"How long has the librarian been working here?" asked Laudis with clear disappointment.
"About seven years, sir. She didn't ask for any salary — the king takes care of her basic needs. She often falls asleep at her desk reading a book," replied Thomas.
"Call me Laudis, please," he responded with a faint smile.
"As you wish, Laudis."
"How many books does the library contain?"
"It is the biggest collection in the North. It was never counted, but I would estimate that there are about 300,000 books."
"And what's the librarian's name?"
"To be honest I didn't care to ask. I only pass the letters to her."
"I see..."
Walking through the corridors, they watched as the stained glass windows dyed the brick floor crimson red. The paintings depicted hunts, nature, portraits of former kings and animals. The scenery was still, yet not boring — it evoked an unexplainable sense of comfort in both of them. After a while both of them finally arrived. The black double doors had a sign "Library. Do not disturb!".
"There she is. If you want to ask me something just go to the room nr. 5, that's the left wing of the castle."
"Thanks," he replied lightly.
"Just be careful when you ente—"
Laudis opened the doors. Suddenly, the sound of falling books filled the room. When the kid looked behind Thomas was already absent. There she was, the mystical librarian. Her outfit consisted of a beige button-down shirt, brown trousers, black shoes and a belt. Her hair was straight, dark blonde and resembled a wild creature. She wore thick, wooden-framed glasses. Her brown eyes were severely enlarged, almost like they were bulging out. Judging by her appearance, she looked to be around twenty-seven.
"Mail or someone else? Wait, who are you? I've never seen you before, if it's about the taxes I don't care. I don't earn anything, so I won't pay even one silver." stated the librarian as she constantly adjusted her glasses.
"I'm neither of the persons you're thinking of. I'm only here to read in peace. Do you mind sharing your name madame?" responded Laudis with a half-hearted smile.
"M—my name? I guess you can call me Elisabeth, I suppose. And what about you?" she replied with a disoriented look.
"Laudis, pleasure to meet you Elisabeth," he grabbed her left hand and kissed it gently.
"Oh! You have got good manners... By the way, how old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Crap. Nonetheless feel free to use the library, just don't destroy anything kid," stated Elisabeth picking up the books with disappointment.
"Got it."
After he walked past her, the smile quickly faded away.
'I want to die. I want flames to enter my body and burn me from the inside. I wish I could cease to exist. I am wicked and pathetic idiot... Ahh! That's better, I had to play the role for a while, but now I can finally use the library in peace. After all the ends justify the means. Now, something about Olimpian Gods or Will. It has to be in the history aisle,' thought Laudis searching for a book.
The books mostly covered the recent history. Few were behind special glass; they were titled "Genesis of the Mundusia" and divided into five parts. To his surprise there were first, second and fourth part only. The third and fifth one were absent. Elisabeth said to him, that they were stolen around 50 years ago by the unknown suspect.
'No luck in history. I guess, I can check the magic part. I don't have high hopes for that also,' thought Laudis with a pessimistic acceptance.
Indeed he was right. Books mostly consisted of each element guide, alchemy, spells, auras and such. Nothing about the things he cared about. He stumbled across a bronze doors with a sign "The Banned Books".
"Excuse me madame. Can you allow me to enter that part?" he asked with the same semi-real smile.
"Why bother about those in particular? There are many books around you, yet you choose to read the banned ones?" wondered Elisabeth with uncertain look.
"I want to learn something about the Olimpian Gods. I'm really into those 'myths'."
"Mhm... Fine, you can have the keys, here," she passed down a key chain with a skull replica.
"I really appreciate it."
"Just return them after you're done."
Laudis stood before the forbidden doors. They were made out of bronze and had carved images on them depicting strange symbols unknown to him. He inserted the key and rotated it. The doors opened. The hinges were in good condition, so it wasn't hard to push them. Laudis entered the secret room. Filled with books, but they were uncategorized and placed chaoticly. Completely inconsistent with the rest of the library. He searched for the answers and found only one book. "Olimpian Gods and their origin" by Seissylt Hier, the book judging by its condition was at least 200 years old. On the cover there was only a depiction of the eye. It resembled Will's almost exactly, but instead of being white with black iris and pupil it was black with white iris and pupil.
'Did the dye fade? Is that Will or someone else? I need to find out, it's pretty thick... I have to start rea—' thought Laudis.
As soon as he opened the book the destroyed pages filled him with despair. Every one of them was covered in scribbles. Most were pure abstract, but some Laudis deciphered as "don't trust", "devil is near", "the slaughter" and "kill the gods". The ink or so he thought was dark red, at closer inspection he realized the phrases were written in blood.
'What the hell? Who thought it was a good idea to use blood instead of ink? Most of scribbles were drawn in dark red ink, but the words are clearly bloody. Their author probably didn't have much time left judging by the rough strokes and fuzzy handwriting. He had to resort to the final option. One thing was certain: he was madman, genius or even both. Oh! He left one, that's something...' thought Laudis with a startled face.
Only one page was left intact. It was a weird drawing with no caption whatsoever. It was a black figure with massive wings coming from its back, it was standing backwards. Holding a sword in its raised right hand and a book inscribed with strange symbols in its left. Under the image there was the phrase written in blood, that read "Vur Ceso Thamino Pi Tesing Remo" which he didn't understand whatsoever. Suddenly Laudis' body was penetrated with a strange chill. A chill of excitement. A chill of intrigue. He glanced behind his shoulder to see if Elisabeth was watching, then ripped out that page. Laudis hid it in his left boot, he had a strange feeling of its importance. Then the kid left the room and went for the magic aisle, he picked up "Magic basics" by Sofie Kopp. The boy started reading the book sitting in the corner.
"There are seven core elements of magic: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Plant, Shadow, and Light. Most people can cast basic spells with every element, but they specialized in one or like 10% of population in two. The most common one's are the first five I have stated, the Shadow and Light are different. To have a chance of becoming a Light user you have to be born from aristocracy, royalty or knighthood and even after that there is about 60% of getting it. On the other hand, Shadow is quite the opposite. To obtain it you have to experience a deep tragedy before the age of the mana release, that is about before the age of 10/11. There are also things called semi-elements and synthesized elements. The first one are created by altering the structure of their magic essence, the second one is created by combining two of them. There is not a limit of them. You can always change a smallest proportion of elements or change the structure of one just a bit to create new one. Naturally most are too unstable to use. The widely used semi-elements are listed here: Sand (Earth), Ice (Water), Wood (Plant), Stone (Earth). The synthesized elements on the other hand are: Glass (Sand + Fire), Magma (Fire + Earth), Obsidian (Magma + Water). You can combine semi-elements with normal ones or even other synthesized elements with the core one's. Now I will proceed to explain the 7 Elements:
Fire — typical offensive element with no to little defensive use. It is commonly used as the spread attacking spell, to control many opponents and to provisionally stop the bleeding.
Water — defensive element with some offensive use. Its spells can heal, create barriers or alter bodies of water.
Air — another offensive element; unlike Fire it has literally no defensive use. It is known for high damage per second. The users can walk on air, strike with powerful air blows or suck out air of the opponents area.
Earth — great defensively and offensively. Advanced users can even summon earthquakes. Usually provides walls, ramps, traps the enemies in place or create spikes made out of harden dirt.
Plant — supportive element. It also can be used both defensively and offensively, but not as good as the previous ones. The best healing element, can create traps, barriers and enhance people's strength with simple blessings.
Light — another supportive element, but with no offensive or defensive possibility. It enhances allies with powerful blessings and provides simple healing. The thing that gives it an upper hand is the fact of weapons and armor blessings. Also if its wielder is a Light element user the blessing's type can be evolutionary, which means that with every use the equipment becomes better.
Shadow — the most unstable element. The user can create an illusions of himself, teleport by the shadows and the most unpredictable thing — the curses.
Both blessings and curses are divided in five categories: Common, Rare, Epic, Mythical and Legendary.
Blessings:
Common blessings. For them you just need to be Plant or Light element user and say the incantation e.g. "Power of Elements let me grant this man the Blessing of Vitality". This blessing is the most widely used for its effect — giving an ally small mana and stamina regeneration.
Rare blessings. For them you need a basic item or items, that can be partially or fully consumed e.g. Blessing of Eden. Requires the golden apple, which can be easily bought at the market. It grants the user faster wound healing.
Epic blessings. For them you need to be a Light element user, with this rarity you can now bless an item (of course you can still bless people with them, it depends on the blessing) e.g. Blessing of The Hephaestus. It makes user's armor more durable and immune to slashing attacks. It costs a high amount of mana — around 60–70% of user's full mana capacity.
Mythical blessings. Unlike Epic ones you have to be a Light element user and also wield the item. Now you can make something called evolutionary blessings granting you a bigger power with more time you spent using the item or items e.g. Blessing of The Poseidon. It gives you an ability to glide on water and an immunity to rust. This tier requires both mana and item (fully consumed) sacrafice.
Legendary blessings. The most powerful ones, but at the cost of having to find the scrolls containing the full incantation of them. The only one that I am aware of is Blessing of The Zeus making you immune to lightnings and if you are a Fire element user you can use Lighting semi-element without any training. It also cost you a precious thing many expirenced lost limbs, memory problems, loosing a skill or such. The price varies."
'It awfully sounds like the power Will talked about. The power, that comes with great consequences. I'd better finish off the basics before leaving the library,' thought Laudis.
"Curses:
Common curses. Cast by the Shadow element users only, they contain negative elements with no enhancements e.g. Curse of Quick Blindness. As the name suggests it makes you blind, but only for a short period of time. Depending on the mana usage of the caster, it ranges from 5 to 30 minutes at most.
Rare curses. They have to contain now a bare minimum positive effect e.g. Curse of Turtle. It cuts target's speed in half, but grants him about 30% physical attacks damage reduction.
Epic curses. They require an item or items e.g. sand for Curse of Mirage. It makes your target see physical illusions (he can interact with them) at the cost of giving him a random percentage of your own mana (5–15%).
Mythical curses. They require hard to obtain item or items e.g. claws of the vampire for Curse of The Night Creature. It cuts off three chosen by the caster senses at the cost of doubling target's physical strength. Also the caster has to be experienced or a curse can become self targeted.
Legendary Curses. They are only achievable by the high end Shadow element users costing an immense amounts of mana. Many requiring special items. The only one known to me is Curse of The Vampire King granting the chosen human power of the vampire, keeping contentiousness, but loosing the will to do anything. Target is influenced by the Vampire King himself.
Curses can be also put in three groups: positive, negative and mixed. The names comes from the power they grant. Positive have more upsides than downsides. Negative are the other way around. And the mixed are mixed, that is they have good sides and bad sides. They can be useful in certain situations, but bad in other. Also any curse can be self-targeted and become self-curse. It has the same effects and such, but the only thing that matters is that you have to use both of your hands to cast it."
'Oh man, I've read a lot for sure. I still have to learn about auras, but I'll do it tomorrow. It's night already judging by the lack of sunlight. It's better to leave the library now and go to sleep,' thought Laudis with the tired face.
The kid stood up and placed the book in its place. He almost left the room, when the librarian stopped him.
"Do you know the purpose?" asked Elisabeth reading a book.
"Purpose of what?" he wondered with a surprised expression.
"Of life my dear."
'My dear? What is she talking about? Ah, she is probably reading out loud. Ha! She is so pitiful...' thought Laudis.
"Every time I wake up I look in the mirror and I see my belt, the same thought comes to my mind. Should I just tighten it up around my neck and let go? Can it end my agony or will it be another one? Just what would happen? Would I be brought up to God or cease to exist? Sometimes I wish, I wish I had never been born. Why are humans born when we are destined to die? It doesn't make any sense. Does it really matter whether I die now or tomorrow? Hell if I know... But I think, that maybe there is some sort of meaning. A meaning in this cruelty called life. Maybe you should just create your own story and live it. My story... My story would be called a Ballad of the Fool, I suppose. After all I'm just a pawn in the game of chess. Well I am sure of one thing. I would rather die from someone than from myself, at least I would have a normal funeral," whispered lightly Laudis with a subtle, yet finally a real smile.
"What? Did you say something? Sorry, I was probably reading out loud," replied Elisabeth with a disoriented look.
"Nothing in particular, but I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow," he replied raising his hand as he left.
"Yeah, see you..."
Laudis walked through the corridors of the castle. They were pretty much the same for the most part, only paintings varied. The moon lighted inside with intense white light. After a short walk he met his destination. The kid came to the Thomas' room and knocked, but without a response.
"I'm coming," he replied and opened the door.
The bed was in the corner and next to it was the desk with the vintage chair. A pack of cigarettes and a notebook were laying on the wooden furniture. He wondered whether it's appropriate for him to open it. Laudis placed his hand on it, but quickly drew it back.
'I might have little to no empathy, but at least I can respect that, for now... I don't think that he possess any helpful information. It's better to leave the room and—' thought Laudis.
In the corner was a silhouette of a male. Suddenly a light coming from him enlightened the whole room.
"You are quite respectful I guess. I heard the knocking and decided to test you, sorry for that. Also can you keep those cigarettes a secret between us? King dislikes smoking very much," replied Thomas with a calm face.
"Sure man, no problem for me. Now, can I get some key to a room or should I get the bedroom in my self extent?" he replied bemused.
"No, no. Here take it. It's the room next door, you can help yourself with the guest bathroom."
"Thanks."
Laudis went to his room. It was just the same as the previous one, he opened a window and undressed. The kid hid the image under the right shoe insole. Lastly the boy decided to cover the source of moonlight with a material and laid on his bed. Staring at the ceiling made him feel melancholic.
'I don't know why, but I experience déjà vu and deep sadness at the same time. Almost like I was already in some sort of castle or even lived there. Ha! I am really delusional. Me in the castle like some aristocrat? Good joke on me. I guess now it's time to meet him again. I await you Will...' thought Laudis with closed eyes and ironic smile.
His soul drifted away, just like the time he woke up. The boy again felt that strange air and started to sense the light. As soon as his eyes opened they again saw the same image. The space with no floor, ceiling nor walls. The Shrine of the Omnipotence waited for him.
"Welcome back kid," said Will in his humanoid form.
"Y—Yeah, greetings Will," he replied with an unwell look.
"Oh! I forgot to recreate the passage between dimensions. Tomorrow you won't experience anything like that no more. Sorry about that."
"Thanks. Now, I have only one offer. I want to have a conversation at least 15 minutes long with you every time I am here. What I mean is that I can ask about an advice on trivial matters. Like basic knowledge and such."
"Starting off with a request? I guess I can think about it, but what's your offering then? Remember that if you neglect its price you can even lose your life," he responded with a grim look.
"Ha! So you aren't that nice after all... I will sacrifice my ability to play every music instrument I know. That is the guitar, the tambourine and the drums. I learned to play them when I was about 11 and had to earn money. Some troubadours taught me, since that day I lived off that for four years. Then I decided to hunt the vampires and sell the products, but you probably know that stuff right? You are a God after all."
"No I did not know it. As I've said I limit my power, therefore it is a new information for me. I would be bored if I had full knowledge about you, wouldn't I?"
"I guess so. What about the deal?"
"Too little, I can have a four minute chat with you. You can relearn it quickly."
"What about this? I will lose my whole music sense. I won't know how to or even learn to play the instruments."
"That's something better. Still it isn't that valuable, the maximum time will be nine minutes."
"Nine minutes and thirty seconds," replied Laudis with a smirk.
"Deal," said Will, reaching out his hand.
"Wait!" the youth remembered a curcial thing.
"What now?" entity replied with disappointment.
"Did I lose my memories?"
"There is only one thing I can say for now. Your memories aren't the same as they were from your birth. Can you?" the being tried to seal the pact.
"Right..."
As soon as Laudis shook his hand he woke up.
'Now that's what I'm talking about. No near death experience just like normal sleep. Still the one thing I know about my past is that it was altered. Precisely lack of my memories to the age of seven,' he thought checking his shoe insole.
The page was still intact and inside the shoe. He dressed up and left the room locking it off. Laudis headed to the bathroom. Suddenly from nowhere someone strangled him. The two muscular arms wrapped around his veiny neck. He tried to headbutt the aggressor, but the attacker dodged it with ease. His hands were locked into the handcuffs.
"One word and you are dead," whispered a deep voice.