The academy is far easier to break into than I expected. While guards are stationed at each entryway to the building, there is a distinct lack of them on the building’s grounds. I climbed the stone brickwork of the building in a shaded area out of sight. The stone slabs are large and have just wide enough separation to allow me to use them almost like a ladder. The deep carvings in the stone simply make it easier.
I reach a windowsill on the second floor and take a glance inside. Not seeing anyone, I try pushing open the glass. It doesn’t budge. My strength as it is, and knowing how heavy everything the ursu make tend to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t even locked. I’m not too worried. Leal went the official way when she realised it would be far too difficult for her to scale the outside wall. I trust her to open the window with haste and not leave me hanging out here long enough to get caught.
Though I have confidence in her, it’s still nerve-wracking being here. Every time I see an ursu, I worry they’ll look up and see me. Leal assured me I was well hidden before she left, but it doesn’t stop my building anxiety.
I am so lost in watching the people pass in the distance that a click from the window startles me so much I almost let go of my handholds. I am quick enough to steady myself and hide how startled I am when the window opens beside me. Leal is giving me a knowing grin, which makes me scowl at her. She was watching, wasn’t she? Not wanting her to see my embarrassment, I push past her and fall through the window.
Ugh, why does everything have to be so high? The window is almost two metres off the floor. Groaning and rubbing the sore arms I used to break my fall, I rise to my feet.
“The library is two floors up. Stay behind me and hide if I tell you.” Leal leads me towards the exit of the room.
I guess this is one of the lecture halls Leal mentioned. There is a single podium and chair against one wall of the room, while the other side has an array of long desks where I assume the students sit. Depictions of odd patterns and drawings of ursu with different markings on their bodies litter the walls. There is a large poster I recognise from Leal’s ramblings on display at the front of the room, right beside a large dirty black board. The diagram illustrates a circle containing the many elements and sub elements Leal has talked about.
I want to look more, but Leal is already dragging me out the door. We come out into a hallway that seems rather bare compared to the outside displays and impressive teaching room. That’s not to say it isn’t impressive in its own way, of course. The area is devoid of decorations, but each doorway has been carved with intricacy, not artistically but more simplistic and efficient. Someone built the corridor with a clear animosity of sharp edges and an affection towards smooth corners. Even the transition between walls and floor is seamless.
The most important thing is that it’s empty, not an ursu in sight. I also hear nothing that might indicate there are others here, either.
“Is it normal for it to be this empty? And are you sure it’s okay for you to be here so late? They won’t think it’s weird?” I ask, keeping my voice quiet.
Without turning, Leal responds, “Anyone who would still be here would be in the labs, so it’s unlikely we’ll encounter anyone unless the guards decide to do a sweep of the building. Actually, before I started meeting with you, I spent most my time after classes in the library.” She ducks her head as she mumbles, but I can tell she is watching me, as if expecting a reaction. Whatever she is expecting, my lack of reaction, or maybe my silence, is enough for her to breathe a sigh of relief before continuing.
“The library is empty for most of the evening, but the academy caretaker shows up to clean a bit after sun-fall and the librarian would have already quit for the day. So, we have a couple hours of free roam without worry.” As she says that, we surmount the last steps into the library.
The place is enormous. Large long bookcases extend out from the walls of the massive rotunda, reaching up towards the ceiling above the double floored hall. Tables and workstations are arranged at the centre of the rotunda, systematically placed between the odd display piece, book stands and easels. Small balconies line the spaces between bookshelves. There is no visible way to access them. Maybe on the next floor there is a way to come down?
“Whoa.” I can’t help but blurt. My tribe didn’t even have enough books or papers to come close to filling even one of our carts. This vast room dedicated to knowledge is like comparing a mountain to our pebble. I do note however, that the bookshelves are nowhere near filled, but it is still more than I ever imagined I’d see. Had they planned for expansion?
“I know right! I’ve been here for almost a year now and I still feel like that,” Leal gushes, then drags me towards one of the large bookshelves near the back of the library. She must have already known where the book she wants is, as it only takes a few seconds to browse the shelves before she grabs one of the thick, hard-cover books. With the book in hand, she once again drags me further into the gap between shelves. Along the back wall, in a nook almost devoid of light, is a pile of parchment scrolls. Without taking any time, Leal takes one before leading me around to another nook between shelves.
The dark alcove turns out to lead to another set of stairs, these much smaller than the main ones, taking us up to a narrow corridor connecting all the balconies and encircling the library.
We find a table to sit on the balcony furthest from the stairs, which has an amazing view over the entire library and what I imagine is a difficult space to be seen from the lower floor.
Leal unrolls the scroll on the table before us. Its identity as a map is obvious. I have seen the ones the elders used when planning our travels. Compared to the ones I’d seen in the past, though, this one is missing much of the north and western regions of the wasteland and only showed the further-most west of it. What it has is a lot more range from south to northeast. Even the small part of the wasteland it showed, lacked any details.
Honestly, I should have expected as much. Of course, the áed and ursu would have far different maps. We almost never cross into the other’s territory as far as I know. Many of the ursu I’ve met only superficially know of the áed and I hadn’t even heard of an ursu until I met one.
I wonder if my elders knew about them. They spoke of other beings to the east in their tales of our past, but they never mentioned the size or fur-covered visage of the ursu. The stories usually mention a race that look like us as we do in our controlled forms but are far separate from our connection to fire.
Leal drags my attention back to the map, pointing to a dot labelled with the name of this city; Fisross, which is only a touch to the right of a line which I assume separates New Vetus and the wasteland.
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“This is where we are, and this is New Vetus.” She moves her finger to circle an outlined area of the map.
New Vetus is huge. I’ve travelled for as long as I can remember, so I have a good idea about the distances this map shows. New Vetus is mostly two separate sections of land to the east and west of each other, split by the ocean from the south and another body of water from the north. The lands connected, barely, by an isthmus that bridges the land between the two bodies of water.
The western section of the nation is bordered by the wasteland and a place labelled ‘Zadok Kingdom’ to the north. On the eastern half of New Vetus, the landmass is surrounded on most sides by ocean or sea. Only on the far southeast does the land extend into an area that is not within New Vetus borders. This land seems to contain many small countries and one that controls the entire coast.
There are many smaller sized countries scattered around to the northeast of New Vetus. Detail is less defined in places further from the ursu nation. It ends at the mountain-range that passes a considerable length along the north-western lands.
The map doesn’t cover the mountains going into the wasteland, but from my tribe’s maps, I know they extend far to the west. Uncle Rivin calls them the Titan Alps, considered impassable and far too dangerous to traverse. He told me of their impossible height, and I believed it. You can see their incredible peaks regardless of where you found yourself in the wasteland. Now I know that extended even farther than the wasteland. It is an incomprehensible elevation. And somewhere at the base of that extensive mountain-range is the agglomerate. The home of áed.
Leal has been commenting on a few different cities while I wasn’t paying attention, saying something about which city her grandparents live in. I am reminded of one of the main reasons I wanted to come here, so I ask about the place where the war is taking place.
“Leal, where is Wrine?” I ask, trying to find the name among the many, many cities labelled within New Vetus.
She points to a point on the eastern half of the country. “It’s at the complete opposite side of New Vetus to us.” Leal moves her finger to point above Wrine. “And this is where the Empire invaded. This northern region is where the war is taking place.”
The area she shows is rather small and I can see now why many ursu have been taking this war as less than a concern. Well, at least on top of the confidence in their own strength.
Leal continues to point out interesting titbits about the geography of the surrounding area. She shows me the land the ursu originally come from in the south, the Henosis Empire in the far northeast and even a cluster of small islands she calls the Warring Isles to the southeast.
The hours pass as she teaches me many things from the books she collected, until before I know it, the light in the library dim. I hadn’t noticed it until then, but the library doesn’t have any windows, so how was it so bright? Before I can ask Leal, the sound of footsteps echo around the library. From the stairs leading from the lower levels is, of course, an ursu.
I hide away from the ledge in case they look up. I glance at Leal to see what we should do.
“Damn it. He isn’t supposed to show up for at least another hour,” she mutters to herself, careful of being overheard.
“What do we do?” I ask. The last thing I want is to get caught here after they put so much emphasis on keeping me out.
“We’ll just wait until he’s working in an aisle, then we’ll make our way out, alright?” Leal says, trying to keep me calm.
Leal keeps her eye on the school caretaker while I stay out of view. Soon, she directs us to make our way down to the library’s main area. I’m told to wait in the dark alcove while she returns the map and books back to their original places.
I feel the tension within me rise as I lose sight of her. It has been a long time since I had to hide like this and while nowhere near as terrifying as the last time, it still frays my nerves thinking about the possibility of being caught.
Everything is going well though. Soon enough, Leal re-joins me, and we make our way to the stairway.
Just as we are about to reach the stairway, a voice echoes from an aisle of bookshelves we just passed.
“Leal?”
I am quick to dive behind a chair in the centre of the hall. I make sure I hide my body before the ursu turns out of the aisle and approaches Leal.
“Oh, it was you!” the man says. “You’re not out with your little burner friend today?” he asks.
“N-no, mister Orsen,” she fumbles with her words, nervous. “S-she is working again today.”
“Oh? Is that right? Well, good that she is contributing. It’d be a shame to waste our resources on a burner if they don’t give back to the community.”
From my hiding position, I can only see Leal and the longer she interacts with this Mr. Orsen, the more visibly nervous she becomes. She won’t give me away, will she? Even if it isn’t on purpose, she’s obviously acting like she’s up to no good. There is no way he’s gonna look at her and not think something’s up. She can’t even give a proper response to his last comment, instead ducking her head and mumbling incoherent words.
Once again, I am powerless to do anything. It is so frustrating not having any control. I was powerless to protect my mum, powerless to save my tribe, and powerless to protect myself in all situations that followed.
I find myself at the whim of those around me all the time, never making my own decisions. And most frustrating of all is that even knowing this, there isn’t anything I can do. I have to rely on the generosity of the people around me, even more now than with my tribe. This place is unknown to me and the more I learn, the more I feel I know nothing.
Now, I can tell Leal will crumble under the pressure of the situation if it stays as is. I have to help her, either give her confidence or distract the ursu.
“Leal, I know it’s hard, but ya really need to stop bein’ so shy. You’re one o’ the smartest kids I know, by far the most dedicated. You’ll be unable to do much in the world unless ya overcome it.” The ursu says.
Good, he doesn’t think she is acting strange. It is odd to hear more confirmation that Leal acts differently around me and her family than she does around all other ursu, but that isn’t important right now. While relieving that he thinks there is nothing wrong, he is far too close for comfort. He only needs to take a few steps forward and I’ll be in clear sight.
What can I do? Do I try to create a distraction or keep myself hidden? A distraction won’t be hard to make. I can throw something or light a brief burst of fire behind him to attract his attention, but the issue would be that any distraction I can do will make him suspicious and think something is wrong.
I make eye contact with Leal for a moment before she returns her sight to her feet in front of her.
“I’m sorry, mister Orsen, mum wants me home by dark tonight and I’m already late,” Leal manages to say, still staring at her shoes.
Good job, Leal, I cheer internally. Let’s hope he’ll just go back to his own work now.
“Oh, of course, let me help ya on the way out.” He then begins walking towards the staircase.
No! Damn, can’t you just go back? I glance around for some way out and notice that while most of the rotunda has grown dark, there are small spherical objects on the ends of each bookshelf, which engulf most of the central tables in light. Each orb is just a bit bigger than the size of my hands. I can feel the flames within flickering in a steady, controlled burn.
With little time until the ursu will spot me, I act. Before I realise what I am doing, I have a rope of flame sent towards the closest orb out of the ursu’s vision. I push the flames as quickly as I can into the orb and merge my inner flame into the fire within the orb and snuff it out.
But the moment I withdraw my inner flame from the orb, I feel the flame coming back and, sure enough, the sphere is glowing once again.
I am running out of time, so I throw my flame back into the orb and suck the life out of the flame, this time feeling for where it is restarting. I find a trace of energy and latch on. This must be what keeps the orb alight, so I suck all the fire out of it. Take all the energy powering the orb.
The library goes dark.
I smother the thread of flame connecting me to the orb, extinguishing the last light in the hall.
“What in Triglav’s…!” I hear the ursu shout as Leal lets out a panicked squeak.
I was hoping to stop that orb from remaining lit, but for some reason, all the orbs expired. Well, this still works as a distraction. Actually, it works even better than I hoped. It’s not pitch black, some light coming from the stone ceiling itself, but it is enough for me to hide well enough, especially as the ursu is now making his way to the closest orb.
I make my way out of cover, grabbing Leal’s hand and run to the stairs. Hopefully, this won’t come back to bite me. It shouldn’t. Nobody knows it was me, anyway.