His Majesty grips the door handles, holding it shut against Viralia's best efforts to open it, but soon the banging ends and he stands still, not sure whether to let go or not. His fingers gently lift off and reach for the lock, swiping it shut. “God’s blood…” He swears with a pant, finally releasing his hands, and he takes in a swallow of air before turning his back to the door. Looking around as if he’s never stepped foot in here before, a feeling of tightness wells in his chest. Why was someone chasing me? And why would they be trying so hard to get in…? Stepping off into the Archives, he begins to palm and examine his pendant, rubbing his thumb over the chip in the top of the gem. Infernia… I don't think I've seen anything on her here. He begins to wander through rows of shelves as if being led by something, his focus on examining the pendant still. Infernia. Who could she be? How have I not heard of her? Stuck too deep in his thoughts, he doesn’t notice he’s reached the end of the walkway, smacking face-first right into the wall and stumbling back onto the ground.

That's what I get for not looking where I’m going. Groaning, he picks his head up and moves to hold his now throbbing forehead. After rubbing his injury he takes a better look at the wall, noticing this segment between the pillars is different than the rest. He rests his palm against the solid panel, and raps his index finger against it, making a hollow thud. Hmm.. is there something behind this? He runs his hands along the wall, feeling for any subtle notches, bumps, or anything to find a seam. Unable to find anything, he rears his fist back and lands a blow against the panel, immediately recoiling with a shout and cradling his hand. Damn it, that’s solid. He sits still for a minute, taking repeated deep breaths. God, I’ll need to have Kendrick look at this. Regaining his composure he looks back toward the panel.

So if it’s too hard to hit through, and there isn’t a seam to be found, then maybe there’s a switch nearby? Moving to the shelves closest, he begins to skim over the titles to try and find one that sticks out amongst the rest. Nothing here. Heading to the next row down, he finds nothing of interest. The next one is more old journals and documents. Where is it?! Now losing hope he continues shelf after shelf, skimming every title, grasping for straws at this point. Finally reaching his breaking point, he begins slinging books from the shelves, swiping whole rows of papers onto the floor. Nothing seemed to open the panel so, as a last-ditch effort, he takes a few steps further back and charged at the wall, throwing his shoulder directly into the wall… No change. Pain shoots through his upper torso from his shoulder and he lets out a loud, “AGH!”, as he slides down against the wall the panel lives in. God dammit. Why did I try that again?

As he sits slumped, holding his now fragile arm, his will whispering in his ear to give up, he begins to hear a voice. It sounds so faint that he was struggling to notice it was there, but he was sure he heard it. His eyes dart from the ground and begin scouring the shelves closest to the wall. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, but for some reason, his body is telling him to keep looking, harder than he has ever searched before. His stare falls onto one shelf off to the right, a completely barren shelf but he is drawn to it. Pushing himself off the ground, wincing as he used his injured arm to lift himself up and walks over to it. Carefully, he places his hand on the far left side and begins sliding it to the right, collecting the dust on the shelf until his fingers bump into something, just before the other edge. There isn’t anything in the way, but his finger stopped. Did that... Just happen? Looking closer, he sees a spot with no dust in the shape of a book, right where his finger hit something. Suspiciously, he grabs where the spine would be, and his hand grasps hold of an unseeable block. After pulling it from the shelf, the cloaking dissipates and he sees he’s holding an old farming book. W… What the hell? Why would something like this need to be hidden? He opens to the first page and is greeted with basic farming techniques for growing simple grains. Flipping further ahead, he finds recipes for fertilizer and using compost. Is this seriously it?! Groaning in frustration he throws the book and it lands open-faced up, in front of the panel. Furrowing through his hair, unsure of what to do now, he begins stomping back toward the section in the wall. Passing by the book, his eye catches on a small green wisp. His body freezes and he rigidly turns back, peering into the pages, and finding a strange phrase written in a completely different language from the rest of the book. Pervidoculis impestatis… What does that mean? It sounds almost like… a spell. Maybe this is what I needed? Hesitantly he stands in front of the panel and rereads the phrase out loud, “Pervidoculis impestatis”. He looks up and sees nothing is different. Clearing his throat, he stands taller and boasts his voice slightly, “Pervidoculis Impestatis!” Once again, it doesn’t budge. Son of a sinner, why won’t this WORK?! Giving everything he has, he closes his eyes and shouts, “PERVIDOCULIS IMPESTATIS!” A green light seeps through his shut lids and he peeks through, a whirlpool of green energy swirls from the center of the panel, and begins to vanish, taking the wall with it. “U-uh…” Caught off guard, he takes a step back. Oh my god, I did it? Delicately, he approaches and tests the hole by waving his hand through, it meeting nothing but air. I did it! Okay… So what is so important they had to hide it this well?

He pushes himself into the hole and begins crawling through. Moving forward about ten feet before reaching the end, he stumbles out of the hole and lands with his back on the ground, letting out a grunt as the air escapes his lungs. Wheezing slightly as he gets back up, he examines his surroundings through slightly welled eyes. Wiping the pain from his face, he takes in his surroundings, he’s inside the base of a tower, and curved shelves line every inch of the walls. A spiral staircase sits in the middle, going up into the darkness, and he notices the shelves are all empty. What is this place? Why is there a hidden area of the Archives? An unsettling air creeps into his chest. Who would need to keep something away from me? He trods up the stairs, counting each one as he goes, trying to maintain some semblance of order in his mind. One, two, three…forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven…ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. The steps keep going. He starts to notice small slips of paper and little journals start scattering the shelves as he reaches higher. He loses count around 200, seeing thicker stacks of bound pages, and scrolls, the shelves filling out more. Starting to get lost in all this hidden knowledge, he doesn’t realize he’s approaching the top and bangs his head against a trapdoor. Recoiling and rubbing the top of his skull, he gives it a slight push with his other hand. Hm… Unlocked. I guess they didn’t expect anyone to get back here. He flips the door open and climbs up. Immediately going to one of the four tall, skinny windows facing each of the cardinal directions, he checks to see where he’s at compared to the kingdom, only to see a large stone brick wall in front of him, obscuring any outside surroundings. What? Running to the next, he sees another tall wall. What is happening here? Going to the other two, the same sight greets him. So, this must be entirely meant to be a secret. Finally turning to the room, there are many strange artifacts around the room on pedestals and a few small shelves filled with sequential bound books. A breeze blows by his hair, making him swing around and his gaze falls onto another shelf, cluttered with unorganized scrolls, notebooks, and paper scraps. Being drawn to it, he seats himself in front of the slew of paper, bringing forth the first article he can grab and opening it up. He finds some ancient history of the kingdom when it was first established as a named village. No, this doesn’t feel like what I’m looking for. He closes it and sets it to his side to start a pile. Spending the next ten to fifteen minutes pulling out different scrolls and books, finding random bits of history, sorcery, and different knowledge until he grabs hold of a scroll that sends a shiver through his body. Examining the outside closer, he senses a strange energy emanating from it. I think… this is it. He carefully unravels the scroll, and upon reading the first word, it vanishes, embedding itself into his mind. W-what. The next word disappears. Is it… are they burning into my brain? Continuing through the scroll, sentences fade and move, as new ones fill in from the bottom. Moving past the awe of the moving words, he starts processing what he’s reading about. It tells about a tiny village, built amid a newly sprouting forest. It seems they’ve only just found this place a few years ago.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Suddenly, as the words meld into his brain, his vision blurs. Blinking to try and clear his sight, his eyes become blinded by the light. After adjusting for a moment he finds he isn’t in the tower but in the middle of the village itself. He immediately notices he is much lower to the ground, and tries standing up, only to realize he already is. He looks down at his hands and is met with dainty, child-like palms. Am I… seeing someone’s memory? Before he can take his first small step, a woman’s voice from behind cuts him off.

“Cayna! Don’t go off too far, I need you to stay within earshot, okay? It’s going to be dark soon” The body he’s seeing through turns back out of its own will, and a child’s voice escapes his throat.

“Okay, Mommy! I jus’ wanna play with the others!” They turn back and begin running down the trodden-down dirt path. Oswin begins thinking to himself, It seems I’m seeing through the eyes of a young girl. If this is just a memory, then I suppose I won’t be able to interact. Who is this girl? Passing by a few other villagers, each doing their daily tasks, she reaches a field where there are six other little girls all on their knees chasing a little frog hopping around. “Hey! I finished my chores!”

All of the other girls hoot and cheer and Cayna runs up, diving right over the top of the others, and grasping both hands around the frog. Mud slings everywhere, as rain had just fallen the night before, and everyone starts giggling.

“Caynaaa, you got mud all over me!” One of the older girls pipes up, a small hint of frustration seeping through. Cayna giggles and rolls over, her hands still closed.

“Oh yeah? Well, look what I got!” Cayna chirps and the rest of the girls crowd around, the older one included. Oswin takes note of each of the girl’s appearances in this moment Cayna can see them, They all have similar faces, are these girls all siblings? They look so close in age… Twins maybe? They certainly look like pairs… except for that little one, she seems to be alone… The youngest is standing a few feet back, head sunken and not actively participating. She opens her hands and the frog is sat on her palm, jumping at the first sight of freedom and landing directly on the face of the girl who whined. She shrieks and falls backward into the mud.

“Get it off! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff!” Thrashing around, not wanting to touch it herself.

“Hold still, Mira! I can’t get it if you keep wiggling!” One of the middle twins reaches for, whom he now knows as Mira, the girl’s face, trying to claw it off.

“She’s trying, Aisha!” The other of the middle two mocks the first.

“OH! Like that’s any help, Tesni!” Aisha snaps back, finally plucking the frog off Mira’s face, while the youngest two and Cayna sit giggling at them. As Oswin watches on, he thinks to himself, So we have Cayna, who I am currently embodying… and then Mira, Aisha, and Tesni… I wonder who the younger two are… and that little one. Why am I being shown this? It doesn’t make any sense. Who are these girls? Why is this important?

Mira sits up, whining due to mud caking her hair, and glares at the younger girls and Cayna. “Why didn’t you four try to do anything? That was so gross!” she practically hisses at us.

“I’m sorry sis, I should’ve thought it would have only wanted to attack you,” Cayna replies sarcastically and lets out a hearty laugh as Mira stands up covered in mud, falling back into it herself.

“You are definitely cleaning my clothes tonight. Or else I’ll tell Mom you pushed me.” Her foot taps against the wet ground.

The other girls let out a cacophony of “That’s not fair!” and “You’re so mean, sis!”, but are hushed by Cayna.

“It’s okay girls, I’ll do it. It’s only fair.” She picks herself up, continuing, “But it’ll be easier if we let this dry out, let’s play another game!” Mira scoffs but begrudgingly agrees.

“Ooh, what kind of game is it Cay?” One of the youngest twins speaks for the first time.

“Well, Nephele, you all go hide somewhere and I won’t look, and then after a few minutes, I’ll come to find you! Whoever is last wins.” Cayna explains the rules, and the rest of the girls get excited and prepare to run. I remember this game, I used to play this when I was a child.

“Oooh, that sounds like fun,” a few of them hoots.

“Alright, everyone go and hide, and I’ll come find you!” She covers her face and listens as the footsteps recede in different directions. After some time passes, she opens her eyes, “Ready or not, here I come!” She spends the next fifteen to twenty minutes searching for her sisters, finding Nephele and Tesni first, hiding together behind a hay wagon. Terra was next, sitting up in a tree about eight feet. Looking over a small ridge that drops a few feet, she finds Aisha squatting down, trying not to giggle. More minutes pass, and the sky starts to slowly creep a golden yellow. The younger girls she’s found are waiting patiently at the spot they started. Finally, she finds Mira, who had hidden behind one of the houses between a few stacked barrels. “Found you all! Mira wins!” Cayna shouts as she runs back with Mira to the other girls.

A woman’s voice in the distance calls out, “Girls, it’s time to come home!”

Everyone lets out a pouty, “Aww…”, before beginning to walk back to the house, with Cayna staying at the back of the pack. Weren’t there six of them? I only see five…

They reach the house, to which the mother says, without looking up, “Go clean up and get ready for dinner.” She turns her head and gasps, “Where’s Bela?!” That’s right, the littlest one. Bela…

All of the girls search their immediate surroundings and a slew of “I don’t know” follow.

“Oh my gods, where is she,” The mother mutters to herself as she dashes past the kids, “BELA!”

The sisters all go on ahead to go wash up, Cayna staying back and turning to help Mom, “Bela! Where are you?” A small figure steps out from inside a bush nearby, her dark clothes having kept her hidden in the shadows.

“I’m here Mommy… They didn’t find me…” Bela twists her foot in the dirt, not making eye contact. Poor child. Getting forgotten like that.

“Oh, thank the gods, you’re okay. Let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” she ushers the youngest past Cayna, who trods along behind her mother. “Go wash up, Cayna. Dinner is going to be done in a few minutes. And get out of those filthy clothes.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Cayna takes off to a water trough to scrub the mud from her arms and face. The other girls have already gone inside. The water is gently rippling from the breeze. Just as she goes to put her hands in the water, she freezes. What is she doing? She stares into the trough, and the water stops, suddenly settling into a perfect mirror. Her eyes seem to be staring through herself. Her mouth moves, saying four simple words, “You can trust her.” W-what? Her hands splash in the water, and Oswin blinks, suddenly back in the tower, staring at a blank scroll. What could that possibly mean? Trust who?