The ancient library remained silent after the journal was discovered. Dust drifted through the pale lantern light while dozens of eyes remained fixed on the worn leather cover resting atop the stone table. The researchers looked as though they had forgotten how to breathe, while several soldiers instinctively tightened their grip on their weapons. Nobody knew what was written inside yet, but everyone understood the importance of the discovery.
General Caelan stepped forward and placed one hand on the journal. The military commander rarely displayed emotion, yet even he seemed unusually cautious. For a moment, the vast library felt smaller than before, as though the entire temple was waiting to see what would happen next.
"Open it."
The order was simple.
Yet the atmosphere immediately became heavier.
One of the expedition scholars carefully approached the table and lifted the journal. The old man's hands trembled slightly as he opened the weathered cover and revealed the first page. The silence deepened. Even Aren had stopped talking.
That alone made the moment feel historic.
The scholar's eyes moved across the page.
Then widened.
"What is it?" one of the researchers asked.
The old man didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned several pages and read further, his expression becoming increasingly strange with every passing second. Confusion appeared first. Then disbelief. Then something that looked disturbingly close to fear.
Aren shifted uncomfortably.
"I don't like that face."
Nobody disagreed.
The scholar finally looked up.
"It's written in modern common."
The library erupted into noise.
Researchers began talking over each other. Several officers exchanged surprised glances while students stared at the journal in disbelief. Nobody had expected that answer.
Kael frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The scholar swallowed.
"I mean exactly what I said. Whoever wrote this journal was from Frostwatch."
A murmur spread through the room.
The realization hit everyone at once.
The journal wasn't ancient.
The person who wrote it had been here recently.
Very recently.
General Caelan folded his arms.
"Read."
The old scholar nodded and turned back toward the first page.
The room gradually fell silent again.
The journal began.
"My name is Captain Edrik Hale of Frostwatch Outpost."
The words echoed through the chamber.
"If anyone finds this journal, then we failed."
Nobody moved.
The scholar continued reading.
"It began nineteen days ago when the bells started ringing."
A chill passed through the library.
Kael immediately thought of the sounds they had heard within the ruins.
The bell.
The same bell.
The scholar turned another page.
"At first we believed the sounds were natural. Frostwatch sits near ancient valleys where wind often creates strange echoes. The bells only rang at night, and always from somewhere beyond the northern ridges."
The old man paused briefly.
Then continued.
"Three patrols were sent to investigate."
The next line made the room noticeably colder.
"Only one returned."
Nobody spoke.
The journal continued.
"The survivors claimed they discovered ruins hidden beneath the snow. They also claimed they heard singing."
Aren looked immediately uncomfortable.
The scholar's voice remained steady.
"The soldiers could not describe the language. They only knew they wanted to hear it again."
Silence settled over the library.
Because that sentence felt wrong.
Deeply wrong.
One of the military officers frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
The journal did.
"The men became obsessed. They stopped sleeping. They stopped eating. Every conversation eventually returned to the singing. Eventually, they began walking north during the night."
The scholar turned another page.
Dust drifted from the old paper.
"Five soldiers vanished."
Another page.
"Then twelve."
Another.
"Then thirty."
The atmosphere inside the library became oppressive.
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody wanted to.
The journal had become more important than anything else.
"We believed it was some form of madness."
The scholar's voice echoed softly through the chamber.
"Then the bells began ringing inside the fortress."
Several students exchanged nervous glances.
Aren looked like he wanted to leave immediately.
The journal continued.
"The sound came from empty rooms."
Another page.
"From abandoned corridors."
Another.
"From towers with no bells."
The old scholar swallowed.
Then read the next line.
"Eventually, we heard singing too."
The library became completely silent.
The words seemed to linger in the air.
General Caelan's expression darkened.
Several soldiers looked visibly unsettled.
Aren slowly raised one hand.
Nobody acknowledged him.
The boy lowered it again.
The scholar continued.
"The song was beautiful."
Another pause.
"That was the problem."
A shiver ran down Kael's spine.
Something about that sentence felt far more frightening than anything else written so far.
The old man turned several more pages.
"People stopped resisting."
His voice had grown noticeably quieter.
"Entire squads volunteered for northern patrols."
Another page.
"Researchers abandoned their work."
Another.
"Some began claiming they saw figures standing beyond the walls."
The room felt colder with every sentence.
Kael immediately remembered the silhouette in Frostwatch's observation tower.
The figure they had all seen.
The figure that had vanished.
The journal wasn't finished explaining.
"The figures never approached."
A page turned.
"They simply watched."
Another.
"And waited."
Nobody liked where this was going.
The scholar reached a section where the handwriting changed dramatically. The neat military script had become rushed and uneven. Entire sentences had been scratched out. Ink stains covered portions of the page.
Whoever wrote this section had been frightened.
Very frightened.
"We discovered the city."
The room froze.
"The ancient city hidden beyond the northern ridges."
The scholar looked up briefly.
Nobody spoke.
Everyone already knew what came next.
"The bells originate from the temple."
A long silence followed.
The temple.
This temple.
The very structure surrounding them.
The scholar continued.
"We were ordered not to enter."
Another page.
"The order lasted two days."
Aren closed his eyes.
"Of course it did."
The journal continued relentlessly.
"On the third day, over two hundred people left Frostwatch together."
The room became silent once again.
"Nobody stopped them."
A page turned.
"Nobody could."
Another.
"They simply walked north."
The scholar hesitated.
Then read the next line.
"Smiling."
Nobody moved.
The image was somehow horrifying.
Hundreds of people abandoning safety.
Walking into the frozen wilderness.
Smiling.
The old man slowly turned another page.
His expression changed immediately.
General Caelan noticed.
"What is it?"
The scholar looked pale.
Very pale.
His eyes remained fixed on the journal.
For several moments, he couldn't speak.
Then he whispered:
"The next entry..."
The old man swallowed.
"...was written inside the temple."
A cold silence spread through the ancient library.
Because everyone suddenly realized something.
Captain Edrik Hale hadn't merely discovered the city.
He had entered the temple.
And judging by the journal still resting on the stone table—
He had never left.