A home filled with secrets
1307 Words
After escaping the volcano...
Astera finally reached the quiet house she had once called home.
The journey had taken longer than she expected.
Her body was exhausted.
Her mind was heavier than ever.
Yet she kept walking.
Because she needed to see it.
Her home.
The only place where she had once believed she belonged.
The streets were empty beneath the early morning sky.
Astera pulled the hood of her blue cloak lower, hiding her face from anyone who might recognize her.
To the world...
She was no longer Astera.
She was a criminal.
A girl who had been sentenced to death.
A person everyone believed had already disappeared into the flames of the Forbidden Volcano.
Every passing stranger made her cautious.
Every unfamiliar voice made her tense.
She couldn't risk being discovered.
Not now.
Not when she finally had a chance to uncover the truth.
Behind her, tiny footsteps followed.
The little dragon walked closely beside her, its red-and-golden fur standing out against the dark road.
Every few steps, it gently tugged at the edge of her cloak.
Astera stopped and looked down.
"Quiet."
The tiny creature froze.
"If we're discovered..."
She lowered her voice.
"...neither of us will have anywhere to go."
The dragon stared at her with bright eyes.
For a moment, Astera thought it understood.
Then it quietly stepped closer to her foot.
Astera sighed.
"You really don't listen."
The little dragon simply followed her.
---
Finally...
She reached the house.
The place looked exactly as she remembered.
The same walls.
The same windows.
The same small garden where she had spent countless mornings reading and working on inventions.
But something was wrong.
Her footsteps slowed.
The front door was slightly open.
The official seal of the Inferno Pack that once protected the house had been broken.
The windows had marks of forced entry.
The garden was damaged.
Someone had been here.
Astera's heart tightened.
"They came..."
She approached carefully.
Whoever had searched her home wasn't looking for ordinary belongings.
They had been searching for something.
Something hidden.
Something important.
---
She didn't enter through the front door.
Instead, she touched the bracelet around her wrist.
A small mechanism hidden inside activated.
Click.
A thin metallic wire shot upward and attached itself to the roof.
Astera pulled the cable and quickly climbed.
The device was something she had designed herself.
Small.
Silent.
Useful.
Exactly the kind of invention she always created.
Within seconds, she reached the second floor and slipped through her bedroom window.
The sight inside made her stop.
Her room was destroyed.
Books were scattered everywhere.
Drawers had been emptied.
Cupboards stood open.
Her old research notes were torn apart.
Even her invention table had been completely searched.
Astera slowly walked inside.
She touched the broken pieces of her old devices.
"They weren't looking for money..."
Her eyes narrowed.
"They were looking for something specific."
Someone had known about her.
Someone had known there were secrets inside this house.
---
She searched through the remaining pieces of her room.
Most of her inventions were gone.
Some had been destroyed.
Others had clearly been taken.
But whoever searched the room had missed one thing.
A small gap beneath the wooden floor.
Astera knelt down and removed a hidden panel.
Inside was a waterproof metal case.
Her emergency storage.
The one place only she knew about.
She opened it carefully.
Inside were the things she valued most:
Her invention journal.
Her engineering blueprints.
A small pouch of savings.
Precision tools.
Several unfinished gadgets.
Astera held the journal tightly.
For years, this book had contained every idea she had ever created.
Every failure.
Every success.
Every dream.
She placed everything carefully inside her backpack.
"They missed this."
---
Before leaving, Astera looked around the room one last time.
Then something caught her attention.
A small mark near the bookshelf.
She frowned.
She had created that mark herself years ago.
A secret.
One she had never shared with anyone.
She moved toward the bookshelf and placed her hand behind it.
Her fingers found a tiny hidden switch.
Click.
The entire bookshelf shifted.
A narrow passage appeared behind it.
The little dragon immediately became curious and tried to enter first.
Astera stopped it.
"Careful."
"You don't know what's inside."
The dragon looked offended but followed quietly.
Together, they descended into darkness.
---
At the bottom of the hidden staircase...
Astera pressed another switch.
The underground chamber awakened.
Soft crystal lights illuminated the space.
Her secret laboratory.
The place no one knew existed.
Rows of shelves filled the walls.
Blueprints covered large tables.
Crystal-powered devices rested beside mechanical tools.
Hundreds of inventions surrounded her.
This was where Astera had spent years creating.
Learning.
Experimenting.
Dreaming.
Unlike the house above...
Nothing here had been touched.
A quiet breath escaped her.
"They never found it."
For the first time in days...
She felt a small sense of relief.
---
Astera walked through the laboratory slowly.
She collected what she could carry.
Portable tools.
Energy crystals.
Small defensive gadgets.
A few devices that could help her survive.
Then her eyes stopped at an old iron box placed in the corner.
She frowned.
She had never seen it before.
Carefully, she opened it.
Inside was a book wrapped in faded blue cloth.
The moment she touched it...
She felt something strange.
Not fear.
Not pain.
Just a feeling that this book had been waiting for her.
She removed the cloth.
An ancient leather-bound book rested beneath it.
Its cover had no title.
Only a strange silver symbol.
A symbol she had never seen before.
Astera slowly opened it.
The pages were old.
Very old.
Inside were drawings of:
Ancient wolves.
Forgotten creatures.
Celestial symbols.
Elemental powers.
Mythical bloodlines.
And creatures believed to have vanished centuries ago.
Astera spent hours reading.
Searching.
Looking for answers.
Why had she survived the volcano?
What was the silver-gold energy inside her?
Why could she endure something no one else could?
And what was the tiny dragon?
But the answers never came.
The book spoke about powerful wolves.
Ancient guardians.
Lost civilizations.
Even dragons.
Yet nothing explained her.
Astera closed the book slowly.
"So..."
"Even this doesn't know."
Her fingers traced the pages.
Then she noticed something.
A section was missing.
Several pages had been torn away.
Not damaged.
Removed.
Someone had deliberately taken them.
Astera's expression hardened.
"Someone wanted this secret hidden."
---
She packed the ancient book carefully.
The laboratory became quiet again.
Astera looked around one final time.
This place held the memories of the girl she used to be.
The girl who believed she had a future here.
The girl who trusted everyone.
That girl was gone.
She adjusted her backpack.
The tiny dragon climbed inside, leaving only its small red-and-gold head visible.
Astera looked at it.
"You really decided to stay, didn't you?"
The dragon blinked.
She looked away.
"I suppose I can't stop you."
---
Before leaving, Astera returned to the surface.
She stood outside her old home.
The place that had once protected her.
The place that now only carried questions.
She looked toward the distant horizon.
There was only one person who might know the truth.
Her mother.
The woman who had always hidden pieces of the past.
The woman who might finally explain what Astera truly was.
"If anyone knows..."
"...it's her."
She tightened the straps of her backpack.
The Ocean Tide Pack was her next destination.
Not for revenge.
Not yet.
For answers.
Astera took one last look at the house.
"I won't return..."
"...as the girl who left this place."
Then she turned away.
The door closed behind her.
And for the first time...
Astera walked forward without knowing where her destiny would lead.
But she knew one thing.
The girl who entered the volcano was not the same girl who walked away from it.
- Writer
