Chapter Twenty Seven: The Key to Secrets

I stood in the tent as the runes I had placed disappeared, their magic fading like dying embers. My mind was racing, my hands clenched into fists.

Athena.

A goddess knew my father. She had spoken his name as if it meant something.

But before I could process it, I heard shouting outside.

The town guards. They knew something had happened. I couldn't stay here.

Quickly, I turned and slipped out the back of the tent, vanishing into the darkened streets. I moved fast, keeping to the shadows, weaving through alleyways until I reached the town's edge. I didn't stop running until I was back on the hill where my camp was.

I sat there for a moment, staring down at the town, my breath heavy.

This just got more complicated.

Athena said she knows something. Something about what happened that night. Something about my family's death.

I needed to get to Varonthal.

A city deeper in the Dashin Empire. A place far from here. Getting there would take days—maybe even a week on foot. A week wasted when I had already burned through two days of my ten years.

I could try to unlock the key pendant and use it to shorten the trip, but no matter how much I examined and tampered with it, nothing happened.

It was useless to me. For now.

And worse? Varonthal wasn't on the way to the capital. In fact, it was in the opposite direction. This would take me further from my goal—but if Athena had information about my father… I had no choice.

I traveled through the next day, reaching a city by nightfall. It seemed normal—merchants selling goods, people going about their business, Dashin guards patrolling the streets. But something was off.

Magic.

Not just any magic—refined, powerful, controlled magic. The kind that wasn't just from wandering hedge wizards or scholars experimenting with spells.

This was something else.

I asked around, but no one seemed to know of any powerful magic users in the area. That only made me more suspicious.

I found a tavern, paid for a room, and settled in for the night.

But I woke up, gasping.

A nightmare. The kind I hadn't had in a long time.

My soul being dragged to hell. My family burning over and over again. Powerless to stop it. Just watching.

I sat up, my breath heavy. I wasn't going back to sleep.

So, I left the tavern, climbing to the roof, staring at the stars. Trying to calm my mind.

Then, I heard something.

Two figures. Sneaking into an alley.

At this time of night?

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't tired anymore.

I moved across the rooftops, following them. They stopped at a metal door, knocking in a pattern. A small slot opened, and after a brief exchange, they pulled something from their pockets.

Silver pendants.

Key-shaped.

The same kind I stole.

The Order of the Key.

I watched as the door creaked open, and the two figures disappeared inside.

I stayed low, gripping my own pendant.

They're more of them than I thought.

And they were after the Mongrath

And I needed to know how they knew i had it.