CHAPTER 5 – The Child They Could Never Find
The first rays of sunrise cut through the thick mountain fog.
Evelyn climbed the broken stone steps leading to the ruins of the Ancient Dragon Temple.
Every step awakened memories she had spent forty years trying to bury.
The burned pillars...
The shattered statues...
The smell of smoke that never seemed to disappear.
Standing in the middle of the ruins was Victor Kane.
Beside him...
Noah was tied to a massive stone column.
But something felt wrong.
Noah wasn't struggling.
He wasn't crying.
He was... smiling.
Victor spread his arms.
"Welcome home, Master."
"You've finally brought me what I wanted."
Evelyn tightened her grip on the wooden staff.
"You don't want Noah."
"You want what's hidden beneath this temple."
Victor's grin widened.
"Exactly."
He stomped his foot.
The cracked stone floor slowly opened.
A hidden underground chamber appeared.
Inside stood dozens of ancient wooden chests covered in dust.
Victor laughed.
"Forty years..."
"I've searched every country on Earth."
"And the treasure was beneath our feet all along."
His men rushed toward the chamber.
One by one, they forced the chests open.
Gold?
Jewels?
Rare artifacts?
Nothing.
Every chest was empty.
Victor's smile disappeared.
"What is this?"
"What kind of trick is this?"
Evelyn quietly walked toward the underground chamber.
"There was never any treasure."
Victor froze.
"What?"
"The Dragon Scroll was never about wealth."
"It contained new identities for hundreds of orphaned children whose families had been murdered."
"They were hidden across the country so powerful criminals could never find them."
Victor's face twisted with rage.
"You lied to me for forty years!"
"No," Evelyn answered calmly.
"You lied to yourself."
"You destroyed an entire temple... murdered innocent people... and sacrificed your own soul chasing something that never existed."
Victor roared in fury and pulled a pistol from his jacket.
He pointed it directly at Noah.
"If I can't have the secret..."
"No one leaves alive!"
Before he could pull the trigger...
Noah suddenly broke free from the ropes.
Victor stared in disbelief.
"The ropes..."
"They were never tied."
Noah smiled.
"They were loose because..."
"I tied them myself."
Everyone stood frozen.
Noah had allowed himself to be captured.
He had wanted Victor to reveal the entrance to the hidden chamber.
The frightened teenager everyone wanted to protect...
Had been following Evelyn's plan all along.
Victor's expression changed from anger...
To fear.
Because for the first time...
He realized he had walked directly into Evelyn's trap.
And hidden among the ancient ruins...
Dozens of silent figures stepped out of the shadows.
Former students.
Elite masters.
And retired guardians from every corner of the country.
They had been waiting all night.
May you like
The hunter...
Had become the hunted.
