Elder Bright's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

Elder Bright carried the empty box back inside and set it on his desk. The blue folder inside gaped open, its pockets stripped bare. Without that last page, no witch or technologist would believe a word he said. He needed a stage instead of a secret. He walked to the community hall before noon. On the lawn out front, he dragged a sturdy wooden table into the open. He pinned the pages he still had across its surface, weighted by stones. Anyone could read them. Anyone could come. He sent two invitations, one sealed in wax, one tucked into a copper sleeve. Then he waited beside the table, hands folded, while the wind lifted the corners of his proof. By dusk, no one had come. A child wandered past, read a line, and ran. Elder Bright understood then: without the missing page, the table was only paper in the wind. He would have to find who took it, and face them directly.