Chapter 25

The Renasence

The reddish orange light bleeds through the marbled stone opening of the room. It is first to see the light of dawn, being of that of the highest peak of the castle of Nocturnia. The curve of the sun's rays poke and protrude the walls of the room, letting the warmth glide through softly. Slowly it reaches the head of the man who sits on its edge. His hair gleaming with vibrancy as white as silk, just as his feathers of his wings. They flex as each feather frills as the god rays touch them. He rolls his shoulders, his bare skin feeling the sun onto his body. He stands and walks towards the window, standing in its maw. His eyes close as he breathes in deep then slowly exhales, he begins to open them to show his vibrant purplish-black eyes. He places his hand on the arch of the window, gliding it and feeling the stone work. He turns his head slightly as he hears a feint knock at the door. It then opens to reveal a handmaiden carrying a basket of linens. She walks in but stops just slightly at the sight of the shirtless winged man in the window, the shadows, and definitions of his muscles glimmer in the morning shine. She clears her throat, a feint red blush reveals itself on her face, she bows her head slightly as she continues into the chambers. “Good Morning. Mr. Sariel.“.

“Your fresh linens for today.” Her words were soft-spoken, to the point, fitting for a handmaiden in a royal castle. She walks to the bedside, placing the basket onto the cupboard adjacent, she notices that the bed is still neat and folded down the edges are crisp as if Sariel never touched the bed. She lets's out a soft, but brief, sigh as pulls the blankets and sheets off the bed. “You have been here for a few weeks now. Though I thank you for your cleanliness, You do not need to make your bed every morning.“ Sariel gaze of that only with the corner, turns his body to face the woman. “A habit that will not cease, I'm afraid.” She smiles at the comment, knowing that he is not doing it in bad faith. She continues to replace the linen. As she does this, the entrance darkens slightly as another being obscures its opening. Cladded in crimson and ebony colored armor with the insignia of the Queen's Guard, Wu Jak enters with a yawn. His staff hoisted onto one shoulder as he enters. “This has got to be some crazy prank that Captain Grym has set on me. Of all the people, it has to be me that has to chaperone the bird man.“ Wu leans back onto his staff as he picks his teeth with his nail. Sariel pays no mind to his comments. Every week he is being “Guarded” by one of these Knights. Usually it is the Lupine. The other week it was the Tiefling woman. This time it is the Kaiken. The same one that watched him in the cell when he first arrived here. For some odd reason, this one specifically has a vendetta.

Sariel has not once had any intention of quarreling with the Knights, He promised the queen of this kingdom that, and he will uphold it. He is a guest after all, that goes without saying, She still has her suspicions of him as well he to her. As he walks through the castle, with Wu just behind him, he looks at the structure of the castle. Every time he walks through, he is reminded of the days in the Cathedral. The place where he trained, he slept, he grew. The framework is so similar but so different. He still ponders what this place is. On his second day he once thought he was sent to a different point in time but a handmaiden noted the year and date were correct. Fall of 5989. It is perplexing, but all he has to do is move forward. Thinking of the past is not suited for him. He rarely ever thinks of it. The Guardians have taught him to not dwell on the frivolous past, for it is what you do in the present that marks your future. He shakes the feeling off as he continues outside to the city below. After a few weeks, most of the people of this world no longer stare at him with curiosity. They mostly looked at his wings still, but with the Queen's Guard at tow they lose their gaze quickly. Sure, he could fly off to his own wishes, but he needs to appease Queen Uzume for the time being. He continues to make his stroll to the only place that he finds solace in, The library.

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The grand halls of scrolls, hard leather, and parchments line the building. A scholars' playground of knowledge at your fingertips, and all you have to do is look in the right places. Wu looks around, scratching his head with his staff as they both walk to the front reception desk. It is filled with towering books, notes, and ink vials. Behind the desk is a man. Half his body is obscured behind the desk and he is scribing notes. Motioning his hand, he extends his index and pushes his lenses up higher onto the bridge of his nose as he looks up to see the towering men in front of the desk. “Ah, I see you've come back again, you are starting to intrigue me even more with your daily showings.” He then looks to Wu, eyeing him up and down. “I haven't seen you here in quite some time, Sir Wu, Ever since you became a Squire almost a year ago. Look at you now in your shining armor.“ Wu bows slightly with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. The mans body seems to glide around the desk, revealing his other half, a large snake-like body slithering into view. The man is a Lamia. While his human like upper half is fair and lightly brown in skin, the other half has black scales lining the top and slightly grayish white on his soft underside. He is adorned with golden accessories which has symbols, most likely in his races' language. He holds a large leather folder filled with notes. Using his fingers, he glides through the pages and stops at one. “There we are. Your station is just Section A Row 362.“ Sariel nods and heads to the station. Wu begins to follow, but is stopped by the Librarian. “I'm sorry Sir Wu but each station is private for the reservation of the reader.” Wu blinks and is about to retort, but the Librarian continues. “Now if you wish to head down there you can talk to one of my assistants, she will be more than happy to escort you there. Though she may be preoccupied with her own studies.“ He points down a different hallway. You can find her in the Section B row 234.“ Wu is visibly annoyed but complies, he must follow the law by all means and uphold it. He sighs and says under his breath “This is definitely a prank” He continues down the other way with a slumped posture, trekking down the vast hallways of knowledge in the grand library.

The grand library holds vast knowledge of artifacts, fossils, and original scriptures of the entire world. With that, Sariel uses this to learn the world he was brought too. Today was very important, as he bookmarked a specific page in one of the history books. As he sat at his assigned desk, it had piles of books and scrolls of his past few reads cluttered all around the study area. Cartography papers, economics graphs, and Government bodies. These were indispensable to him for purposes of studying Daeva and Mundah Society as a whole over time. But what he was truly looking for was far more significant. One of the series books was an almanac. This was an annual publication including calendars with weather forecasts, astronomical information, tide tables, and other related tabular information. When he was studying under the Guardians, every so often the fighting would stop. Both his people, the daeva, and mundah would celebrate the beginning of the year. The last time was the year 5900. But the most critical ones were the year the war started. He has been studying the almanac for some time, going back in time to read on the events of this world. Not one time has there been a mention of Ariel. When he would recall the same date on his time, all three races were listed and referenced. But in this world only two. The only one who seems to truly know what he is, is the queen herself. Now, of course anyone that has seen him just see him as a foreigner from some unknown continent. As he reads, he gets fairly close to the year in question. From 1100, to 1050, still nothing mentioning the Ariel. As he draws closer to the year the pages seem to get more and more weathered and old he turns the pages slowly and as he gets to the final page the last page of the book. It, is empty. A blank page on the year 1000. He blinks and stares at the page with confusion. Perplexed by this, thinking it must be an error, he finds another copy of the same book and goes to the same page. Again, blank, only the title of the year is visible. As if this is the start of history for this world… this leaves way more questions than answers to his studies. Something seems like it's being hidden, or more precisely, someone wants it to be hidden.