Peace

1 - Unlikely Friends

1

Unlikely Friends

William Virtus, Alexandra Eruditio, and Eleena Potentis sat at one of the large, round oak tables in the Academy library.   Their table was stacked high with books and scrolls on subjects ranging from spell work to swordplay, as well as law, social studies, and diplomacy.  The library was the oldest building in the Academy; the rest of the buildings had been made around it.  The library itself carried many more subjects atop its pristine shelves that were considered precious treasures by the librarians.  Some were relics that had survived the constant fighting between the houses, placed in the library long ago when the Eruditio or Sapiencia had ruled the city alone. 

Certain sections and books had labeling that described their historic significance.  Other books were grouped by their importance in the field of study they belonged to.  Mages and acolytes in grey or emerald robes wandered the building taking care of these sections with reverence.  Now that the children of all the noble houses were attending the same school they took advantage of the knowledge here for their studies, so that their families might prosper from their education.  The same went for the three friends sitting in a corner of one of the many wings of the grand library.  They had been there for two hours, using free time from classes to study together.

“…And that is why we may never know everything there is to know,” Alexandra said in her calm, lecturing voice.

“What was the point to that again?  Your family lost some great repository of information hundreds of years ago and your still crying over it?”  Eleena’s voice and the edges of her mouth tried their best to hide her amusement.

“We do not cry!  We mourn.  And it is a great loss to my family and yours as well that we do not have access to the information in those archives.”

“Perhaps,” William said, joining in Eleena’s teasing, “you should just look for it rather than mourn its loss.  It couldn’t have just disappeared.”

“Of course it can!  It’s magic!”

Eleena and William broke out in laughter at the seriousness in their friend’s tone and Alexandra turned away from them in frustration.  Alexandra and William were both seventeen and in their final year at the academy.  Eleena had just turned fourteen two days before, and her long blonde hair had been braided and decorated with flowers in celebration.  William and Alexandra had known each other through their fathers.  They had developed a close friendship when the peace treaty between the Eruditio and the Virtus had first been signed. 

Alexandra had been far more friendly and outgoing than the rest of her family.  Out of curiosity, she had been eager to get to know the members of the Virtus.  William had wanted to make friends to prove to his family that his uncle’s ideals were correct and should be followed.  After the new treaty between all five houses had been signed, they began attending classes together.  When they had met Eleena at the Academy she had been slow to come out of her shell.  She had been a lonely, quiet girl.  Her only friend, and indeed the only person she would talk to had been her cousin Lance, whose father had cared for her since she was seven, after the deaths of her parents and older brother.  It had taken a lot of work but they had finally made friends with her, and had discovered a strong willed, intelligent child underneath her shy exterior.

Never losing her composure, her dark brown hair never falling out of place, Alexandra continued her short lecture on her family’s history.

“The Lost Archives contain all the information gathered by my family before its disappearance, both magical and technological.  We used it long ago, but lost it due to… unknown circumstances.  It has more in it than just things my family has discovered.  Discoveries made by your families exist there, too.  There are rumored to be tomes of lost knowledge that were made by mages who studied the spirit world directly.  It has been lost for hundreds of years, and as a result much of its information has fallen into obscurity and myth.  There is very likely information there that we don’t even remember.  Due to a book my father possesses, we know that there are tomes documenting the First War of Rivalry, where technology rose up to challenge magic for the first time.”