The next morning, Carter woke to a world of impossible blue.
He laid in bed for a long moment, staring out the arched window. His mind was a chaotic storm of fragmented memories.
Magic. A floating city. A test that nearly stopped my heart.
The images flashed behind his eyes, vivid and terrifyingly real. He pushed himself up. The cool sheets pooled around his waist. He walked to the window.
The view was still breathtaking, the endless sky a canvas of deep blues and swirling, distant nebula.
It was a sight of profound beauty and profound isolation. He felt like he was at the edge of the universe. The surreal nature of his new reality settled over him. Not as a dream, but as a solid, unshakeable fact.
A short time later, a knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts. It was Ruby. Her bubbly energy was a stark contrast to the heavy, anxious silence that hung over the other new recruits.
She gathered them. They were led through the gleaming marble corridors to a large, lecture-hall-style classroom. Carter took a seat. The polished wood of the desk was cool beneath his forearms.
He looked around at the other faces, recognizing them from the lounge. Yulian sat near him. His massive frame looked comically out of place in the small chair. His hands clasped nervously on the desk. Paige was a few seats down. Her intelligent eyes took in every detail of the room with a focused intensity. Nico, Keyona, and Amy were huddled together. Their expressions were a shared mask of fear and weary resignation. They were all waiting.
Then, the doors at the front of the room swung open. Four figures walked in.
The effect was instantaneous and electric. The room erupted in a cacophony of gasps, shouts, and the sharp, scraping sound of chairs being pushed back. Other than Carter, Ruby, and Akira, the new recruits had not seen them yet. The sight was a profound, reality-shattering shock. It short-circuited their brains.
“He’s a LION!!!” Yulian bellowed. His voice was a mixture of pure, unadulterated terror and awe. He pointed a trembling finger at the creature on the right. His face was pale. Sir Agamor, a massive, bipedal lion-human hybrid, stood tall and proud. His magnificent golden mane was like a crown around his head. He wore a simple but elegant green and gold robe. Small, wire-rimmed glasses were perched on his nose. They gave him the air of a distinguished scholar from some forgotten, fairy-tale university. He simply raised an eyebrow at the outburst. A low, rumbling chuckle vibrated deep in his chest.
Next to him, the half-man, half-chimp hybrid, General Wulan Yi, crossed his arms. A look of pure, undisguised irritation was on his almost-human face. He had thick brown fur covering his cheeks and limbs. His eyes held the weary impatience of a warrior who had seen it all and was thoroughly unimpressed. “Calm yourselves,” he growled. His voice was a low, commanding bark. It did little to calm the rising tide of panic.
“The monkey TALKS!” one of the recruits yelled. A high-pitched shriek of pure, unadulterated terror.
Nico Reyes, the young Filipino man, had gone sheet-white. His eyes were wide with a terrified reverence as he stared at the figure in the center.
“A-angels are real!?” he stammered. His hands were clasped together as if in prayer. His body was trembling.
“Look, I didn’t mean to steal that bike when I was nine years old, please tell Jesus I’m good!”
A sudden, sharp bark of laughter cut through the chaos. It was Akira.
He was leaning back in his chair. A genuine, unrestrained laugh shook his shoulders. It was the first time Carter had seen him show any emotion other than cold, standoffish contempt.
The sight was almost as shocking as the creatures at the front of the room. Wulan’s expression darkened with irritation at the continued disrespect. But Gabriel and Agamor both seemed to find the recruits’ reactions quite amusing. Their lips twitched with suppressed smiles.
Eventually, the fourth figure stepped forward. A woman with long, flowing turquoise hair. She had an ethereal, calming presence. Lady Seraphina.
She was the closest to a normal human in appearance. Her pointed, fin-like ears were the only immediate sign of her inhuman nature. Her serene expression and gentle, turquoise eyes seemed to have an immediate, quieting effect on the room.
Noticeably, the only recruit who didn’t freak out, other than Carter, Ruby, and Akira, was Paige. She sat perfectly still. Her gaze was fixed on the magical creatures. Her expression was one of pure, unadulterated fascination. She seemed particularly enamored by Sir Agamor. Her intelligent eyes were wide with a scientist’s wonder.
It was as if he was the most fascinating biological specimen she had ever encountered.
Lady Seraphina began to speak. Her voice was a soft, melodic balm. It soothed the frayed nerves of the recruits.
“I know our appearance is quite startling to you. You’ve lived your entire lives in the human world, speaking only one language. You have never experienced the world of magic. It must be traumatizing.”
“First, you break free from the Unity’s safeguard and experience something horrible. Then, you discover that magic is real and get taken to a floating city in the sky. And now, you see us. We must look like something out of a fantasy movie to you.”
Everyone seemed to calm down as she talked. Their breathing evened out. Their wide, terrified eyes softened slightly.
She does have a sort of motherly vibe to her, Carter thought.
“We are what’s known as magical creatures,” Seraphina continued. “Other than General Wulan here, we were all once human. But we gave up our humanity to serve this institution. If you can put aside our appearances for now, we can begin the orientation and give you the answers that you’ve been waiting for.”
Gabriel stepped forward. His divine white wings caught the light. They cast a soft, golden glow around him.
“Ahem. Thank you, Seraphina. You are a great help, as always.”
He turned his piercing golden gaze on the recruits. The room fell completely silent.
“Let us begin,” he said. His voice was a powerful, resonant force. It commanded absolute attention.
“I know you are frightened. I know you are confused. You have seen things that your world has told you are impossible. So let us start with the most fundamental truth, the one upon which your new reality will be built.”
He paused. He let the weight of his statement settle.
“Magic is real.”
“No, it’s not,” Nico blurted out. The words were a panicked, reflexive denial. “It can’t be. It’s… it’s tricks. Hallucinations. We’re all just… dreaming!”
Akira scoffed from his seat. The sound dripped with derision.
“Are you stupid? Look around you. Where do you think we are, an amusement park?”
Nico shrank back in his chair. But the seed of denial had been planted. Murmurs of agreement rippled through the other new recruits. Gabriel simply smiled. A serene, knowing expression.
“A fair point,” he said. His voice was calm. “Belief is not a thing to be demanded, but to be earned.”
He raised his open palm.
Particles of golden light began to gather in the air above his hand. They swirled and coalesced like iron filings drawn to a magnet. With a soft, humming sound, the light solidified. It formed into the shape of a magnificent, long-bladed sword. It had an ornate, glowing crossguard. It hung in the air, radiating a palpable heat and a divine, awesome power.
The effect on the recruits was profound.
Yulian leaned forward. His massive frame perched on the edge of his seat. His mouth was slightly agape. A huge, childish grin spread across his face. His earlier fear was completely forgotten. It was replaced by pure, unadulterated wonder.
“It’s real…” he whispered. His voice was filled with the awe of a boy whose wildest superhero dreams had just come true right before his eyes.
Paige took off her glasses. She polished them on her shirt before putting them back on. It was as if to ensure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. Her scientific curiosity had completely overridden any fear. Her gaze was sharp, analytical. Her mind was clearly working to understand the impossible physics of matter creation.
Keyona, who had been leaning back with a cool, jaded detachment, now sat bolt upright. Her dark, guarded eyes were wide. Her mask of indifference was completely shattered. She was captivated. Her gaze was fixed on the raw, undeniable power of the display.
Even Amy Soo-young, the girl with the perpetually bored expression, had lost her nonchalant composure. She stared at the glowing sword. Her mouth was slightly open. Her usual mask of cool disinterest was replaced by one of pure, unadulterated shock.
Carter watched. But for him, this was not a new revelation. It was a confirmation. He saw the same impossible light, the same raw energy that formed the spear that was meant for his heart.
This is the power I have, he thought. A shiver ran down his spine. The power to create, and the power to destroy.
Then, Gabriel vanished. One moment he was at the front of the room.
The next he was gone.
A collective gasp rippled through the recruits.
Nico, the one who had denied magic’s existence, yelped in terror. He felt a hand gently clap his shoulder. He whipped his head around. He found Gabriel standing directly behind him. The glowing sword was now held loosely in his other hand.
“Do you believe me now?” Gabriel asked. His voice was a soft, calm whisper. It was somehow heard by everyone in the silent room.
Nico could only nod. His face was ashen. His body was trembling. Gabriel smiled. He vanished again. He reappeared at the front of the room as if he had never left. The sword dissolved into particles of light and faded away.
“Now that we have established our reality,” Gabriel continued. His voice was once again firm and authoritative.
“Let us proceed. The hostility you faced from your family and your friends… that was not them. It was a poison, a programmed response from a cage you have only just escaped. You are not losing your mind. You are waking up.”
“My name is Gabriel. I am the Director of this organization; The Library of Solomon. And yes, as Lady Seraphina addressed, I am not human. I was once, long ago, but that life is a distant memory. For the past twenty-six years, our world has been held captive by a spell of immense power, a prison for the human soul that we call ‘The Unity’.”
“With this spell, thousands of languages, cultures, and histories were erased and replaced by a single, sterile tongue designed to do one thing: to sever your connection to magic.”
“Your recent, traumatic experience… that was the sound of your chains breaking.”
“But The Unity is not a passive prison. It is an active weapon. It contains a failsafe, a psychic tripwire we call the ‘Safeguard.’ It turns anyone still under its influence into an instrument of enforcement.”
His gaze lands on Carter. A flicker of shared understanding is in his golden eyes.
“As some of you have already witnessed, it turns love into hate in an instant. Friends turn against friends. Parents turn against children. They become puppets, forced to kill the ones they love most, only to have the memory of the act—and the person they killed—erased from their minds forever. It is a silent, perpetual hell. The whole of humanity is trapped inside it, completely unaware.”
“Our adversary is the architect of this hell. He is the leader of an ancient cult known as the Order of Babel. He is a philosopher-king from a forgotten age. His name is Nimrod. The Unifier.”
“Nimrod? Like… from the bible?” the young woman asks again. Her voice is a trembling whisper.
“Yes,” Gabriel answers.
His voice is a low, solemn confirmation.
“The very one.”
A wave of shocked murmurs ripples through the room.
“Through centuries of silent, patient infiltration, the Order has gained control of the world’s most powerful institutions—its governments, its corporations, its media, and its religions. Nowhere outside the walls of this Library is truly safe.”
“Nimrod’s ideology is a poison of the soul: he believes diversity is a flaw, that free will is a sin, and that perfection can only be achieved through absolute, unchanging control.”
“The Unity spell was his masterpiece—a cage for the human mind, ensuring humanity could never again use the power of magic to challenge his rule. His actions are a direct violation of magic’s will, for magic desires novelty, creation, and life.”
“For millennia, we have operated in the shadows to preserve the truth. Our founder made the ultimate sacrifice to stop Nimrod six thousand years ago.”
“Six thousand years?!” someone whispers. The words are a breath of pure disbelief.
The room is dead quiet now. The weight of Gabriel’s words presses down on them. A young man near the back, his face pale and slick with sweat, speaks up. His voice cracks.
“I can’t do this. A six-thousand-year-old king? An organization that controls the whole planet? I’m… I’m not a soldier. I’m just a kid.”
A young woman next to him nods frantically. Tears well in her eyes.
“Yeah! How are we supposed to fight that? We don’t know anything about magic. We don’t know how to fight!”
“That is why the Library exists,” Gabriel replies. His voice is steady and reassuring. It cuts through their panic.
“We exist to teach. We exist to train. You are not soldiers now, but you have the potential to become much more. We will give you the knowledge and the strength you need to protect yourself.”
The room is dead quiet now. The weight of Gabriel’s words presses down on them. Finally, one of them asks, his voice cracking, “So… we can’t go back home?”
Another adds, her voice a desperate plea, “Yeah, what about my family?”
They are all staring at Gabriel, at this angel from a forgotten age, their last, desperate hope.
“You can leave,” Gabriel says. His voice is soft but firm. “That choice is yours to make. But we will have to wipe your memory of this place, of us, of everything you have learned. Once we do, you will fall back under the Unity’s spell.”
“You can return to your life as if this never happened. But know this: you will be a weapon waiting for a trigger. The next person who breaks free, who speaks a forbidden language in front of you…”
“You may end up being the one who kills them. It could be your mother, your father, your siblings, your friends. Are you really willing to leave, knowing that their blood could be on your hands?”
Carter was shocked at the vivid, brutal reality that Gabriel was painting for them. He saw the horror on the faces of the other recruits as they imagined it: their own hands, turned against the people they love most, their minds a prison of someone else’s making.
“If you wish to return to the normal world,” Gabriel says, his voice now a low, solemn command that echoes in the silent room, “step outside.”
