TThe Veil Between: Chronicles of Light and Shadow

Rajesh Science Fiction

Title: The Veil Between: Chronicles of Light and ShadowChapter 1: The AwakeningIt began with a locked room, a forgotten library, and a whisper that should not have echoed in an empty chamber.Elias Varin was not a man given to superstition. A 34-year-old historical linguist from the University of Cambridge, he prided himself on rationalism and evidence. But everything he knew about the world began to unravel on a rain-washed evening in Prague, 2024.He had come to the Strahov Monastery Library to review rare texts on pre-Christian European cultures. What he found was a door not marked on any map, hidden behind a false shelf in the restricted archives. The key—rusted, heavy, and ornate—was already in the lock, as though someone wanted him to enter.The air beyond was thick with age, the scent of parchment and time blending into something sacred and secret. The chamber held only one item: a manuscript bound in blackened hide, resting on a marble pedestal.The cover bore a symbol—a triangle within a circle, surrounded by twelve small stars, and one eye at the center.Elias knew that eye. Everyone did. The “All-Seeing Eye.” Dismissed by academics as a Masonic myth, embraced by conspiracy theorists as the emblem of the Illuminati. But here, it radiated something different: power and... something ancient.The manuscript was titled “Codex Lux”—The Book of Light.His hands trembled as he opened it.Entry One: 632 BCE — City of Enlil, Mesopotamia"We came from the Sea of Stars, bearing the Light of the First Flame. Humanity, molded from the clay of Earth and the essence of the 'Blessed Beings', was our charge. But the flame was not meant for all. A covenant was broken."Elias froze. The script was cuneiform, yet... not. It danced between languages like a chimera—Sumerian, proto-Hebrew, Aramaic, even proto-Indo-European. His training let him decipher fragments, but something deeper was at play.The Blessed Beings.He flipped through more entries, more dates. Ancient Egypt. Mohenjo-Daro. Angkor Wat. Atlantis.Each passage referenced visitations from “those bathed in light,” beings not worshipped as gods, but revered as mentors, guardians of knowledge, and architects of civilization. And always—always—a shadow chasing their steps: a group of humans who betrayed their light, forming a secret society to hoard the knowledge for power.The Illuminated Ones.The Illuminati.Elias backed away from the pedestal. He felt something watching him—something not from this world, or perhaps too old for this world.But it was too late. He had seen the Codex. The mark of the Eye now etched itself into the corner of his vision. Faint, pulsing like a forgotten memory.And then came the whisper:“You are Chosen, Elias.”By morning, the manuscript was gone.The monks denied the existence of the room. There was no hidden door. The shelf stood firm. But Elias had taken a photograph of the first page with his phone—and though the file appeared corrupted, when viewed under infrared filters, the text reappeared.Even more disturbing, a new line had been added overnight in ink he hadn’t seen before:The First of Ten. The Cycle begins anew.”He returned to England haunted and hollow-eyed. The dreams started soon after.Visions of pyramids levitating in golden light. A woman with white irises calling him by name from a city of crystal towers. A black sun rising over oceans of fire. And always the Eye, watching, guiding, judging.He thought he was losing his mind—until he met her.---November 2nd, 2024 — London Underground ArchiveThe woman called herself Seraphine.She was tall, with olive skin that shimmered under artificial light, hair like strands of silver, and eyes that didn’t blink quite like a human’s.“I saw the Codex too,” she said, placing her hand atop his. It was cold, like moonlight.“Who are you?” Elias asked.“A descendant,” she replied. “Of the Blessed Beings. As are you.”Elias laughed. “I’m a historian, not a prophet.”“You’re both.”She showed him a medallion bearing the same symbol as the Codex. Inside, a holographic map lit up—a network of points across Earth, forming a shape: a triangle pointing downward.“Three temples remain,” she said. “Three keys to awaken the truth. And the Illuminati know it. They’ve been hiding them. But now… they’re awakening too.”He stared at the map. One point blinked softly—beneath the ice of Antarctica. Another, in the Sahara. The third... beneath London.“You’ve been chosen by the Codex, Elias. It’s alive. It only reveals itself when the cycle begins again.”“What cycle?”She paused. Her voice became almost a prayer.> “The cycle of Revelation. When human memory begins to remember what was once forgotten. When the war between Light and Shadow reignites.”They met in secret for weeks, decoding pieces of the Codex. Elias saw connections he had never imagined:The pyramids of Egypt aligned with the Orion constellation—not just symbolically

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