SERAPHINA’S POV
In addition to the cryptic warning about the gatekeeper who might very well turn me away, the only other thing Alois had told me about the Origins Archives Room was where to find it.
Not inside any building.
Not beneath the Hall of Memories like I'd suspected.
“Behind the institute,” he’d said, tapping a map with his knuckle. “On the rear mountain. Look for the ancient tree. You’ll know it when you see it.”
So I knew exactly where I was going.
But knowing where and knowing what waited there were two entirely different things.
The path behind the research institute sloped upward into the mountain, narrowing the farther I walked.
What began as a neat gravel trail soon dissolved into uneven stone and tangled roots, the trees growing older, thicker, tw
