Caspian's POV
I didn't sleep.
How could I? Every shadow looked like an assassin. Every sound was a threat. I sat on my bed clutching the practice sword Darius gave me, waiting for dawn.
Waiting to see if I'd survive the night.
When the first light touched my window, I moved. Quietly. Carefully. The palace was still asleep. Perfect time for secrets.
I found the training yard behind the barracks. Empty. Silent. Just me and the morning fog.
Then a sword came at my head.
I barely ducked in time. The blade whistled past my ear.
"Too slow!" Commander Darius appeared from the fog, swinging again.
I raised my practice sword. Blocked desperately. The impact jarred my arms. He was so much stronger than me.
"Fight back!" Darius commanded.
I swung. He dodged easily. Kicked my legs out from under me. I hit the ground hard.
"Get up."
I got up. He attacked again. Again. Again. Each time faster. Harder. More brutal.
I couldn't land a single hit. Could barely defend. Within minutes, I was covered in bruises and gasping for air.
"Stop," I begged. "Please."
Darius lowered his sword. "That's what you'll say when Cassius's men come for you? Please stop?"
"I can't do this. I'm not a fighter."
"You're not a fighter yet." He walked closer. "But you will be. Because the alternative is death. And I don't train dead men."
"Why do you even care?" I asked between breaths. "Everyone else wants me gone. Why help me?"
Darius was quiet for a moment. "Twenty years ago, I was you. Not a hybrid, but a half-dwarf. Half-blood. Not good enough for either world. The nobles mocked me. Made me prove myself every single day."
"What changed?"
"I got dangerous." His expression hardened. "I learned to fight so well that people feared me more than they hated me. Respect through strength. It's the only language this palace understands."
He handed me a water skin. I drank gratefully.
"You survived four days of humiliation without breaking," Darius continued. "That's mental toughness. Now I'll teach you physical toughness. By the time I'm done, you'll be someone people think twice about messing with."
"And if I can't learn fast enough? If Cassius attacks before I'm ready?"
"Then you die." Darius said it bluntly. "But you'll die fighting instead of cowering. That's worth something."
He was right. I couldn't keep living like this. Couldn't keep being everyone's victim.
"Teach me," I said.
Darius smiled. First real smile I'd seen from him. "Good. Now pick up your sword. We're going again."
We trained until the sun rose fully. My muscles screamed. My burns from yesterday's soup throbbed. Everything hurt.
But I was learning. Slowly. Painfully. Learning to block. To dodge. To strike back.
"Enough for today," Darius finally said. "Go clean up. Get to your servant duties before Marcus notices you're gone. We'll train again tomorrow. Same time."
"Thank you," I said. "For believing I'm worth training."
"Don't thank me yet. The real test comes when you have to use these skills for real." He started to walk away, then stopped. "One more thing. Don't trust anyone in this palace except me. Not the servants. Not the nobles. Especially not your wife."
"Selene wouldn't—"
"Wouldn't what? Help you? Defend you? She's already proven she won't." Darius's expression turned grim. "The princess is playing her own game. Until you figure out what that game is, assume everyone is your enemy."
He left me alone in the training yard. Cold. Exhausted. But for the first time since entering this palace, I felt something other than helpless.
I felt like maybe I could survive this.
I cleaned up quickly and reported to Marcus for my daily assignments. More humiliating tasks. More mockery. But somehow it didn't hurt as much today.
I had a secret now. A weapon. Training that would make me dangerous.
That thought got me through scrubbing toilets and being insulted by nobles who wouldn't last five seconds in the Shadow District.
Late afternoon, Marcus gave me a new task. "The Emperor needs documents delivered to the Archive Hall. Take these and don't dawdle."
He handed me a stack of sealed papers. Heavy. Important-looking.
I'd never been to the Archive Hall. Didn't even know where it was.
"Where—" I started to ask, but Marcus had already walked away.
Fine. I'd figure it out myself.
I wandered through the palace, searching. The place was a maze. Identical hallways. Countless doors. I got lost quickly.
After thirty minutes of walking, I found myself in a section I'd never seen before. The walls here were different. Older. Made of black stone instead of white marble.
Magic hummed in the air. Like electricity before a storm.
This didn't feel right. Didn't feel safe.
I should turn back. Find someone to give me directions.
But something pulled me forward. A feeling I couldn't explain. Like the hallway wanted me here.
At the end of the corridor stood a door I'd never forget. Carved from black wood, covered in symbols that glowed faintly. Ancient symbols I recognized from my stolen books. First Mage writing.
The door was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
I reached out to touch it. Just to see what the symbols felt like.
The moment my fingers made contact, the door exploded with blue light.
The symbols blazed bright. Magic surged through me. Through the door. The entire hallway lit up like daytime.
And the door swung open.
Inside was a library. But not like any library I'd seen. Thousands of books bound in dragon leather and phoenix feathers. Scrolls preserved in magical containers. Crystal tablets glowing with stored knowledge.
This was forbidden knowledge. Banned magic. The kind of power the fairy kingdoms had tried to destroy.
And the door had opened for me.
I stepped inside, drawn by books I could spend a lifetime studying. Real magic. Powerful magic. Everything I'd ever dreamed of learning.
My hand touched the nearest book. Ancient spell theory. Techniques lost for centuries.
"Fascinating, isn't it?"
I spun around. A woman stood in the doorway. Old, with silver hair and eyes that seemed to see everything. She wore simple robes but carried herself like royalty.
"I... I got lost," I stammered. "I didn't mean to—"
"Relax, child. I'm not here to punish you." She walked into the Archives, studying me with those knowing eyes. "I'm Oracle Thessalia. And I've been waiting for you."
"Waiting for me?"
"The Forbidden Archives have been sealed for three hundred years." She gestured at the glowing door. "That door only opens for those with First Mage blood. Pure royal bloodlines from the ancient kingdoms. Yet here you are. A hybrid from the Shadow District who somehow made it open."
My mouth went dry. "That's impossible."
"Clearly not, since you're standing here." Thessalia circled me like Darius had during training. Assessing. Judging. "The question isn't whether you have First Mage blood. The question is how. Your mother was human. Your father was supposed to be a nobody."
"He was a nobody," I said. But doubt crept in. The Emperor had told me my father was Prince Aldric. A wizard prince. Could that explain this?
"Was he?" Thessalia smiled mysteriously. "Or is that just what you've been told?" She stopped in front of me. "Tell me, Caspian Drax. Do you know what First Mages could do?"
"They could manipulate reality. Bend time. Create life."
"And destroy kingdoms." Her smile faded. "They were the most powerful beings ever to exist. So powerful that every other race united to eliminate them. The Fairy Empire, the Dragon Kingdoms, even the Wizard Realms worked together to hunt down every last First Mage."
"But they succeeded. The First Mages are extinct."
"Are they?" Thessalia's eyes bored into mine. "Then why did this door open for you?"
I had no answer. No explanation that made sense.
"Someone lied to you about your heritage," Thessalia continued. "Either your mother. Or the Emperor. Or perhaps even yourself." She touched the glowing door frame. "This door doesn't make mistakes. It recognized something in your blood. Something ancient and powerful."
"What does that mean for me?" I asked.
"It means you're far more dangerous than anyone realizes. Including yourself." She pulled a book from a nearby shelf. Handed it to me. "Read this. Study it. Learn what you really are before someone else discovers the truth."
I took the book. It was small, bound in silver scales. The title read: Prophecy of the Hybrid King.
"Prophecy?" I whispered.
"Every generation has its prophecies. Most are nonsense. But some..." Thessalia's expression turned grave. "Some prophecies reshape the world. And yours might be one of them."
"I don't understand."
"You will. Soon." She walked toward the exit. "Come back tomorrow night. Same time. Learn your true heritage. But tell no one about this place. Especially not the Emperor. If Valorian discovers you can enter the Forbidden Archives..." She didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to.
She left me alone in the ancient library, holding a book about prophecies and hybrid kings, standing in a place that should have been impossible to enter.
The door only opened for First Mage blood.
But the First Mages were extinct. Hunted down and destroyed centuries ago.
So what was I?
I looked down at the book in my hands. At the title that seemed to burn into my vision.
Prophecy of the Hybrid King.
A prophecy about someone like me. Someone caught between two worlds. Someone with power they didn't understand.
Was this book about me? Was I part of some ancient prophecy that could reshape kingdoms?
Or was I just a scared hybrid who'd stumbled into something he shouldn't have?
Either way, my life had just become infinitely more complicated.
And somewhere in this palace, Lord Cassius was planning my death, completely unaware that the servant he wanted dead might be the most dangerous person in the entire empire.
I tucked the book inside my shirt. Started to leave.
A voice whispered through the Archives. Not Thessalia. Older. Deeper. Coming from everywhere and nowhere.
"The door recognizes its own. The blood calls to blood. What are you really, Caspian Drax?"
I ran.