Page 9 of Shadows of the Lost Relic (Vanguard of the Ancients #1)

Chapter 9

Lyra

T he deeper I got into life at the Vanguard, the more I realized how little I truly understood about what I had signed up for. Each day was a blur of training, research, and missions, all centered on the artifacts we were searching for. The more time I spent in the headquarters, the more I felt tension simmering beneath the surface. Unspoken secrets lingered in the corners of every room. I didn’t think the triplets were keeping anything from me, but they weren’t the heads of the organization. They ran missions; they didn’t set the agenda.

The boys were their usual selves, each of them dealing with the pressure in their own way. Kane, with his easy humor, always tried to keep spirits high. Theo, with his relentless focus, was driven by forces he never spoke about. And Evan, calm and thoughtful, was the quiet strength that held us all together. Then there was Caspian, who, despite his reserved nature, was a steady presence I’d come to rely on.

Despite all of its secrets, all its hidden depths, it was the buildings of the Vanguard itself that felt the most mysterious. The headquarters were a sprawling complex, much larger than they appeared from the outside. I had explored most of it by now, or so I thought, but I still got the sense that there were areas I hadn’t discovered, places that were kept hidden for a reason. I hadn’t been back down to the Vault since my first mission, but that wasn’t the source of my curiosity.

It was this gnawing curiosity that led to me wandering the quieter halls while the others were busy with their own tasks one evening. I was still feeling restless, unable to sleep. The events of the past weeks kept swirling in my mind like a storm I couldn’t escape. I needed to clear my head. My wanderings led me to one of the underground tunnels. There were vast sections of the compound that were underground, and I had been mapping them, wanting to know as much about them as I could.

I had entered a part of the compound I hadn’t been in before. The sharp lines of concrete had given way to dirt and rough stone. The dim light barely touched the walls, where portraits of past Vanguard members added splashes of faded color to the hewn rock. It wasn’t just the way the portraits’ eyes seemed to follow me that made me uneasy. An eerie stillness blanketed the caves with a sense of abandonment that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, or even why I was there, but I was compelled to keep going. Maybe it was too much time with the triplets, too much talk of fate. I needed to follow this path and see where it led.

The corridor I was walking down felt endless. It was so easy to lose track of time with no windows offering light. Even with the paintings having different subjects, they all felt the same. Just as I was thinking about turning back, I came to a door that looked different from any other I’d seen in the Vanguard. It was older and made of heavy wood with intricate carvings that pulsed with a faint glow, reminding me of Pandora’s Box. I hesitated at the realization, my hand hovering over the handle as I debated whether to go inside. Every instinct told me to turn back, that this was not a place I was meant to be, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I wasn’t surprised to find the door locked. What did surprise me was that it didn’t have one of the biometric scanners all the other doors had. Thinking back on it, this whole wing was devoid of the technology that laced the rest of the headquarters. I kneeled down, took my lock picks from my boot, and got to work. It wasn’t a complex lock; it took me less than a minute to adjust the tumblers and unlock. The thrill of getting through the lock was one I missed, and I took a few seconds to enjoy it, letting the feeling soothe some of the tension in my soul.

Pushing back to my feet, I put the lock picks away and brushed off my jeans. The door creaked as I pushed it open, the sound echoing down the empty hall behind me. I slipped inside, closing it quietly behind me, and found myself in a small, dark room. My eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness, just as they always had, and I looked around. The walls were lined with bookshelves, each one filled with ancient tomes and scrolls coated in a heavy layer of dust, like they hadn’t been touched in years.

A stone pedestal stood in the center of the room, and on it lay a single book, its cover worn with age. I approached it cautiously, my heart pounding in my chest as I reached out to touch it. The leather was cool under my fingers, the surface rough and uneven. There was a weight in the air around the book that drew me to it, though I couldn’t explain why.

The aged paper crackled as I opened the book and carefully turned the pages. My hand stilled, and I held my breath, worried the entire thing would crumble to dust. When the pages remained intact, I turned my attention to the words, though none of the tension left my body. The script looked like scribbles. There were many languages that ancient texts were written in. Theo had been showing me some of them, but languages weren’t a skill of mine.

I continued to turn the pages, even though I couldn’t understand the words. The more pages I turned, the clearer the scribbles became, until they formed words I could read. I stopped turning and began reading, engrossed in the history of the Vanguard, events they had stopped, and artifacts they had gathered. In between it all, it talked about the purpose of the Vanguard. It was so much more than just an organization dedicated to protecting ancient artifacts. It had been formed to stop a number of prophecies, some of which had been thwarted, some of which were still to come.

I continued turning pages and reading until I reached one that made me stop. Red lines decorated the margins of the page, drawn from edge to edge like pieces of string hung between walls. I did a quick scan of the page before realizing this was another prophecy, and I stopped to read it in more detail.

It spoke of a time when the world would be thrown into chaos, when the forces of darkness would rise to claim their place, and only those chosen by the gods could stop it. It spoke of the Fates, the three sisters who controlled the threads of destiny, and of Hephaestus, the god of fire and craftsmanship, whose creations would shape the fate of the world. The last person it mentioned was a daughter of the death. No, that wasn’t quite right. I concentrated harder on the words. Not a daughter of death itself, but the death of childhood innocence, binding herself and being bound to each of them, drawing them around her like wings.

A frigid chill danced down my spine as I read the words. The weight of their meaning settled over me like a heavy cloak, heavy and almost suffocating. This was one of the reasons the Vanguard existed, why it had been formed. Not just to protect the world from dangerous artifacts, but to prevent this prophecy from unfolding, to keep the world from falling into chaos.

I turned to leave, my heart still pounding in my chest, trying to deafen me. But as I reached the door, a tingle raced across the back of my neck, and I hesitated. I wasn’t done here. Every instinct I had was screaming at me that I couldn’t leave yet.

With a sigh, I gave in and turned back to the table, my eyes scanning the shelves until they landed on a small, unmarked scroll tucked away in the corner.

I reached for it, my fingers trembling as I unraveled the worn parchment. The writing was even older than the book, but somehow I could read it with ease, even though I didn’t recognize the pen strokes. I wasn’t sure how or why. My brain recognized that it wasn’t in English, but it also knew each word scrawled on the parchment. The scroll detailed a ritual, one that could be performed using some of the artifacts the Vanguard had collected over the centuries. The ritual awakened the power of the gods within their descendants to give them the strength they needed to fulfill their destinies.

There was a warning as well. The power of the gods wasn’t to be taken lightly. Once awakened, it could not be controlled, not fully. It would attempt to consume those who wielded it, bend them to its will, and in doing so, could bring about the very destruction they were destined to prevent.

A wave of nausea washed over me as I realized what this meant. The triplets and Caspian were in danger, more danger than any of their missions had put them in. If they were to perform this ritual, to awaken the power within them, they could lose themselves to it. And if that happened, there would be no stopping the prophecy from coming to pass.

Did I have to tell them, warn them before it was too late? Or should I put the parchment back on the shelf and pretend I hadn’t seen it? Did they know about the ritual, or was I holding the only copy? All the questions made my panic rise higher and higher, until I couldn’t contain it anymore.

I bolted from the room, with the scroll clutched tightly in my hand, my mind racing with fear and uncertainty. I needed to find them, to make them understand the danger they were in. It was the only way to know if they had been hiding this from me all along.

I found the triplets and Caspian in the main hall, gathered around one of the large maps we were using to try to track the artifacts connected to the Mirror. They looked up as I approached, their expressions shifting from curiosity to concern when they saw the look on my face.

“Lyra? What’s wrong?” Kane asked, his voice laced with worry.

It was an odd sound coming from him, and it brought me up short. I hesitated, unsure of how to begin. How could I possibly explain what I had just discovered? How could I make them understand the gravity of what we were dealing with?

“I need to talk to you about what I just found,” I finally said, my voice trembling with the stress of what I was holding. “I feel like you don’t know about it, or you would have mentioned it. Or I hope you would have mentioned it.”

They exchanged glances, clearly confused, but willing to listen.

I took a deep breath and held up the scroll, my hands shaking slightly as I unrolled it for them to see. “This ritual is part of a prophecy,” I explained, my voice steadying as I spoke. “I found it in a room in the tunnels while I was exploring. It was a room of all these scrolls, covered in dust.”

Theo stepped forward, his eyes narrowed as he examined the scroll. “What does it say? And what were you doing in the tunnels? There is nothing there but storage.”

I had to choose my next words carefully. I didn’t want them to think I was still trying to escape. I needed them to believe me. “It talks about the Fates, Hephaestus, and a daughter of the death of childhood innocence. It says their descendants will be the ones to either prevent or bring about an ancient prophecy. The prophecy talks of a time when the world will be thrown into chaos unless the right people step forward to stop it.”

The room fell into a heavy silence as they absorbed my words. I could see the tension in their faces, the way they were processing what I had just told them.

Finally, Theo spoke, his voice quiet but firm. “You think we’re the ones in the prophecy.”

It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. “Yes. You and your brothers, as descendants of the Fates, and Caspian, as a descendant of Hephaestus, are the key to it all. I have to be the last one, right? Baby teeth being a symbol of childhood innocence?”

Kane let out a low whistle, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s a lot to take in. You’re sure, princess? Why would the Vanguard want to keep this from us?”

Theo remained silent, his expression unreadable as he continued to study the scroll.

Evan, on the other hand, looked up at me, his green eyes filled with concern. “What does this mean for us? What did it say we are supposed to do?”

I hesitated, unsure of how to answer. “The prophecy says that you could also bring about a terror worse than the one we’re facing. The ritual on the scroll is one that could awaken the power of the gods within you, but there’s a warning. Once awakened, that power could consume you. It could take over, make you lose control. If that happens…”

“The prophecy could come true,” Theo finished, his voice cold and detached. It worried me to see him like that. I couldn’t tell what his next move was going to be. I was surprised when he handed the scroll back to me. “I can’t read this. Every time I try to focus on the writing, it moves.”

My brow furrowed in confusion. I took the scroll back from him, unrolling it. “The words aren’t English, but I can read them.”

Each of them looked at the scroll, Kane tilting my hands down to make it easier to see.

One by one, they shook their heads.

Another silence fell over the room, this one heavier than before. I could see the struggle they were each having, the way they were grappling with the enormity of what I had just told them. They had always known their lineage made them special, but this was different. This was destiny, the kind that could either save the world… or destroy it.

Finally, Kane broke the silence, his voice steady despite the tension in the air. We could always rely on him to try to cut through terse moments. “So, what do we do now? How do we stop this?”

Theo looked at each of us, his expression hardening with resolve. “We keep doing what we have been doing. We find the artifacts, we keep them out of the wrong hands, and we make sure that ritual never gets performed.”

Evan interjected, “If we’re supposed to be the ones to stop the prophecy, how do we know what we’re doing is enough? What if we’re supposed to do more? What if we need this ritual and the power it gives us to face what’s coming?”

The doubt in his eyes was clear, supported by the way he was questioning everything he had ever known. It was a question that had been gnawing at me as well, one that I wasn’t sure I had an answer to.

Theo’s gaze swept over each of us. “We’ll figure it out, and we’ll stop the prophecy. We’ve been protecting these artifacts for years, and we’ll keep doing it. But we need to be smart about this. No one can know what we’ve found, not until we understand it ourselves.”

Kane nodded in agreement, his usual easy-going demeanor replaced with a seriousness that I rarely saw. “Right. We’ll keep this between us. No one else needs to know.”

Evan remained silent, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. I could see the worry etched into his features, the way he was trying to make sense of everything we had just uncovered. I wanted to reach out to him, to offer some kind of reassurance, but I didn’t know how.

Caspian, who had been quiet throughout the conversation, finally spoke up. “This changes things, but it doesn’t change who we are, the oaths we’ve made. We’re still the Vanguard, and we still have a job to do. We’ll deal with this, just like we’ve dealt with everything else.”

I looked at him, feeling a surge of gratitude for his steadiness, his ability to ground me. He was right. This was a monumental discovery, but it didn’t change our mission. If anything, it made it even more important.

“We’ll figure it out together. We’re in this together,” I echoed, meeting each of their gazes.

They nodded, the tension in the room easing slightly as we all silently agreed on our course of action. But as I stood there, surrounded by the people I cared about more than I ever thought possible, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was only the beginning.

As we left the main hall and went our separate ways, each of us lost in our own thoughts, I couldn’t help but wonder what the future held for us. The Vanguard was more than just an organization; it was the last line of defense against a prophecy that could bring about the end of everything we knew. And we were the ones who had to stop it.

No pressure, right?