Chapter 2 Career on the line

The auditorium lights dimmed as Serena Rael stepped onto the stage, holding a velvet-covered case in her arms like it held the answers to every question ever asked.

She cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. "This artifact was found in a collapsed temple on the edge of the Aksum ruins, in the remote area of Suldan, preserved underground until my team and I dug it up.

Looking at the symbols on the base of the case, it belonged to a forgotten sect of mystics....possibly early shifters," she said confidently and paused to stare at the crowd briefly, expecting them to start cheering and chanting her name, but they were just looking at her.

She proceeded to open the case with a practiced flair. Inside sat a tall vase.... Glowing faintly under the spotlight, marked with symbols and faded patterns.

That was when the reaction she was expecting came.

Gasps fluttered through the crowd and phones came up, their cameras flashing.

Serena smiled proudly and continued.

"This isn't just any relic. Legend says the magical vase of Aeyros reacts to emotional energy...especially longing. It hums, it glows... sometimes, it even levitates."

Whispers spread. Serena's heart pounded, but her smile didn't waver.

She placed the vase on a glass pedestal. "Observe."

She closed her eyes. Slowed her breathing. Thought of her mother's voice. Of her first expedition. Of the sting of being hurt.

She opened her eyes dramatically, whispering the chant she'd practiced and even bit her tongue a dozen times.

But there was silence...

The vase sat there. Motionless and dead.

A beat passed. Then two.

Someone coughed at the wrong timing, which everyone assumed was a mockery cough, inciting the crowd with a reaction Serena hadn't expected.

Laughter followed immediately.

A wave of it. Cold, Sharp and Merciless.

"I thought it was supposed to hum," a voice shouted.

"It's real. I...I swear, they tested it. It-" she tried to explain, but no one was listening.

"6 times a failure, just stick to modeling"

Serena clenched her fist. Yes, this was her sixth failed expedition, and she modeled as a side hustle, but this was her passion, and someone calling it a failure had to hit the wrong nerve.

"She probably bought it off eBay!" someone else said, not backing off from the opportunity placed before them to humiliate her.

Serena's throat burned, but she didn't move. In fact, she couldn't.

A man from the review panel leaned forward, sighing. ''Ms. Rael, is this a circus performance or a serious submission for consideration? Six times this year is a disgrace. You might have been good before, but exposing your curves on camera takes away talent.''

She forced her lips to move. ''How dare you comment on my integrity and my works, you have no right. What I do for my money is nothing for you to talk about. I might have failed this time, but i can...''

"Thank you," he interrupted. "That'll be all."

More laughter filled the air and phones were still recording.

Serena shifted and accidently elbowed the pedestal. The vase wobbled... tipped... then crashed to the floor with a dramatic crack.

"Well, it levitated, alright?"

"Archaeologist of the Year, ladies and gentlemen!"

Then laughter came again, harder this time.

Panicking, she bent down to pick up the fragments....and then she saw them.

Stamped in small block letters inside the rim of a shard:

MADE IN SUBAN POTTERY STUDIO

"A pottery studio. I've been scammed by a fucking pottery studio."

Her breath caught. Her fingers froze.

She'd been duped. She had been made a fool.... In front of everyone.

She fumed internally, swallowing the scream building in her throat.

With trembling hands, she gathered the pieces .

Her feet moved on their own, carrying her offstage before the shame could drown her completely.

"Wasn't she supposed to be brilliant?"

"Poor thing. Even the vase gave up on her."

*********

Serena stormed down the corridor, heels echoing on the marble floor. She shoved the door to the team room open and marched in like a female version of Ares. It was as though she had walked in to declare war.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the collar of the nearest man... Darren, the intern who'd handled the vase and slapped him across the face. Hard.

He staggered back, wide-eyed. "What the hell, Rena?!"

"You dare make a fool of me?!" Her voice cracked with fury.

"I did no such thing!" he snapped, holding his cheek. "We were all there when it was dug up. It worked, Serena! You saw it too!"

"Then explain this," she hissed, holding up the shard with trembling fingers. "It says MADE IN SUBAN PORTTERY STUDIO. It's a goddamn fake!"

Darren stared at it, stunned.

Serena turned away, chest heaving. "Look at me... my career, my passion is in ruins. The last time I made a major find, they turned it into a bloody poster! Now I'm a joke. A meme. A caricature passed around group chats for laughs."

"Okay, okay, you need to cool off. Just...just breathe. Keep calm, Serena-" Maya, her co-team worker, intervened.

"Get the fuck out of my face," she growled. "I need to fix this shit before everything I've worked for burns to ash."

She didn't wait for a reply.

With the broken shard still clenched in her fist, Serena pushed past him and out of the room.

There was only one place left that brought her peace.

And maybe...just maybe, she'd find a way out of this mess.

*******

(Library)

Serena stepped into the largest library in the city. The guards at the entrance barely blinked...everyone knew her face by now. She was practically a fixture here, always buried in some forgotten corner looking for something new.

Night had long crept in, but the library's warm lighting gave her just enough clarity to continue her search. She found her usual spot, settled into a creaky wooden chair, and began flipping through books like she had a hundred times before.

Nothing new came up.

Just the same tired theories, rewritten in fancier language.

Annoyed, she pushed the book aside and stood up. Her heels echoed softly on the marble as she walked deeper into the rows of shelves. She drifted past familiar aisles, further and further into the older sections.

Her steps slowed.

Something felt different.

She glanced around. These shelves... she didn't recognize them. The wood was darker and older, dust coated everything.

> Was this part of the library always here? She wondered.

She reached up and slid out a thick, rolled parchment wedged between two books. The scroll was brittle, its seal broken long ago. She blew off the dust and coughed softly into her sleeve, not wanting the librarian to hear.

She carefully unrolled it on a nearby desk.

"The Hidden Realm."

Her eyes narrowed as she read further.

> In every forest lies secrets... but if you look harder and search long enough, you might find a kingdom of rare jewels, mysterious artifacts, and humans who turn into wolves. Selvayra...

Her heart skipped.

"She turned the parchment, hoping for more. But that was it."

Then she read it again, "Selvayra."

Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. This... this was it. Not some hoax or broken artifact. This sounded real, wild and magical. Everything she needed. If she could trace even a single clue, anything connected to this place, she could salvage her reputation.

No. She could own it and show them she is good at everything she does.

Her name would be printed on banners. Her face on the museum walls again....this time ten times bigger.

She pressed the parchment against her chest, eyes closed, heart racing.

Then quickly, carefully, she rolled it up and slipped it into her bag.

She walked briskly toward the exit.

"Are you leaving?" the librarian called gently.

"Uh... yes," Serena replied.

"Did you find anything?"

She turned, masking the storm swirling inside her. "No. I didn't."

The woman nodded, returning to her work.

Serena pushed open the doors and stepped into the cool night air.

Her decision was made.

She wouldn't tell anyone. Not this time. If they found out, they'd sabotage her again.

This time, she would go alone.

This one was hers.

She was going to find Selvayra.

And she would make the world remember her name.