Chapter 52
Dinner was a treat. Dijon crusted filets of fish were served with buttery rice pilaf along with iced cranberry juice for a beverage. The group had eaten quietly as M'redith gradually returned to her normally good spirits. After they finished M'redith brought their trays up. Neither of the two men spoke, each happily digesting. M'redith returned and the group left the dining hall towards the library.
It was no longer bright out by the time they left the dining hall and although the sun had set the sky still appeared bright even as the ground was cast in to the darkness of dusk.
“Well that was a strange afternoon.” Aiden said as they walked in to the library.
“SHHHHH!” said a giant seven foot tall librarian. Jay found it interesting that humans in Eden rarely if ever grew past five and a half feet tall with one major exception. Librarians. Librarians in Eden were massive, topping 7 feet tall and strongly muscled. Jay took a moment to consider what Librarians must face to require such a giant physique.
Even mages were afraid of Librarians. No one was exactly sure of a Librarian's true powers and abilities but they were known to be terrifying combatants. Their familiarity with a number of different languages aided them in their study of magic – on top of their already frightening prowess with a sword. Each Librarian was a giant, wielding sword and spells with equal proficiency. Smart people stayed out of their way. Dumb people just weren't heard from again.
Gaia apparently was intensely invested in the proliferation and protection of the written word. After all, knowledge was the very foundation that choice and freedom depended on to work correctly. An uninformed choice may still be a choice, but a poor one.
“Sorry!” Aiden whispered apologetically to the Librarian. The group of three friends walked through the library - quietly. Jay paused to wave at Glenda when he saw her rolling a cart down one aisle stuffed with returned books in need of shelving. Glenda waved back happily and appeared pleased to see Jay.
The group went downstairs until they reached the level with marbled floors packed with doors and hallways, each door with a different symbol on it. They stopped at the door with a star on it and Jay placed his palm on the door, opening it.
The room was as they had left it with one major exception. The rolling cart with the books Jay had finished was gone. In its place was a new cart stuffed with fresh books Jay had yet to read.
“Someone has been in here.” Jay said.
“Sure,” Aiden remarked as he dropped himself in to a chair unceremoniously. “The librarians refresh the carts every night. Or morning. I'm not very familiar with their routine.”
“Good answer. Also, you suck at pool.” Jay said with a smile.
“I suck at pool? I've never played before! But how about M'redith – how'd a farmer's daughter get so good at pool?”
Jay paused to consider that. How DID she get so good at pool.
M'redith sighed. “I can't say. Rules are rules.”
The only applicable rule Jay could think of was The Guild's stricture against revealing how you gained entry in to the basic training course. M'redith was claiming that if she were to explain how she grew to be so good at pool it would give away how she gained entry to The Guild.
Aiden made a hmmm noise at the back of his throat but backed off. “We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to,” he said with his hands held out in front of him.
M'redith could have explained a little but instead she just said “Good.” and left it at that.
Jay wasn't sure how to feel about the exchange. He was starting to wonder how M'redith knew so much about the upper class, property related business dealings, politics, and yes, the game of pool. None of them were things a farmer would be expected to know a whole lot about.
M'redith however seemed downright knowledgeable. How? Jay had grown curious but didn't want to upset whatever it was they had between them. So he let it go. She had been nothing but supportive and helpful since the day he had met her.
Jay had begun to search through the new books. He discarded the ones that didn't look promising. One in particular caught his friend's attention.
“Hey, what about this?” Aiden suddenly asked as he held up a brightly illustrated book that Jay had discarded. The book had thick and firm cardboard pages but with beautifully detailed drawings on each. The bottom third of each page was reserved for writing the story. The top two thirds of each page held the illustrations.
It was a children's book – for toddlers or younger, which was why Jay had discarded it. A bedtime story. It followed a family's leader as he prepared to enter the dungeon of rebirth.
“Well this is different. Why would anyone make a children's book about the Dungeon of Rebirth? Parents tend to shy away from discussing death with children if at all possible, I can't see any of them reading a book about a dungeon that can allegedly grant life everlasting and explaining what that means exactly.” Jay said as he looked at the book, puzzled.
M'redith thought about what Jay had just said. Death was a complicated concept, not something usually discussed with very young children. Yet here was a children's book about the Dungeon of Rebirth – the Dungeon of Death. It was weird.
“What's it say?” M'redith asked curiously.
The group read the book one thick page at a time. It was simple. The family leader was forced to collect a number of items before he ventured in to the dungeon. He needed a cloak. He needed a one foot rod. And he needed a book.
Those three things weren't needed to gain entry to the dungeon – they were needed IN the dungeon according to the childrens book. Each item was beautifully pictured in the book and Jay felt like he would certainly recognize any of them if he saw them in real life.
Jay paused as he realized he had just thought of Eden as real life. His real life. He looked over at M'redith and smiled. She looked puzzled but smiled back.
“I think we should be writing this stuff down,” M'redith said as Jay nodded in agreement and took out his Mighty Book. Opening the book Jay was surprised when it flipped its own pages and settled on a blank chapter titled “Required Dungeon Items 0/3”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Jay flipped the cardboard book back a few pages. “Here it is, the cloak.”
The cloak was teal with black highlights. Two black bordered teal triangles were embroidered on the back of the cloak, one triangle above the other in the approximate shape of an hourglass.
“Well that is a Gaia special right there. She loves putting triangles on things.” Aiden said flippantly.
M'redith laughed, “When you're a Goddess you can get away with that.”
Jay copied down the item's name and drew a picture of it in to his book while trying to capture the fine details. He mostly failed but managed to make a somewhat decent copy. Jay showed off his work. “Cloak of Spirit” was written across the top of the page. Under it was Jay's drawing. Below that was space to write down the item's properties, once they discovered what they were.
Jay turned the children's book a few pages to the next item, the rod. Again Jay copied everything in to his Mighty Book. The rod was a foot long and white in color. It had a black textured grip that had been carved in to one end. On the base of the textured end was a small inscription – two triangles, teal in color. At the top of the page Jay copied the name, “Rod of Siphoning.”
M'redith nodded approvingly at his notes. Jay turned to the last item. The book.
“Are you sure about this one?” Aiden asked when he saw what Jay had written and drawn.
It was a fancy looking cookbook with only food displayed on the cover. Capers. Hundreds of the little buggers. The caper is a plant that Jay knew grew on Earth. The plant grew tiny buds which could be picked off while immature – capers. Some say they taste a bit sour and salty. Others say no I don't want to eat that. Jay was firmly in the second camp.
“Capers?” Jay remarked in confusion.
M'redith shrugged, “Hey, that's what the book says.”
The book's title was “Gaia's 101 Uses for Capers” and the cover showed a variety of capers strewn across a finely set tablecloth. The familiar two teal triangles were embossed on the lower right hand corner of the cover.
Jay studiously copied the book and title in to his Mighty Book before he set down his writing tool and leaned back in his chair. They'd been looking through books for over an hour and Jay's back was starting to get sore.
“Well that went really well.” M'redith said cheerfully.
“But capers?” Aiden remarked.
“Who knows. Maybe Gaia works in mysterious ways.” Jay said while parroting back a religious saying from Earth.
“Ooo, I like that, mind if I use it sometime?” Aiden said with wide eyes.
“Sure, it's not like I thought it up myself.” Jay said absentmindedly as he tapped his fingers on his chair.
“I have to say though, I've never heard of anyone needing items in the Dungeon of Death. The stories are always about a group that went in and didn't come back out. The point was always that they never should have gone in – not that they weren't prepared properly.” Aiden said thoughtfully as he turned the cardboard book over in his hands.
M'redith laughed and pointed at something on the cardboard book. On the back cover in one corner was a very tiny and easy to miss drawing – two teal triangles.
“What?” Jay asked.
“The triangles – that means Gaia had a hand in creating this children's book doesn't it?” Aiden asked looking over at M'redith. She nodded in reply.
“Anyone else think it's odd that Gaia would help create a book for toddlers about a dungeon that kills everyone that goes inside?” Aiden asked.
“If I didn't know what that symbol meant I wouldn't even consider using this book as a reference. If Gaia made it though She must have had a good reason.” M'redith said as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
The group spent another few hours but found nothing even remotely as helpful as the toddlers book. It was literally the only book that made mention of items needed inside of the dungeon. No other book or scroll or parchment fragment came even close. The book was either entirely fabricated – its contents, its knowledge, even the teal triangles – or it was divinely wrought. Created with the assistance of a Goddess and placed here specifically for this very purpose, to guide Jay. Or perhaps another Traveler.
Both options were equally distressing Jay thought.
“Ok, I say we stop for the night.” Jay said as he stood up. “We made some great progress tonight. I feel like we finally have some firm tasks to work with now. Three items, all named. We should be able to find them with some searching hopefully.”
Aiden shook his head, “I'm not sure it'll be that easy. Do we each need one of those items? Do we all need a cloak? Do we need only one rod?”
Jay thought about that. They would only get one chance at running the dungeon. Everyone else who had entered had died, so Jay did not expect to be able to go twice. Either they beat the dungeon, or they died. Knowing that Jay would only enter if they each had the three items listed. If they were only able to find one of an item then that would clue them in that it wasn't intended to be handed out to each of the group's five members.
M'redith paused, “We'll need more than three of each, we'll need five – unless you're planning on leaving two group members behind.”
Jay sighed, “Great point. Five people in a dungeon group, not just the three of us.”
Aiden shrugged, “We'll just take it one item at a time. Like you said before, it's going to take some time to level up enough to even put a group together, let alone run the dungeon, right?”
Jay nodded, “Yup. That should give us time to collect all the items before we assemble a group.”
They put the books back in their correct places. The ones they had read and discarded went on to an empty book cart. The others stayed on the tables. The cardboard book Jay left out on the main table, he had set it aside in case they needed it again.
The group left the library and found it mostly empty. Jay and his group waved silently good night to Glenda and she smiled but did not wave, her arms full of books. Aiden gave out half hugs and half handshakes and walked off in to the darkness leaving Jay and M'redith alone.
They walked slowly to her room, not speaking, but occasionally brushing up against each other's arms. Jay finally got up the courage to ask about the pool hall bet earlier that day.
“So care to tell me about the bet earlier today?” Jay asked, making his voice sound light and undemanding. Jay looked to the side at her. Her face was cloaked in darkness, the night not bright enough to make out fine details.
“No.” M'redith said, her face darkening before she forcefully cleared it away.
“Why not?” Jay asked teasingly. They had reached the door to her room.
“A little mystery is good for a relationship,” M'redith said as she stood on her toes and gave Jay a kiss that brushed his lips for only a moment before it was gone. She quickly went in to her room and closed the door behind her.
Jay walked home smiling from the albeit brief kiss. Finally in his bedroom he undressed and took a moment to turn on his Tropical Island Aura. In 30 seconds he was sparkling clean as was his bed. Turning it off the slight tingling sensation passed. With the lights out Jay listened to the night sounds of insects and creatures chirping. Jay was almost asleep when his eyes popped open once again.
“Wait a minute. Relationship?” Jay said out loud to the empty room.