The Greatest Sin

Arascus stared at Mikhail’s request form for materials. It was a list of twenty or so different steel alloys…. He signed off on it and wished the dwarves still controlled their great refineries of old.

 

Be normal. Act normal. Don’t run. It was difficult for Eliza to maintain her composure. Fleur and Edmonton weren’t doing any better and Lyca was only barely to edge out a nervous joke here and there. “So we can stay the night, right?” Lyca asked another farcical question as he strolled with his hands on the back of his head.

“Shut up.” Fleur replied coldly. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”

“Well you better believe it.” Lyca laughed, it was mirthless and cold.

“Just keep walking.” Edmonton shut him up. He was almost half a head taller than Lyca, and he somehow to walk without checking their surroundings. Eliza wasn’t quite sure of how he did that, every few seconds, she would look around at Elassa’s Gardens. There was no one there of course, everyone was at the assembly celebrating with drink and song and fine foods. On one hand, Eliza wished she didn’t have to miss it, on the other, she had been through enough assemblies to know she was simply saving herself from a hangover tomorrow. They had all taken tablets yesterday to induce a fever in the morning cooked up by Fleur, it passed quickly with an antidote and everyone had a visit by a physician and simply been told to sleep it off.

They passed by a bench with a small inscription. Blessed by Goddess Elassa, of Magic, in the year 827 PGW. Refurbished in 931 and in 998. They passed by a fountain with a plaque. Blessed by Goddess Elassa, of Magic, in the year 212. They walked over a small bridge, this one was similarly blessed. By a blessed great oak, by a blessed flowerbed, by a blessed field, some more blessed benches. And then they finally started to see the Divine Library after a turn. Not blessed.

It was a huge, magnanimous structure, pockmarked with high towers and slanted roofs; gargoyles and statues and hundreds, if not thousands, of windows. It was unique, the only building in all of Arcadia that was built of black slate. The only building where the windows did not glow at night. “The front door should be open, right?” Lyca asked.

“Are you an idiot?” Fleur bit back.

“I bet you it is.”

“Why would it be unlocked?”

“Why would it be locked?” Fleur looked at the man and threw up her hands in the air as she made some exasperated sigh.

“Then go check, we’ll slow down, we don’t want to be seen loitering around.” Edmonton said.

“Why me?” Lyca asked.

“Because it was your idea.” They stopped at the door.

“It was just a joke.”

“We’re wasting time arguing.” That Eliza had to admit Edmonton was right about. “I thought you were the big man.” And here they were arguing.

“I’m brave but not stupid enough to jump off a cliff.” Stubborn fools.

“We’re right behind you.” Edmonton said and Eliza tightened her fists. Damn idiots.

“Likewise, the honour of testing the door is all yours.” Lyca postured towards the door with both his arms.

“I would never steal that honour from you.” They were simply cretins.

“I’m giving it away.” Cretinous little bugs.

“I could never accept that.” Eliza had heard enough. She simply walked over to the huge oak doors, turned the handle and pushed.

The door swung open without even an inkling of pushback.

The various Arascus Cults have started to move. We’ve managed to get spies into two branches in Aris although their counter-intelligence is excellent to say the least. We suspect only the leader knows of other branches in the city and where orders are acquired from is still entirely unknown…

…The issue of Anarchia still holds. Her supporters have started to appear more frequently, and seemingly have acquired some sort of magical power which allows them to overwhelm mundane men….

I am not talking about an increase in budget for personal reasons, I need manpower, I need magicians and I need cooperation from the Directorate-General De La Security Internal. The Aris Police force is overwhelmed. The lack of open criminality from both Cults is an indication they are preparing.

- Report written from the Commander of the Aris Police Force to the Rancais Government.

Fleur shook her head at the two fools. They were absolute cretins but then again, she did feel some annoyance that it was Ellie who had taken the initiative and not her. She walked into the Divine Library. Ed and Ly didn’t need a reminder to stop arguing and follow them in. Ellie stepped in and closed the door behind them.

Inside, darkness lay across the room like a bedsheet, only held back by a few magical lamps hovering in the air. There was no entrance hall, nor any guards, the bookshelves simply began and they didn’t end. They were tall enough to need a ladder to access the tomes at the top, seemingly looming the four intruders as if preparing to devour them. “So what do we do now?” Eliza broke the minute-long silence and pulled them out of the trance.

“I don’t know.” Ed said. “Explore?”

“A grand plan.” Ly added.

“I assume the better tomes will be at the back.” Fleur made her voice cold and uncaring, although it was hard to get the worry out of her voice. It was one thing to misbehave, it was another entirely to be here.

“Aye, I concur with that.” Ed added. The party of four began to walk throughout the cold room. They stopped at the foot of a grand staircase fit for a royal palace. Bookshelves surrounding them, crawling under the staircase and into the various hallways. “Up or to the side?” Fleur said right, Lyca said up, Eliza said up and Edmonton shook his head. “We split up then. I want to go the right too.”

“Oh I’m sure the two of you will do a lot of searching.” Ly said.

“One more word and I’ll kill you.” Fleur replied.

“Whatever, split up, everyone go read what they want, this is a scouting run, we can come back another day, just find what is important.”

“I don’t want to go alone.” Ellie said.

“Why not?” Ed asked.

“Don’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“Like you’re being watched?”

“You’re paranoid.” Ed said but Ly came in to back up his sweetheart.

“No, I feel it too. The hairs on my neck are stood up.”

“Are they?” Fleur asked doubtfully.

“We can scout out the ground floor today, then come back another day for scouting round.” Ed said.

“Excuse me?” Fleur had her say.

“Are you just going to grab a random book and start reading through it?” Ed crossed his arms and shook his head. “Now that we know it’s this easy, we can come back whenever.”

“I concur.” Ellie said. Fleur threw up her arms and sighed.

“Alright, whatever.”

Maisara and Fortia stared at the piece of paper. They had been at the gate for a few days and now Allasaria was calling them back. Neither of them said anything, nothing had to be said. Allasaria was just an annoying pretentious tyrannous damned fickle little chit who was better suited to be a school bully than a Queen.

“I’ll do the left, you do the right.” Lyca said to Eliza after they came to a bend in the path they took.

“Alright.”

“Meet up here in… ten? Fifteen minutes? Then we go on the next section.”

“Understood boss.” Eliza said and they both laughed. Without Ed and Fleur, it was far easier to talk, those two were always too serious. Lyca made it through the first bookshelf, simply scanning every tenth or so book. The History of Arda. Siege of Tourai. The Masterminds of the Black Legion: Arascus’ Generals. Elves In The Great War. Dissolution of the Dwarven Kingdoms. From Mountains to the Overworld: Integration of Dwarven Smiths Post War. So on and so on it went. History was interesting, but it would take him an entire lifetime to read just this one section.

The next section was more history. Heaven & Hell: Paraideisius and Tartarus. Angelic Assistance in the Great War. A Study of the Tartarian Legions. Then more history. And more. And more. Lyca simply kept walking at this point, it was a library alright. He had expected titles more like How to Gain Power. Five-Steps to Increasing Your Magical Potential. Frankly, he would have even been fine with An Idiot’s Guide to the Foundations of Magic.

Maybe this is why the library wasn’t protected? Because it didn’t actually have anything and it was just an archive for Elassa? She was a Goddess, she could have probably read all of these in her spare time. He stopped at a book. The History of Arda. Again? Siege of Tourai. The Masterminds of the-A sound made Lyca’s heart drop. An ear-piercing screech which quelled the flames of thought and made his blood run on instinct. He turned and ran: Eliza’s scream.

Lyca ran and ran. He hadn’t travelled far. He couldn’t have travelled far. He was only walking at a brisk pace when inspecting the books. Was the bookshelf always this long? His run turned into a sprint. The shelves on either side were unending, looming over him like a thick forest. Had he missed his turn?

He turned left. The left again, his eyes going to the books. Dissolution of the Dwarven Kingdoms… A Study of the Tartarian Legions. Siege of Tourai… This wasn’t the order he remembered.

The magical lamps in the air started to grow dull. A darkness as thick as tar fell over the library. He pulled out his wand from his coat, it started to glow bright with a white light. “ELIZA!” He shouted. “ELIZA! WHERE ARE YOU!”

The light in his wand went out and he stopped.

The stones started to move. Something pushed him over. He fell backwards with a grunt.

A darkfur walked over to Fer. “Pack Master, they have called upon another Great Hunt.”

“How many this time?”

“Four Sects have already joined, we smell that another four will join. Maybe ten in total.”

“Then we move once again.”

Lyca opened his eyes to his three looking at him. His mind was turned off, his body moved by itself. He stood up, pulled out his wand, it started the tip started to shine bright with flame and he did two quick spins, his eyes scanning every crevice, every shadow, every bookshelf around them. “No one’s here.” Edmonton said in his usual annoying neutral tone.

“Why did you scream?” Lyca ignored him.

“I tripped and appeared here.” Eliza said coyly as she rubbed her rear. “Everything just went dark and then something pushed me backwards.”

“Same story here.” Edmonton said.

“Likewise.” Fleur said.

“Same thing to me.” Lyca confirmed. “So how long was I out?”

“You just appeared behind us.” Edmonton answered. “Eliza appeared first, then Fleur behind her, then I appeared when they weren’t looking and we were just looking up there.” Edmonton pointed at the grand staircase. “We heard you shout for Eliza.” His face was exceptionally grim.

“What’s with the tone? I can’t be worried for friends?” Lyca bit back.

“We heard you.” Fleur pointed in the direction she and Edmonton had set off in, the opposite route that Lyca had walked down. “From over there.” Lyca looked to Ed and Eliza, he got nods of affirmation confirming. “I think…” Fleur bit her lip. “We may have tripped something we weren’t meant to.”

“Then let’s get out of here.” Lyca said. “Before anyone catches us.”

“About that.” Edmonton pointed behind Lyca. “The door…” Lyca turned and felt the blood drain from his face. They had walked straight to the staircase and split up, the door was visible from here… it should be visible: the library was big but it wasn’t THAT big.

“Where is it?” Lyca said, the tip of his wand started to burn even brighter.

“Control yourself Lyca.” Edmonton waved towards the wand. “And I have no damn clue where it went.”

“I’d suggest trying to break through the wall.” Lyca felt a chill go down his spine. He couldn’t… wouldn’t… shouldn’t… move… His eyes darted to the sides, to Eliza on his right, her fingers intertwining through his and Fleur with Edmonton to his left: both of them stood straight backed, alert and alone.

“Who said that?” Lyca finally broke the silence.

“Who indeed?” From behind… Lyca’s eyes met Edmonton’s. He saw the man’s face give the tiniest nod, he knew the signal already. They were done for already, if a teacher was here, the only way they would get out of this is to kill them and leave before reinforcements arrive. Eliza and Fleur would shout at them later, but it was better than the consequences of being in found in the Divine Library. Lyca extended three fingers. Three. Two. One.

The two men turned, wands held straight, one roaring with fire, the other blue as it condensed the air around it to water. Lyca’s eyes travelled up the staircase and he felt his heart drown in doom again. At the top of the staircase stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She was tall, taller than Edmonton, even taller than an elf. She wore a red dress and a black cloak on her back, it covered her well but her face… Lyca could stare into those crimson eyes and feel soul begging to leave his body. It wasn’t a face, it was a masterpiece crafted by the finest artists on Arda. Her raven-black hair cascaded down in waves, only bringing contrast to the pale skin. She smiled like a succubus, like a hungry wolf ready to devour her prey. “Straight into it? That is certainly one way to greet me.”

“WHO ARE YOU?!” If Eliza wasn’t there, Lyca wouldn’t have been able to shout. But she was, and he had sworn he would protect her.

“Who am I?” The woman lifted a pale hand and touched her chest. “I don’t know, who may I be? Who do you think I am?”

“We apologize profusely for entering the Library.” Fleur quickly shouted. “We promise, we swear on our lives, may the Divines curse us if we ever set foot in here again. We promise to leave and never return.” The woman only laughed.

“Oh my dear girl.” She took a step forwards, as if about to walk in the air. Lyca blinked and the woman wasn’t there. There was the click of a heel on stone tile behind him. Before Lyca could turn, he saw the woman appear in the edges of his vision: on his left and right. Two of them? He gingerly moved his head towards Fleur. No, there she was again, two times next to Ed, two times next to Fleur. “Here, you shouldn’t be worrying about the Divines cursing you.”

An ocean of darkness swallowed all of them.