Chapter 92: What he Deserves
They all stood over the small wooden desk, shoulders pressed together as they peered down at the aged paper atop it. The blue candlelight cast an ethereal glow over the documents, making the yellowed parchment seem almost luminescent against the dark wood. Multiple large pieces of yellow-aged paper with frayed edges lay before them, their surfaces covered with intricate drawings that scattered across the dusty pages like mysterious constellations.
Arthur felt his heart quicken with excitement. After days of finding nothing, the sight of these documents—clearly important, clearly magical—sent a surge of hope through him. Without thinking, he instinctively reached out for the nearest paper, fingers eager to touch what might be their salvation.
His hand was swiftly slapped away by Lara, the sharp sound cutting through the hushed atmosphere of the laboratory.
Arthur panickedly looked up at her, shock evident on his face. Her eyes were intense, not angry but deeply serious.
"Don’t touch them," she cautioned, her voice low and urgent. "We have no idea how well this spell preserved these pages, if at all, and the last thing we want is them falling apart in your hands."
The blue flames flickered as if in agreement, casting dancing shadows across Lara’s face and highlighting the tension in her jaw.
Arthur giggled awkwardly, pulling his hand back as if the papers might burn him. "S-sorry," he mumbled, feeling his cheeks warm with embarrassment. The others shifted around him, creating more space, though no one moved away from the desk.
Lara shook her head dismissively and brought her attention back to the papers, leaning forward until her face was illuminated by the spectral blue light. Her eyes darted across the symbols and lines, recognition slowly dawning on her features.
"It seems to be a drawing of a spell circle..." she breathed, hardly daring to raise her voice above a whisper. Her finger hovered just above the surface of the parchment, tracing the circular patterns without touching them. "It may even be the one for the spell on the castle..."