The platform moved through the streets rapidly, making all the buildings almost a blur as they passed. Considering the speed, Axel was expecting to be hit by high winds, but not even a ripple came from his clothes. He was also not feeling the momentum when it launched or stopped on his previous trips. Truly odd, Axel thought.
Within ten minutes, the platform arrived at the Library of Illumination. Axel paid the operator and hopped off the platform, allowing it to leave before his tail caught up to him. As the platform left and Axel hurried to the building, he only just registered how large it was. The structure was not just a single building but appeared as three interconnected ones. Each stood sixteen stories tall, with the central building spanning five hundred feet in width and stretching an unknown depth. The two side buildings, each three hundred feet wide, extended back as far as the primary building, creating an imposing sight that intimidated Axel more than a little.
Large archways in the center building were flanked by intricately carved pillars. A large sign read, “All who seek knowledge be welcome,” accompanied by sculptural reliefs of people and laws written on the sides of the building. Broad marble stairs led up to the grand entrance, their surfaces worn by countless footsteps over the centuries. The last detail Axel took in before hurrying up the stairs was a large statue depicting the Goddess Hope. On a pillar stood a twenty-foot-tall statue of a woman wearing a gown of flames and holding a ball of flame to light the way for the people.
The entrance to the library was bustling with people from all walks of life, coming and going, carrying notes and scrolls. Axel walked up to one of the myriad counters that housed the Librarians working through various books and scrolls. Standing there was a young human woman with light brown hair and gray robes who declared she was a Curator of the Luminaries of Lore. It took several throat clearings for her to realize someone was at her counter, and when she did, it caused a disaster of a paper avalanche as she overreacted to this revelation, swinging her arms out and hitting a precarious stack of books and scrolls. This caused a chain reaction to the other sets of books and scrolls, and almost instantly, she was half-buried in the aftermath.
“Oh, Goddess damn it to the Crimson!” the woman cursed as she began picking up toppled scrolls and books from her area. “This is why I hate counterduty; it always interrupts my research. And you!” She jabbed her finger at Axel. “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt someone while they are concentrating on something?”
“Sorry, I saw your spot was open, and this area has signs showing if you need help to come here. I thought it would be fine to get your attention and did not see a bell or any other way to get your attention, but I did not expect this result. Can I help you pick it up?” Axel tried to explain.
“Look, I am stuck here to help people, and I really don’t want my boss to complain again, so what do you want to find so I can get you out of my hair and fix this mess? You have already delayed my research, and this conversation is delaying it further,” the Curator said while not even looking at Axel and began to pick up her documents.
“Fair enough. I am looking for books listing novice powers of all types, including the subvariants. I then need to find books on beasts not just of the jungle but also of the plains and mountains. I would love it if there were ones on the rivers or eastern oceans, but I don’t expect you to have them. Could you leave out books from,” Axel began to rattle off authors and book titles that the library in Jungleheart had, “I have already read them, and honestly, most besides the ones on jungle beasts updated by the locals were quite lacking in any good information?”
The woman stopped picking up the mess and just looked at Axel with a wide-eyed stare. Axel found it amusing that, given his build and general clothing choices, many people assumed that he was a muscle head who was barely literate. It was always fun to mess with any new Curator stationed in his village. Axel did not have a lot of excess time as he only had a few hours to read and see if he could lose his tail.
“Any help would be greatly appreciated,” Axel said, then bowed to the woman to try and get her brain back in gear.
“Well, I will be. I have seen many initiate trial takers and even new novices that don’t know about the variants that can be involved and only want to find what Crimson Entities could give them the power they want,” the Curator scrunched her nose slightly and had a look of concentration. “Well, novice texts on powers are in Section T, shelves thirty to fifty. Beast texts are in Sections FF, FG, and FH, filling many of those sections. Many books go over a lot of the same beasts and can have more data for you. I would recommend FG rows twelve, fifteen, and twenty-two for the most detailed sources of information, but they are very large tomes that are densely packed. Could take you a while to get through them.”
“As for the variant Crimson data, that is in the Adept section on the second floor, Section T, shelves one hundred to one hundred and twelve. You would need a pass as any information beyond the novice level has a fee per day to browse. The Adept section is one silver a day, but you get full access to the information and can take any notes.” After saying this, she restarted her pick-up efforts while Axel thought about his needs and the time available. Deciding that a silver was a fair price to get the information he needed, he paid the Curator and received a pass.
Axel was then directed to the stairs, and as he left, the Curator put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign, grumbling about how she should have had that up before. Axel reached the staircase in long, quick strides, not seeing the people Aria had pointed out to him in the busy area, but he assumed if they were as good as Aria hinted, he was unlikely to see them. The stairs were guarded by a Vortan Adept in grey robes, and after a quick check of Axel’s pass, he was allowed through.
Going through the rows, it took Axel about fifteen minutes to find the section as he had chosen to start going in the wrong direction and had to turn back around, doubling back to get to the section he needed. On the shelves were dozens of thick tomes, each going over a standard power set or variant such as Endurance, Myriad of Flames: How to Pick the Color for You and What It Does, or Which Sense to Heighten for the Most Romantic Encounters While Being the Best Scout. Thumbing through the books with the less fancy titles, Axel collected a stack of books onto a nearby table for this purpose. Then he checked out the Heightened Senses book only to close it with ears burning, wondering how that book made it into this section.
Next came the long part of reading them and gathering his thoughts on what he needed and what would be a good combination of powers. Axel’s first stop was on toughness or endurance-based powers with his body’s habit of hurting itself whenever he attacked with full force. There were more options here than he originally assumed. They did come in roughly three flavors: get tougher but pay the price for reduced sense of touch and pain, general muscle and bone enhancement that would bring the body to higher heights but would slow down the body’s repair and cycle as the blessing would need to work harder to build, or a lesser version that gave an endurance and energy boost allowing the blessing to work faster and give the body a better foundation but it was not a straightforward “I am now tougher” upgrade.
The second option would be regeneration, and this came in two types. The general regeneration that any race could receive from the body enhancement category that massively speeds up healing for an energy cost or the version that humans could receive that would regrow the body back to a preset template if you had body reserves and energy. The first could help heal wounds in moments, even normally fatal ones if you have the energy to keep it going, but could not regrow a lost limb. In the second one you activate and set the body’s template to that moment.
The power would then return the body to the template state over time. This had issues with the cycle as it would end up resetting any progress you made, but it could be turned off and when turned back on, that was your new template. With careful use, Axel could turn it off while training and when he was going to get into a fight, turn it on so that his body could fix even a lost arm given time and material.
Axel then read over the books on Elemental and their variants but did not find anything that currently resonated with his situation. To get him wrong, shooting lightning that was black and left the enemy seizing on the ground sounded amazing, but it would not help him with his proto-core situation. Based on his reading growing up, a proto core could become deadly if the novice core was not compatible, and based on his characteristics, that would be something of the physical category.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Axel also looked over the books on mental and special but knew he would not have the time to research it all today. He did note down the mental enhancement that allowed the perception of the user to speed up, track many tasks at once, and even one that was said to increase one’s ability to invent by being able to access their subconscious more easily, putting their mind into a state easier allowing for increased innovation or rapid examination of ideas.
The special powers were the largest part of the section as they would be powers that fell into strange categories like Aerokinesis, healing, turning elements into constructs, beast control, etc. Most of the shelves in this section were about all the special case powers. Not having much more time, Axel kept his focus on physical powers and his current needs but planned to come back later to better plan for after his novice trial. He was leaning towards either the endurance and energy boost or the human regeneration as they both would mitigate his issues with using his strength.
With his time running out for the day, Axel returned the books to their shelves and headed to one of the building’s exits. Even on the quieter floor of the Adept level, he still did not see his tail, which was beginning to worry him greatly, but with little to do about it, he hurried to a launch and took a platform to the area with his father’s statue. The ride was quick, and as Axel arrived at the café, it was rather busy, but with a bit of patience, Axel got a seat and waited for Aria to contact him.
Time ticked by, and after an hour, Axel began to worry. When the second hour was about to crest, a tired-looking Aria took the seat across from him.
“Miss Aria?” Aria said with a small smile. Axel noticed that she was in a different outfit from earlier and, more pressing, was a tiny splash of blood on her cheek. With a smooth movement, Axel dabbed a napkin in his water and said, “I think you smudged your makeup there, dear.”
With a tiny bit of work, Axel cleaned off the blood before a waiter arrived and took their order for food. Axel then leaned in to kiss her, giving her a smile at the blush fighting its way up her cheek. “I take it you had an exciting afternoon while I was buried in books?”
“Aria refuses to answer your questions until you give Aria an answer,” she said, putting on a pouty face and turning her head to the side as if completely offended.
“I am sorry, my dear, but I thought it was self-evident that I would miss someone as stunning as you. Every minute apart felt like a year, and I was barely holding myself together until you arrived at our date. My heart is aflutter seeing your glowing radiance and makes my day brighter just by your presence here at this moment,” Axel said with a smile as if butter would not melt in his mouth.
Aria was trying her hardest not to laugh and leaned forward while crossing her left leg over her right, putting her head in her hand, giving Axel a smoldering look with promise in her eyes. “Well, Aria’s day was rough. Right before needing to meet you on this date, there was some trash in the alley that ruined Aria’s favorite dress, but thankfully the message was delivered earlier, and you have a package waiting in the inn. Let’s alight there so that Aria can show you how much better your day will be with Aria in it.”
After that, they made their way in a meandering pattern in an attempt to lose any other tails. When arriving at the inn, Aria seemed to mold herself to Axel as they climbed the stairs to their room. As they reached the room, Axel found Lyra sitting on one of the beds, tears barely held back, and looking like she had not slept in days. As the door finished opening, she launched herself into his chest and began to cry.
“Axel, Tessa betrayed me and stole everything from me,” Lyra’s muffled voice came from Axel’s shirt. Awkwardly moving her and himself from the door, Axel moved Lyra back to the bed so that she could sit down. As Lyra and Axel left the door, the now orphaned Aria closed the door and sat on the bed opposite Axel.
“Okay, calm down and tell me what happened. It has been only close to three weeks since we last met. I fully assumed that you would need another couple of weeks before you could get free for your trial, let alone do your Trial of Life. What caused you to come so early?” Axel tried to coax the inconsolable Lyra into his arms.
This seemed to have the reverse effect and caused Lyra to cry harder, making Aria coax Lyra to move from Axel to herself.
“Axel, could you get Lyra something to eat and some drinks for all of us?” Aria then shooed Axel out of the room as she quietly talked to Lyra.
It took about twenty minutes to get the food and drink from the barkeep, all the while getting looks from the patrons due to the wet spots on his shirt. Axel brought up the food to find Aria and Lyra quietly talking about something dumb that Axel had done as a kid. At least she was coming back to the Lyra he knew, as he had no idea how to handle a crying Lyra. Aria holding Lyra’s hand sent strange warning signs through him, but now was not the time to try and figure that out; now was the time to figure out what was going on.
Handing Lyra her food and Aria her drink, Axel sat down on the bed and waited for Lyra to start talking as he did not want to start more tears and really did not know what to say to start the conversation.
“Axel, I can see how uncomfortable you are just sitting there. You are so great with anything dealing with combat but get so confused when feelings are involved. I am sorry that I broke down like that, but putting on a mask wore me out with everything that has happened,” Lyra started. “First, Finn added a lot of strangers to the hunters and guards. He also has the other counselors on edge and acting like he could attack them at any time in a duel.”
“Next is Tessa’s betrayal. She has informed Finn that Father is alive and is on Finn’s side as long as he lets her do what she ended up doing,” tears trickled down as she said the next part. “She violated me and has been doing it for at least the year we have been together. She has been drugging me and, with the help of other healers, taking my genetic material for their programs. Just like Mom warned me, that was all they wanted from me. She never loved me and crushed me with a smile and kind words.”
“I only found out as I overheard her and Finn talking out a deal about me. He wants something from me but must wait for some reason. I then checked Tessa’s room and found a notebook with a lot of information such as how much was harvested and how they had reached their goal, but with Mom leaving, they wanted to get more. It was at that point I knew I needed to leave and announced that I had already given material. I even altered the books using one of the healers that has rotated out as the one who took it, and said I was leaving to take my trial. Finn made a grand statement that he would send guards to protect my trip, and several of the others decided to also come as they were all getting close,” Lyra continued.
“I have been under constant surveillance for the last couple of weeks while trying to stall for you to get here. The only way I could leave is Aria here told everyone she was taking me on a date after being wooed by me. Now I am here with no idea what to do, but it’s great to see you again, Axel, as I was so worried about you,” Lyra finished.
Axel reached forward and took her hand. “Lyra, first you won’t be going back there. The other villagers will be fine if worried, but it is out of the question for you to return to the village now. You will always have a home with me, and when we get our novice cores, we can become Flame Seekers together with Aria and begin a journey. If I see that bitch Tessa again, I will beat her to death with my bare hands,” the red haze crept in until Aria moved over and kissed him.
“Axel is right, we can be your home now, so you don’t need to go back,” Aria continued for Axel as he struggled a bit with the anger.
“You both are great, but I would be just disappearing on them with no warning, and I can’t do that. How about this: I return with Aria a little disorganized, and over the next week, I will look to be dating Aria until I get my core. Then I will tell everyone that I am leaving with her and not returning to the village through a note so that they won’t come looking for me,” Lyra countered.
“If that is what you want, just be careful, okay? I don’t like the sound of these guards and don’t want to lead a rescue force to come after you after being taken by them. You know how much of a pain it would be to find a white Gin to ride in on?” Axel joked.
“Aria can get behind this plan,” Aria agreed with the new plan.
“Thank you both, but Aria, for the plan to work, we should leave soon and then figure out how we will act together,” Lyra said while laying back on the bed with what looked to be a long-released breath.
“Aria can cover that easily, and Aria believes you could use some retail therapy. Axel can foot the bill as he has all the money on him from the sale of the Shadowfang scales.” Aria shyly looked at the money pouch that held half the profits as she had the other half but took out enough money to sustain himself for this stay in the city and tossed the bag to Aria.
“Just don’t spend it all, please. Also, get Lyra some gear as tomorrow I will put up for my trial as I think I figured out what power and variant I want to get,” Axel said as he got up from the bed.
“Shadowfang! When did you meet such a danger?” “Variant powers!” both women said at the same time.
Axel then went over to Lyra, explaining his adventure and then explaining about variant powers to Aria and Lyra afterward. Needless to say, Lyra was later than she wanted and would likely meet pointed questions from the others with her. Before Aria and Lyra left, they forced a promise from Axel to help them with their power as he had read many of the books and planned to go back to the library the rest of the week.