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**Chapter 1: The Missing Book**
The day started like any other, yet as holten opened his eyes, something felt off. He lay still in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to grasp what was wrong. Bits and pieces of last night hovered in his memory, but when he tried to recall the details, they slipped through his mind like smoke. All he could remember was a vague sense of urgency and the faint impression of being somewhere else—somewhere he didn't belong.
Pushing aside the nagging feeling, Aden got ready for school. The morning passed uneventfully until the first period ended. He found himself drawn to the library, searching for a specific book he couldn't quite name, only that it was important. As he scanned the shelves, his fingers brushed the empty spot where "Echoes of the Forgotten Cities" should have been.
"That's odd," he murmured to himself, frowning.
He searched through the surrounding shelves, even the nearby tables, but the book was nowhere to be found. After a few minutes, he approached the librarian, a kindly but usually unflappable woman, and asked about it. Her face fell as she sighed deeply.
"That book… it was stolen last night," she said in a low voice, glancing around as if someone might overhear. "A man broke into the library through the windows—an audacious act. Our guards confronted him, but they were found unconscious, lying on the ground outside the library. The strange thing is, he took only one book—*that* one."
Aden's mind raced. The thief, whoever he was, had taken the only copy of a book Aden could barely recall reading, yet he was certain held a secret. He tried to remember why he wanted the book so desperately, but the memory was frustratingly distant. The only clear image was a glimpse of a vast, otherworldly city he'd never seen before in reality. Could it be a remnant of a dream?
But it didn't feel like a dream. He had been there, he knew it. He remembered walking through empty streets, feeling the presence of someone else—someone who had been with him, yet whom he couldn't picture now.
As the librarian explained more, Aden's heart began to race. "There was only one copy," she said. "And that book has been in our collection for decades. Many have tried to find a replacement, but none exist. I don't know why anyone would take it, but it seems that this book had an unusual importance."
Something was wrong, and he knew it. More troubling still was the thought that someone else knew the value of that book—a value that he himself was only beginning to understand.