The Crooked Library, its name certainly did not miss a beat.
Down near the secondary wall. On an older street where houses are either just as crooked or in ruins lay. The Crooked Library is in the eastern district. A populated place but also not so much. People here go missing permanently.
And its all attributed to the shattered cardinal monolith in the sky. That jagged frozen explosion of rock. Held in place by powerful waning magics.
The arcs between them is like the slow motion movement of static electricity. Dane found out by Grace. That the Eastern district is a rather dangerous place. Not due to crime, though there is some of that. No its uh.. monolith. At some point during the month the monolith exposed energies will surge. A number of things can happen. But one of them is a lightning strike that reduces whomever is hit to ash. If that.
Which Dane is now terrified of getting blasted to oblivion. Watching those energies like a hawk.
Grace didn't comment on this, she too watched those energies scared for the day she vanished without a trace. "The cardinal monoliths are the control points of the once intact city array. They would distribute the damage evenly allowing sieges from other forces to take far longer to even put a dent in the walls.
They were also a part of the defense buffs. Where ever soldier of Invidivia during sieges would be buffed to a super human level. They are the cornerstone to why Invidivia has almost never been breached." Grace explained
Not long after they had arrived at The Crooked Library. It was a three story leaning building. Its upper floors are reinforced with wooden poles and iron bands. The whole building looked ancient, and was ancient. The old oak door had a small sign on it. "Crooked Library; Open." There were a few circular windows, murky glass panes. Candle light within dimly aglow giving the feeling someone was within.
Opening the door, there was a light bell jingle and Dane stepped in after Grace. The place… was much larger than he thought impossibly so. What was thought to be a three story Crooked building outside was as tall as a wizards tower within. Books upon books stretched up four stories high. It was startling to see. To the right of the oak door was a small counter an old woman sat behind it.
She looked frail. Like a twig in the wind, she wore these white robes. Smooth clothes with pockets. An old looking staff with a variety of gems embedded in its wood sat up against the counter. She had to be five feet tall. A short old woman.
"This is Bogiyoga." Grace said then waved at him. "If you need to find me or the others we are going to meet back up at the White Beard by dusk" she said then shut the oak door behind him. He looked at the old woman and she stared back.
"Well your magic piss poor ain't it boy?"
"Wha.. uh… Yea?" He said not sure how to react to that. This old woman did not seem like the type to curse like that. It was jarring.
"Well you came to the right place. What do you want to know?"
Dane paused at this. Thinking it over for a long moment. "Honesty, I don't know where to start.. uh.. actually what happened three hundred years ago.. what is the… Great war?"
Bogiyoga eyes flickered for a moment. The deep hazel nut color gained a storyteller's spark.
"Hmm, sit down. I'll tell ya about it."
Dane took a stool from a nearby table. Sitting at it. "I am ready to listen." he said, curious about it.
Bogiyoga began. "Invidivia was once a city of two guilds. The Swords Of Sanquilius, and The Codem. At the time they were equally powerful guilds within the ancient city. Established around the city's founding. A thousand years ago. The Swords Of Sanquilius boasted having masters of the blade the pinnacle of their arts. The other arch makes the pinnacle of their magic. The codem built the black wall, inscribed with arcane runes, with twenty flag pillars located evenly across the wall. Each a sub focus point connecting to the cardinal monoliths there in creating the cities barrier, defense buffs and even allowing for ritual cast spells.
It would not be so far-fetched to say they could cast army-wide AOE spells." She smirked at the thought, almost nostalgic.
"Codem boasts thousands of members, powerful wizards, and witches. Sorcerers, spell casters of all kinds. They were truly a powerful guild considered one of the backbone forces at that time. Swords Of Sanquilius were not to be outdone. They had countless strong men. Though not masters, plenty of sword elites were very strong able to contend with those of great magic.
Atlas all good things come to an end" her expression darkened a deep sadness in her eyes. "Invidivia was known as the unbreachable city.
The unmovable wall… however three hundred years ago the HellMore empire marched on Invidivia. During that time they were in their golden age. Countless shamans of great power, very powerful soldiers. They stomped anyone near them with great ease. Invidivia was their next target."
She inhaled slowly, taking a moment to catch herself. "The siege was not swift. It lasted weeks, but Invidivia can't be so easily broken by how long a siege is. However, the conflict took a toll on Codem forces who had joined the fight. Of which two events happened.
The first, at great cost to their own magic capable forces, The Hellmore empire dealt a devastating blow to the city array damaging two out of the twenty flag pillars. They exploited a weakness that Codem at the time did not notice. A rather fatal flaw. The city array was only damaged and still usable but a lot of the buffs were lost or outwardly weakened.
Allowing them just enough to bridge the gap. However it is the second event that saw great damage to Codem themselves. Using a terrible spell. They caused a great quake, using the slaves of their conquest as sacrifices. The ensuing avalanche wiped out any troop and wizard along that side of the wall. And buried many buildings being used as the Codem guild."
Bogiyoga signed. "I will have to tell you more later. I grow tired. Come back tomorrow tell me what ails you. So we may see if one of these books can fix it."