CHAPTER 6: THE MARK

THE MARK

The health clinic was unusually quiet.

Kevin sat on a wooden bench outside the treatment room, his head against the wall. His shoulder throbbed from being thrown into the trees. His ribs were sore, his hands were covered in small cuts, and he hadn't slept properly in two nights.

Through the half-open door, the stranger lay unconscious on a bed while a healer moved quietly around him.

"Will he be alright?"

"He lost a lot of blood, but he's stable now." She glanced at Kevin. "You should be resting too."

"I'll be fine."

"You're covered in injuries."

"I've had worse."

"That isn't reassuring."

Kevin smiled weakly. She shook her head and went back to work.

He leaned back and his mind returned to the forest. The creature. The Codex. The five points.

And the stranger's face when he saw it.

Kevin had read about every kind of Codex he could find: rare forms, ancient records, magical attributes. Nothing like his had ever appeared in any of them. It floated beside him now, quiet and calm. It hadn't vanished after the battle. It had followed him, as though it belonged to him.

A sound came from the room.

Kevin straightened. The stranger's eyes were open. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then turned and saw Kevin.

His expression changed at once.

Fear.

"Are you alright?" Kevin asked. "You were attacked in the forest. I brought you here."

"You were there." The man's voice was weak. "The Codex... you have it."

"Yes."

The stranger stared at the five points. His breathing quickened. "A five-point..."

He stopped.

"A five-point what?"

"Nothing."

"You clearly know something."

"I don't."

"You just said—"

The stranger jumped off the bed. Kevin barely had time to react before the man swung his arm.

BOOM!

Kevin hit the wall hard. The healer screamed.

Despite his injuries, the stranger moved fast. He attacked again, and Kevin threw up his arm. Crimson energy burst out of his palm.

CRACK!

The stranger was pushed back. Kevin stared at his own hand. He hadn't even thought about the spell. It had simply answered him.

The stranger recovered and looked from Kevin to the Codex.

"You really don't understand what you have."

"Then explain it."

The man said nothing. He turned and ran.

"Hey!"

Kevin chased him, but by the time he reached the entrance, the stranger had vanished into the crowded street.

The healer ran up behind him. "What happened?"

Kevin looked down at his hand.

"I don't know. I really don't."

...

Night had fallen by the time Kevin got home. The estate was silent. He slipped into his room, closed the door, and leaned against it.

"What a day."

The Codex floated beside him.

"You're still here."

No answer.

He sat at his desk, and for the first time since the forest, he had enough peace to really look at it. He opened the cover. The pages were filled with strange symbols, some like writing, some like magical diagrams. He had studied several ancient scripts. This wasn't one of them.

"I need a translation."

He turned page after page and found nothing. His eyes burned. He closed the Codex.

"Tomorrow."

He was asleep within minutes.

...

Morning sunlight spilled across his bed. For a few seconds Kevin forgot everything. Then he saw the Codex floating beside him.

"Right. You."

He opened it and flipped through the pages, searching for a pattern, a clue, anything. Then he stopped.

Something on his wrist.

A faint mark, small and almost invisible, curved along the inside of his arm. Kevin frowned.

"I don't remember having this."

He rubbed it. Nothing happened. Then he noticed his other hand. Another mark across his palm, different from the first, but somehow they felt connected.

He stared at it for a long moment. Then he grabbed his coat.

If he wanted answers, he needed information.

...

The Riven family's private library was enormous. Shelves climbed from floor to ceiling, packed with books on magical history, ancient languages, spell theory, rune systems, and Codex records.

Kevin pulled out a book. Nothing. Another. Nothing.

Hours passed and he barely noticed. He ended up sitting on the floor, surrounded by open books, running his fingers over dead languages and forgotten scripts.

Then he stopped.

A symbol on the page looked familiar. Very familiar.

He opened his hand. The mark on his palm was almost identical.

"No way."

He grabbed another book, then another. The same symbol appeared in several ancient texts, though none of them explained it. Then, at the bottom of one page, he found a small note in faded ink.

Marks of magical binding.

"Binding?"

He put the Codex on the table and searched its pages, one by one. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Then he saw it. The same symbol, the same shape, the same strange lines.

His wrist began to tingle.

Slowly, Kevin laid his palm over the page.

Nothing happened.

He pulled his hand away, then tried again. Still nothing.

"I'm probably overthinking this."

He stood up.

THUMP.

The Codex moved.

Kevin froze. The pages began turning on their own, faster and faster. A cold breeze swept through the room, though the windows were closed. The symbol on the page lit up, and the mark on his wrist answered it with a crimson glow.

Kevin stumbled backward. The Codex rose from the table.

"No..."

Wind roared through the library. Books crashed from the shelves. Kevin covered his face.

"What is happening?!"

His palm burned. He cried out and yanked his hand away.

Then silence.

Everything stopped. The Codex hung in front of him, the symbol still glowing.

Kevin didn't know what he had activated. He didn't know what the mark meant.

But somewhere inside the Codex, something had heard him.

Something that had been sleeping for a very long time.

And it was beginning to wake.