The signs became clear in the morning when the sky lit up enough to see the signs. A thin dark line stretched across the Heart high up in the air. It was easy to observe on the island as they had some distance from it. Camaz could see that the line stretched nearly from one end of the capital to the other, north to south. The middle of the line was almost directly over the emperor’s residence.
He immediately went to Market Square and was startled by the number of people already there at the break of day. It dawned on him that the majority of the people were nobles that hailed from the Heart, a huge percentage were the emperor’s guards. The density of people was at its maximum around the building Camaz previously spied upon. The sheer amount of security and people there could only mean the emperor was now there in the building.
Were Aris and Ral too late? Or was this a preemptive move from the emperor for the worst yet to come?
Did the emperor know something?
He stared at the stacks of crates carrying supplies; each crate wasn’t the regular wooden boxes meant for practical usage. They were made of fine wood, sanded and painted in deep warm colors with the emperor’s insignia: a stylized droplet in red that looked like a drop of blood. Aligned with what the Shades have been telling him, it seems the boats are no longer transporting people from the Heart either. Everything indicates that the emperor has situated himself on the island and is restricting access to it.
Now a huge, abnormal object appears right above the capital. His first instinct is to go to Kallum and demand to know what was going on. But that act alone would reveal too much - he no longer had the power to squeeze the truth out of anyone. Furthermore, if none of the professors know about this, the Headmaster either didn’t know either or is working with whatever forces are at play.
Camaz thought of that report he wrote to Kallum. His reaction didn’t seem like that of a Bringer’s - or was he just pretending to buy time?
Regardless, the Headmaster couldn’t be trusted. Nobody, really, could be trusted besides Aris and Ral. Camaz hurried as discreetly as he could to the Library. He passed by some early morning students and staffers who were too distracted with the phenomenon happening across the Strait and managed to slip into the building largely unnoticed.
The Head Librarian was there already in her usual spot on her chair at the front of long tables. There was no one else around. In fact, the library also seemed darker as there were fewer orbs of light lit. Camaz was rarely in there that early in the morning but he thought that the place still seemed emptier than it should be.
People were fleeing the Academy and the Heart with the news of Gates approaching. Nobles with any sense in them took their families and took them wherever they thought safest. He could hear from snippets of conversation that the general consensus was that Sekrelli was the safest place to be as it was relatively far from… Well, everything. Camaz had long dissociated from his homeland and could not gauge if this was true.
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It left the Head Librarian looking lonely and even more statue-like than she usually looks. She sat stock still, hand not ringing her bell, lips not citing sectors nor shelves for her assistants to run off to. He knew that she had a room in the Library which she retired to and ate her meals in. But looking at her like this as she’s sitting silently by herself made her seem like she was rooted there for all eternity.
“Professor Camaz,” she intoned at a normal volume. In the silence of the library, it almost sounded like she shouted. She raised her head to give him that empty stare.
“Something terrible is happening across the Strait,” he said without greeting. “Something catastrophic. Now is not the time for secrets and gatekeeping. My ward and Laell need the historical information on the Gates, specifically the enchanting runes needed to open them. You must let me have the books.”
“They are forbidden,” the Head Librarian said.
“And the crisis grows ever worse. It has reached the Heart. People are fleeing but I fear… I fear it will grow so severe that none of us can ever escape it.” Camaz clenched his hands into fists to resist the urge to shake the woman by the shoulders. “So even if they are forbidden, you must let Aris and Laell see. It may be the missing piece of the puzzle.”
“The highest powers do not want them to be known,” the Librarian continued. No expression crossed her face, just the blank stare. “And so you shall not have them.”
“The safe holds are put into place so that nobody can open Gates, yet they are now being opened. The safe holds don’t work,” Camaz burst out. “You know of all people our work is to close them. We need that information.”
She continued to stare at him with flat lifeless eyes. “Is this desperation because you no longer have your abilities?” she asked. Camaz took a step back in shock.
“How did you know?”
“I sense desperation but you haven’t forced me to do anything,” she replied. “Normally you would get your way, no matter what.”
He couldn’t argue that. “No, my abilities are gone no matter what happens now,” he admitted begrudgingly. “I ask you for the texts because it’s needed to fix a problem. A very large problem that continues to worsen. I refrained from asking you because you are simply following protocol, but it’s different now.”
“How so?”
“The emperor has abandoned his palace,” Camaz said. He started pacing restlessly. “He left the place of opulence and comfort and his seat of power at the Heart to hide here. Tell me that doesn’t feel like he’s abandoning his duty.”
A few heartbeats of silence. Camaz could only hear his agitated breathing.
“Do you understand now? This is not the time for protocol nor gatekeeping. We need to fix this ourselves.”
“The texts are gone,” the Librarian whispered.
“What?”
“They’re gone. There was a vault full of the most secret texts. A few months ago the emperor had it all removed. I have reason to believe they were burned.”
Parts fuck him. Something was terribly wrong with the emperor and it was much too late for anyone to realize.
“But Professor Camaz, I believe I have something what you would refer to as ‘good news.’” The Librarian gave him a look that was the closest to a smile she’s ever seen on her face. “The books aren’t gone. They’re in me.”