Fall

The Caverns of Cae-Terae

The Library of Magyk was huge. I mean, like fortress huge.

It was an underground portion of the Temple and was connected by a very long, winding staircase which took forever to descend. Trust me, I did it almost every week!

Our escort was a trainee of Krishana's, Cambri. I was wary to discuss my thoughts with Terry while she was here.

When she left, I took a sheet of square paper out of my pocket and folded it into half diagonally, then half vertically,and crumbled it into a ball. "Libris invenio in ténebris" I whispered to the paper. It hopped away towards the towering shelves of books.

"What was that?" Terry asked in awe. To him, everything magical was awe-worthy.

"Oh, a little trick the Stone Witch taught me!" I said. "It finds any books you want in any enclosed space."

I ran after the ball, with Terry trailing behind. When we found the little bugger, it was suspended in mid-air, drawing books off the walls and laying them on the floor. There were already 7 books in a neat pile, and he had only worked for acouple seconds!

I doubled back to the end of the aisle and I saw the words "D-Da" indicating the section on the end of the bookshelf.

When the ball had finished it's search, we had teetering piles of books in front of Terry and I. I pointed my palm at the books and levitated the stack. I moved them to a leather chair, and settled down to read. Dumbfounded, Terry struggled to lift his pile.

I decided to try another spell, since I didn't know how much time we had before Cambri told Krishana. I closed my hand and concentrated on the centre of my palm. I opened it, and a winged sphere I called Lilo appeared.

I had created it one dreary afternoon in the temple when Krishana was a no-show, but of course I still had to stay there. I was reading ahead in the spell book I had to study when I stumbled upon a "Bright Reader" spell. It only required a basic knowledge of Fire Magyk and a candle, and I had both. I chanted the incantation, and Lilo appeared in front of me. It was useless for anything besides reading a book for you, but it came in handy now and again.

After instructing Lilo to find any reference on the Dark's abilities, weaknesses or origins, I scouted for another candle, to make one for Terry.

When I found the candle, I performed a minor Fireproofing Spell on my hand, and pulled the flame from the wick. Terry gasped, and I whispered: "Multa legit, ut longe facies mihi librum!". I felt a buzz in my hand, and there hovered another Bright Reader.

"This is for you." I said, giving the Reader to Terry. "All you have to do is tell it what to look for."

I returned to my chair, and saw that Lilo had put one book aside already, entitled "Dark Cooking: the Essential Culinary Tricks for Every Chef." Figures. 

I heard a little ding, Lilo's way of notifying me that she had found something for me to read. I peered over the section Lilo found, and saw it talked about The Dark's birth......weird. I had thought it was made, not born.

I settled into the chair and picked up the book. It was quite heavy, and bound in exotic red leather. The cover was inscribed in Ancient symbols, but the title was clear: "The Arte and Dangers of Darke Sorceree."

I grabbed Lilo, and placed him on the cover of the book. He sunk into the cover, and an invisible wind blew the book open to a specific page. The first letter was larger than the first three lines, and was made of black snakes. I began to read:

The Darke is an ancient Magykal being, and was conceved by Supreme Witche, Krystaka and the Master of Hel, Desim-ba. The Darke is as ancient as the gods, and infinitely more powerful.