The guild council chamber had never been so tense.
Three banners hung above the table — the crimson lion of the Crimson Fangs, the silver tower of Spirewatch, and the golden wings of Elysian Dawn.
These were not just guilds. They were nations within nations. The Crimson Fangs ruled through fear and brute force, Spirewatch through secrecy and strategy, and Elysian Dawn through prestige and spectacle. Together, they were the spine of the hunter world.
And yet all three now gathered, not in triumph, but in unease.
---
Guild Secrets
The Spirewatch Master, a gaunt man with eyes like ink-stained glass, spoke first. "You all know why we're here. The dungeon Elias Crowe entered was no ordinary manifestation."
Roderick Hale grunted, his scarred hands gripping the haft of his axe. He hadn't looked the same since his failed ambush. His arrogance had dimmed, replaced by something more dangerous — caution.
"The Devourer," Hale said quietly. "It healed. It rewrote itself. That wasn't the work of a monster."
The Elysian Dawn leader, a woman named Seraphine Kael with golden hair that shimmered unnaturally in the light, leaned forward. Her smile was calm, but her voice was sharp as a blade. "Of course not. It was the work of an Author."
The room fell silent.
Lyra, standing at her guild's side, felt her chest tighten. Elias had spoken of Authors and Editors, but to hear it here, in the mouths of guild masters…
So they knew.
Seraphine's eyes swept the room. "The public thinks dungeons are natural disasters. That's the lie we've fed them for fifteen years. But the truth is simpler: they are chapters. Fragments written and discarded by beings who see our world as nothing more than parchment."
The Spirewatch Master's voice was grim. "And Editors exist to enforce their script. To erase anomalies."
Hale spat. "Then what's Elias? He's not following their script."
Seraphine's smile widened faintly. "That's what makes him dangerous. He isn't a character in their story. He's a reader."
---
Lyra's knuckles whitened around her staff. She remembered the Editor's blank parchment face, the way its quill had tried to erase her existence. She remembered Elias, standing calm and unshaken.
And she remembered the Author's voice in the cavern, rewriting the Devourer to be unkillable.
Seraphine continued. "Editors enforce order, but they are limited. They cannot create. Only erase. The Authors, however…" Her eyes gleamed. "They write. They can change rules, rewrite fates, and alter the very foundations of reality. That is what we fight."
The Spirewatch Master added, "And Elias Crowe has now drawn their attention."
---
The Hidden Quest
At that moment, in a dim chamber far from the council, Elias sat cross-legged, the Codex floating before him.
The pages flared suddenly, script burning brighter than ever.
> [Hidden Quest Unlocked.]
Title: The Library Between Worlds.
Objective: Enter the Hidden Library Dungeon.
Reward: Page of Origin.
Elias's breath stilled. A Page of Origin… could that mean—
The text shifted.
> [Warning.]
The Authors have decreed the same dungeon as a Raid Quest for all guilds.
Unlikely alliances will form. Truth will bleed.
Elias closed the Codex with a snap, glasses catching the glow. "So they want us all there. To watch. Or to erase."
---
The Raid Summons
Guild messengers burst into the council chamber with crystal scrolls glowing hot in their hands.
"Masters! A raid quest has appeared!"
The scrolls unfurled, projecting runes in the air.
> [Raid Quest: The Hidden Library.]
Class: Unrated.
Objective: Clear the dungeon.
Failure: Catastrophic.
Gasps rippled through the hall. For the first time in history, a dungeon had appeared not as a localized threat, but as a global summons. Every guild. Every hunter. One dungeon.
Seraphine's golden eyes narrowed. "So… the Authors call us to their archive."
Lyra's pulse quickened. The same dungeon Elias was sent to by the Codex…
---
An Uneasy Alliance
Days later, the world gathered before the gate.
It towered over the plain like a monolith, its arch woven from runes and parchment, glowing faintly with shifting script. It was not stone or steel, but pages, bound into reality itself.
Guild banners surrounded the field. Armies of hunters prepared. Cameras broadcast to the world.
And walking through the crowd — ignored, underestimated, yet feared in whispers — was Elias Crowe. Lyra at his side, Caleb the scholar trailing nervously with his satchel.
Hunters parted as he passed, murmurs rippling.
"That's him…"
"The librarian…"
"They say he rewrote a dungeon…"
Hale stood at the front of the Crimson Fangs, his eyes narrowing as Elias approached. But this time, there was no taunt, no growl. Only silence. Fear hidden behind pride.
The Spirewatch Master spoke first, his voice cold. "The quest forces us together. Once inside, we fight as one. What happens after… is another matter."
Seraphine's smile was sharp. "Agreed. But remember this: the Authors rarely open their archives. Whatever lies inside… will change everything."
Elias adjusted his glasses, Codex fluttering at his shoulder. His calm voice cut through the tension.
"Then let's turn the page."
---
The Gate Opens
The runes flared. The parchment-arch unfolded, glowing pages tearing reality apart. A library unlike any other revealed itself beyond — endless shelves rising into a sky of ink, ladders stretching into infinity, whispers echoing from books that had never been read.
The Hidden Library Dungeon.
As the hunters stepped inside, an uneasy alliance formed — guilds, elites, Elias, Lyra, Caleb.
But Elias knew one truth the others did not.
This wasn't just a dungeon.
This was where the Authors wrote the world.
And he was walking straight into their story.