This is part of an original serialized fiction project written and edited by the author. All story elements and characters are fictional.

“Where?” the siblings asked in unison.

“The city library,” Teodora replied without hesitation. “My father once told me that some of the Keepers left behind documents—hidden among old books no one ever reads.”

Leo was already on his feet, his determination rekindled.
“Then let’s go. The sooner we learn more, the better.”

The city library was vast and imposing. Its towering shelves seemed to reach the ceiling, casting long shadows in the dim light. Dust clung to every surface, and the silence was so complete, it felt sacred.

Teodora led them toward the back, where the air grew heavier and the lights more sparse.

“The historical section is this way,” she said, her voice low, almost reverent.

They spent hours combing through brittle pages, forgotten manuscripts, and timeworn maps. Their fingers grew smudged with dust and ink. Just as fatigue was setting in, Lucía let out a soft gasp.

“There’s something here.”

She held up a small leather-bound notebook. Its cover bore the faint impression of the Custodian emblem—the same one from her grandfather’s journal.

Teodora took it quickly, her eyes scanning the pages.

“It’s a meeting log,” she murmured. “Dated... over seventy years ago.”

Leo leaned in beside her. “What does it say?”

Teodora tapped a line that seemed hastily scribbled:

The artifact isn’t the only container. The Echo Chamber has a second purpose—designed to hold what the artifact can’t. It is our final defense.

Lucía’s breath caught in her throat.
“A second purpose? What does that even mean?”

Teodora’s face darkened as she closed the notebook.

“It means there’s something else hidden inside the building. Something Méndez could be after too.”

Back at a long wooden table, tucked between rows of forgotten texts, they sat in silence. The notebook rested open between them. Its words—simple, direct—echoed in their minds.

The Echo Chamber has a second purpose, designed to hold what the artifact can’t contain.

Teodora flipped through more pages, her hands moving quickly, urgently. Her expression was troubled.

“This changes everything,” she muttered. “All this time I thought the Echo Chamber was just a gate to the artifact, a conduit. But it’s more than that.”

Leo leaned back, arms crossed. “What could possibly need storing if even the artifact can’t contain it? I thought it held everything.”

Lucía pointed to a line, underlined with trembling hands decades ago.

The echo does not only store—it transforms.

Teodora’s eyes widened slightly.

“Transforms...” she whispered, her voice tinged with dread.

“Transforms what?” Lucía asked.

“The truth,” Teodora answered. “If the chamber can reshape what it stores, then the knowledge itself isn’t fixed—it’s... mutable. Subjective. Vulnerable.”

Leo drummed his fingers on the table.

“So that means someone could twist the truth. Change it. Use the chamber like a weapon.”

Teodora nodded solemnly. “Exactly. If Méndez finds a way to control that transformation, he won’t just be accessing information—he’ll be rewriting it.”

Lucía shut the notebook, the leather creaking softly. Her expression was resolute but worried.

“Then how do we stop him?”

Teodora didn’t answer right away. She continued flipping pages until a folded sheet caught her eye. Carefully, she pulled it free. It was a hand-drawn map of the Esmeralda Building. Familiar hallways and rooms lined its surface—but in one corner, something new.

A spiral-shaped mark.

“What’s that?” Leo asked, leaning closer.

Teodora pointed to the symbol, a room faintly sketched below the known basement, connected to the Echo Chamber by a narrow, almost invisible line.

“It looks like another chamber,” she said. “An extension. This could be the second purpose mentioned in the notes.”

Lucía traced the spiral with her finger.

“What’s this symbol mean?”

Teodora closed her eyes for a moment, as if digging deep into a memory long buried.

“It’s a variation of the infinity symbol—only inverted. It represents something infinite, but unreachable. Something beyond human understanding.”

Leo’s jaw tightened.
“Sounds like exactly the kind of thing we don’t want Méndez to find.”

“Exactly,” Teodora said. “We have to reach it first.”

Evening was settling in as they returned to the Esmeralda Building, the city glowing in twilight around them. Teodora clutched the notebook under one arm, while Leo carried the map carefully folded inside his jacket. They stepped into the lobby, quiet now except for the occasional creak of the old structure and a few neighbors passing through, oblivious to the weight of what the three carried with them.

They didn’t speak, but their silence was full of purpose.

The race had changed. The enemy’s goal was no longer just the artifact—it was everything that came with it. Every secret, every altered truth, every echo from the past.

Now they knew the stakes.
Now they knew the next step.
And whatever waited beneath the building, they would face it together.