THE ARCHAIC SKY

CHAPTER: THE RED TINTED GREY

Arcanes

The ancient texts from the old civilization of Veretes say Arcanes were future gods. Not much is known about them, not even how they came to this world and how they are born. People say however their time in the mortal realm was supposed to ripe them for godhood. But long ago, the past gods of the past pantheon sent out their own commandment for the Arcanes who all failed them. "death before birth and die before death"

She passed the kitchen, snatching the single onigiri left on the table, and walked into the library, hard wooden shelves and drawers filled with books and stationery for the kids in the town to buy. Her eye falls on the book she left unattended. She frowned. It was the book her grandmother gave her.

A frustrating book her grandmother got from her dear friend. After hours of decoding each and every letter, then doing that again with the words. Amara and Mistress Hanami finished translating the book to a brand new copy and Amara was left furious after reading it.

The book told of an ancient era. The era of circe.

It first began with a prayer. The books writers wished to record the tale of how the heavens took shape and how it molded the world. Heavenly envoys, they said, we are the creations and this world is your work.

The earth was blanketed in unending ice. The eternal ice had just begun to thaw as the first flames were still young. The ancient flames were then extinguished by the crying skies, bringing the first falling rain. the waters then ran dry as the thunder first pierced the skies. Touched by the lightning, the ground grew strong and hard. From that scorched earth, plants teeming with life was brought forth.

And the earth was ready for humanity.

Praise the great god from the sky freed the land from seven regent monsters and a united civilization formed. A godless land without an archon. Not one abandoned nor one that lost a archon, but one that never had a archon to begin with. Intead they praised "the first one".

It's said the civilization was a powerful one because of its people. Far more powerful than the ordinary mortals that wander the realm. Not strong enough to be that of an illuminated, but much more than a gifted. Because of that. The people that lay in this godless land became greedy, arrogant, creating intricate machinery to protect them and to rival the gods. They wanted to march inside the heavenly gardens. But of course, that was impossible for mortals.

And just like that, the civilization fell. Abandoned to drown in the abyss by "the first one"

At least, that's how the readable parts ended. The rest were unintelligible nonsense branded with a symbol of "blasphemy". Though Amara managed to decode one message under its leather cover without Mistress Hanami. There was going to be a second volume to the book. Seeing as her grandmother got it from a person of Jinsei, she was hoping she would be able to find it. Along with information about them.

She turned to the counter, seeing unplaced books stack up unnaturally, not falling out of balance at the slightest. "she's been here for hours and didn't even help..." Amara muttered, grabbing another and placing it at the very top of the stack, making sure to balance it. "why did she have to stick her nose somewhere she didn't belong? older sister my foot..."

from fairy tale children's books to well preserved ancient records to light novels with incredibly long names, the library had everything. it wouldn't last long though, madam Hanami is going to tear nearly every part of the estate apart to make it a larger inn and dorm for the orphanage. the proprietress was far too nice and yet just as selfish.

She sighed grabbing a stack of paper that needed to be placed back into a drawer. But as her hand reached out, a gust of wind came with it, scattering the paper all around the library. Amara scrambled to pick them up, grumbling to herself only to hear the door to the library open.