Then he reached out for Cassian's hand.
It was cold.
Far too cold.
Lucien carefully enclosed it between both of his own hands.
He lifted it to his lips and pressed a long, warm kiss against his knuckles.
His eyes closed.
There.
A faint pulse.
A weak heartbeat.
Still there.
Lucien's chest tightened.
"You're still here..."
he whispered.
His thumb slowly brushed over Cassian's fingers.
"I can feel you."
He lowered his forehead against Cassian's hand.
"Or..."
And his voice became quieter.
"...is it someone else's consciousness occupying you right now? Just like you left this body to occupy another one in that world?"
He looked up at Cassian and a sad smile touched his lips.
"I don't know how any of this works anymore."
"But whatever the case..."
Lucien kissed his hand again.
"...I am bringing you back to me."
His voice grew firmer.
"No matter what."
"I don't care how long it takes."
"I don't care how many worlds I have to cross."
"I will find you."
He carefully placed Cassian's hand back against the blanket.
"And when I do..."
His eyes softened.
"...you can yell at me for being late properly."
*****
By mid-morning, the deep underground vaults beneath the Royal Library were opened for the first time in fifty years.
The heavy stone doors ground open with a loud, echoing groan, sending clouds of ancient dust into the air.
Lucien stood at the top of the winding stone staircase, holding a glowing mana lantern in his left hand.
Behind him stood Elias, carrying a heavy leather satchel for collecting ancient manuscripts.
Elias looked down into the darkness and gulped down.
"Are you certain you wish to enter alone with me, Sir Arden?"
His old hands adjusted the collar of his coat nervously.
"The records down here are uncatalogued."
"And some of them contain dark, forgotten magic."
Lucien didn't hesitate.
He took his first step down.
"I don't care how dark it is."
His voice echoed through the ancient corridor.
"Cassian is waiting for me somewhere across the stars, probably needing me by his side."
He descended another step.
"And I am going to bring him home."
Elias followed.
And the two immediately disappeared into the darkness.
The search became Lucien's entire life.
Day after day, he searched through the ancient vaults.
He read forgotten records until his eyes burned.
He searched for anything mentioning dimensional rifts, world gates, coordinates, soul transfer, ancient artifacts, or anything that could explain what Cassian had done.
He searched every nook and cranny.
Every broken shelf.
Every sealed chamber.
Every forgotten chest.
If one of Cassian's ancestors had created the artifacts that allowed him to cross worlds...
Then Lucien would also learn how.
Even if it took years.
Even if it took his entire life.
He would find the man he loved.
And while he searched, he never abandoned Cassian's body.
Every day, he returned to his chambers.
He personally made sure Cassian was fed through soft, liquid food prepared by the imperial healers.
He monitored the faint heartbeat.
He helped the healers provide mana to his body.
Most importantly...
He spoke to him.
Even when Cassian never answered.
"You missed another meeting today."
Lucien would sometimes sit beside the bed and quietly smile.
"Your father was furious."
"You would have enjoyed watching him."
Another day...
"I found a record about dimensional travel."
His smile would appear for only a moment.
"It wasn't useful."
"But I'm getting closer."
And sometimes...
He simply sat there.
Holding Cassian's hand and devastatingly sad.
"I miss you."
Those were the hardest nights.
Because there was no answer.
No smile.
No crimson eyes opening to look at him.
Only silence.
And as weeks passed.
Then more.
Lucien barely slept.
He spent his mornings in the archives and his evenings beside Cassian.
He began keeping notes.
Hundreds of them.
Names.
Symbols.
Coordinates.
Ancient languages.
Failed theories.
Every possible clue.
But nothing worked.
Every path ended in another dead end.
Eventually, even Lucien had to admit the truth.
He had hit a wall.
And suddenly one night, Elias stood beside the library table, watching Lucien stare at another useless manuscript.
"Perhaps..."
Elias hesitated.
"...perhaps it is time that you gave up, Sir Arden."
Lucien didn't look up.
Elias continued carefully.
"You have been doing this for weeks."
"You barely sleep."
"You hardly eat."
"Your body is beginning to suffer."
Lucien's fingers remained on the ancient parchment.
"For now let us all wait for some sort of a miracle."
Elias sighed.
"By trying to find him this way, you are only burning your own life away."
The words hurt because Lucien knew they were true.
He slowly closed the manuscript and for the first time, he didn't argue.
The library fell silent.
Lucien stared at the hundreds of books surrounding him.
All that knowledge.
All those centuries of records.
And still...
Nothing.
His eyes lowered.
"It isn't here."
Elias frowned.
"What?"
"The answer."
Lucien stood.
"I've searched the archives."
"I've searched every record the Emperor allowed me to access."
"I've followed every lead."
"Nothing."
He slowly walked toward the exit.
Elias followed him.
"Then what will you do?"
Lucien stopped.
His expression changed.
Something had crossed his mind.
Something dark.
Something he had deliberately refused to think about.
"The matter cannot be solved by research alone."
He looked toward the distant western mountains.
"If the light cannot show me where Cassian went–..."
His fingers slowly tightened.
"...—then perhaps the darkness can."
Elias went still.
"Sir Arden..."
Lucien said nothing.
His mind had already gone somewhere else.
To his castle.
To the sealed chambers beneath it.
To the shadows he had spent years refusing to touch.
There were things beneath the Arden Dukedom that even the Holy Knights feared.
Things Lucien had inherited with his bloodline.
Things he had never needed.
Until now.
His eyes slowly hardened.
"If I have to take drastic measures..."
He turned away.
"...then I will."
Because Lucien had already made one promise.
He would find Cassian.
And now...
He was willing to look anywhere for him.
*****