Ryan entered the library quietly, feigning a casual stroll between the shelves as if searching for a book, following Kasian's advice: break the pattern. He paused for a moment at a rack containing old maps, pretending to flip through one while his eyes scanned the corners of the room for any suspicious movement. No one had followed him—or so he thought.
He made his way to the far corner where Valeria was waiting. She sat at a small wooden table, surrounded by a stack of books, some of which looked as though they hadn't been opened in decades. The light from a single oil lamp cast deep shadows across her features, making her eyes appear sharper, more guarded than he remembered.
"I thought you wouldn't come," she said in a low voice, as if afraid the walls might overhear.
Ryan sat across from her, leaving a small distance between them. "I said I would come."
She smiled, but it wasn't a warm smile. It was the smile of someone testing, evaluating. She pushed a thick book toward him—its dark leather cover engraved with a complex circular symbol resembling interlocking waves. Ryan recognized it immediately—the same symbol Professor Eldron had drawn on the board during the Ancient Languages lecture.
He hesitated for a moment. Valeria had been a stubborn opponent in the fencing ground—why should he trust her now? But his curiosity was stronger than his caution. He reached out and took the book.
"This book belonged to my grandfather," she said, her tone growing more serious. "He was an explorer. He spent twenty years in the Black Sand Desert. Before he disappeared."
He looked up at her. "Disappeared?"
She nodded, her eyes holding a trace of old pain. "Thirty years ago. He went on an expedition and never returned. This book was among the belongings he left behind before his final journey."
Ryan opened the book carefully and flipped through the early pages. The handwriting was precise, in the common tongue of the continent, but mixed with strange symbols he had never seen before. Drawings of desert landscapes, tents, fearsome faces, and shapes resembling worms—but massive, with glowing red eyes.
His fingers stopped at a particular page. It contained a detailed illustration of a Shadow Worm, but unlike the one Professor Thorn had described in the Legendary Creatures lecture. This worm was surrounded by a circle of symbols, as if part of an ancient ritual or ceremony.
He whispered without looking up from the page. "This... isn't just a legend, is it?"
She shook her head. "No. My grandfather believed it was real. He believed that some Orc tribes in the Black Sand Desert still use them. But he never found conclusive proof before he disappeared."
He raised his eyes to her, trying to read beyond her words. She looked back at him with genuine curiosity, but he wondered—was that curiosity innocent? Or was she testing him?
"Why are you telling me this?"
She sighed, glancing around for a moment as if making sure they were truly alone. "Because I saw you ask about it in the lecture. And I saw how you looked at the symbol. You're curious, and so am I. That's rare in this place."
He didn't reply. But he didn't deny it either. His curiosity was what had brought him here, and his desire to understand this world was what made him read those books. He wasn't searching for a conspiracy, and he knew nothing of any threat. He just wanted to know.
She reached out and opened another book, thinner than the first, its pages yellowed and brittle. She pointed to a hand-drawn map of the Black Sand Desert—remarkably detailed, showing the terrain, the locations of rare wells, and even roads that seemed to lead to underground cities.
she said in a low voice.
"This map is why my grandfather disappeared,He believed it led to the site of a forgotten tribe. A tribe that knew the secrets of the Shadow Worm."
He stared at the map, trying to memorize the details. Then his eyes stopped at a small mark on the edge of the desert—a strange symbol he had never seen before.
he asked, pointing.
"What's this?"
She leaned in to see what he was indicating. "I don't know. My grandfather never explained it in his notes. But he drew it several times in the margins, as if trying to remember or understand it."
He stared at the symbol for a long time. Three interlocking circles, with a single dot in the center. Simple, yet unsettling in some way, as if it belonged to a place he didn't belong to.
"Do you have anything else? Any documents, any journals, anything he wrote before his final journey?"
She hesitated for a moment. Her eyes tried to read him, to understand what he was hiding. But all she found was a solid wall, like deep winter ice. She didn't know that even he didn't fully understand why he was so interested in all this.
she said finally.
"There's one thing,A letter that arrived days before he disappeared. He wrote about something he found in the desert. Something that frightened him."
His curiosity sharpened. "What did he say?"
She sighed deeply, as if sharing a secret that should never see the light.
"He said he found a relic. A stone pillar engraved with the same symbol on the map. And beside it, a single sentence was written..."
She paused for a moment. Then she whispered:
"Trust no one. Even your shadow may betray you."
Silence fell between them. The words echoed in his head like a distant reverberation. A chill ran down his spine—not from the cold, but from the strangeness of the warning.
"That sentence..." he murmured. "It sounds like more than just a passing warning."
She nodded. "That's what my grandfather thought too. But he never explained it in any of his notes. He disappeared before he could."
He was about to ask her more when he noticed something strange.
He didn't see a shadow. He didn't see a shape. But he heard something.
A faint sound. Not a footstep, but the friction of a sole against a wooden floor, behind the third shelf. Ryan didn't move, but he knew he wasn't alone.
He continued speaking calmly, as if he had noticed nothing. "Can I borrow this book for a few days?"
Valeria looked at him, noticing something in his eyes—a subtle shift, a barely visible tension. She understood immediately.
She agreed in a natural tone, but her eyes grew sharper. "Of course. Just return it safely."
Ryan took the book and rose slowly from his seat, heading toward the library exit. He didn't look back. He didn't hurry. He walked at a steady pace, as if on an evening stroll, not in a place where danger might lurk.
But he was listening. He was waiting. Another step. Any sound that would indicate the watcher was moving.
But nothing came.
When he reached the library door, he paused for a moment. He was thinking. His curiosity had brought him here, and his thirst for knowledge had made him read those books. But something about that sentence, those cryptic warnings, made him feel there was more to this than just a legend.
He shook his head. Perhaps he was overthinking. The Shadow Worm was just a mythical creature, and those strange symbols probably meant nothing. Yet still, he felt the need to know more.
He looked at the book in his hands, then at the shadows behind him.
He whispered to himself as he closed the door behind him:
"Trust no one. Even your shadow may betray you."
He didn't know if those words were a genuine warning or just the fantasy of an old man. But he knew one thing:
He had a new book to read, and a new curiosity to explore.
He knew his curiosity might one day kill him.
But he also knew that ignorance would kill him faster.