Lyra was still staring at the copy of the writing. “I’ve seen letterforms like these before.”
Lucien waited a few seconds. “Where?”
Lyra frowned. “That’s the problem.”
“You don’t remember?”
“Not yet.”
Lucien slowly closed his notebook. “Then we’ll look.”
Lyra raised her head. “Look for what?”
“The place where you saw it.”
Lyra gave a small laugh. “That sounds easy.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I’ve read hundreds of manuscripts.”
Lucien fell silent. “That sounds difficult.”
Lyra smiled. “Maybe thousands.”
“Are you trying to scare me?”
“A little.”
They turned their attention back to the stacks of manuscripts in front of them.
If Lyra’s memory couldn’t give them the answer directly, perhaps the things she had read could. They started with the collection most frequently used by Linguistics students, beginning with manuscripts in ancient languages and moving on to old letters.
One by one, they opened them. One by one, they returned them.
Nothing matched.
Nearly an hour passed.
Lucien began to lose hope.
“What if you’re remembering it wrong?”
Lyra looked at him. “I’m not.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Lucien raised both hands. “All right, I believe you.”
Lyra went back to reading. “I just don’t know where.”
As noon approached, Lucien found a manuscript with a dark blue cover whose color had almost completely faded.
He opened it. “This one?”
Lyra took it from him. Her eyes moved quickly across the page.
“Similar.”
Lucien immediately leaned closer. “Seriously?”
“Don’t get excited yet.”
She pointed to several letters. “Look at this.”
Lucien examined them.
“It looks the same.”
“Looks.”
Lyra compared it with the copy they had. “But the curves are different.” Lucien exhaled. “So it’s not it?”
“It’s not.”
“My hopes have been crushed all over again.”
Lyra laughed. “You’re so dramatic.”
“I was already ready to find the answer.”
Lyra shook her head with a smile.
But a few seconds later, her expression turned serious again. She picked up the copy of the writing. “Wait.”
“What?”
“It’s not the letterforms.”
Lucien looked at her. “Then what is it?”
“The thing that felt familiar wasn’t the letters.”
Lyra placed the two sheets of paper side by side. “It was the arrangement.”
She pointed to several symbols. “Here.”
Then she pointed to another section. “And here.”
Lucien began to see it.
The symbols were indeed different. But the way they were grouped was almost the same.
“So all this time, we’ve been looking for the same writing?”
Lyra shook her head. “Not the writing.”
She pointed to several marks on the page.
“Look at how they’re arranged. The shapes are different, but the pattern is almost the same.”
Lucien studied the page again.
“So whoever wrote this used the same method?”
“Maybe.” Lyra nodded slowly. “And if I’ve seen a pattern like this before...” She fell silent for a moment. “If so, then I may have seen writing from the same source.”
Lucien smiled. “There.”
“What?”
“We finally have something.”
Lyra looked at him. “You’re really optimistic.”
“Learning from the situation.”
They returned to the catalog.
This time, Lyra didn’t search by language.
She searched by the types of manuscripts and collections she had studied.
Her finger stopped on a page. “Wait.”
Lucien leaned closer. “What?” Lyra read the small description beneath the collection number.
Travel Records from the Northern Territories.
She fell silent. “This.”
“You’ve read it before?”
“A few semesters ago.”
“And?”
“I remember something.”
Lucien immediately took the manuscript box from the shelf. “What?”
Lyra followed him. “There was a section that didn’t make sense to me at the time.”
“What section?”
“I don’t remember.”
Lucien stopped. “You just said you remembered.”
“I remember that there was something strange.”
“Good.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“At least we have something to look for.”
Lyra finally laughed. “All right.”
They brought the manuscript back to the table.
The travel records were far simpler than Lucien had imagined. Page after page was filled with handwritten text. The author recorded traveling through small villages, along damaged roads, through impassable forests, and across regions that didn’t even have names on official maps.
Lucien read several passages. “This person really liked walking.”
“They’re travel records.”
“Yeah, but it’s like he deliberately searched for places that didn’t want to be found.”
Lyra stopped turning the pages.
Lucien immediately looked over. “What?”
“Repeat that.”
“Which part?”
“What you just said.”
Lucien frowned. “I said it’s like he deliberately searched for places that didn’t want to be found.”
Lyra looked at the page in front of her.
Then she slowly smiled. “Maybe that’s exactly what he was doing.”
She turned several more pages.
Then she stopped. “Here.”
Lucien leaned closer.
Several small symbols appeared along the edge of the page.
His heart immediately began to beat faster.
Their shapes weren’t exactly the same as the symbols on the map.
But their arrangement... was the same.
Lyra took the copy of the writing from Lucien’s notebook.
She placed it beside the page.
There was no longer any doubt. “We found it.”
Lucien looked at her. “This is the same writing?”
“Not exactly.”
Lyra pointed to the group of symbols. “But the system is the same.”
Lucien read the note beneath it.
Some of the words could still be understood. Others had faded. “What did he write?”
Lyra read slowly. “The road...” She stopped.
“Leading...” Then the next section was missing.
Lucien waited.
“...to the gate,” Lyra continued.
They looked at each other. The word felt different this time.
The gate.
A word that had stood alone in the manuscript notes all this time.
Now it had context.
Lucien turned to the next page.
There was a small drawing on it.
An ancient stone structure.
Two pillars stood on either side of a doorway that was partially covered by bushes.
“Is this the place?”
Lyra shook her head. “Not necessarily.”
“But he drew it.”
“Which means he saw it.”
Lucien traced through the travel records, but the place’s name was never clearly mentioned. There was only a description of the route that had to be taken.
Away from the main road.
Across rocky terrain.
Then follow the river.
After that... the writing was cut off.
Lucien frowned.
“The next page?”
Blank.
He turned another page.
Blank.
“He didn’t continue?”
Lyra shook her head. “Or that part is missing.”
Lucien returned to the previous page. Beneath the drawing of the gate, there was another line of writing. The letters were smaller, and the ink was different.
Lyra read it slowly. “The gate does not open for those who seek it.”
Lucien looked at her. “The gate does not open for those who seek it.”
Lyra nodded. “A little creepy.”
“Or just dramatic.”
“If the author went so far as to write something like that...” Lyra stared at the drawing of the gate. “...I think he had a reason.”
Lucien was about to turn the page when something caught his eye.
“Wait.”
At the very bottom was an ink stain that nearly covered an emblem. Lucien picked up a magnifying glass.
The symbol slowly emerged.
The book lay open.
A seven-pointed star.
The exact same symbol hidden on the back of the map.
No one spoke. Lucien felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
All this time, they had assumed the symbol was connected only to the map.
Now the symbol had appeared again.
In a manuscript written by someone who had once searched for a gate.
“Lyra...”
“I know.”
Beneath the symbol was a small mark resembling a directional arrow. Lucien studied it.
“What is this?”
Lyra shook her head. “I don’t know yet.”
They didn’t try to guess.
Not this time.
Lucien copied the mark into his notebook.
Then he slowly closed the manuscript. At last, they had something they had never possessed before.
Not just a word. Not just a symbol. A trail leading to a real place.
“Did you find something?” Rowan’s voice made Lucien turn.
He stood a few steps from the table with an architecture book in his hand.
Lucien looked at Lyra. Lyra looked back at him.
They didn’t need to speak to understand each other.
Lucien took the copy of the gate drawing and the directional mark he had just made. “Not sure yet.”
Rowan raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a very suspicious answer.”
“We have a drawing of a place.”
“A place?”
“And directions.”
Rowan immediately became interested. He set his book on the table. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
Lucien handed him the copy.
Rowan studied it for a while. He didn’t ask why they were searching for the place. He focused only on the drawing and the directions.
“If you want to know where this place is...” Rowan raised his head. “...we need a more complete map.”
Lucien looked at him.
“Should we look tomorrow?”
Rowan smiled. “Of course.”
At last, their search had made progress. They were beginning to need more than just books.
And Lucien was beginning to realize one thing.
If these clues truly led to a place... then finding the answer might be far more difficult than reading it.