Beasts of Flames

Chapter Four

The next two weeks passed by faster than the setting of the summer sun. From the early morning hours until the stroke of midnight, I spent every minute scouring over the articles of the archive in the library of Verdallan. My absence was completely unnoticed by everyone in the castle, except for Asteria, who was disappointed to hear I canceled our daily lessons. A sacrifice I had to make to reach my goal in time before the wedding, and a mercy from having to witness the happy couple parade about the castle.
Within the last week, I had only seen Maximus once. I had been extremely frustrated in my pursuit the other day and chose to work it out in the sparring room before I began again tomorrow. I had not even made it three steps into the palace, and there they were, hand in hand. From across the room, Maximus looked like the picture of happiness, with no hint of remorse for us, and Aurelia mirrored his expression. Frozen in my tracks, all I could do was watch until they passed, hoping Maximus would look at me, just once. He only continued to look into Aurelia's eyes, and I felt the cruel pang of jealousy echo in my heart.

After yesterday, I concluded being as far away from the palace as possible was for the best. I had awoken earlier than the crowing roosters today to escape my thoughts more than anything. Right outside the castle gates, the streets of Verdallan City were still silent, not yet buzzing with the afternoon market crowd. The clay-roofed buildings rose into the sky like a forest of small oak trees divided by a maze of cobblestone paths. The quiet hum of the light in the lampposts eased the silence of the morning, and the smell of dew on the petals of flowers in flower boxes filled the air. I strolled down the main avenue, observing the various shops and restaurants as I passed, and for the first time in a while, I felt at peace.
I continued down the road, watching as the sun popped above the chimneys, and looked around as the common people began their days. Roosters crowed from their pens, bakers unlocked shop doors, and vendors dusted off their booths. It wouldn't be long before the street I walked now would be overwhelmed with people from all over the country. I figured I'd better pick up my pace to avoid being caught in a crowd.

    I soon reached my destination: a large glass terrarium in the city center known as the Archive. Considering that it was a library, the Archive looked more like a garden oasis from the outside, but inside it was an entirely different story. Hidden behind the glass walls and the jungle flora, a golden spiral staircase descended into the ground leading to endless levels of books and records. Every event in the entire history of Verdallan, from its creation to the present, was kept within the walls here. If I wanted an answer to my question, the solution would be buried here somewhere.

    I stepped through the glass gates and made my way to a desk guarding the entrance to the stairs. A middle-aged man sat behind the desk, glasses sitting on the tip of his nose, unaware that I was standing in front of him.

    I looked at the man and waited a few seconds, hoping he would acknowledge and recognize me from the past few days, but the man didn't look up from his book. I mumbled,

    "Excuse me," trying to be polite to other patrons who were reading in the gardens. Still, the man stared at his book. I tried again and still had no success. Now, I was quite annoyed. I decided to throw out the polite routine completely.

    "Hello! I want to access the Archive!"

    My aggressive tone finally forced the man to look up from the book he was reading. What book could be soon interesting anyway? I looked at the title: The Methodology of Herbalists. How riveting. The man looked at me and grumbled,

    "Name?"

    "Seriously? I have been here every day for the past week. Do we have to go through all the formalities?" I put on a strained smile, thinking it might convince him to let me go.