Vanessa's lungs burned as she crouched behind the towering archive shelf, the forbidden file pressed tightly against her chest. Grim was frozen beside her, a living embodiment of existential despair in an oversized hoodie.
The footsteps of the Elder thundered closer, echoing across the high, shadowed corridors of the Restricted Archive. Every instinct in Vanessa screamed: run, hide, or die trying.
But she couldn't leave. Not now. Not after what she had just seen in the file.
As Vanessa and Grim darted between the towering shelves, the echoing footsteps of the approaching Elder grew louder. Vanessa's mind raced—she needed a plan. Not just to hide, but to figure out what the Elder knew and how much danger they were in.
"Vanessa… what now?" Grim whispered, his voice trembling.
"Stick close. We can't be caught… yet," Vanessa replied, eyes scanning the shadows. She pressed herself against a shelf, pulling Grim down with her.
From the high mezzanine above, a figure stepped into the corridor. Tall, imposing, with robes that shimmered faintly with spectral energy—the aura of a high-ranking FCO Elder. This was no random enforcer.
Vanessa recognized the signature energy immediately: disciplined, precise, and highly aware. Someone who could freeze both of them with a gesture… or a single flick of bureaucratic authority.
The Elder paused, scanning the area. "I felt someone tampering with restricted files," a calm but commanding voice called out. "Do not think you can hide in these corridors without consequences."
Vanessa swallowed hard. Grim visibly shrank beside her.
"Stay calm," Vanessa whispered, more to herself than to Grim. "We're not done yet… but we cannot get caught here."
For a tense moment, the Elder's gaze swept across the archive. The shadows shifted, ghostly forms whispering secrets as if urging Vanessa to move.
And then, surprisingly, the Elder muttered, almost to themselves, "Not them… not yet."
Vanessa's heart skipped a beat. "Not them…?" she murmured. Could the Elder be… an ally? Or was this some twisted way to toy with them before punishment?
The Elder took a single step forward, and the faint shimmer of spectral authority rippled through the air, yet no binding spell or force reached them.
"Your presence is noted," the Elder said. "Do not let it happen again. Or the consequences will be… irreversible."
Vanessa and Grim held their breath, pressed against the shelves, waiting for the magical or bureaucratic hand of doom to descend.
But then, the Elder turned on their heel, moving away with deliberate authority, their robes whispering softly in the corridors.
Once the footsteps faded, Grim exhaled sharply. "We… we survived?"
Vanessa nodded slowly, still holding the forbidden file. "For now. But that was a warning. The Elder knows something is going on… Something big. And if they are watching, we need to be even smarter."
"Smart? I barely survived basic paperwork!" Grim groaned, head hitting the shelf.
Vanessa gave him a pointed look. "You survived the Elder. That counts as intelligence in my book. Now get up. We have footprints to follow and centuries of chaos to untangle."
From that moment, both of them knew that the Restricted Archive was no longer just a place to hide answers. It was a battlefield of knowledge, secrets, and potential enemies.
The Elder was a variable they had to account for, and every step into the archive from now on was both a pursuit of truth and a dance on the edge of detection.
---
Restricted Archive.
Her mind raced. The redacted lines, the identity swaps, the soul tag mismatches, it all pointed to something larger.
Something much older than any of the rookie reapers she had met, older than the FCO itself. And the name that kept appearing in the older, buried records caught her attention immediately.
A signature. Simple. Cryptic. Repeated over decades, sometimes centuries.
Always accompanying anomalies, failed crossovers, missing souls, and inexplicable rescheduling of deaths.
"Vanessa… we need a plan," Grim whispered, shaking like a leaf caught in a hurricane.
"This Elder.... He's not just going to scold us. He can erase us. With paperwork… and actual death energy."
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "I don't care. I need to know why this keeps happening. All of it. And who K.Z.N really is."
Grim groaned. "You always say that. Always! Every time there's danger, you throw yourself into the abyss and say, 'I need answers!' And every time, I—ugh! I suffer the consequences!"
She shot him a glare sharp enough to slice spectral steel. "Then suck it up, Grim. You're already here. Might as well help me connect the dots before the Elder decides to crucify both of us for trespassing."
Reluctantly, Grim peeled himself off the floor, fingers gripping the edges of his hoodie like life support. Vanessa crawled over to a low table, carefully placing the forbidden file down.
The paper whispered faintly, almost alive, like it was eager to spill its secrets to someone who cared enough to look.
"I've traced the errors from the first death," Vanessa murmured, scanning the pages again.
"Every illegal rescheduling, every overwritten soul tag… it all leads back to K.Z.N. But it doesn't stop there."
Grim peeked at the file, his pale fingers trembling. "How do you know this? You weren't even born back then!"
"Doesn't matter," Vanessa said. Her eyes lit up with the manic fire of discovery.
"This reaper or whatever K.Z.N is has been manipulating cycles for centuries. Someone or something has been faking deaths, erasing identities, even creating rogue ghosts just to cover tracks."
Grim's jaw dropped. "Rogue ghosts? Like… the charming aura guy in your office? The one who made everyone swoon?"
Vanessa pinched the bridge of her nose. "Exactly. That was the tip of the iceberg. Every soul that refused to cross over, every anomaly the FCO blamed on errors or bureaucratic sloppiness… it's him. K.Z.N."
She paused, "And now, after digging through this forbidden file, I can see the patterns, footprints. From decades, centuries, all leading to the same reaper."
Grim's voice wavered. "So… it's not just one mistake. It's a conspiracy spanning lifetimes?"