The Fireborn Chronicles: The Blazing Guardian

Chapter 7: Origins of Czahunlia

The basement under the manor was nothing too special, and there was nothing that peeked the deep roots of Silva's curiosity out of her mind.  Slowly, the decaying steps that hadn't been cleaned in a long time creaked the day Silva opened the door. It was during the afternoon, starting almost a week ago, that she finally dared to open that door and see what contents lay beneath her.

When she had reached the final step and had placed her bare feet on the nail-fastened wood floor, all she saw was archaic darkness. She had brought a candle with her from the washroom since most of the family bathed at night and candles were a necessity at that time.

There was no electricity in the house, although Silva had heard about some nobles and wealthy landowners who had ceiling lamps and lamps on side tables. These lamps were not lit using oil but rather powered glass bulbs, and these bulbs had attached metal strands conducted with Electro magic. This allowed the bulb to emit light through the lamp mantle and was highly convenient since you did not need to constantly fuel it  as with oil lamps.

How Silva knew all this, well, it was one of Emilie's many hopeful wishes that she ranted to Silva about, wishes that would greatly help the house in Czésta City like electric lamps. But alas, there were not many of these bulbs around, and they sold for a very high price being made directly from the Magic City. They could only be made by Electro mages, and mages were seldom to come by now.

Then Silva had walked slowly through the darkness, and for every step, she felt crinkled pieces of paper crushing at her feet. There were other things she felt besides paper, like empty bottles of ink or arrays of thumbtacks lying around. They caused her to be alert, else she may be injured again.

The room looked messy and dangerous; it certainly hadn't been cleaned in many years. Why Markus or Emilie did not go down here at least once was puzzling, but Silva kept her composure until she felt a nudge on her waist from something. Placing a hand on that something, Silva rubbed her fingers left to right, and she assumed that this was a wooden table of some sort.

Now she could see a bit clearer, blinking her eyes several times to catch a better glimpse of what lay forward. She could see a figure on the right, and traveling closer to it she stopped, noticing the shape of the figure looked just like a lamp.

Silva touched the lampshade, feeling a category of fabric. With her enhanced vision, she moved her fingers down the lampshade until they reached a plastic switch right beside an abrupt lightbulb. She flipped the switch once, and the lightbulb turned on, causing light to emerge from the darkness and envelope Silva's sightings.

She looked around again, observing more contents of the room with her profound attention. On the left of the table were dozens of ripped pieces of paper hanging on the wall, attached by the thumbtacks Silva felt before. On the right of the table, there was a series of bookshelves lining up to almost the ceiling, with books covering almost the entirety of each shelf. Beside the lamp, there was a single chair, with a bottle of ink and a quill resting in the bottle and numerous containers of dye too. There was one piece of paper by the bottle, and out of wonder, Silva moved closer to read what the paper said.

However, the paper was mostly blank, with only one blot of ink on the top of it that was starting a sentence. It was difficult for Silva to make out what it meant, and she had to move her eyes close and squint as most as she could. The sentence said:

To my dearest love,

Will you ever forgive me once we see each other again? I realize now that my darkness has consumed me, and you were the only light I could find to comfort it. Now...I've taken you along with me-

That was all, as his words finished with a streak of ink descending from the last letter to the bottom of the paper.

After reading, Silva started to receive an eerie feeling about this room. She figured the paper was meant to be a letter from Olaf to his wife Matylda, but what could have caused him to stop writing? Silva shuddered from the thought because she knew the ultimate cause of his death. Seeing this letter only made her more worried, as Matylda seemed to have never gotten this letter in the end.