“Oh, by the way,” Salem asked as we filed out of class. “I dinnae ken what he was talkin’ about when he said to brave the the library here. Isn’t it just a place of books? I only got here a few days ago, haven’t been able to find the place yet. Or the mess hall, for that matter.”

“I can show you,” I said. “It’s… Creepy. Let me see if I can remember all of the rules and benefits.”

“Creepy?” Yushin asked, her hair fringe shifting as she looked at us. “I do not see how a library can be creepy.”

“Is it haunted?” Jackson asked. “I haven’t been able to get to either place yet either – I’ve been getting my food from one of the campus stalls.”

I hadn’t noticed any campus stalls, so I noted it down, then launched into the tale of my own visit to the library. I edited out the bits about my bloodline and heightened senses, but left in everything else. When I finished, Salem’s eyes were wide, and he leaned forwards.

“Have you copied the spell into your spellbook yet?” Salem asked. “I’d love a spell like that. I very nearly took blood magic, but I just couldn’t fit it in alongside psykika, combat, and divination.”

“You’re in applied mage combat as well?” I asked, and Salem nodded.

“Aye, it was a requirement for my scholarship. Can’t say I’m happy about taking it, given it’s the only course on the entire guide to come with a warning about potentially dyin’ and all, but still, failing means you’re playing at least.”

“The headmaster wanted it to be a required class,” Yushin said softly. “He was overridden. Too many of the school’s donors do not wish to risk their children’s lives by accepting that we live in a world of violence and chaos.”

“Does he teach it then?” I asked. He had said something about teaching advanced courses and the most dangerous course in the university.

Salem and Jackson both looked interested, leaning in.

“Not entirely until the third and final course. The first year is taught by a rotation of people with different skills, including him. The second has more of him. The third is only him.”

“How’d’ya know this?” Salem asked.

“I have a relative in the city who is a powerful life enforcement practitioner,” Yushin said. “His lover is a mage, and she took the course.”

“As well she should!” Jackson said. “I believe the headmaster is right. Everyone should learn to fight for justice, truth, and honor.”

“There’s no honor in fighting. You either survive or you lose,” I muttered, but Jackson didn’t seem to hear me. Salem, Yushin, and I all exchanged glances, and then Salem turned back to me.

“Your book for blood price. It’s in what language?”

“Hua-Long,” I said, and his face fell.

“Shame, I can’t speak a lick of that language, only Ceyish, Hydrefol, and a bit of Duexia,” he said. “Still, would you mind letting me copy the spell from your grimoire when I finish, till I can delve for a copy of my own? If you also escort me to the library and keep an eye out, I’ll let you copy from mine second in exchange.”

“Sure! Jackson, Yushin, would you care to accompany me?”

“No, not today,” Jackson said. “I’m working on refining my fireball and incorporating my affinity magic. And you did tell us how to get into the cafeteria, so I can stop paying for food now. Thanks!”

He clapped me on the shoulder with enough force to stagger a bear.

“I do not believe it would be wise,” Yushin said, shaking her head. “A ten percent bonus to efficiency and a loss of cost is worthwhile, but only once I am certain I can contest the threats of the library. I can collect my free book and others in a single delve.”

I didn’t think the library was that threatening if you were just heading in to grab a book off the table and leave, but I could see her point. I certainly wouldn’t be delving into the shelves anytime soon.

“Not a problem,” Salem said with a smile, then extended his arm in a very courtly fashion, one that was out of style in Dreki or Cendel unless one was in very high company, or was courting. To be fair, entering a courtship, rather than simply dating, likely precluded the idea of being in low company at all, so it was probably just a friendly gesture.

Besides, the Elden Court of Hydref, much like the Divine King’s Palace, tended to be old fashioned in its mannerisms. Salem might just be from there, perhaps he’d worked as a servant, and picked up some of the mannerisms. It would explain his odd scent and eyes. No man should smell of ink and leather and mist, instead of sweat. The Elder Fae’s Etherius-native magic could rub off on people they interacted with frequently.

“Ah, thas’right, forgot, sorry,” Salem apologized with an easygoing smile. “Well, shall we?”

I let out a sigh as he explained he forgot the meaning was different on the other side of the sea. What the meaning of the sigh was, though, even I wasn’t sure.

We said our goodbyes to Yushin and Jackson, and began making our way down the tower.

“What’s Dreki like, Emrys?” Salem asked. “Or do you remember it? You said you were born there.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I was, but only for a few years before moving,” I said. “White sands is more my home than the island. But…”

I took a breath as I launched back into my old memories.

“The island is made of three provinces, but really it’s only two. The inhabitable parts… One looks blackened and burnt, from where the Dreki Matriarch burned it all in a great fight, and volcanos coated the ground in ash. It’s still black now, four hundred years later, but the ash has made the ground fertile enough to feed most of the island.”

I paused as I frowned.

“Supposedly, at least. I don’t know how it could be true. The other province is a massive, sprawling series of slums and shanty towns, before you hit the wall. Behind the wall is where the king and parliament are, as well as the entire Dreki family compound, and whoever else is rich enough to be able to have property there.”

“Parliament? King? Doesn’t the Matriarch just control the island?” Salem asked, and I shook my head.

“Common misconception. She OWNS the island, and everyone on it merely rents from her, or rents from someone who rents from someone who rents from someone who rents from her and such. The King, Parliament, and Justices handle the legality of the running of the country, but they’re…”

When I trailed off, Salem spoke up.

“Completely powerless?” he suggested.

“A manager,” I said. “Hired help, that can be disposed of if they get too uppity.”

Salem shook his head.

“Seems faintly ridiculous, at least to me. I say it’s cruel.”

“It is cruel. Especially in the shanties. When I was seven, and out for a walk, I witnessed two people fight until they were bleeding and had lost a tooth over a bit of bread. Stale bread.”

I closed my eyes, and if my sense of internal balance hadn’t been so good, I might have fallen down the stairs.

“It’s not so bad on the farming province. The land means there’s enough to eat, but only if you can get hired on as a farmhand or otherwise work at the farm. They’re the closest thing Dreki has to a true middle class.”

“I’m sorry I asked,” Salem said. “Truly.”

“You didn’t know. And there’s also the third province – The volcanos themselves, in a state of near perpetual lava flow. They’re bound to an elemental plane of etherius, as far as I know. Lava constantly pours out, then vanishes. Only the Matriarch and the strongest of her children are able to survive more than a moment there.”

“How cheery,” Salem deadpanned. “Though, bein’ bound to Etherius means there’s probably a lotta good materials that go unharvested.”

“Oh no, they’re harvested,” I said. “The Matriarch wouldn’t let a fortune go untapped.”

“Right shame that is,” Salem said.

We lapsed into silence for a second, until I asked my own question.

“What’s Hydref like, if it’s not painful?”

“Oh, no, nothin’ of the sort,” Salem said, then took a moment to compose his thoughts.

“Well, we’ve eight counties. Lot more than Dreki, but still less’an the absolute monstrosities that are Naise, the Argent Empire, Shen-Long, or Cendel. I mean, Cendel, seriously? Seven holds, each wit’ two ta’ five differen’ regions? S’ridiculous. Middlehold an’ Summerhold toget-her are bigger t’an tee entire total ah Hydref, plus yeh get tree, fourteen, an’ sixteen? It ain’t fair.”

A touch of pink touched his neck as he realized his accent had gotten incredibly thick as he’d started to ramble.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Anyways, as I was sayin’. Eight counties. There’s the Elden County in the center, where the Elden Court convenes, and it’s where all the richest people live. It’s the capital and a big, sparkling city made out of eleven colors a’ glass. The ether is thick there, like here, but instead of being balanced, it’s almost all faeries and spirits and dreams. There’s even an erudite college there. My mam worked as a secretary for some of the Elder Court’s bureaucracy, so I saw more than most who don’t live there.”

“It sounds beautiful,” I said earnestly, and Salem nodded in agreement.

“It is. The city at sunset is like a miracle of all the gods. Just don’t be too surprised if you fall into the faerie wilds of Etherius, and retrace your steps to get back out. The rest of the country isn’t as ether rich, so no worries about slippin’ out of reality. Each of the Elden Court’s got their own county, so there’s firelight county, moonlight county, starlight county, sunlight, thunderlight, animallight, and weirlight.”

“That’s a lot of light,” I commented with a laugh, and Salem grinned.

“Yeah, well. Sounds that way in Ceyish, at least. But them’s the seven Elder Fae, and so the seven other counties. I grew up in Firelight County. It’s a pretty place. Lotsa greenery in the spring, then summer’s got purple from the blooming heather. Autumn has leaves of every shade of red and orange and yellow and brown you can think of, and then in winter, it’s blustery cold and raining all the time, sometimes it turns to snow and ice, though, and when it does, it’s pretty too.”

“I’m looking forwards to actually having four seasons again,” I said, nodding. “In White Sands, and really all of Summerhold, there’s only two: Summer and Spring. It means there’s twice as much crop harvesting as most places, but I won’t lie, I’m tired of seeing the sun every day and always being sticky with the heat and humidity.”

“Hah, you can’t tan?”

“Not at all,” I grimaced. My bloodline gave me enough resistance to heat that I didn’t need to worry about sunburn, but it was still not pleasant to constantly be baking alive.

“Me neither. Every summer you could swear that I was as red as a boiled lobster. Meanin’ no offense to our ancestors, but what were they thinking when they set the sky on fire? I can barely stand the sun, let alone worse. There’s a reason I didn’t accept the offer from Faline of The Burning Throne.”

He seemed to realize he was rambling again, but before he could apologize, I stopped him.

“We’re here.”

“Isn’t this just the building for administration?” Salem asked.

“Yep. Now, step headfirst into the left side of the doorframe while on only your right foot,” I said, lifting my leg and falling into the doorframe to demonstrate.

I vanished and appeared in the library again, and I was alone in the hall. Something was watching me. Eyes were on my neck, then shifting to my ear, then to my throat, just watching and waiting.

I spun my ether into a shield spell. I would still need to make the motions and speak the words of power, but I felt better having it prepared, and this place was creepy. There was the sound of footfalls behind me, and I glanced, but saw nothing.

Then Salem stepped into the hall, and something shifted its attention to study him as well, tracing along his slender throat up to the pierced ear, to his eyes. I suddenly had the image of someone using a rusty spoon to dig his eyes from his face, like plucking a grape out of a gelatin mold, and Salem and I shuddered in unison.

“To the table,” I said, quickly walking forwards. Salem nodded and followed, and we glanced around the hall. Shadows lurked in the dark of the shelves, and I could faintly make out titles’ names. Most were nonsense, but one was completely legible: A Practical Guide to Casting the Wish Spell. It was on the shelf nearest me, only four books down the hall. I didn’t even need to step in to get it, I could just reach out and–

“Got it!” Salem said, clutching a thick book bound in what looked like crocodile leather to his chest. Something twitched in his shadows, and I yanked him forwards, sprinting into the reading room.

The moment we crossed over the threshold, I relaxed a little bit as the sensations faded, and Salem let out a breath.

“Creepy as all the hells,” he muttered under his breath.

“You’ll hear no argument from me,” I said. “What did you get?”