Mihva, Lilly, and Remi decided to leave the pagoda. However, as they stepped onto the square again, they found someone waiting for them.

The young butterfly’s eyes immediately lit up as she spotted the newcomer. She remembered the important question she wanted to ask:

“Aunty, aunty! I need to ask you something!”

Slightly taken aback Loiava looked into Mihva’s expectant eyes.

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“Aunty, aunty. When you first came to the ruins, were you also surprised by the moving engravings?”

The mature beast laughed slightly. She knew the truth wouldn’t be that important here. She answered with a kind gaze:

“Of course. Let me tell you a secret, ok?”

Mihva’s big eyes grew even wider as she held her ear towards Loiava.

“Back then, even your mother was spooked by those engravings!”

Mihva took a sharp breath before slowly breaking out in giggles. Infected by the cute beast’s bright emotions the other women also laughed softly.

It took a few seconds for the women to calm down again.

“Aunty Loiava, were you waiting for us?”, asked Lilly finally.

“Yes. When I noticed that you went to explore these ruins I took a look, just in case. We planned for you guys to relax for a day before teaching you, but since you are so eager to learn I guess we can skip the rest.”

“Teaching? Can you teach me as well?”, asked Remi full of hope.

“Not quite, but we will still help you grow stronger. Don’t worry. You came to the perfect place.”

Remi looked at the butterfly beast in slight confusion, but hearing she could grow stronger put her in a good mood. The young girl didn’t question much, she would simply follow Loiava’s instructions.

Lilly was also nodding in approval. She had already been informed by her mother. She was looking forward to learning from a rank seven beast.

“I take it that you two are ok with skipping rest?”

“Sure.”

“Of course.”

“Then let me make the arrangements for Remi real quick.”

Falling silent, Loiava sent out a message. A second later a tall, armored butterfly appeared. After a short exchange he took Remi away.

Lilly looked at the young girl’s back as she flew through the air.

“What do you have in mind for Remi? Why can’t she learn in the books depository?”

“I’m sorry but that’s nor really on me to divulge. If you want to know you have to ask Remi herself.”, answered Loiava.

The young woman raised an eyebrow at the secrecy. Was there something special about Remi? Come to think of it, the rebels also seemed to protect her.

Lightly shaking her head, Lilly reprimanded herself. She hadn’t actually known Remi for a long time. It was wrong to try and figure out her secrets.

“Maybe she will tell me herself one day.”, mumbled the redhead.

Loiava nodded calmly, not putting the matter to heart. Changing the topic, she addressed her niece:

“What are you going to do? Are you coming with us?”

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“Coming, coming. Of course. I want to stay with Lilly!”

Both Lilly and Loiava smiled slightly as Mihva answered without hesitation.

“Ok. Then let’s go.”

With those words the mature beast turned around, taking the lead. Lilly hastily followed her in excitement while Mihva playfully fluttered left and right.

Lilly walked along a small gravel path, going past the previous ruins. Left and right of her grew tall grasses reaching her chest. Observing the natural scenery, she spotted all kinds of colorful, tall flowers. She was once again convinced of the butterfly world’s beauty.

Fortunately, they trio didn’t have to travel far. After a few minutes Lilly could already see a towering building. Its style resembled the earlier pagodas. Warm, red lanterns adorned it’s exterior, their light seemingly able to calm one’s mind.

After a few more meters the tall grass was slowly replaced by a carefully crafted landscape. Arrangements of rare plants and smooth stones lined artificial rivers. Artful white pavilions complemented the landscape, inviting one to read in peace.

While Lilly marveled at the gorgeous place, Loiava’s voice reached her ears.

“This was the Dagorinn race’s main books depository. It consists of two parts.

One is the common library. They gathered all kinds of knowledge here, mostly about magic.

The other is the hall of spells. For every member of the race, it was a great honor if your personally developed spell or technique was admitted into this hall.

From the hall of spells it can be seen how important the Dagorinn race held research. This was one of the reasons why they were greatly respected in the universe. Although they weren’t among the strongest of all races, the Dagorinns’ knowledge was highly coveted.”

Listening eagerly, Lilly kept all information in her brain. Immediately a question came to her mind:

“The Dagorinn were developing spells? Weren’t they connected to the vault?”

“They were, but so what? Where do you think all our spells come from? Everything that’s stored in the vault has once been discovered by someone. Even the spells that many races inherited with their bloodline had to be discovered at first before being stored in the vault.

This is the accumulation the older generations left for their descendants. Only through their hard work could human warriors grow so fast.”

Lilly’s eyes opened wide. Her respect for the Dagorinn grew tremendously. Who would have thought that they had such a big impact even today?

“What a pity that such a race was destroyed…”

A weird expression appeared on Loiava’s face as she heard those words from Lilly. She coughed awkwardly, flying a little bit faster.

Lilly was slightly confused. She still had many questions, but Loiava suddenly sped up. The young woman could only hurry, sticking to the older beast.

Soon the three women reached the book depository. A big open entrance invited every visitor in. While Lilly observed the gorgeous building in awe, Loiava explained more:

“The Dagorinn didn’t put a gate here since everyone was allowed, or rather encouraged, to visit the hall of spells. After all this place honored the accomplishments of their ancestors. Of course you couldn’t learn those spells within the hall. You still needed formal teachings for that.”

Lilly nodded quietly as she entered the building. A wide hallway greeted her. It’s dark marble fooring coupled with the wooden walls gave it an oppressive air.

“This hallway was meant to intimidate visitors, reminding them to show respect. Normally guards would be lining left and right.

Through the open doorway on the right side, you enter the hall of spells. The closed door on the right leads towards the library. You could only enter the latter with permission or an elder would throw you out.”

Taking everything in, Lilly was fascinated with the foreign culture. It showed her that many more interesting civilizations might be waiting out there for her to discover.

Meanwhile, Mihva was flying behind her friend, almost falling asleep. She had heard her auntie’s lecture multiple times already. On top of that it wasn’t even worth it to learn any of the spells here.

Although intelligent races evolved from beasts like the Two Sovereign Butterfly could learn spells, using them was too complicated. For them the spells in their bloodlines could be cast effortlessly. Instead of wasting time to learn new spells, they might as well try to stimulate their bloodline. This was their path of growth.

Therefore, the books depository wasn’t really that important for the Two Sovereign Butterfly race. But they still took care of it. They knew that destroying knowledge as never an intelligent thing to do. Who knows if it might come in handy one day? For example when making a deal with a certain powerful being?

Infected by the oppressive atmosphere Lilly silently followed behind Loiava.

Suddenly Lilly drew a sharp breath. As soon as the mature beast opened the door towards the library, excitement gripped her heart. She had never seen so many books. The library was filled with hundreds of books. Not some technological recording devises but real books.

Noticing Lilly’s reaction, Loiava smiled kindly.

“Welcome to the common Library. This is the place were the young Dagorinn would go to learn about magic.

“Impressive!”, exclaimed Lilly in awe.

“Of course. The Dagorinn weren’t stingy when they choose what to teach their descendants.

Do you want to look around or should we start with life and death magic? Your choice!”

Conflicting emotions fought in Lilly’s head. On one hand she would love nothing more than to read every single book in this place. On the other she knew that Iain was certainly worried about her.

Thinking of her brother who would be anxiously waiting for her, a wry smile formed on her lips. Lilly didn’t even know how to go back to the city yet. It seemed she didn’t have too much time to waste here. Coming to this conclusion she addressed Loiava:

“Let’s start right away. I’m sure with life and death magic I will have enough to learn for a while.”