The land of the Gods (Complete)

Chapter 13 - Declyn

Thaleara pulled herself up, remaining in the crouched position and Declyn did the same. They both stayed low to the floor, sneaking towards the open door. Declyn kept one eye on the guards with Cara and Edan. They seemed to be doing fine. Edan had now climbed onto the dais and was waving his arms about, yelling "What a beautiful space!" Cara was standing off to the side, blabbering away to a guard about where she got her dress and the price.

Declyn and Thaleara were through the door, into the palace foyer and up the grand staircase long before the guards managed to get Cara and Edan back to the festivities in the courtyard.

Now on the second level of the palace, the guards were considerably lowered, and Declyn and Thaleara had no trouble navigating the long winding halls to get to the next lot of stairs. It was once they were on the final level, the top story with the king and queen's room that they ran into the guards.

They were making they're way down the long hallway that led directly to the king's room when they spotted the guards coming from the other end. Thaleara cursed colourfully under her breath, and Declyn whipped his head towards her.

You know it was bad when Thaleara began to cuss.

Before they were spotted, Thaleara grabbed Declyn by his front and dragged him into the nearest door. Thaleara let go of Declyn, eyes scanning the room as she silently closed the door. Declyn did the same, brushing off his shirt while glancing about.

They were in a library. A very, very full library. There wasn't a shelf not covered in books and heavy volumes. There had to be over a hundred shelves in the vast space, and dust coating each and every text. There had to be some volumes in here worth thousands, if the worn spines and covers were anything to go by.

The space was unnaturally bright, whether it be because of the sconces on the walls that had been carefully covered so as to not start any fires, or the great arched windows that lay on the outer wall in between each shelf. The shelves reached about fifteen feet up, and the ceiling had wooden beams that ran across it in line with the shelves.

The room was grand. Powerful. And obviously very expensive.

Declyn grinned. Before Thaleara could scold him, he darted towards the closest shelf, which happened to be full of those old and worn looking volumes. His hand darted out, making contact with the closest book and with the scratchy cloth cover that had many tears and blemishes. He pulled it out enough to read the title.

'The destruction of Namdurahl'

'Namdurahl'. Now that was a name Declyn hadn't seen in a few years. The ancient dwarven City that had lived in the southern continent. Millenia ago, the City had sunk in on itself, mysteriously, killing thousands. No one really knew the full story. However, this was a book Declyn had never heard of. If the worn pages were anything to go by, he was sure it was valuable.

"Declyn!" Thaleara hissed. Somehow she made a whisper sound angry. "Put that down!"

Declyn didn't do anything of the sort and instead proceeded to grab it and hold it up so she could read the title. "It's got to be worth a fair bit," he whispered back, letting go with one hand to wave it in front of the title to reinforce his point.

"Put. It. Back."

Huffing, Declyn turned to put it back on the shelf, but instead the book wobbled in his grasp, and the worn cloth cover seemed to slip from his hand a bit. Before he could bring his other hand out to steady it, the book tilted too far, and fell from his hold.

In the very few books Declyn had read, they always described the part where everything went wrong as happening in slow motion. That was a lie.

The book dropped to the ground like a rock, thudding heavily on the floor. Thaleara looked at Declyn furiously, seconds away from strangling him. He winced. The guards patrolling the corridor just outside the library seemed to halt their conversation not a few feet from the door. Steps sounded, walking closer. Declyn's hands began to sweat profusely, and Thaleara glanced at the door, her own worry evident in her face. She looked back to him, and gestured with both hands to the back of the room, behind the shelves and in the shadows.

Declyn nodded, his heart in his throat. They both moved, silent and quick behind the shelf. Not a moment after they were hidden, the two guards entered.

The door swung open quietly, the guard's steps loud and echoing in the giant space.

"Stay at the door," one of them said, his voice low and guttural. Declyn glanced at Thaleara. Her green eyes were wide and scanning the shelves around them and looking through the gaps in the books at the door. Declyn could feel his heart leaping out of his chest. He was relying on Thaleara to get them out. She was the one with the plans and back up plans. He looked at her now.

It looked like she was thinking, but was coming up empty of any ideas. Declyn reached into his pocket and grabbed a space smoke bomb. Thaleara looked, then shook her head quickly. No smoke bomb, her eyes spoke, they'll know someone broke in. The guard's steps grew louder as he approached, stalking through the shelves of books.

"Reveal yourselves," he called.

Declyn glanced back at Thaleara. His heart was thudding in his chest. He wouldn't be surprised if the guard could hear it.

How were they going to get out of this? There was one stalking through the room, and another guarding the door so they couldn't make an escape that way. Worse yet, they knew there was someone in the room.

Thaleara's face was distraught, however, it didn't seem she was looking at the guards. No, there was conflict in her eyes, as though she was arguing with herself. Declyn frowned. This wasn't going to end well. He peeked out over the side of the shelf they were behind. The guard was two rows from them, slowly stalking through the rows. They needed to act soon.

Declyn turned to Thaleara, about to gesture to smoke bomb again, but her expression stopped him.

The warmth seeped from the room, and Declyn involuntarily shivered.

Thaleara was decided. Before he could react, she called out, "Don't attack." She wasn't looking at Declyn, but he stared at her with wide eyes. So, she was giving up like that. Declyn's heart hadn't slowed down, but seemed to somehow beat faster as the guard's steps paused.

"Come out with your hands in the air," he responded, and Declyn heard him draw out a weapon.

Thaleara finally looked at Declyn, and there was grief in her eyes as she said, "please don't hate me." Declyn felt the blood drain from his face. Thaleara stood, and dusted herself off. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and put her hands in the air.

The world went still.

The flames on the sconces flitted out, the windows seemed to darken, and a cold filled the air.

Declyn could feel the ice cut deep into his bones. Declyn could feel the shadows in the room brush against him. Declyn could feel the dark as though it were alive.

Thaleara's eyes opened. No longer were they the bright emerald green he was used to, but they had become endless, black pits. Her hair floated motionlessly around her in a halo of shadow and the darkness surrounding her seemed to crawl out and away from the walls, cold emanating from her raised hands.

Thaleara was darkness. Thaleara was shadow. Thaleara was fear, and cold and black.

Thaleara had magic.

And Declyn was terrified.

He scuffled back away from her and she strode silently past him. Her hair didn't even shift with the movement. Declyn crawled forward on all fours as she rounded the corner and watched from a distance as she approached the guard.

The guard didn't know what was coming for him, when Thaleara released herself upon him.

The darkness surged from the walls, surged from the shadows. Every morsel of black flew past Thaleara and directly at the guard. He didn't have time to scream before his body blackened, and broke apart in a pile of ash.

Holy fuck-

Declyn inhaled sharply, praying that Thaleara didn't turn on him.

The now dead guard who sat on the floor in a pile of ash's shouting had gained the attention of the one standing at the door, and he now hesitantly crept out from behind the shelf nearest the door.

He took one look at Thaleara and drew his sword. Declyn almost shouted for him to run. Just like the other guard, it was over before it had really started, as Thaleara again released that terrible and cold darkness.