Chapter Fifteen: The Book That Knows Your Name

Elara stared at the creature before her.

It wasn't just a shadow.

It was a shape made of ink, spirals, and whispers- tall, cloaked, and faceless. Pages fluttered from its back like broken wings. Spirals glowed across its chest, spinning slowly like a heartbeat.

Cassian steppedin front of her, ready to protect her, but Elara reached out and gently pulled him back.

"No," she said softly. "I think it came for me."

TheGrimoire's voice echoed across the forest clearing, calm and cold.

"Youopen my pages with trembling hands.

You say you seek truth.

But truth cuts sharper than any blade."

The ground trembledbeneath them.

The Grimoire raised its hand, five black fingers stretching like branches.

Behind it, the trees twisted into shapes- Maris crying in a glass prison, the boy without a name screaming into darkness, Elara's face turning away.

"How many must I keep…

Before you ask the real question?"

Elara stepped forward, her voice shaking.

"What question?"

The creature leaned in closer.

Its spiral eyes blinked once.

Then it spoke in riddles.

"What book forgets its own author?

What flame forgets the spark?

What girl opens a curse…

And wonders why the world darkens?"

Elara felt her chest tighten.

"I didn't… I didn't know-"

"You didn't remember," the Grimoire whispered.

"And because of that… they paid the price."

The clearing darkened.

And now the pages behind the creature glowed with red ink- flashing moments like memories caught in flame.

Maris, reading theGrimoire… alone.

The unnamed boy, Cassian's brother, trying to pull someone back before vanishing.

Elara, younger, staring at a spiral mark on her wrist and hiding it under her sleeve.

Elara's head spun.

"I've never seen these," she whispered. "Why are you showing me this?"

The Grimoire replied:

"Because you have always been mine."

The wind stopped.

Cassian gripped her hand tightly.

"Elara," he said, "don't listen to it. You're not-"

But she looked at him with soft eyes, and Cassian slowly let go of her hand

Her spiral was burning again, brighter than ever.

The Grimoire stepped back, and a large stone door rose from the ground behind it, shaped like a giant book, locked with three spirals.

Carved into its cover:

"The Final Chapter."

The Grimoire pointed to it.

"You want to save them?

Then write the truth.

But be warned, the truth is not a memory.

It is what you ran from."

A small desk appeared before the door, made of bone-white wood.

On it: a single quill and a red page.

The spiral on Elara's skin glowed, pulsing to the rhythm of her heartbeat.

She walked toward the desk.

Cassian stepped beside her.

"Whatever it is… we do this together."

The Grimoire didn't stop them.

But as they stepped forward, it whispered:

"You may not like what she remembers."