From the Ashes

Chapter 12 ~ Shadows That Decieve

    Tarion was surprised when Morana refrained from asking any questions following his revelation. He simply assumed she was saving them for later, and when they made camp for the night, he was proven right. They were sitting beside a small fire, having just finished eating two small rabbits when Morana spoke.

    "I thought the library was just a myth," she said, rubbing her chin as she watched the fire, a thoughtful gleam in her gray eyes. "Or if it is real, it disappeared at the start of Astaroth's reign."

    "It's real, but you're right, it did disappear," Tarion confirmed. "Thanks to a protective enchantment that Drenusha herself placed upon it."

    Her brows lifted and intrigue was written plainly across her features. "I'll admit I never learned much about the library. I really only know that it was a temple for Drenusha before its disappearance."

    "In a sense."

    Morana listened curiously as he told her what he had been taught himself so many centuries ago. The library had been built during the Elder Age before the gods Ascended. As the goddess of wisdom, nature, and all living creatures, Drenusha had been the one to oversee its construction, and was its caretaker until the time came for her to leave their mortal world.

    Her worshippers and acolytes served in the library as its librarians following Drenusha's Ascension. It was their sacred duty to guard the knowledge within the library and add to it whenever they could. It had often been said that the library contained a copy of every book, scroll, song, or poem that had ever been written. One could enter the library with any question and soon discover the answer.

    Such knowledge would have been destroyed immediately if Astaroth had been able to access the library. And Drenusha had foreseen that wisdom would always be attacked first in dark times so those in power could easily replace it with ignorance in the minds of their subjects. To protect that from happening to her library, she cast a protective enchantment over the entire structure.

    When the first sign of trouble reached Asterria, the library would vanish from mortal eyes and would be shielded from any attack or disaster. Only those with god-blood would be able to pass through the veil of the enchantment and enter the library during that time. When the crisis was averted, the enchantment would retract until the next time it was needed.

    "That makes it the perfect place for us to train with your magic and learn more about Astaroth and how we might be able to defeat him," Tarion finished. There was something more he'd research while they were there, but for now, it didn't concern Morana.

    "Then you also have god-blood?" Morana asked.

    He gave a short nod. "My family is descended from Oriana. Her daughter, Idalia, was the first Queen of Asterria."

    He saw the mind behind her eyes working as she recalled the goddess of balance. Of the dusk and dawn, and the lights of the world. And the dark, twisted creature he had become that couldn't possibly share any blood with that radiant and pure being. Tarion averted his eyes, swallowing.

    "You are the light of the moon, Tari," his mother had always told him. "And your father is the light of the sun. You reflect each other's brilliance and keep our kingdom in balance. That is how you can see Oriana within yourself."

    Well, he wasn't the light of the moon anymore. Now he was one of the creatures that hid from it, clinging to the shadows instead to hide whatever evil deed was to be carried out in the darkness.

    Morana's voice broke past his thoughts and drew his attention back to her. "I don't want to fight Astaroth." Tarion furrowed his brows. "I know. I've gathered that's what people are expecting me to do. I met someone with the Sight and she seemed to believe that we're meant to do something together, probably defeat Astaroth, but I can't. It's a fight we won't win."