Curse of the Stars Book 1

Chapter 30

Chapter XXX

"Augh. I feel awful..." Stygian sat up, rubbing her head gingerly. It was that same foggy feeling as before. She vaguely remembered symbols and papyrus and ink and smears and stains. But it was all a blur. Was this how learning was supposed to be?

"You'll get used to it. You're just not used to absorbing so much information." Turbulence assured her. "But you'll find that if you try, you'll be able to recite the entire Lyngoriann Alphabet."

"Ugh..." Stygian moaned.

"Let's try it." Turbulence instructed. "I want to hear all 56 letters."

"Gulnac, Falen, Hynide, Uler, Risnac, Yaelen..."

"Uhuh?"

"Shulvyte, Tulna, Xenite, Meovun."

"Continue."

"Bannyr, Ishcavact, Quevly—" One by one Stygian recited them all. At first the words seemed to be captured within a dark haze in her mind, but as she fished in that grave, words began to form within the spiralling ink. First one and then another, fuzzy at first, but growing clearer and clearer. Eventually they began to come to her with ease and they began to roll off her tongue, as familiar to her as her own dragon language.

"Very good!" Turbulence praised. "And the vowels please?"

"Ae, aye, auw, oew, o, y, ii, au, awe, awoee, ae, i, and j."

"Very good. And the consonants?"

Hyaline recited them within order. A spurt of satisfaction blossomed within deep inside of her with her progress. Not bad for a day's worth of work.

"See, not that hard. I'm an excellent teacher."

"I wouldn't know. It's not as if I have anyone to compare you to." Stygian pointed out.

"Bah!" Turbulence waved her away. "I'm so good at this I should change my name to the God of Teaching." Stygian rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Well then. Let's say we take a break. Not cause I need one but because you look like you do."

"Thanks." Stygian breathed a sigh of relief. "When does the food come?"

"The food's merely a sign of their undying devotion." Turbulence explained, almost in a bored sort of way. "A showcasing of utmost respect. They gather it from different people in the Palace and then have it brought by carriage to the door. The Priests take it from there. This happens once a day, usually in the morning."

"So...you don't...eat any of it?"

"I usually burn it."

"Burn it?!!"
"Sure! I don't need food to live. I'm a god!"

Stygian still found that very hard to believe, despite the evidence he had brought to her table.

"But..."

"I COULD eat if I wanted to. But I prefer burning things. It makes the most delightful aroma."

"So you're a firebreather?"

"Among many other things."

"Hmm." Stygian bit her tongue. Firebreathers weren't gods. They were just types of dragons that could breathe fire. It was chemistry and biology, not magic. Not like an actual god would have.

"My fire is not like other firebreathers." Turbulence explained, observing her disbelief. Stygian waited for him to continue but he didn't.

Still not willing to show me a demonstration I see. She snorted.