Bezpłatny fragment - THE WANDERER AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Chapter 1. The House at the End of the Street

At the very end of Birch Street stood a house whose roof turned red at sunset, like the wings of a fiery bird. Leon lived there — a boy who knew more lands from books than many an old traveler could name.

Every evening Leon sat by the window and watched the road leading beyond the hill. He imagined cities built beside great rivers, mountains touching the clouds, deserts lit by stars, and islands no ordinary ships could reach.

“One day I’ll travel farther than anyone,” he said once.

The wind stirred the curtain, as if it had heard the promise.

Leon did not yet know that his journey would begin sooner than he expected. The next morning, he was supposed to help tidy the attic. Among old trunks, books, and objects whose purpose no one remembered anymore, something was waiting for him — something that had belonged to no human being for many years.

Or perhaps, as he would later think, it had been waiting specifically for him.

Chapter 2. The Map Found in the Attic

The attic smelled of wood, dust, and dried herbs. Leon shifted boxes until, behind a tall wardrobe, he noticed a small chest reinforced with dark metal.

It had no lock.

When he touched the lid, the chest opened by itself.

Inside lay a rolled-up map. It looked nothing like any map in a school atlas. The continents seemed familiar, but between them were islands Leon had never seen before. Across the ocean, in tiny letters, were the words: “Not all roads exist all the time.”

In the lower-right corner was the symbol of a seven-pointed star.

Leon spread the parchment across the floor. For a moment, he thought the thin lines of the rivers moved like real water.

Beneath the map he found an envelope, but the paper inside was blank.

“Strange,” he whispered.

Then a single sentence appeared on the empty page:

“The map speaks only to the one who truly wishes to set out.”

Leon stopped breathing for a second.

One more object lay at the bottom of the chest.

Chapter 3. The Compass Without North

It was an old compass in a brass case. The same seven-pointed star was engraved on its lid.

Leon opened it and frowned. The needle did not point north. It spun, stopped, and then pointed toward the attic window.

Leon turned the compass around. The needle still pointed toward the window.

“Broken.”

The moment he said the word, the needle jerked sharply, as if offended.

Leon laughed, but soon grew serious. Beneath the glass he noticed a tiny inscription: “I do not show direction. I show the way.”

That evening he tried to find information about the star symbol. He found nothing. But when he placed the compass on the map he had discovered, something extraordinary happened.

A golden dot lit up on the parchment.

First, just one.

Then a thin glowing line appeared, running from Leon’s house far to the west.

The compass stopped spinning.

The needle pointed to the beginning of the road.

Chapter 4. The First Sign

Leon barely slept that night. The map lay on his desk, and the golden line pulsed with a gentle light.

At midnight, a new message appeared on it:

“Seek the city where the hour has stopped.”

Leon read the sentence several times. Beneath it, the outline of a clock tower slowly appeared.

Suddenly the compass opened by itself.

A quiet sound came from inside it, like the chime of a tiny bell.

Leon felt fear and wonder at the same time. Until now, traveling around the world had been a dream. Now someone — or something — was truly inviting him to go.

He did not know who had created the map. He did not know why it had ended up in his house.

But he knew one thing.

If he stayed, he would spend the rest of his life wondering where the golden road had led.

By dawn, he had begun to pack.

Chapter 5. Farewell

Leon took little with him: clothes, a notebook, a pencil, a canteen, a few coins, the map, and the compass. He put the most important things in a bag he could keep with him at all times.

Before leaving, he stood in his room one last time.

Everything looked exactly as it had the day before, and yet he had the feeling that the house had already become part of the past.

Saying goodbye was not easy. He promised to return and to write whenever he could. But he could not say exactly where he was going.

“Around the world,” he finally answered.

It sounded crazy.

As soon as he stepped through the gate, the compass pointed toward the station.

Leon turned back one last time. The roof of the house shone in the morning sun.

“I’ll come back,” he said.

He did not yet know that when he saw that street again, he would already be a completely different person.

Chapter 6. The Midnight Train

At the station, Leon discovered the first problem: according to the timetable, the train indicated by the compass did not exist.

Even so, at midnight a dark-blue train glided silently into the empty platform. Its sign displayed only one word: “FARTHER.”

Leon boarded.

In the carriage sat an elderly woman with a cage in which, instead of a bird, a tiny fox was sleeping, and a young boy named Emil, traveling with an enormous backpack.

“Where are you going?” Emil asked.

Leon looked at the compass.

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out.”

Emil took the answer for a joke.

The train set off. Fields, cities, and mountains passed beyond the windows, but by morning Leon noticed something impossible. The sun was rising on the wrong side of the carriage.

The elderly woman smiled.

“First journey?”

Leon nodded.

“Then remember this: from now on, don’t trust every road just because it looks familiar.”

Chapter 7. The City of Clocks

The train stopped in a city filled with towers. Every one of them had a clock.

They all showed 11:47.

People in the streets talked, worked, and shopped as usual, but no one could say how long the same minute had lasted.

“The clocks stopped thirty years ago,” explained a bread seller. “Or yesterday. It’s hard to tell when time refuses to cooperate.”

Leon’s compass led him toward the tallest tower.

On the way, he noticed a workshop with a sign: “AURELIUS — CLOCKMAKER. I repair time only in exceptional cases.”

Inside, hundreds of clocks ticked at once.

A gray-haired man sat behind a table.

He looked at Leon’s compass and immediately stood up.

“Where did you get that?”

“I found it.”

“You don’t find a compass like that,” the clockmaker replied. “It finds the person.”

Chapter 8. The Clockmaker Who Lost an Hour

Aurelius closed the workshop door and covered the windows.

He told Leon the legend of the Seven Keys of the Road. Long ago, they were said to open a passage to a place called the Heart of the Map — a point from which every lost road could be found.

But the key had been broken into seven pieces and hidden in different parts of the world.

“Why?”

“Because someone wanted to use it to rule over other people’s roads.”

Aurelius pointed toward the tower.

“The first fragment is there. Our clocks have been frozen ever since it was hidden.”

“Can I take it?”

“You can try. The tower has no door.”

Leon looked through the window.

“Every tower must have some kind of entrance.”

The clockmaker smiled.

“That is exactly why the compass chose you.”

Chapter 9. The Tower Without a Door

The tower was smooth as a stone pillar. Leon walked around it three times and could not find so much as a crack.

Only when he pressed the compass against the wall did the needle point downward.

Beneath a stone bench he discovered an inscription: “The entrance appears to the one who can stop looking for it.”

Leon sat down, irritated.

For several minutes he watched the square. Children played, pigeons wandered among the people, and the fountain sent water into the air in exactly the same rhythm.

Then he understood.

He was not supposed to look for the door. He was supposed to find the moment when the tower would reveal it.

He closed his eyes.

He heard a single tick.

When he opened them, a narrow door stood in the wall.

Leon stepped inside.

Behind him, the entrance disappeared.

Chapter 10. The First Fragment

At the top of the tower was a windowless chamber. In the center, above a stone pedestal, floated a golden piece of metal resembling a fragment of a star.

Leon reached out.

The moment he touched the fragment, every bell in the city rang at once.

11:48.

Time moved again.

In the square, people stopped in astonishment. Some began to laugh; others cried.

Leon’s compass opened. A small hollow had appeared inside its case. The fragment fit perfectly.

The needle lit up.

Another road appeared on the map, leading toward the mountains.

Aurelius said goodbye to Leon with the words:

“From now on, you are not the only one searching for the remaining pieces.”

“Who else?”

The clockmaker looked toward the setting sun.

“A man who believes all roads should belong to him.”

Chapter 11. Through the Mountains

The road climbed higher and higher. The air grew colder, and the path narrower.

Leon was now traveling with Emil, who, after what had happened in the City of Clocks, no longer thought the compass was a joke.

“I could have gone home,” Emil said. “But when I saw thirty years move forward by one minute, I decided my travel plans were a little boring.”

Fog caught them in the mountains.

The map stopped showing the way.

The compass, however, still pointed forward.

After several hours, they reached a stone gate. An inscription was carved into it:

“Valley of Whispers. Do not answer every voice that knows your name.”

Emil swallowed.

“Very inviting.”

They went in.

Chapter 12. The Valley of Whispers

At first, they heard only the wind.

Then the valley began to speak.

Leon heard his own name. One voice sounded like someone close to him and urged him to turn back. Another whisper told him that he was not meant to be a traveler and that his first success had been an accident.

Emil also heard something he did not want to reveal.

“They aren’t ghosts,” Leon said. “The valley is using our own fears.”

They kept walking without answering.

The more they ignored the whispers, the louder they became.

At last Leon stopped.

“I’m afraid,” he said aloud. “But I can keep going even when I’m afraid.”

The valley fell silent.

A path appeared before them, leading toward a chasm.

Above it hung a bridge made of something that looked like light.

Chapter 13. The Bridge Above the Clouds

The bridge had no railings. Clouds lay beneath it, and far below them were jagged peaks.

Words were carved into a stone:

“No one crosses alone.”

Leon placed his foot on the first plank. It vanished.

“Wonderful,” Emil muttered. “A bridge that doesn’t like people.”

They quickly discovered the rule. The planks appeared only when both of them moved at the same time.

They had to trust each other.

Halfway across, a strong wind rose. Emil hesitated, and the next plank failed to appear.

“Together,” Leon said.

They moved.

Step by step, they reached the other side.

Someone they had never seen before was waiting there.

A figure in a red cloak leaned against a rock as though she had been waiting for them for hours.

Chapter 14. The Stranger in the Red Cloak

The stranger introduced herself as Mira.

She had dark hair, a traveler’s bag, and a silver ring bearing the symbol of a seven-pointed star.

Leon immediately hid the compass.

“A little late for that,” she said. “I saw the light from the tower.”

“Who are you?”

“Someone who wants you to stay alive long enough to understand what you found.”

Mira knew the legend of the Heart of the Map. She also knew of a man called the Cartographer, who had been searching for the seven fragments for years.

“Why hasn’t he found them himself?”

“Because the compass does not guide someone who wants to possess the world.”

Leon did not trust Mira, but the compass remained calm around her.

That was not proof.

But it was a reason to hear her out.

Chapter 15. The Warning

That evening, Mira spread out her own map. It was covered with crossed-out roads and places marked in black ink.

“The Cartographer isn’t after treasure,” she explained. “He wants to control the passages between places. Imagine being able to close the road to an entire city, or open a passage somewhere no one should enter.”

Leon looked at the first fragment of the key.

“What if I just throw it away?”

“Someone will find it.”

“I’ll destroy it.”

“People have tried.”

Mira pointed to a port marked on the map.

“The second sign will appear at sea. We need to reach a ship called the Morning Star.”

“We need to?” Emil asked.

Mira smiled.

“You can also wait here until the Cartographer’s people find you.”

The next morning, they set out for the coast.

Chapter 16. The Morning Star

The Morning Star was an old sailing ship with pale sails and a wooden star decorating its bow.

Captain Solomon did not ask many questions.

“Are you paying for the voyage, or working for it?”

Emil looked at his nearly empty pockets.

“Working.”

Leon helped keep the voyage log and study the charts. Mira knew the stars, while Emil quickly discovered that working with ropes was harder than it looked in books.

For several days, the sea was calm.

On the fifth night, the compass began to tremble.

Its needle pointed straight into the darkness.

The captain looked toward the horizon.

“Reef the sails!”

The first bolt of lightning appeared in the sky.

Then a second.

And then five more.

Chapter 17. The Storm of Seven Lightning Bolts

The sea changed within minutes.

Waves struck the sides of the ship, the wind tore at the sails, and seven bolts of lightning appeared in the sky, always in the same order.

“This is no ordinary storm!” Mira shouted.

The compass shone so brightly that Leon had to shield his eyes.

The captain tried to hold their course, but the needle pointed directly into the heart of the storm.

“If we follow it, we’ll sink!” Emil cried.

Leon looked at the map.

Words appeared on the parchment:

“Not every storm is meant to stop you.”

“We follow the compass!”

For a second, the captain stared at Leon as if he were mad.

Then he turned the wheel.

The ship sailed between two enormous waves.

Suddenly, there was silence.

Chapter 18. The Island That Wasn’t There

At dawn, they saw an island.

Captain Solomon checked three maps.

“It doesn’t exist.”

“I’m starting to get used to places like that,” Emil replied.

The island was surrounded by white mist. Tall trees with silver leaves grew along the shore.

When they went ashore, the Morning Star disappeared behind the mist, even though the sea remained calm.

Mira found tracks in the sand.

They belonged to none of them.

“Someone is here.”

The tracks led inland.

The compass pointed in the same direction.

After an hour of walking, they reached a forest. The trees looked ordinary, but as the sun began to set, their trunks lit up with blue and golden light.

Then they heard the first laugh coming from among the trees.

Chapter 19. The Forest of Glowing Trees

Small beings who called themselves the Lumini lived in the forest. Their skin shimmered faintly, and their homes were inside enormous tree trunks.

The Lumini, however, were not pleased to see the visitors.

“Humans are always looking for something,” said their elder, Aria. “Treasure, answers, or things they can take away.”

Leon showed her the compass, but asked for nothing.

He told her about the journey and the Cartographer.

Aria was silent for a long time.

“Someone with a compass like that came here once,” she finally said. “Long ago.”

She led them to the oldest tree.

Inside it stood a stone table, and on the table was a metal box.

There was no fragment of the key inside.

There was a letter.

On the envelope were the words:

“For the Next Wanderer.”

Chapter 20. The Second Sign on the Map

Leon opened the letter.

The writing was faded, but still legible.

“If you are reading this, the compass has chosen again. Do not search for the seven pieces in order to open the Heart of the Map. First learn why it was closed.”

Below it was one more sentence:

“Do not trust anyone who claims to know the whole story.”

Leon instinctively looked at Mira.

“I understand,” she said coolly.

“I didn’t say it was about you.”

“But you thought it.”

The compass suddenly opened.

The map flared with light. A new golden line ran from the island across the sea toward the south.

On the parchment appeared the outline of a vast continent and the symbol of a sun above a desert.

Africa.

Beneath it appeared three words:

“The City Beneath the Sand.”

Leon rolled up the map.

The first twenty steps of the great expedition were behind them.

The real journey was only beginning.

Chapter 21. The Sea Leads South

The day after discovering the letter, the Lumini escorted Leon, Mira, and Emil to the shore. The mist parted only when Leon raised the compass. The Morning Star was waiting exactly where they had left it, although Captain Solomon insisted that only a few minutes had passed for the crew.

“We spent the whole night on the island,” Emil said.

The captain looked at him, then at the sky.

“At sea, time sometimes has a mind of its own.”

The new golden line on the map led south. For several days they sailed peacefully. Leon, however, kept thinking about the message: “Do not trust anyone who claims to know the whole story.”

Mira noticed his distrust.

“You can ask me,” she said.

“Who was the previous Wanderer?”

Mira stared at the waves for a long time.

“His name was Orion. And he disappeared while searching for the Heart of the Map.”

“Did you know him?”

“Yes.”

She said nothing more.

That evening, a thin golden streak appeared on the horizon. It was not the sunset. The compass pointed toward it without hesitation.

The next morning, they saw the coast of Africa.

Chapter 22. The Gate to the Desert

The port was alive with colors, voices, and activity. Leon wanted to remember everything, but the compass did not let them rest for long. Its needle pointed inland.

They bought supplies and joined a small caravan. Its guide was Nadira, a woman with a calm gaze who knew the desert better than many people knew their own streets.

“Where are you trying to go?” she asked.

Leon showed her the map. The symbol of the sun pulsed above the desert.

Nadira grew serious.

“The City Beneath the Sand?”

“You know it?”

“I know the stories. That is not the same thing.”

According to legend, the city of Al-Sahir appeared only to people who were searching for something, but vanished from those who wanted to possess it.

Mira and Leon exchanged glances.

That evening, they made camp beside a stone gate. Seven stars were carved across its top.

Nadira touched one of them.

“Beyond this gate, the desert does not ask how strong you are. It asks why you keep going.”

Chapter 23. The Tracks That Disappear

On the first day, the desert seemed calm. On the second, the wind began covering their tracks almost immediately.

Emil tried marking the route with stones.

“In an hour, we won’t know where we came from.”

“That is why we are not going back the same way,” Nadira replied.

At noon, the compass began pointing in two directions at once. Its needle trembled between south and east.

Leon unfolded the map. The golden line split in two.

“Which one is real?”

“Perhaps both,” Mira said.

Nadira knelt and let sand run through her fingers.

“No. One leads where you want to go. The other leads where you want to believe it goes.”

Leon remembered the Valley of Whispers. He closed his eyes and thought not about treasure or the key, but about the question Orion had left behind: why had the Heart of the Map been closed?

The compass grew still.

It pointed east.

A few hours later, they found the first stone pillar rising from the sand.

Chapter 24. The City Beneath the Sand

At sunset, the desert began to change.

First, stone steps emerged from beneath the sand. Then arches, rooftops, and tall towers appeared, as though an invisible hand were lifting an enormous sandy veil from the city.

Al-Sahir appeared before them.

It was not a ruin. Lamps burned in the windows, water murmured in the squares, and people walked through the streets.

“Impossible,” Emil whispered.

“That word is becoming less and less useful on this journey,” Leon replied.

A guard stopped them at the gate.

“What do you wish to take from Al-Sahir?”

Leon thought for a moment.

“An answer.”

The guard smiled.

“Then perhaps you will leave with more questions.”

Inside the city, the compass led them to a palace standing on the central square.

Above the entrance was the symbol of the second fragment of the key.

Chapter 25. The Queen Without a Crown

There were no thrones or guards in the palace. In a cool garden sat an elderly woman dressed in a simple white robe.

“I am Samira,” she said. “I take care of this city.”

Emil looked around.

“A queen?”

“Once. The crown taught me that a person can hold power over a city and still fail to understand a single one of its people.”

Samira looked at the compass.

“The second fragment is here, but you will not receive it for solving a riddle or defeating a monster.”

“What do we have to do?” Leon asked.

“Decide.”

She showed them two vessels. One contained enough water for the caravan to return safely across the desert. In the other lay the golden fragment of the key.

“You may take only one.”

Leon looked at his friends.

If they chose the fragment, they could continue their mission.

If they chose the water, they would lose their chance.

At least, that was what the choice seemed to mean.

Chapter 26. Water More Precious Than Gold

Leon did not think for long.

“We’re taking the water.”

Mira raised her eyebrows.

“Without the fragment, we may never find the Heart of the Map.”

“And without the water, someone may never make it back from the desert.”

Samira watched them in silence.

Leon lifted the vessel of water.

At that very moment, the other vessel cracked. The golden fragment rose into the air and flew straight into the compass.

“Was that a test?” Emil asked.

“No,” Samira replied. “It was a choice. A test is when someone expects the correct answer. I only wanted to see who you would be when the price became real.”

The second fragment joined the first.

The map glowed more brightly.

Leon noticed something new: the two fragments formed part of a larger symbol. It did not look like an ordinary key.

It resembled a piece of a map of the world.

Samira leaned toward Leon.

“Remember: the Heart of the Map is not a reward. It is a responsibility.”

Chapter 27. The Night That Was Too Short

The people of Al-Sahir allowed the travelers to rest. A sky full of stars shone above the city.

Nadira told stories about the desert, which could preserve stories better than libraries. Emil tried to learn the names of the constellations, but mixed up three of them and finally declared that the sky ought to come with labels.

Leon moved a little way from the group.

Mira sat beside him.

“Orion was my father,” she said suddenly.

Leon looked at her in surprise.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because people listen to a story differently when they know it is personal.”

Orion had disappeared twelve years earlier. He had left Mira only a ring bearing a seven-pointed star and one sentence: “If the compass returns, do not let anyone go alone.”

“Do you think he’s alive?”

“I don’t know.”

By morning, Al-Sahir began sinking beneath the sand once again.

They had to leave before the last gates disappeared.

Chapter 28. The Rider in Black

On the way back, Nadira was the first to notice the lone rider.

He moved along a dune parallel to the caravan. He did not come closer, but he did not disappear either.

Mira immediately recognized the symbol on his cloak: a black circle crossed by a white line.

“The Cartographer.”

“Is that him?” Leon asked.

“One of his people.”

By evening, the rider had vanished.

During the night, someone tried to enter Leon’s tent.

The boy woke when the compass grew hot. He saw a shadow and shouted. Emil and Nadira rushed out of the neighboring tents.

The intruder fled among the dunes.

He did not take the compass.

But he left behind a black card.

On it was a message:

“Give up the fragments. The roads of the world do not belong to children.”

Leon turned the card over.

On the back, someone had added:

“Mira knows more than she has told you.”

Chapter 29. The Price of a Secret

Leon handed the card to Mira.

“What else are you hiding from me?”

Mira did not try to deny it.

“The Cartographer once traveled with my father.”

Silence fell.

Orion and the man now known as the Cartographer had been friends. Together they searched for the Heart of the Map. But they disagreed on one thing: Orion believed that no one person should decide which roads others were allowed to open. The Cartographer believed the world would be safer if someone wise took control of them.

“Is that why the key was broken?” Leon asked.

“I don’t know. My father never told me the end of the story.”

Leon was angry that Mira had hidden such an important part of the story.

“From now on, no more half-truths.”

“Agreed.”

“Even if the truth is uncomfortable.”

Mira held out her hand.

“Especially then.”

Leon shook it.

It did not mean complete trust.

It meant the beginning of honesty.

Chapter 30. The Third Direction

After returning to the coast, they said goodbye to Nadira. Leon gave her a small drawing of Al-Sahir that he had made in his notebook.

“So someone will remember that we were really there.”

“Cities do not need people to believe in them,” she replied. “People do.”

Aboard the Morning Star, Leon placed the two fragments into the compass.

The golden line led them along the coast and then turned east.

The symbol of an enormous tree appeared on the map.

Beneath it were the words:

“Where the rain remembers the first song.”

“Sounds like a forest,” Emil said.

Mira studied the map.

“And a very long journey.”

Captain Solomon smiled.

“Then you have come to the right place. My ship has a nasty habit of sailing far.”

They set out on the next stage of their journey.

They did not know that someone had sailed after them.

Chapter 31. The Ship Without a Flag

On the third day, a dark ship appeared behind them.

It had no flag.

Captain Solomon watched it through a spyglass.

“I don’t like it.”

“Maybe it’s sailing in the same direction,” Emil said.

“Many ships sail in the same direction on the ocean. Very few copy every turn you make.”

By evening, the dark ship was closer.

Mira noticed a black circle crossed by a white line on its mast.

“The Cartographer’s people.”

Solomon ordered a change of course. Their pursuers did the same.

Leon looked at the compass. The needle suddenly pointed toward a place where there was no land at all.

“There.”

The captain sighed.

“Every time I listen to that thing, something impossible happens.”

“But we’re alive.”

“That is the only reason I still listen to you.”

The Morning Star turned.

Ahead of them, the sea began to glow.

Chapter 32. The River on the Ocean

A ribbon of bright water stretched across the middle of the ocean like a river.

Its current moved faster than the surrounding sea.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Solomon said.

They sailed into the glowing water.

The ship accelerated without any help from the wind. The dark vessel tried to pursue them, but could not find the entrance to the strange current.

After several hours, it disappeared beyond the horizon.

Emil leaned over the side.

Beneath the surface swam thousands of silver fish, all moving in the same direction.

Mira found a new inscription on the map:

“The Sea Road appears to those who do not try to stop it.”

“Another hidden road,” Leon said. “The Cartographer really could do terrible things with them.”

For the first time, he fully understood what the struggle was about.

It was not about treasure.

It was about the freedom to move through the world.

Chapter 33. The Port of a Thousand Scents

The glowing river carried them toward a distant port.

The air smelled of spices, fruit, wood, and the sea. Dozens of languages could be heard in the marketplace.

The compass led them through the crowd to a small bookshop.

The owner, Mr. Ravi, looked at the star symbol and silently closed the shop.

“I knew someone would come one day.”

From the back room, he brought out a book bound in green leather.

It was Orion’s journal.

Mira froze.

“Where did you get it?”

“He left it here twelve years ago.”

Many pages were missing from the journal. One, however, remained intact:

“The third fragment is not in a temple or a palace. It is guarded by someone who has refused for centuries to call himself a guardian.”

At the bottom was a drawing of a dragon.

Emil looked at Leon.

“I knew it. A fairy-tale journey around the world had to have a dragon.”

Chapter 34. The Road to the Land of Monsoons

The travelers left the ship in Solomon’s care and continued overland.

The farther they went, the greener the landscape became. Fields, rivers, hills, and forests appeared.

One afternoon, the sky darkened.

Rain fell suddenly and with such force that within seconds Emil looked as though he had jumped into a river.

“I told you to bring a cloak,” Mira remarked.

“I did. It’s at the very bottom of my backpack, which means it is technically very well protected from the rain.”

Leon laughed.

The compass led them toward the mountains.

In one village, they heard a story about the Dragon of Memory, who lived in a valley unreachable by ordinary roads.

“Does it eat people?” Emil asked.

The old man telling the story shook his head.

“Worse. It asks questions.”

That evening, the map revealed a narrow path running between waterfalls.

Chapter 35. The Dragon Who Did Not Guard Gold

The valley was filled with mist and flowers. At its center was a cave.

An enormous head covered in green-and-gold scales emerged from the darkness.

Emil moved half a step behind Mira.

“Strategic positioning,” he whispered.

The dragon opened its eyes.

“Humans,” it said in a voice like distant thunder. “You have come for treasure again.”

“For a fragment of the key,” Leon replied.

“So, for treasure.”

The dragon’s name was Aro. He did not sit on a pile of gold. His cave contained thousands of small glass spheres.

An image moved inside each one.

“Memories,” he explained. “Stories of places that no longer exist.”

Aro preserved the memory of lost cities, languages, friendships, and journeys.

“The third fragment is mine,” he said. “But before I give it to you, you must understand what I truly guard.”

Chapter 36. The Last Memory

Aro chose one of the glass spheres.

Inside it appeared a small town. People crossed a bridge, children played in the marketplace, and someone baked bread.

“This place disappeared when the Road leading to it was closed,” the dragon said.

Leon felt a chill.

“The Cartographer?”

“No. This happened much earlier. That is why the Heart of the Map was created. It was meant to protect roads from disappearing.”

That changed everything.

The Heart of the Map was not merely a dangerous power. It could also save places from being forgotten.

“Then why was it closed?”

Aro looked at Mira.

“Because every great power eventually finds someone who believes they know best how others should live.”

The dragon handed Leon the sphere.

“Remember this town. As long as someone remembers it, it has not disappeared completely.”

Leon accepted the memory carefully.

Chapter 37. The Dragon’s Test

Aro was not going to give up the fragment without asking a question.

“You can save one of two things,” he told Leon. “A road leading to a place you love, or a hundred roads leading to places you will never see. Which do you choose?”

Leon was silent.

He did not want to lose the road home.

But he imagined hundreds of people cut off from their homes simply because he did not know those places.

“The hundred roads.”

The dragon lowered his head.

“Why?”

“Because not knowing something doesn’t make it less important.”

Aro smiled. With so many teeth, it was a rather unsettling sight.

“A good answer. Not the only possible one. But yours.”

A third golden fragment slid out from one of the rock walls.

The compass accepted it.

The three pieces formed a clearer pattern.

Leon could see the outlines of continents upon it.

Chapter 38. The Cartographer’s Shadow

Before they left the valley, Aro stopped Mira.

“He is closer than you think.”

“The Cartographer?”

“Yes. And he is not the monster from the story you have created in your mind.”

Mira frowned.

“He wants to control the roads.”

“That is true. But a person can do the wrong thing while believing they are protecting others from something even worse.”

Leon remembered those words.

On the way back, they found a black card lying on the path.

This time, there was no threat.

There was an invitation.

“Leon. Do you want to know the truth about Orion? Come alone to the Temple of the Four Winds before sunset.”

Mira immediately said:

“You’re not going.”

Leon looked at her.

“We promised each other: no more half-truths.”

“It’s a trap.”

“Probably.”

Emil sighed.

“Wonderful. Could we someday receive a dinner invitation that isn’t a trap?”

Chapter 39. The Temple of the Four Winds

Leon did not go alone.

Mira and Emil stayed nearby, though they agreed not to enter without a signal.

The temple stood on a rocky hill. There was no one inside.

In the center of the hall stood a table, and on it lay an old portrait.

It showed two young travelers.

One was Orion.

Leon did not recognize the other.

“My name is Cassian.”

The voice came from behind a column.

The man had gray hair and wore a black cloak marked with the symbol of the divided circle.

The Cartographer.

He did not look like someone who wanted to conquer the world.

“Mira told you I am the enemy.”

“You want to control the Roads.”

“I want to stop them from destroying the world.”

Cassian placed another document on the table.

“Orion discovered something your friend does not know.”

Leon did not touch the document.

“Tell me.”

The Cartographer looked him straight in the eyes.

“The Heart of the Map has begun to die.”

Chapter 40. The Truth or Another Map?

Cassian claimed that the hidden Roads were becoming increasingly unstable. The island of the Lumini appeared less often. Al-Sahir disappeared for longer periods. Some passages vanished forever.

“Orion wanted to repair the Heart of the Map,” he said. “So do I.”

“Then why are you enemies?”

“Because he decided the power should be dispersed. I decided someone had to guard it.”

Cassian slid the document toward Leon.

It was a page from Orion’s journal.

“If the seven pieces are joined again, the Wanderer will have to decide: repair the Heart, close it forever, or give someone authority over the Roads.”

Leon felt the weight of the three fragments.

“Why should I believe you?”

Cassian smiled sadly.

“You shouldn’t. Check everything I tell you. Just as you should check everything Mira tells you.”

A whistle sounded beyond the door.

Emil’s agreed signal.

Someone was coming.

Emil’s whistle sounded a second time. Leon hid the page from Orion’s journal, and Cassian extinguished the lamp. Shadows of people bearing the black symbol appeared in the corridor.

Chapter 41. The Night of a Thousand Wings

They left the Library of Rain the next day before dawn. The golden line on the map led toward the islands, but before they reached the coast, they had to cross a vast bamboo forest.

In the evening, thousands of wings covered the sky. They were not birds. Enormous moths with silver patterns floated above the trees like a living river.

The compass lit up.

“Where the night has a thousand wings,” Leon recalled.