Chapter One
The Spell That Shouldn’t Exist
The spell whispered Lyra’s name before she ever spoke it.
She froze.
The candle beside her flickered, though the windows were tightly shut. Around her, the old library remained silent, its towering shelves disappearing into shadows.
Then the whisper came again.
“Lyra…”
She slowly turned.
No one was there.
Her fingers tightened around the ancient book she had been studying. It was a book she was never supposed to touch—a dusty volume hidden behind three rows of forbidden spellbooks.
Lyra looked toward the library door.
Locked.
She looked back at the book.
A faint blue light had begun to shine between its pages.
“What are you?” she whispered.
The book opened by itself.
Pages turned rapidly until they stopped at a drawing of two people standing beneath a dark sky. Between them was a strange symbol: a circle divided by a silver line.
Lyra had never seen the symbol before.
Yet somehow, she recognized it.
Her heart began to race.
Beneath the drawing, ancient words appeared.
WHEN TWO MAGICS BECOME ONE, THE SPELL BETWEEN THEM SHALL AWAKEN.
Lyra reached toward the page.
The moment her fingers touched the symbol, the entire library shook.
Every candle went out.
A burst of blue light filled the room.
And somewhere far beyond the kingdom of Eldoria, another person felt it.
Kael.
The young heir of Ravaryn opened his eyes.
A strange mark had appeared on his palm—the exact same symbol Lyra had touched.
He stared at it in disbelief.
Then a voice spoke from the darkness.
“After all these years…”
Kael stood.
“Who’s there?”
The voice gave no answer.
Instead, the mark on his hand began to glow.
Back in the library, Lyra stumbled away from the ancient book.
The pages were burning without turning to ash.
A final message appeared.
HE HAS AWAKENED.
Lyra stared at the words.
“Who?”
The answer appeared slowly.
KAEL OF RAVARYN.
Lyra's blood ran cold.
Ravaryn was Eldoria's greatest rival.
For generations, the two kingdoms had stood on opposite sides of an ancient war. Their people were forbidden to cross the border. Their magic was forbidden to mix.
And yet somehow, an impossible spell had connected her to the enemy's heir.
The library doors suddenly burst open.
Master Orin, the kingdom's chief magician, rushed inside.
“Lyra!”
She turned toward him.
His face went pale when he saw the glowing symbol.
“What have you done?”
“I—I found a book.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward the table.
But the book was gone.
Only a single black feather remained.
Master Orin stared at it.
Then he whispered something Lyra had never expected to hear from him.
“It's begun again.”
“What has?”
He looked toward the dark windows.
“The spell between them.”
A distant bell rang across Eldoria.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third time.
Master Orin grabbed Lyra's arm.
“We have to leave. Now.”
“Why?”
Before he could answer, every window in the library shattered at once.
And outside, high above the kingdom, the stars began disappearing—one by one.
Until only two remained.
One above Eldoria.
One above Ravaryn.
Both burned with the same impossible blue light.
And Lyra suddenly heard the mysterious voice again.
This time, it whispered directly into her mind.
Find him before they do.
Then everything went dark.