CHAPTER 4: I WON'T GIVE UP

I WON'T GIVE UP

The river was quiet.

Too quiet.

Moonlight stretched across the water, broken only by the occasional ripple from the night breeze.

Kevin Riven sat alone on the bank, still wearing the ceremonial clothes he'd put on that morning. The same clothes he had worn when everyone expected him to awaken his Codex. The same ones he had worn when nothing happened.

He stared at his reflection in the water. Eighteen years old. No Codex, no recognition, no future anyone believed in.

He picked up a small stone and threw it in.

Plop.

The reflection broke apart.

"Maybe they're right," he said.

The words felt strange coming from him. For years, whenever someone called him weak, he trained harder. Whenever someone laughed, he trained harder. Whenever he failed, he got back up.

But today was different. Today the whole kingdom had watched him fail. His family, the nobles, the young mages, everyone. And beside him had stood Arena, the prodigy, the girl with the four-point Codex.

Kevin lowered his head. "I was supposed to stand beside you," he said quietly. "Not behind you."

A tear fell onto the ground, then another. He wiped his face quickly. He hated crying, especially now.

He stood. "Enough."

He looked toward the dark forest on the other side of the river.

"If I don't have a Codex... then I'll find another way."

He turned to leave.

That was when he heard it.

A sound, faint, almost swallowed by the wind.

"Help..."

Kevin froze. He looked at the forest. Nothing.

"Please..."

Someone was crying out. Kevin didn't think. He started walking toward the sound, and the deeper he went into the trees, the darker it got. Branches scratched at his clothes. Leaves crunched under his boots.

"Hello?"

No answer.

Then a scream.

Kevin ran. He broke through a wall of trees and stopped.

A young man was lying on the ground, blood soaking his clothes. Standing over him was a massive creature. Its body looked almost human, but its skin was covered in dark markings, and its eyes glowed with an unnatural light.

"What the..."

The creature turned. Its eyes locked on Kevin.

He stepped back without meaning to. He had no Codex. No weapon. No spell strong enough to handle something like this.

But someone was lying behind that thing, and someone needed help.

Kevin clenched his fists. "Leave him alone."

The creature growled.

He raised his hand. Magic gathered around his fingers, small and unstable, but enough.

"Come on..."

The creature charged. Kevin barely dodged.

BOOM!

A tree exploded behind him. He rolled across the dirt and pain shot through his shoulder. He pushed himself up, and the creature struck again. He blocked, and the impact sent him flying.

"Ugh!"

He tried to stand. His legs shook. The creature closed in, and he fired a weak burst of magic straight at its chest.

It barely moved.

"No..."

Kevin's breathing grew heavy. He knew he couldn't win. But he couldn't run either, not while the stranger was still there.

The creature swung. Kevin raised both arms.

CRASH!

He slammed into the ground. Pain exploded through his body, and blood touched his lips. His vision blurred.

"Get..." His fingers dug into the dirt. "...up."

His arms trembled. He pushed. His body collapsed again.

The creature walked closer. Kevin looked at the stranger, still breathing, barely. He tried to get up once more, and his knees gave out.

The creature raised its arm.

Kevin closed his eyes.

For a moment everything went quiet. He thought about the ceremony. Arena's smile. The four-point Codex. His family's disappointment. The laughter.

No Codex. Weak. Embarrassment.

Maybe this was where it ended. He had spent eighteen years trying to prove he wasn't useless, and he had failed.

His body felt heavy. His eyes started to close.

Then he remembered something he used to say as a boy, over and over, in a training yard that felt very far away.

Again.

His fingers moved.

He remembered every morning he had trained. Every bruise. Every time he had fallen, and every time Arena had told him to keep going.

His eyes opened.

The creature stood right in front of him. Kevin looked up. His body was broken, his magic almost gone. He had nothing left.

Nothing except his will.

He forced himself onto one knee.

"I..." His whole body shook. "...won't..."

The creature's arm came down.

"...give up."

The moment the last word left his mouth, a strange force erupted from beneath him. The ground cracked. The creature was thrown backward.

Kevin stared.

Something was floating above him. A book.

No. Not a book.

A Codex.

But it was unlike anything he had ever seen. Its cover was black, with deep crimson light pulsing along the edges. And its shape...

One. Two. Three. Four.

Five points.

Five.

The Codex slowly opened, and the forest went completely silent. Crimson and black energy spiralled around Kevin's body. The dark markings on the creature began to react.

"What... are you?" Kevin whispered.

The Codex didn't answer. Its pages turned by themselves, and ancient symbols appeared across the paper.

He reached out. The moment his fingers touched the cover...

WHOOOM!

A wave of energy tore through the forest. The trees bent. The river rose. The creature was forced back across the clearing.

Kevin's eyes widened.

For the first time in his life, his magic didn't feel weak.

It felt endless.

The Codex floated beside him, five points glowing under the moonlight. He didn't understand what had happened. He didn't know where it had come from, or why it had chosen him, or what the five points meant.

But he knew one thing.

The boy who had walked away from the ceremony empty-handed was gone.

Kevin stood up. His body still hurt. His clothes were covered in dirt and blood. But his eyes had changed.

He looked at the creature, then at the Codex beside him, and tightened his fist.

This time, he didn't run.

He stepped forward.

And far beyond the river, beyond the kingdoms, beyond everything Kevin knew, something that had been silent for a very long time began to stir.

Something that had been waiting for the five-point Codex to return.