The darkness was not normal.
It was not like a room that had lost its light.
It felt denser.
Heavier.
As if something had swallowed the light itself.
Kael still sat in his chair.
His hand pressed the book's page.
The symbol on his wrist glowed like cracks in glass filled with dim light.
In the doorway, the masked man stopped moving.
Not from fear.
But because something in the room made him hesitate.
Black mist flowed from the book on the desk.
Thin.
Like ink turning into smoke.
Lyra was the first to move.
She stepped back one pace.
Her eyes stared at the book with an expression far more serious than before.
"I knew this would happen," she murmured softly.
The masked man spoke from the door.
"You truly opened it."
His tone changed slightly.
Still calm.
But now there was genuine interest within it.
"Interesting."
One of the men behind him tried to step into the chamber.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold—
he stopped.
His body tensed.
As if something held his movement.
He tried to advance again.
It did not work.
Lyra observed this quickly.
"A boundary."
She whispered.
Kael raised his head slightly.
"A boundary?"
Lyra answered while still staring at the door.
"Old artifacts sometimes create their own territory."
She pointed at the book.
"For now... this room belongs to it."
The black mist on the floor moved slowly.
Not attacking.
Not aggressive.
Only... moving.
Like a creature just awakened from long sleep.
The masked man finally took one step inside.
Unlike his subordinate.
He could enter.
But his steps were far heavier than before.
"An interesting artifact," he said.
His eyes hidden behind the mask seemed to stare directly at Kael.
"And an owner brave enough to use it."
Kael did not answer.
But the ink on the book page moved again.
A new sentence emerged.
"They were not invited."
Lyra saw that writing and sighed softly.
"I'm starting to hate this book."
The black mist moved slightly faster now.
The masked man stopped two paces from the desk.
He looked at the book with interest.
"You know," he said calmly.
"Some artifacts are more dangerous than useful."
He raised his hand slightly.
A dark metal ring was visible on his finger.
A small symbol was engraved on its surface.
Faint light emerged from that ring.
Lyra immediately said,
"Don't let him touch that book."
But the masked man had not moved yet.
He looked at Kael.
"You don't even know what you're holding."
Several seconds passed.
He continued.
"Yet you're already willing to pay its price."
The ink in the book wrote again.
Faster now.
"Reader."
"Do you wish to preserve this page?"
Kael stared at that writing.
Lyra said quickly,
"Don't answer anything."
But the masked man laughed softly.
"It's too late for that."
The black mist began rising from the floor.
Like fog slowly filling the room.
The street lamps outside the window were no longer visible.
Everything became increasingly dark.
The ink wrote the final sentence on that page.
"If you wish to keep this knowledge..."
Several seconds passed.
Then the next sentence emerged.
"Write their names."
Kael stared at the empty page below that writing.
Lyra also saw it.
She furrowed her brow.
"What does that mean..."
The masked man suddenly stopped speaking.
He also read that sentence.
For the first time since he arrived—
he looked slightly wary.
Kael took a pen lying on the desk.
Lyra immediately said,
"Kael."
Her tone was now far more tense.
"You don't even know what will happen."
Kael looked at that empty page.
Then he turned toward the masked man.
"Your name."
The man laughed softly.
"If that book needs my name..."
he slightly bowed his head.
"...then that means it's dangerous enough."
The black mist in the room moved faster now.
As if waiting.
Lyra whispered softly,
"This might be a very bad idea."
Kael raised the pen.
Its tip touched that empty page.
Several seconds passed.
Then he began to write.
And right as the first ink touched the paper—
the masked man suddenly moved.
Too fast for ordinary human eyes.
His hand reached for the book.
But at the same time—
the book page swallowed the ink Kael had just written.
And all the black mist in the room exploded like a storm.