Chapter 15 : The False Map

We gathered around the newly opened journal. Its pages were filled with ancient symbols, cryptic diagrams, and faded ink. At the very center was a map—or at least, it looked like one. Zeeshan leaned closer.

"It's pointing to something underground again… maybe deeper than anything we've reached before."

But something felt off. The markings were strangely familiar. I flipped through my backpack, pulled out the original journal, and compared the two.

"They're not the same," I muttered. "This map… it's a decoy."

Zeeshan frowned. "Why would someone leave a false map inside the keeper's journal?"

"To mislead anyone who made it this far but didn't pass the true test," I guessed. "If they followed this, they'd get lost… or worse."

We scanned the rest of the pages until we spotted a small note tucked between two sheets. It was barely legible.

"The real path lies not in ink but in memory. What was seen cannot be unseen."

Suddenly, a flash hit my mind—a memory of a glowing path from one of the previous visions during the test. I grabbed a pen and started sketching it from memory. The path twisted through caverns and past landmarks I now recognized.

"This is it," I said, finishing the drawing. "The real map. It's stored in us."

Zeeshan stared at me. "Then we're the key."

I nodded slowly. The journey ahead would be darker and more dangerous than anything we'd faced before. But now we had something no one else did: the truth.