The Arcane Rebellion- The Arcane Series #1

Chapter 32

Layla

I walked into the common room and Amir and Uriah's heads snapped to me. Both their eyes widened and they both got up, coming over to me.

"Boss, we are so glad you're okay.", Uriah said to me, a look of relief on his face.

"Welcome back, boss.", Amir said, a slight smile on his face, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thank you, gentlemen.", I said with a smile, going over to the couch and sitting down. They sat down across from me.

"Where's Xavi?", Amir asked.

"He's downstairs in the tavern, I think.", I replied just as the doors of the common room opened to reveal Xavi, Curtis walking behind him. I got up from my seat so I could greet him.

"Good day, everyone.", Curtis smiled, coming over to each and one of us, shaking our hands. "Well, I translated whatever that was. I'm not gonna bother asking what it's about.", he said, handing me the piece of parchment. I looked at the folded piece of parchment for a second before taking a deep breath and opening it, reading what was written down.

My breathing hitched as I read the note. It seemed to be a diary entry, or maybe an article.

"I made two of them- one of them a decoy, the other one real. I'm afraid that, if it gets in the wrong hands, it might be used for something far worse than I could ever imagine but, I won't worry about that, at least not yet. I can only hope that for now, that only I and ... will know of the real one, long enough until the Cress family is off the throne and it is safe to show it to the public. I hope they never discover it. Not one mage will be safe if they do. Perhaps, I'm already coming to regret ever making it. Maybe a little.", the first part of the note read, leaving me shocked for only a moment before I moved onto the second part, dated almost three decades after the first part.

"I cannot believe they found out about it. Someone must have snitched. My trial is coming up soon and I don't even have a proper defense. They're going to keep it in the palace, they said, just to keep it safe. But I can see what they're going to do with it and there is not one thing I can do about it. I can't even warn other mages about it. It's all starting already. Oh, how much blood will be on their hands. The knights will come get me soon. I know I'll be executed. I wish I had never made it. The future of mages is already doomed. All because of me. Now that they're keeping it in the palace's basement in a highly secured room-", it as cut off in the middle of the sentence. I gaped in shook and I stood paralyzed, looking at the note.

It must have been from Morticia Dover's diary. She had to witness the bad things people did with the Artifact even though it was intended for good use. My hands shook and my face turned to a frown as Amir, Uriah and Xavi came over behind me, reading the note from over my shoulder.

Suddenly, Xavi snatched it from my hands, reading the note over and over with his brows furrowed, while Amir and Uriah looked at me with shocked expressions on their faces.

"I won't get into whatever that's about so I'll just leave you guys with the weird note.", Curtis said, saying goodbye to us but I stopped him.

"Is there some way we can repay you?", I asked and he shook his head.

"No, don't worry about it. Consider it a favor.", he said with a cheeky grin and I chuckled, going over to him and shaking his hand. Since the gentlemen weren't paying much attention, Curtis pulled me in closer, whispering into my ear. "He's alive. Be careful.", he said and I looked at him in confusion. For the briefest moment, there was a fearful expression on his face but it was quickly replaced by his signature easy-going smile.