Chapter 2: The Man Who Remembered

Lucien barely slept.

Every time he closed his eyes, the same battlefield returned. Wings of light. A sea of darkness. A promise spoken with heartbreaking certainty.

"I'll find you again."

He woke before dawn, drenched in cold sweat.

The black book lay on his apartment desk exactly where he had left it. The silver letters that had appeared the previous night had vanished, leaving the pages completely blank.

He turned them one by one.

Nothing.

Hundreds of empty pages.

"...Was I hallucinating?"

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Lucien! Open up!"

Only one person knocked that loudly.

"Elias."

Lucien unlocked the door to find Elias Rowan holding two cups of coffee and wearing his usual crooked grin.

"You look terrible," Elias said as he walked inside. "Please tell me you didn't spend the whole night reading dead languages again."

"I wish that were the reason."

Elias was more than Lucien's best friend. As a detective in the city's Major Crimes Unit, he often asked Lucien to help identify strange symbols found at crime scenes.

"You sound serious."

"I had... a strange experience at the museum."

Lucien hesitated.

How could he explain visions of angels and a living book without sounding insane?

Instead, he simply said, "I found an unusual manuscript."

Before Elias could ask another question, his phone rang.

The detective answered immediately.

His playful expression disappeared.

"I'm on my way."

He slipped the phone into his pocket.

"Another murder."

Lucien frowned.

"The third this week?"

Elias nodded.

"And this one is even stranger."

"What happened?"

"The victim's body wasn't damaged."

Lucien looked confused.

"Then how did they die?"

Elias met his eyes.

"It looks like... something removed every drop of blood without leaving a single wound."

Silence filled the apartment.

"I have to go," Elias said. "Try to get some sleep, okay?"

After the door closed, Lucien glanced toward the Codex.

One page slowly turned by itself.

Words appeared in shimmering silver.

The shadows have begun to feed.

Then they faded.

---

Across the city, the crime scene had already been sealed.

Police officers whispered nervously behind yellow barriers while forensic teams searched for evidence that didn't exist.

The victim lay peacefully on the cathedral floor.

His skin was unnaturally pale.

Above him, someone had painted a symbol using black ash.

A circle.

Six wings.

The same emblem carved into the Codex.

Elias stared at it in disbelief.

"Where have I seen this before..."

A calm voice answered behind him.

"In records over a thousand years old."

Elias turned.

A tall man wearing a charcoal-gray overcoat stood beneath the broken stained-glass window.

His silver eyes reflected the morning light with an almost unnatural brilliance.

"You are?"

"Professor Cael Ashford."

He showed an identification card from Blackwood University.

"I specialize in ancient religious history."

"The museum called you?"

"No."

Cael's gaze lingered on the symbol.

"I came because I knew this would happen."

Elias narrowed his eyes.

"How?"

For a brief moment, sadness crossed Cael's face.

"Because I've seen this exact scene before."

---

Miles away, hidden beneath the ruins of an abandoned monastery, dozens of hooded figures knelt before a stone altar.

Candles burned with black flames.

The air smelled of ash and iron.

At the center stood a man wearing a porcelain mask.

Azrael Noctis.

His voice echoed through the chamber.

"The First Seal has awakened."

The followers lowered their heads.

"Our search is over."

A young cultist stepped forward.

"My lord... should we retrieve the Codex now?"

Azrael smiled beneath the mask.

"No."

He placed a hand on an ancient mural depicting an angel embracing a human mage.

"Let destiny gather every piece for us."

His fingers traced the painted faces.

"Lucien..."

"...Caelum..."

"After a thousand years..."

He slowly crushed the stone beneath his hand.

"...our final game begins."

As black mist rose from the shattered mural, a distant church bell rang thirteen times.

In another part of the city, Lucien froze.

Without knowing why, he whispered a name that had never existed in his memories.

"...Cael?"

At that exact moment, the silver-eyed professor looked toward the horizon, as though he had heard someone calling across centuries.

For the first time in countless lifetimes...

The two cursed souls had unknowingly spoken each other's names.

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