The Light in the Dark ✓

Chapter 18.2 The Library

The library was there indeed. It was bigger than anything Iris saw in her entire life. There were rows upon rows of shelves, all full of books, ancient tomes covered with dust. Iris couldn't see where the room ended. There were a few Shadows carrying books and searching through the shelves, but when they entered, they shied away, hiding in the darker parts of the room. Thanks to a partially collapsed wall, it was bright enough to see around them comfortably.

'That's impressive indeed,' said Marcus. 'What sorts of books are those?'

'All sorts.' Sam grinned. 'This place was originally a library, the biggest one in the whole Shadow Realm! I couldn't believe my luck when I found it. Alfie, why don't you tell them about it?'

'Alfie?' asked Marcus with raised brows.

'Well, that'sss a nickname Massster Samuel gave me,' said the Shadow, the note of disapproval ringing in his voice.

'Can't help it. Your name is simply weird,' Sam shrugged. 'You should consider yourself lucky. I could come up with much worse nicknames, you know. Lanky? Bauble head? Scrag?'

'I take Alfie, then, Massster.' The Shadow sighed. They turned to other humans and continued. 'Sssince the dawn of time, we were collectorsss of knowledge. It wasss our belief that information isss the mossst potent power of them all. All conflictsss originated from disssparity of knowledge and missscommunication. We ssstrived to be the centre that provided other realmsss with the meansss of progressss and development.'

'That's... far from what we were taught about the Shadow Realm,' said Marcus, rubbing his chin in thought.

'That isss underssstandable consssidering our sssociety degenerated many centuriesss ago.'

'Degenerated how?'

'I can explain,' interjected Sam. 'Your hissing, Alfie, can be annoying when one is not used to it. It's connected to the Shadow Magic and how it's influencing the Shadows themselves. As you probably know, for a human to use this type of magic, it is necessary to force a contract with the representative of the Shadow Realm. Have you ever wondered what the Shadows were getting out of this deal?'

'Our understanding was that the Shadows seek the Light that was part of gifted human's soul,' said Marcus.

'That is correct, although it's not that simple. In ancient times, when the Realmfarers were many and venturing between the realms was nothing unusual, the contracts were about far more than just carving for light. The participants didn't exchange a significant amount of their souls like the Order had always taught us. It was just enough for humans to command the shadows on the most basic level that enable them to venture through the Shadow Realm. In exchange, the Shadows got the small particle of the human soul. That enable them to understand our dialects and perceive the knowledge of our Realm we acquired as a culture.'

'Do you want us to believe the goal of this unholy union was pure knowledge sharing?' asked Myrica raising her brows.

'It wasss indeed, Lady of the Forest,' said Alaife.

'All those books...' said Jayden. He was walking along the closest shelves, tracing his fingers gently on the heavy, leatherbound spines. 'Most of them are in the language I've never seen.'

'That isss correct. Thisss is the collection we were gathering sssince the beginning of time, from all of the realms.'

'Realms?' asked Iris. 'What do you mean realms? Is there more than two of them?'

'But of courssse, Lady Realmfarer. I do not think that dissscovering them all would be ever possssible.'

The silence fell, and everyone was looking at the Shadow with a mixture of shock and disbelieve.