Battle of Souls

Chapter 4

Kathryn:

Sienna yawned atop her desert bred beast. She nodded off often, only to be woken by the jolt of the camel beneath her when he sped up with the others.

Pietro noticed her sleep deprivation. "I promise, soon we will find a place to rest."

She merely nodded. How could she rest if the world's future depended on her reaching Skarvia and manipulating a hero?

Manipulating is a strong word, Sienna bit her lip, perhaps encouraging is better suited for this predicament.

Regardless, encouraging a hero to stop Krovun? That was almost as impossible as a snowstorm in the desert. Then again, she'd seen a few of those even in her lifetime.

After hours of uncomfortable riding under the blistering sun, their destination finally arising from the dunes like an oasis for the weary trio.

It was almost like a mirage; you would never see it if you weren't looking for it, and even then some didn't find it. It was a tiny little building situated on the sand, built into the dunes.

A boy came out to greet them as their camels bowed and they slid off.

"We've come from Phthalo, and we must see the guardian of this place, posthaste," Sienna declared with a hint of urgency.

The young man bowed his head. "I will stow your camels. You may enter the archive. I trust you know your way around?"

Sienna nodded, and he turned away to deal with their desert beasts. She pushed open a dry rotted wooden door and stepped into the shade of the building.

There was barely room for five to stand in the room, stairs that led to the bowels of the earth the only path to take. Sienna descended quietly, knowing this was a sacred place.

The trio of travelers dropped into a dim hall, lit with candles instead of torches. Less flame that could damage or destroy what the archives held, Sienna mused, using her Seer instinct to lead her to Sepia.

They walked along in the darkness for some time before the tunnel turned into a stone expanse, ceilings higher than Phthalo's walls. Along the walls, and on towering shelves throughout the grand archive, sat millions of tomes, the true history of the world contained inside.

Sienna could feel the power of this place. She had visited it often, searching for stories of other races in hopes to better understand them as they began to take an interest to her. Pietro and Aurelian stared at the archive, stunned at the sheer number of documents held here.

"What is this place?" Pietro whispered, glancing at Sienna.

"This is the Phthalo Archive, only one of three still in existence," she replied absentmindedly, looking around for signs of inhabitance.

Aurelian snorted. "Why did they run?Out of room?" She was not one for academic appreciation.

Sienna shook her head, still searching for an archive aid from where they stood. "They were all found and destroyed," she answered. Then she turned to Aurelian with a frown. "Or was that meant to be a rhetorical statement?"

Aurelian raised an eyebrow. "Your lack of understanding or appreciation for humor or sarcasm is endearing," she said dryly.

"Thank you," Sienna smiled, and Aurelian rolled her eyes.

Pietro walked to the nearest shelf, eyeing the parchments that filled it, choosing to ignore his partner's lack of social etiquette. "Why were they destroyed?"

"Because they weren't well hidden. Someone found them and destroyed them so that the true history of our world would be harder to find or trace."

Aurelian slid out a scroll and looked at it with disdain. "How many of these places were there?"