Chapter 18
Seda
Cahir carried a weathered book as they walked, one he had picked up from his bedside table before leaving.
When they entered the library, they began in the history section, where Seda was last with Meir.
Most of the books were covered in a thick layer of dust as they pulled them from the shelves and sorted through them on the table.
They were surrounded by a diverse range of options, including the history of the Fae, historical recipes, and stories of monsters.
Nothing in that section was quite right, and Seda sighed in frustration. The only interesting option here was the book he had brought, which he was looking through.
“Nothing here helps. What’s that one about?” she asked as she plopped roughly into the chair beside him, causing it to squeak.
He sighed. “Tahti seems to have gone missing. But I found this book in her house.”
“She’s missing?!” Seda gasped.
“Yup. Went there to talk to her, and her house was empty, as if she hadn’t lived there in years. The only two things left were her cauldron and this book.”
Where would Tahti have gone, and why was she missing? She had just seen her not long ago.
“What does it say?” Seda asked as she scooted her chair closer to him, feeling the warmth of his leg brush against hers.
“All of the pages are blank,” he replied. He handed her the book, and she opened it.
“They’re not blank,” she said, reading the scribbled words scratched through each page.
“What?” Cahir looked over the book again. “What do you mean?”
“They aren’t blank.” She pointed to a page. “This one’s a spell of remaking.”
She looked up at Cahir, whose mouth hung open. He closed it and cleared his throat. “What else does it say?”
She flipped through more pages, each inscribed with a different spell. Some were gruesome, others sweet. She saw a page about a love potion and chuckled to herself.
“Well, shit, Seda. I suppose this book’s for you,” Cahir replied as he ran his hands down his face.
“We should see if anyone else can read it. It can’t be just me.”
“Who knows. A lot of crazy things seem to happen for you.” He smirked and sat back in his chair. “Let’s go to the Royal Alcove. Nothing else here seems like it’s going to help us.”
“Is that where the scrolls are kept?” Seda perked up.
“It is.”
They returned the books they had taken out to their original locations, except for the one Cahir had brought, which Seda kept, and he held out his hand for her to take.
The familiar, comforting warmth of his hand reminded her of their time in Joro, of their hands entwined as they walked the dusty roads together. The memory felt like so long ago.
Cahir led her down the stairs to the main floor and stopped in front of an empty bookshelf.
She looked at him with confusion and was about to ask what he was focusing on when he released some of his magic from his palms. It spread through the empty shelves, filling them like smoke through the air.
The bookshelf slowly swung open like a door.
A small room came into view. Cobwebs lined the ceilings, and an unlit candle chandelier hung from the ceiling. The scent of old books drifted from the room.
“Umm…” Seda hesitantly started.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared.” Cahir looked at her with a glint in his eye. “I promise you there aren’t jars of fermented eggs in there.”
She smacked him in the arm and confidently strolled in. “There better not be, you just cleaned yourself up.”
He smirked at her, and her heart fluttered in her chest in response.
After Cahir lit the candles on the chandelier, Seda spent a few minutes examining the old shelves filled with both books and tightly bound scrolls, all covered in a thick layer of dust. There were random fingerprints on the shelves, as if Meir had forgotten to disguise his tracks.
But everything appeared to be in place, with no noticeable gaps within the shelves.
Most of the items were written in a different language, so she wasn’t sure where to begin.
A small black book caught her eye. It was decorated with gold-pressed lettering on the cover. “A History of Magic,” she read aloud.
Cahir lifted his head and rolled up the scroll he was reading through. She brought the book to the table and sat down in the chair next to him.
He shifted closer to her and looked down at the gold font. “That looks promising, at least.”
She opened the book and went through the summary.
A historical account of magic’s origins and evolution over thousands of years, tracing its birth from the two high gods to its inheritance by mortals.
Throughout history, magic has allowed Xyberus to flourish.
In this book, we explore the early stages, from the rise of the Mother Goddess to the creation of other magical beings.
These beings, both mortal and eternal, have fought wars across the land, spreading magic deeper into the world of Xyberus.
Combining arcane theory and history, A History of Magic is a comprehensive guide for those seeking to learn more about the origins and development of magic.
She quickly turned to the first chapter on the Mother Goddess and read it.
“This is amazing. I had no idea anything like this existed. Do you think they have chronicles like this in the Joro library?” Seda asked Cahir excitedly.
Cahir sneered. “I highly doubt it. That place is so subservient and controlled, they probably don’t have anything on magic there at all.”
She hummed and kept reading. Each chapter described the different beings and their magical powers.
One focused on Supay, the god of death, and his attempt to take over the mortal world millennia ago.
The image on his page featured a black moth with a skull inlaid into the center.
There were pages on guardians and mystical beings, with one chapter devoted to the Vatte and their earthen magic.
A passage describing magical beings cursed for their greed and condemned to live as golden trees caught her attention.
Unfortunately, most of the text lacked accompanying pictures.
She paused when she flipped the page, and the familiar image of a black snake appeared.
Seda gasped. “It was him!” She pointed to the picture on the page, and Cahir leaned over to look as she read aloud.
Somnium, the Guardian of The Last Sleep, was once considered a myth.
Now, he rules over Noctyra, a land in the distant eastern regions of Xyberus.
There are a few accounts of his encounters, and he is hard to locate.
As a result, little is understood about his complete magical powers.
What is known is that he can read minds and induce terrifying dreams, resulting in pain and death.
The most divine creation of Supay, he has snake familiars but appears as a demonic, armored figure.
Somnium is seen as cruel and selfish, thriving on inspiring fear and horror in the sleeping realm of beings.
While other chapters of this book spanned multiple pages, Somnium’s chapter was just a single page featuring a detailed image of a large, black-scaled snake with elongated fangs. The same fangs Seda remembered when she passed out in the rose garden.
“What does he want from me? I thought all the gods fled?” she asked.
“Apparently not all of them,” Cahir replied. She looked up at him and watched as he bit his lower lip.
“There’s something else, Cahir…” Seda started.
Cahir’s emerald eyes locked onto hers, and she inhaled sharply. Should she tell him her assumption? He didn’t catch her reference to the eye color back in his bedroom, and trust went both ways. She was trying to tread down that path with him again.
“I believe this is Kalon.” She pointed at the image.
Cahir froze, going deathly quiet, and his face shadowed under the light.
Silence lingered for a moment before he finally spoke. “He said he had something you wanted. It’s the Stone of Protection he stole from you.”
A clock chimed in the room three times, causing Seda to jump, but Cahir remained unaffected by the sudden noise.
“We should probably head to bed. I have some things I need to take care of tomorrow and am expecting Praxis back with the trade crew,” Cahir responded while anger radiated off of him.
Seda went to place the book back on the shelf when Cahir gently took it from her hand. “I’d like to read more about this.”
Cahir’s anger was palpable, and she could feel his heat of fury like a simmering woodstove warming an already hot house.
“What should I say to him the next time he comes to me in my dreams? My magic didn’t affect him,” she asked nervously.
She wasn’t sure why he was so upset. Yes, Kalon had stolen her moonstone and provoked Cahir on their journey to the Wisps, but this sudden change of demeanor was…
unexpected. Perhaps telling him was the wrong choice, after all.
“You can stay in my room. I’ll wake you up if you start tossing and turning.”
She hesitated to accept his offer because of his emotions, but she didn’t want to be alone.
She also feared it would be too apparent that the idea of lying next to him, feeling safe in his arms, and possibly kissing him again, excited her.
But was it really so wrong to feel excited about something like that?
She genuinely wanted to experience it again.
She looked up at him and smiled. “I’d love that.”
He tucked the book under his arm and blew out the candles, bathing the room in darkness once more.