Ash's fingers tightened around the edge of the door. His apartment felt smaller, the air heavier, as the man in the doorway held his gaze. Behind him, the librarian stood unnervingly still, her presence more like an extension of the threshold than a person.
"Invite us in, Mr. Mercier," the man repeated, his voice calm, expectant. "You must have questions. We have answers."
Ash hesitated. Everything in his mind screamed at him to slam the door, but reasom no, rationalization forced him to think. If they wanted to hurt him, they would have done so already. If they wanted him gone, they wouldn't have knocked.
They weren't a threat.
Not yet.
With slow deliberation, he stepped back and gestured inside. The man entered without hesitation, his movements precise. The librarian followed, her gaze vacant yet watchful. Ash's heart hammered, but outwardly, he maintained his composure.
"Who are you?" he asked as he closed the door.
The man gave a small, almost amused smile. "Names are distractions. But for now, you may call me Lyle." He gestured toward the librarian. "And this is Ellen."
Ash's fingers twitched. He had expected something more cryptic. "You're not with them, are you?"
Lyle's smile didn't waver, but his eyes sharpened. "No. We are what stands against them."
Ellen spoke then, her voice quiet but firm. "You've been marked, Ash. The fact that we are here means they have noticed you."
Ash sat across from them, wary but intrigued. "And who exactly are they ?"
Lyle exhaled. "An old, well-rooted society. They do not have a name that can be spoken or written not because they are unknown, but because their very existence bends reality itself. They control history, information, the truth." He paused, studying Ash's reaction. "We call them the Keepers of Concordia."
Ash's pulse quickened. The Concordia Index. It wasn't just a book it was the foundation of something much larger.
"And you?" Ash asked. "You fight them?"
Ellen nodded. "We are remnants of those who remember what should not be forgotten."
Lyle leaned forward. "Everett Miren was one of us. He discovered something within their records, something they couldn't allow to exist. He wasn't just erased he was rewritten. Every trace of his inquiries, his relationships, his work… altered."
Ash clenched his jaw. "And now they're coming for me."
Lyle studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. But you are at a crossroads, Ash. They haven't decided what to do with you yet."
Ellen glanced toward the black book on Ash's desk. "That book. It's a tether. A way in. They've been watching through it."
Ash felt his stomach twist. The book had it really been watching him?
Lyle's voice was low. "It's also a paradox. A piece of their own machinery turned against them. That's why they haven't erased you yet it's protecting you, but also drawing their attention."
Ash frowned. "How does that even work?"
Ellen's gaze darkened. "It is a conduit. The words written inside are not mere ink they shape reality to those who understand them. The more you read, the more it connects to you. It grants knowledge… but at a cost."
Ash looked at the book warily. He had always been drawn to knowledge, but now he realized the price he might be paying.
Lyle continued. "You have two choices. Walk away, forget all of this, let them erase what you've learned… or fight. But if you fight, understand this: you can never go back to being who you were."
Silence stretched between them. Ash's mind reeled, every instinct telling him to stop, to step back. But deep down, he knew he wouldn't.
His whole life, he had sought understanding, peeling back layers of history, driven by a need to know. It wasn't just about survival anymore. It was about something deeper the fear that if he walked away, he'd lose more than just knowledge. He'd lose himself.
He let out a slow breath. Here he was, a rational man, trying to lampoon his own absurdity. He had spent years mocking conspiracy theorists, yet now he stood at the edge of something far worse than tinfoil-hat paranoia. A hidden war waged in the margins of reality, a book that defied logic, and a society that erased not just people, but the very questions that led to them.
It was absurd. It was maddening.
And yet, it was real.
Finally, he exhaled. "Tell me what I need to do."
Lyle's expression didn't change, but there was a flicker of something in his gaze approval.
Ellen spoke, her voice a whisper. "We begin by reclaiming what they erased."
Lyle nodded. "And finding the Concordia Index before they do."
Ash glanced at the book on his desk, its cover black as void. It had led him here, guided him, protected him influenced him. A paradox, both a shield and a beacon. But he knew one thing: it had chosen him.
And if he was to survive, he had to understand why.