Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday

The Villa's silence was eerie. Yet, it was not the kind that stemmed from danger, but one born from the weight of too much knowledge and not enough time.

In the spacious living room, 2025's gaze was moving swiftly across the ancient leather-bound pages of yet another book from the library tower inside Rune's ring. And even though the one in front of it was just a holographic depection of the real book that was still safe inside the library tower, dust could still be seen rising with every turn of page.

It had been over a year since 2025 made the request for going through the collection of books inside the library tower. And it also decided to not rely on the system's high-speed scanning protocol.

Despite the clean history records and a hundred percent accuracy, 2025 believed that there might still be some possibility of missing vital context if it let automated analysis handle the data. And when it came to the Veil, there was no chance for mistakes.

So instead, 2025 chose to read. One book at a time. Manually.

It hadn't spoken much to anyone about its progress, not even with Grace, though she had asked now and then.

But today… today was different.

The moment its eyes landed on the faded title etched into a dull black cover, something stirred in its data core.

It opened the book slowly. The pages were brittle, yellowed with age, and strangely warm as per the initial system scan. This felt odd, given that everything else in the tower was cold and sterile.

And it was all about the Veils that had been created several millennium ago.

The ancient script took 2025 several long seconds to fully decode. It wasn't in any language Earth had recorded, nor from Rune's Master's realm like nearly 90% of the books in the tower. No, this was something else entirely.

And it turned out to be from the Magik Realm when the system finally succeeded in decoding it.

Over the next few hours, 2025 absorbed every single word, storing it all in its memory banks. The pages spoke of the people who had built the original Veil of the Earth. And it turned out they had built such veils around several other planets where any sort of life was originating and needed to be protected from the horrors of the universe.

It was the founders of the Magik Realm, a group of thirteen, but only five of whom were named in the pages. They weren't warriors, nor scientists, but creators who wielded a type of magic lost to time, blending life force, spirit energy, elemental powers, and soul-tethered relics.

And then, the little creature stumbled upon a name.

Erethil.

It was the first item ever forged to create the Veil.

It wasn't a relic, but a living artifact, said to be forged from the sorrow of a dying world, wrapped in phoenix feathers, and cooled in the breath of a Time Serpent.

2025 paused.

Erethil still existed. It had to. A living artifact could not die unless its creator did, and according to this book, Erethil's creator still roamed the forgotten spaces between the realms.

That's when the pages stopped.

Literally stopped.

Torn.

Half the book was missing. Clean, straight edges where the rest of the pages should have been. No clues. No index. No records.

Just empty, ancient silence.

And it was time to tell the others.

* * *

The moment Grace received the message from 2025, she knew it was about something really important. After all, it wasn't an everyday occurrence where it wanted to talk to all four of them - her and the men.

Wrapping up all the work, the four of them returned to their Starfall villa where Grace let 2025 join them.

And the moment it was out, it decided to head straight to the matter instead of wasting any time. "I have found something."

All four turned their full attention at the little creature, letting it continue.

"As you all know, I have been reading through the books in the Library Tower manually. And earlier this morning, I came across a book that mentions the Veil."

Rune's brows shot up at this revelation. "You are sure?"

"Yes. The name was unmistakable. The book was titled The Makers of the Veils and the Sacrificial Thread. It's in the language from your realm. It includes partial details on how the Veil was created, including names of five of the thirteen creators and their stories. Most importantly, it mentions an artifact... Erethil."

Rune's face shifted and he closed his eyes. It was a couple of moments later that he finally spoke, his eyes still closed. "This book… it's not from my Master's world. My Master might have picked it from somewhere else."

He then opened his eyes and turned his attention to Grace and others. "Considering its in Magik Realm's ancient language, it should be from there."

There was silence following his words before Davian spoke. "Doesn't this mean that there could be more. More books. A full copy of this one. Or others written on the same topic?"

"Exactly," 2025 confirmed. "The only problem… is that we don't have access to the Magik Realm."

The weight of those words settled on them like lead.

Silence filled the room once again, but not the hopeless kind. Just heavy, thoughtful.

Grace exhaled before speaking, "Then we'll find a way."

Rune's gaze shifted to her, his icy-blue orbs staring directly into her emerald ones. He knew better than anyone else just how hard it was going to achieve this, but he also knew that they would find a way.

"Unfortunately, I can't be of any help," Davian said with a sigh, not bothering to hide his disappointment with himself. While he had been constantly getting stronger and scope of his powers had been evolving, the same didn't happen with his portal creation ability. He still couldn't open a portal to a place he had never been to before.

"Then I will." Grace said as she took his hand in her own, giving it a squeeze of reassurance. "Let me shoulder this responsibility and help me when and where I need it."