Xerxes

Enemy or not

"So, why are you out anyway?" she let out shattering my daydream, bringing me back to reality. "The healer said your mind needed time to conform, but here you are, what's on your mind?"

Yes, I did need time to heal but my mind was not broken, not with what I had seen and heard. I'm as fit as a fiddle and I bet I could start training if the Xaj allowed it. The dreams were all things of the past as I envisioned a future where we all got to win and taste victory, but first the little library.

"Have you been to the library before?" I asked, trying not to sound excited.

She nodded in affirmation but immediately advised against it saying the books were not up to date, however what I searched for was something that didn't need additional information. I guess I had no choice but to wait until I visited Crete, the city of knowledge.
Petra had been with me and given me the plans on how my training was to go. We would visit the ten temples of the gods while I trained with the monks and Xaj learning to control my innate abilities. We would pass through the town and I would get the knowledge I needed from the scholars.
I on the other hand needed immediate information on something, anything that could help with my dreams. Just as Queen had taught me when I told her how useless it was for me to learn magic, "No knowledge is a waste Xerxes. You might not be a Xaj or a demigod but you could use the knowledge gained to achieve your own victory. I'm not teaching you this to be a magician silly, I want you to know that magicians are not as invincible as you think. Learn and you would get new insight from this". Reminiscing on the past gave me a fuzzy feeling. I still loved her, even after her death I still loved her. I was still clinging onto a bit of hope that maybe, just maybe she was still alive. But that was fake, for I had seen her die in the fire. This was not what I needed right now, I was way past leaning into my emotions. It was time for answers.

"Something's bothering you. Tell me what it is," she demanded.

"Well..." I said before halting. Why did I stop? It was now or never Xerxes, Ang was well read when it came to folklores and mysteries of the past, she could help with the answers I needed.

"You know about the old gods right?" I asked levelly.

She gave off a wide grin and I knew at that moment that my quest had come to an end.

"Yeah, what about them?" she asked excited.

How to put it to her was the problem, I needed answers but if I needed them it had to be from the root and not from the stem. I needed to know their origin, powers, wars they had won and lost, everything.

I began, "I need to know everything about the gods Ang. I need to know who or what they are, where they come from, what they did and who they did it to and for. I need information on the gods if I'm going to know who I am."

The nation believed me to be a saviour, it would be failure on my part if I had no knowledge of my alleged history.

"Follow me, I think I know what you're looking for," she said, beckoning on me to follow her while running towards the valley.

We took a path through the valley of bones, it was where we had buried everyone we had lost during the battles. All my friends were there, Queen included.
Focus Xerxes, don't let your emotions get the better of you.

We were going up the hill to a monastery. It stood tall as half of it was covered in a storm. Petra must be inside, a storm hovered over her whenever she was emotionally disturbed.

"Why are we going to the monastery?" I inquired as we ran.

"The answers you seek cannot be found in the library. Most of the books about the old wars and the old gods were hidden with the monks. They were afraid the people might get angry and burn the books, for it seemed like the gods had abandoned them," she answered almost out of breath.