The Time Keeper

Chapter 71 - Two Sheets of Paper and Two Eyes

The soft glow of candlelight cast flickering shadows across the cluttered space, revealing crates stacked haphazardly against the walls. Shiny objects glinted amidst the darkness, their surfaces catching the light in a tantalizing display.

Scattered across the floor and on top of the boxes were various objects; shiny metallic ones that caught the fleeting light, vials filled with unknown substances, some clear, others ominously dark.

Among them, less savoury items could be seen—preserved body parts floating in formaldehyde, giving the room a macabre edge.

But my gaze however instantly landed on a single point of interest.

At the back on top of a leaning box was a glass container. Inside it, shielded from dust and time, lay two old, rustic-looking pages on a stand. One edge of each page jagged, torn from its original binding long ago.

The exact same pages Rex had brought to the auction, and taken back in the end afterwards.

"Elias, look at this, have you ever seen a tooth this big?"

Caius's voice broke through my thoughts, his excitement palpable as he stood next to an enormous dirty-grey tooth, encased in a glass dome. I only glanced briefly at the tooth, my interest barely piqued by his curiosity as it was one of the items that were for auction.

"Yes, it's... remarkable," I replied absently, my attention still fixated on the pages that seemed to whisper secrets from their silent perch.

The candles around the room melted down half to the stumps in their holders compared to the unlit ones, suggesting that it had been at least a day since they were lit. That meant Rex would've been in here to deposit the items when he arrived yesterday or the day before.

Ignoring Caius's continued commentary on all the other objects he was engrossed in, I approached the glass container that held the pages. With a steady hand, I lifted the glass off and placed it gently on a box to the side.

The pages had a hint of yellow due to aging, and the ink was slightly faded but still legible, penned with a meticulous hand. I reached out, fingers hesitating a breath away from the parchment, aware of the weight of history they carried.

Without a second thought, I lifted them from its stand to better inspect the writing. It was written in the language of Ancient Arcanist which I had thoroughly studied in Alexei's books. And just like the other page similar to this one I found back in the Leode library, it was a Diary entry.

[29th February 523

"Today has been a rather informative one. Cris and I have settled in an underground chamber near the hills of the Giants to conduct an advancement ritual.

He told me something rather unusual.

That he wishes to switch completely from the Porter pathway to the Scout pathway using an unheard-of method that is kept secret among a select few Arcanists in that mysterious group.

Using a still beating heart of a Tier 3 Lifeless, he's able to advance and switch from Tier 4 Artisan. Cris said that he had been along the Porter path from Blinker, Shifter, Luminary and now Artisan, but he wants to extend his life through the Tier 3 Lifeless.

Something tells me that it's not the only reason, yet I can't bring myself to ask why or what it is. I've only known Cris for 15 years, so there would still be many things I don't know about him.

Cris has taught me the technique that one is able to use the organs of an arcanist of the path they wish to switch to, as a catalyst and extra material within the regular advancement ritual.