Merva Went to a library.
Not the bright halls where students gathered, but one of the older wings -where the light was dim, and the air smelled of dust and age.
She clutched her satchel tightly, walking around the shelves, looking for the section that held the topic of her interest.
She searched shelf after shelf. Scrolls on history, scrolls on the beginning of the realms, scrolls on the unification of the realms, on the forbidden. None of them were what she needed, but she picked them anyway.
She didn't see what she came for until she went deeper.
There half hidden behind old records, she found a narrow section -thin scrolls, poorly cataloged, barely used. She skimmed through them, they didn't say much. she took three.
Her powers had been wrong lately, more intense. They were aware, but not really helpful. They did not feel like hers, they felt foreign, like entities of their own staying inside of her.
She saw them at the edge of her vision, they were threading through her thoughts, sometimes pressing so close they blurred the world around her.
She walked up to the front desk, and laid the scrolls on it. The librarian looked up.
And the shadows whispered.
"End him.
Now.
He will be trouble."
Her gaze locked onto him.
Sharp. Menacing.
The librarian shifted, uneasily, leaning back into his chair.
His face contorted in confusion. Sure he had not done any wrong.
Her fingers curled.
She felt how easy it would be to end him. She could do it, in just one breath.
Then she blinked.
The shadows receding.
She straightened. "Thank you," she said calmly. "For keeping this place open."
The librarian exhaled in relief and nodded, handing her the scrolls after noting them down.
She stuffed them into her satchel and walked away, not looking back.
The shadows followed her.
They surged and twisted around her as she walked, clinging close, pressing against her senses. She wondered fleetingly if anyone else could see them.
No one reacted.
But she walked away quickly, not slowing down.
At the ladies quarters, she climbed up the stairs, walked to her chamber and locked the door behind her.
Only then did she breathe.
She opened up her chamber windows, and balcony door, letting the sunlight, and fresh air in.
She stood by the balcony watching as girls walked by. The dream came back to her in fragments, and she remembered.
The man who had helped her.
She turned sharply heading towards her bedside drawers. She pulled out letters, parchments, and personal items, spilling them across the floor. Her hands moved frantically, going through the pictures of her family that she had hidden.
Her fingers scraped one that was turned to the floor. There it was.
"No..." She whispered.
Her knees gave out.
Her vision blurred.
The same eyes stared back at her.
The same face.
The same smile she had seen in her dreams, gentle even as he faded away.
"You..." Her voice broke. "You were you."
Her father.
Dead before she was even born. A name she was not allowed to speak even in sleep. One that she had been forbidden from asking of.
Tears spilled freely as grief tore through her chest, sharp and suffocating.
The shadows within her surged, responding to her pain. Intensifying it.
She reached for her satchel, her hands shaking as she spread the scrolls before her, pushing everything else aside.
They were covered in symbols that were almost beyond her comprehension, but she tried.
She reached for the space between worlds, the portal forming.
"I want to see you." She cried. "Just once more."
Letting the longing she had never been allowed to be released.
She watched it enlarge, and got on her feet. Walking into it.
It welcomed her, like a second skin, whispering words of comfort to her ears.
She hit against a barrier. It stood tall, covering everywhere. She tried to get in, pounding against it, but it catapulted her back to her room.
Pain came, a deep searing pressure in her nose, her head spinning, her vision darkening at the edges. Thick dark blood trickled down, and suddenly the air fractured, the floor beneath shook, the building trembling.
The shockwave throwing her to the floor. Blood streamed down her nose, her ears, and her mouth. She heard screams, everything disintegrating into chaos.
She reached out, calling on something, or someone to save her.
And then just as darkness threatened to swallow her, her door burst open.
"Merva." Serine called, her voice sharp.
She smiled faintly, Serine rushing to her side as she her vision faded.
When she woke, the ceiling greeted her first, the only thing that seemed to have not felt what had happened.
She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the frame of her bed. She tried to get up, but the pain and dizziness resurfaced, and she sat back down.
Everything in her chamber was in disarray, parchments fluttering like birds in the wind. Serine sat on her couch comfortably reading some of the parchments that she had brought from the library.
"You didn't show up. I waited for you." Serine said, her eyes locked onto what was written in the parchments.
"I was busy." Merva answered dismissively.
Merva grimaced. She hated the taste of blood in her mouth. She swiped a finger under her nose, but there was nothing.
"I cleaned it." Serine said, waving a handkerchief before throwing it at her. "You can finish it yourself."
"What happened?" Merva asked, picking it up to clean the dry blood that was on her ear.
"The announcement said few countries in Olympus were hit by serious explosions." She answered casually.
"It would not affect us though, because it did not happen in the institute, only the outskirts of the divine state."
"We are in the divine state." Merva countered and then paused. "Was there any such thing in Edigor?" She asked alarmed.
"I guess." Serine replied shrugging.
Her heart sank, and she tried to get up on her own to no avail. She stretched out her hand to Serine. "Please."
They looked at each other for a while, Serine's lips twisting in irritation, but Merva didn't flinch. "Fine." Serine snapped, offering Merva her hand.
Merva smiled in triumph, walking out of the room quickly as she could manage, and headed for the commons hall.
There were many of them there at the same time, cramped into the little space, all waiting for the eunuch and matron, so that they could get information on their families, or speak to them directly.
A speaker came on suddenly, causing all in the little space to stand at attention.
The announcement began. "It has been declared that there will be a curfew in the divine state and many of the affected countries. No one of any profession, other than healers, guards, and food and market vendors are allowed to leave their houses, any form of breaking of this instructions would be met with severe punishment.
The council have stated that this emergency curfew is to curb the rate of casualty. Security personnel, and the army has been deployed, and this situation would be soon put to rest. Until then please remember to adhere to this instructions. Signed by High god Aera, for the council."
The commons hall became a hub of gossip, ladies gathering in cliques to discuss the decision of the council, and whether it was good enough for the situation.
"Ladies please be quiet." The matron Nadine called, but they all ignored her, more girls arriving from their chambers to join the gossip.
"Girls I said be quiet." She sounded again, but they ignored her, their gossips more important to them.
There was a loud bang on a metal. "Girls be quiet." The eunuch Sephas screamed.
They all kept quiet.
"There would be no school for the next three days, and we will soon connect you all with your families. But according to the news, it is just a rebellion by the lower gods, so there is not any serious problem. Your families are all safe."
They all stared at him collectively for a few seconds, and dismissed him, going back to their conversations.
"You may head back to your chambers." He announced, but they paid him no heed.
Merva chuckled painfully from where she stood behind a pillar, watching as the Nadine gestured to the eunuch Sephas for them to leave, as the girls paid them no attention.
She momentarily forgot about her cousins, the shadows, and such other problems, letting herself enjoy the gossips that she gathered from around her. This was good entertainment.
Time wore away quickly, night enveloping everywhere. Merva walked cautiously to the dinning hall. This was the first time the dinning hall was not free at this time. She sneaked into the hall, the hoodie of her cloak drawn forward to hide her face. She joined the line, and got a tray, on the way to pick her food choice, when she was cornered.
"Uh, oh." She exclaimed in regret, moving back slowly, but they had surrounded her.
They tossed her around, enjoying the thrill of hunting a prey.
Merva heard a tray crashing to the floor, and looked for a moment. It was Serine.
She watched Serine try to pick the tray up, some ladies mocking her, and kicking it down. "Can you believe that this fish lady eats fish?" They all gasped in fake shock, laughing at their silly jokes.
"Why do you fishes, prey on fish?"
Serine looked at Merva, an understanding passing between them.
Other Atlantians pushed back their seats and got up, walking towards where Serine stood.
Serine froze water into daggers catching the attention of those that surrounded Merva.
They walked away from her, gathering behind those that had been picking on Serine. This was an open declaration of war.
Merva picked up another tray and kept them together, she would use them both to assault the back and the heads of the mean girls when she was ready.
She walked to the buffet and picked what she wanted to eat. She was in dire need of energy.
The news had spread quickly across, girls trooping into the hall, standing at the sidelines so they could enjoy the watch.
The fun had just begun.