The Greatest Sin

Traius looked at the sign on the road. He could not read the words although the flags told him all he needed to know. Pack Master taught him what all the colours meant. Pack Master’s herd followed him as they passed the same sign with the same white and yellow flag.

WELCOME TO KARAINA!

“Well that was surprisingly easy.” Eliza said when they entered the Divine Library, or whatever it was. Fleur no longer believed it was a library in the first place, it was merely something bearing the skin of a library. A chameleon building.

“Not many guards either.” Lyca said, hands on his head and strolling about. So relaxed, so idiotic. “So get to the point, why did you want to bring us here?”

“I’ll tell you when we meet her.” Fleur said coldly.

“Why then?”

“Because if I tell you now, you’ll be scared and go home.”

“Me? Scared? Never!” Lyca laughed as he strolled through the library. “So what do we do? Just call for her?”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll like that.” Edmonton said sarcastically as he caught up to Lyca.

“Do you have a better idea?” Lyca strolled towards the stairs. “MISS SORCERER! MISS SORCERER! WHERE ARE YOU?! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“Sorcerer?” Eliza whispered.

“You’ve not realised?” Fleur said quietly to her. “What is this if not sorcery?” She showed her hand to Eliza and blew some wind across the girl’s face. Her hair gently swayed in the breeze.

“I just didn’t want to think on it.” Eliza said, her brown eyes large in surprise.

“Ahh..” Fleur replied.

“COME OUT COME OUT, WHERE EVER YOU ARE!” Lyca shouted into the empty air.

“Shut up idiot.” Edmonton sighed as he walked followed Lyca across the wooden floors. The bookshelves didn’t loom over them this time, instead they seemed… rather small. Fleur didn’t know what it was, but she was before they were a crushing labyrinth. Now the library was almost bright. Lyca, rather predictably, ignored the better man.

“MISS SORCERER! COME OUT! WE HAVE SOMETHING TO ASK!” He took a step onto the carpeted staircase.

That was the only step he took.

Immediately he got blown backwards into the bookcases. The woman strolled out from behind them. Fleur hated when she did that. “That was rather quick, and four of you.” She chuckled. “But it’s for the better I suppose.”

“I have something to ask.” Fleur spoke up.

“And I didn’t make any promise to answer silly questions.” The woman said. Fleur silently seethed at the woman’s grace. The way she carried that cloak and dress, the way she filled it out, those red eyes and the black hair. Everything about her was beautiful, the height only made her into a mountain to scale. She could imagine Lyca drooling over her day and night. Edmonton too for that manner. Eliza as well.

“That hurt!” Lyca dug himself out of the pile of books.

“You recover quickly.” The woman said. “I have your second lesson prepared.”

“Already?” Edmonton said.

“Be happy I don’t set you homework.” Fleur bit her cheek. She had wit too.

“What is it?” Edmonton said. The woman waved a hand and a table dropped from the ceiling. How it was there, Fleur did not know. A map of the Old Continent drifted onto it. Where that came from, Fleur also did not know. She hated these tricks, she hated them because she could not do them.

“Here, this location. I have a friend. A woman, taller than me, black hair, usually doesn’t wear clothes, you’ll know her when you see her, go and save her. Very simple.” The woman chimed as she pointed to some random spot on the map. It was so far east, it was out of even Karaina! What was she thinking?!

“Is that it?” Edmonton.

“I’d advise to prepare for battle.” The woman said happily.

“Well…” Lyca finally walked up to the map. “I’d love to do that.” The woman interrupted him.

“When men start a sentence like that, there’s a but.” Lyca unleashed a shameless smile that made Fleur want to skin him.

“But alas!” He made a whimsical tone. “We are but poor students an-“ The woman waved her finger and a bag dropped on the table from out of view. It spilled out a shiny red gem.

“I was expecting money.” Lyca said flatly.

“Alas, I’m simply a poor librarian.” The woman said coldly. “Does that cover the costs?”

“It does.” Edmonton finally spoke up and didn’t let Lyca dig them into a deeper hole. Lyca merely gave the rest of them a flat look and shrugged.

“I just want to know, what exactly are we… what are we saving your friend from?” Eliza chimed in.

“Do you know about Guguoan cultivators?”

“Excuse me?” Fleur couldn’t help herself. “Cultivators?”

“So you do.” The woman’s said smugly. “Here is some assistance.” She waved her hands and Fleur felt something stab her butt. “Check your pockets.” Each of them pulled out a red stone. Fleur’s eyes widened, it was all she could not to make her mouth gape open like some idiot.

“Heartstone?” Eliza mumbled.

“Heartstone.” The woman said. “Use it on armour, wands, staves, I do not mind what.”

“And this?” Lyca pulled out a bag. Fleur bit her tongue, why did he get something for himself?

“Sleep medicine, it kicks in instantly, take it when you feel like losing control.” Fleur’s eyes widened in surprise. Not at the woman’s words, but at Lyca’s reaction. He simply nodded, acquiescing as if for once in his life he realised he was talking to a better than him, and then pocketing the small bag. What exactly was he hiding? “That’s all. If you fail, don’t bother returning.”

“Excuse me?” Eliza asked.

“This woman’s life is more important than yours.”

“And can we know her name?” Edmonton followed up.

“I’ll tell you when you return.”

“I don’t believe you.” Edmonton said coldly and the woman merely looked down on him.

“Don’t believe me then. What do you want me to do about it?” Edmonton shook his head. It was impossible to win a battle against someone who seemed to know everything.

“I have something to say.” Fleur said. The woman clicked her tongue. She actually clicked her tongue! “I want you to answer something!”

“Do you now?” The woman cooed.

“It’s why we came here as a four in the first place.” The woman’s demeanour changed. That light-hearted tone was gone. The cute cat had disappeared and was replaced with a hunting jaguar.

“Girl.” She said coldly. “Think about what you’re going to say right now.”

 “I’ve thought about it.”

“Some things are better left unsaid.” The woman said before following up. “And once some words are uttered, they can never be taken back.” Fleur blinked as she opened her mouth, the question simply would not come out. She looked at Eliza, at Lyca and Edmonton. How could face them again if she didn’t ask? She had brought them into this! She could have just stayed shut!

“I need to know.” Fleur said.

“Then ask, but I warned you.”

“When was this library opened?” Fleur said. The looked at her as if she was a fool.

“Excuse me?”

“It was one hundred, one years into the Post-Great-War era, yes?” Fleur asked.

“It was.” The woman said.

“But it wasn’t built then?” Fleur asked again. The woman smiled.

“I see where you are going with this.”

“Can you answer the question?” Fleur said.

“If you’re asking, you already know.” The woman replied.

“It was not.” Fleur said. “This building was erected somewhere between the year twenty four and twenty seven.”

“A thousand years ago?” Lyca asked. The woman smiled and nodded.

“And you have been in here since that time.” Fleur said coldly.

“That is the question, isn’t it?” The woman replied.

“You’re a Goddess.” Fleur said. The woman laughed and stood back, her arms running down her sides.

“I can’t exactly hide it, can I? What else would I be? An elf with gigantism?”

“The question is which one?” Edmonton said.

“You want us to save a woman taller than yourself from Guguoan cultivators.” Fleur’s eyes grew large as she realised, they all watched the news. Everyone knew the Sixty-Third Great Hunt had begun. She looked to Edmonton and mouthed the single syllable. The blood drained from his face. Eliza and Lyca both worked it out too. Silence flooded into the library, it drowned out every sound, even the breathing. Lyca finally broke it.

“You want us to save Fer, Goddess of Beasthood.” The woman gave them a resigned nod.

“I do.” For once, she did not sound confident of herself.

“And that means you were locked in here in twenty-five.” Fleur followed up.

“I was.”

“Then…” Fleur felt her tone go cold.

“Say it. If you’re smart enough to work this out, you’re smart enough to know that each of you knew the answer already and were only running away from it.”

“You’re Anassa, Goddess of Sorcery.” Fleur said the accusation without emotion, it took her entire will to simply say the words. The woman merely looked at her. There was no accusation in those eyes, no anger or annoyance. It was simply resignation.

“I am.”

“But didn’t you die?” Eliza asked.

“I was never executed, the White Pantheon imprisoned me here.” Anassa explained.

“But this.” Lyca patted the side of his chest. “Fer will help with it.”

“She won’t stop it, she’ll let you control it.” Anassa replied.

“What is wrong with him anyway?” Eliza half-whispered, half-shouted.

“He has become a werewolf. Two bodies in one, beast and man.”

“A beastman?” Eliza asked.

“No, beastmen are half and half, they are stable. He is not.”

“NO!” Eliza slammed the table. “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! LYCA IS LYCA! HE WON’T DIE!”

“Who said anything about dying?” Lyca forced out a laugh, it was his worst attempt at a joke yet, the words were practically void of mirth.

“It’s not my domain, you want to stabilize him, you get him to Fer.”

“If you’re Anassa.” Edmonton said slowly. “Then we’re not… are we magicians?”

“No.” Anassa replied. “You are the first four sorcerers of the modern age.”