Chapter 13 Prince Sloth #2
“Did I?” Her gaze darted away. “Maybe it’s just jarring to suddenly have your surroundings magically transform.”
My magic clicked with the lie. I strummed my fingers along the side of my glass. It was time to change tactics.
“What do you do in Bellington?”
Her brows drew together at the sudden shift in our conversation, but she didn’t comment on it. “I’m a librarian.”
My interest was piqued further. I could see her tending to books. Which was perfect in her world but would complicate things for us here.
“Any husband, or consistent lover?”
“Does that matter?”
The question was curious, not sharp.
“The more I know about you, the more adeptly I can tailor your training to succeed against the Liber Noctem. If you feel deeply for someone, it could either anchor you or work against you. I’d prefer if we prepared for both instances.”
“Slow down, Blondie.”
She held up a hand, splashing more bathwater onto the floorboards.
I made a mental note to send for more towels immediately.
“Training me.” She stared at me like I might have downed a barrel of ale before returning to the room. I waited patiently for her to digest what I’d said. She filtered through her emotions remarkably fast. “And the Liber what?”
“The Liber Noctem.”
She gave me a blank look. This was clearly the first time she’d heard of it, so Xavier hadn’t conspired with her. Some of the tension I’d still been carrying around her eased a fraction.
“Is that the name of the quest we’re on?”
Now it was my turn to give her a blank look. “No. It’s an ancient text that contains the magic of a goddess named Nyantha.” Lore went pale. “Have you heard of her?”
“I know a little of the old gods, but not much.”
There was no lie, but I sensed something off.
“Nyantha is the Goddess of Night. Being the physical manifestation of her power, the Liber Noctem is as wicked and cruel as she is.”
I gave her a moment to absorb the information.
“How does a book possess those traits?” she asked. “I assume magic, but I don’t understand.”
“Nyantha was punished by the other gods. They drained her power and locked her away here, in Somnia. But the spell on the book can be unbound under certain circumstances.”
I nodded to her.
“Which is where you come in. I suspect you are a dreamweaver. I don’t know how that’s possible, but it’s the only thing that makes sense since you can use the phoenix tear. As far as I’ve read, only someone with that kind of god magic can wield the stone to its full potential.”
“Phoenix tear, like the mythological bird? You can’t mean literally.”
I nodded at the stone she’d laid carefully on top of her folded dress. “That stone is the phoenix tear. There’s only one in existence. And the fact you can use it indicates you have god magic running through your veins.”
Lore was already shaking her head. “That’s not possible. I would have known if I had magic from the gods. Maybe it just likes me. I swear I sense its feelings sometimes.”
I gave her a sharp look. “You can sense emotions in the stone?”
“Can’t you?”
No, I couldn’t. And I didn’t think she should be able to either.
Unease trickled in again. Lore had to be a dreamweaver. And her imagination was probably anthropomorphizing the stone.
“Impossible sounding or not, that’s the best explanation for your ability to wield the phoenix tear. A dreamweaver can also be drawn into something called the Trials of Unbinding.”
“Skimming over how insane it is that you think I’m a dreamwhatever, what are the Trials, exactly?”
I scratched the side of my neck. I didn’t want to alarm her, but I had no good answer. And my sin was… agitated.
“No one is entirely sure. This is the first time they’ve ever been activated.
I do know that you’re basically acting as Nyantha’s champion during the tests.
And legends speculate that if you lose, the book will slowly manipulate you into creating mass destruction, the likes of which haven’t been seen in eons. ”
She inhaled deeply. “And the prize behind door number two? If I win the mysterious Trials? Will the goddess gain her power back and just… send me on my way?”
“When you win, I have a spell to permanently rebind her power to the book before she gets it. Then the book will be rendered inert, Nyantha will continue to be powerless, and we’ll return to our homes, where I’ll lock the book in my collection, spelling it so it can never be used to cause harm again.
If we locate the book before the Trials end, I believe I can spell it and the risk of failure is significantly reduced.
Technically, it shouldn’t count as interference. ” I hoped.
She stared at me for a long beat.
“I’m still not understanding what you mean by my magic. I don’t have any magic. I’ve only used the stone to shift stories.”
It was certainly starting to look that way, but it wasn’t possible.
“We’ll test some theories tonight, but I’m fairly confident you’re a dreamweaver and the stone is simply channeling your power.”
She stared at me like I was some alien life-form.
“Even if I was a dreamweaver, I have no idea how to use that power.”
“I believe if you concentrate on a story hard enough, you can use the phoenix tear to help direct your power and shift the world around you to make it become real, especially here in Somnia, the land of dreams and nightmares. This tavern and the fight are both part of a book you’ve read, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And the same was true for the goblin’s cabin. Which indicates you are the one creating our reality.”
Lore searched my gaze, likely trying to find some hint of amusement. She wanted this to be a joke. It was far from it.
She swallowed thickly.
“Have you ever met someone with my… abilities before?”
I shook my head.
She nibbled on her lower lip. “If I really am a dreamweaver, wouldn’t the rest of my family also have this magic?”
“I have no answer for you. Dreamweavers are all but extinct. From my limited understanding, their magic had been directly tied to the Goddess of Night, and after the years of torment she inflicted on humanity, many stopped having children to let the bloodlines die out. They’d also been… hunted.”
Lore splashed some water on her face and exhaled.
Her fear flashed out, but it wasn’t as potent as it could have been. I watched her closely. Her reactions were definitely not meeting my expectations. I had no idea if it was a result of her magic or if there was some other reason behind it.
“I guess we should start making a plan to win. Where do we begin?”
She slowly glanced up and met my gaze. If I hadn’t felt the brief fear, I would never know she’d felt it. Her face was set with determination.
“We’ll start with your magic. Ideally, I’d like to locate the book so we have access to it before Nyantha. You mentioned yesterday that when we transported to the goblin cannibal’s story you wanted to feel safe. What about this one?”
“I’m not really…” Her gaze turned inward. “The only thing I can think of is possibly danger or… I’ll have to think more about it. But I wasn’t really thinking about either story.”
I sensed a partial lie there but let it drop. Lore was an expert at keeping her secrets and I’d need to figure out a more effective way of getting her to open up.
I sipped my lager.
“I’ve read a few theories that believe the Liber Noctem skims your mind for your worst fears and then adjusts the original plot to test you on it. Have you noticed anything different about the stories so far?”
Lore analyzed that for a moment.
“I need to be in the scenes longer, but so far each one has been slightly different from the books I’ve read. If I’m being tested now, nothing stands out. The tavern fight was directly from the book, but Logan Blaze wasn’t there. Which was the only oddity.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
She downed the rest of her ale in one go.
“The Trials are more of a mental challenge, then?”
“Yes and no. Think of it like you would any story. Each chapter is a new trial for the characters to overcome, right? Sometimes the heroes win, other times they face setbacks. You’ve already faced physical challenges,” I said.
“The spiders, the goblin and her wolf. The brawl. You will pass whatever comes next.”
She gave me a disbelieving look but didn’t comment on it.
“I imagine I can’t simply refuse to participate.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not an option. The Trials have already begun.”
Dread permeated the space between us, the emotion cold and coiling like a serpent. It was the strongest feeling I’d sensed from Lore since we’d arrived here.
“I’m not the save-the-realms-hero type. You know we’re all doomed, right?”
I shook my head. “You’ll be fine. I’ll teach you how to use mental shields, and we’ll figure out how your power works.”
She studied me for a long moment.
“How did you get involved in this mess?”
I ran a hand through my hair.
“I made a terrible mistake many years ago, and I’ve been hunting the book ever since to study it and find a way to undo it.”
It was as much as I’d admit to for now.
While she was focused on winning the Trials, I’d continue to search for the Liber Noctem. If I could just get ahold of it to see what the old gods had done, I was confident I had a way to spell it so it couldn’t ever be unbound.
It would be difficult to accomplish and we’d have to get to the book before Nyantha did, but I was up for the challenge.
“Have you ever seen the Liber Noctem before?”
I inhaled and slowly released my breath. “Yes. I found it in a temple in Bellington. Right before my master librarian, Xavier, betrayed me by taking it here, to Somnia.”
Lore closed her eyes, then opened them. I saw acceptance and determination in them, even through the lingering uncertainty.
“What if I can’t figure out how to use my magic or survive the stories? I lose? And you’ll return to your court?”
I slowly shook my head.
“We both need to survive the stories, or the Book of Nightmares will overtake you completely, and I’ll die.”
“But you’re immortal.”
I gave her a sad smile. “The magic that fuels the Trials is divine power. I’m strong, but without fueling my magic through my court, I would be weakened enough to potentially lose my life.”
If I died, my circle would fall, and that would set off a chain of events that would destroy the Seven Circles and each of my brother’s courts.
Our realm was based on balance. If one circle went down, the others would eventually follow.
And once the Underworld fell?
Then Nyantha would be free, powers fully returned or not. I had little doubt that she’d cause mass destruction with or without winning the Trials. She was a god. And no realm or dimension would be safe from her wrath.
There was nothing more dangerous to humans and supernaturals alike than a forgotten god who sought vengeance against us all.