Dwight picked up a candlestick. After a moment's thought, he took a short sword from the wall—his weak frame made longer weapons unmanageable. He hesitated briefly, then tucked several spare candles into his clothes.
Then he stepped into the hidden chamber set within the stone wall.
The faint candlelight lit only a step or two ahead. Fortunately, Dwight's innate spiritual power far exceeded that of ordinary men, sharpening his senses.
The passage was hewn from cold, hard stone, ancient and thick with dust. Even moving as softly as he could, he stirred up clouds of it and sneezed repeatedly.
His feet crunched on loose stones. With the flame flickering, he stumbled carefully forward.
Thankfully, the passage was ventilated; the flame wavered but did not die out for lack of air.
After a short walk, he reached a narrow, spiraling stone stairway leading down. Crude but solid, it descended about thirty steps before ending at a small door.
The metal handle was rusted shut. Dwight twisted hard, but the door was locked. He sighed, then recalled the backward-carved line on the bookshelf:
*The great spoon is the key…*
Holding up the candle, he scanned the area and finally spotted a carving on the ceiling directly above the door.
It was a **star chart**. Though he knew little of astrology, the phrase about the "spoon" let him immediately recognize the Big Dipper's distinctive shape.
"The spoon is the key…" Dwight muttered. The ceiling was too high to reach even on tiptoe. By the dim light, he studied the pattern closely.
One candle burned down. As he lit the second, a critical thought hit him.
**A key?**
Ridiculous!
Anyone who found this passage could simply break down the door by force, with no key at all.
Since the clue stressed the "key" so heavily, it had to mean something deeper.
The "key" was not literal.
Dwight sat and thought, then jumped as high as he could and tapped the Big Dipper carving with his short sword.
His eyes lit up! The sound was hollow.
He abandoned the door. Wedging his sword into a floor crack to stand on, he steadied himself against the wall and reached the ceiling.
Brushing away dust, he felt the raised stars of the Big Dipper. He pressed, twisted, and turned…
Finally, he found a movable stone. With a click, a section of the floor dropped open!
A dark, downward stairway was revealed.
Success!
Dwight quietly cheered and jumped down.
He had been right. The rusted door was just a decoy! The real secret lay in this hidden floor passage. Anyone who ignored the star clue and forced the door would never find the true chamber.
The opening was narrow, barely wide enough for one person. He dropped a lit candle down and saw the stairs were only two or three meters deep, leading to a small, hidden room.
After waiting to be sure it was safe, he carefully climbed down.
---
It was a sealed stone room. Iron cabinets lined two walls, their locks rusted shut. In the center stood a large stone platform.
The platform came up to Dwight's waist, covered in intricate, unreadable patterns: a great arc at its center, dotted with star positions all around.
After staring fruitlessly at the platform, Dwight turned to the cabinets.
All were locked—until he let out a small cheer.
He had found the **only unlocked drawer** in the entire set.
Inside lay a stone box carved with the Rollin family crest.
Dwight lifted it onto the floor and opened it carefully. Inside was a roll of parchment, and when he unfurled it, a green, hexagonal crystal fell out.
Lighting his third candle, he read quietly:
*To whoever reads this:
You are surely a descendant of the Rollin family. Know that what you now face is a dangerous journey. You may open a door sealed for ages—a door to a forbidden realm beyond mortal touch.*
*This is the fruit of my life's work.*
*If you are ready, take the gem with this letter. Feel along the stone platform and you will find a slot. Insert the gem, and you will receive my full legacy. To keep this from strangers, the magic requires the blood of a Rollin heir. Let one drop fall upon the gem. The Rollin bloodline will unlock my secrets.*
At the end was a final line:
*May the great Rollin family prosper. I loved this house for my husband.
Your ancestor,
Semel Qira Rollin*
Dwight's heart stirred as he finished.
He knew this name well from the family histories.
Semel Qira Rollin—born Semel Qira—was the wife of the seventh Lord of the Rollin family, and the **greatest female astrologer** in recent imperial history. The tall white tower in the castle had been built specially for her to study the night sky.
Her memory stuck with Dwight not only for her genius, but for her love.
Her husband had died young. Three days later, she had climbed the tower he built and taken her own life, leaving behind the words:
*Through love, we are eternal.*
Without hesitation, Dwight felt beneath the platform and found the slot. He pricked his finger, let one drop of blood fall onto the crystal, and slid it into place.
He stepped back.
In the dim chamber, the patterns on the platform erupted in blinding light, turning the room as bright as day. Dwight squeezed his eyes shut.
The light converged into a pillar, and in its center, a figure took shape—a lifelike phantom woven from radiance.
Dwight's eyes widened.
Semel had not only been an astrologer—she had been a **master mage**!
The light softened to a gentle glow. He saw a woman in a red robe, hair white as snow, her face exquisitely beautiful, her black eyes holding an otherworldly warmth.
"Whoever opens this," the phantom spoke softly, "I am your ancestor Semel Qira Rollin. This is my final magical message. The formation requires my magic crystal and the blood of Rollin. If you see me, you are one of us—and you shall receive all my secrets."
Dwight stared, shaken. To preserve a message in magic for hundreds of years was the work of a supreme archmage.
"I cannot know how many years have passed, nor how much power remains. Listen closely—this magic likely cannot be awakened again."
Dwight nodded earnestly, even though she was only a phantom.
"First, know this: what I leave you may bring you endless good… or endless trouble. My life's work was known to no one but my husband.
If you have come this far, you know something of the stars.
And I must tell you the greatest truth of all:
**Every astrologer in this world is wrong.**
All of them.
They think astrology is only divining the future through the stars—a shallow trick of fortune-telling.
But I tell you:
**Astrology is magic. True, profound, powerful magic.**
An astrologer is not just a scholar of stars, nor a cheap seer.
A true astrologer wields power equal to any mage!
Mages call on wind, rain, storm, fire—the forces of nature.
Why should astrologers not call on the power of the stars?
We can go further.
I have discovered a power no mage can ever grasp…
**This… is the Code.**