Zadyn froze, his heart pounding as he whirled around to find a gun trained on his head. On the other end of the barrel, a man leading a force of three soldiers whips out another handgun to point at Adahlia, who was beside Zadyn. The men behind him spread out into a line and aimed the head of their weapon at the center of the forehead of the corresponding faerie in front of them.

"What are you doing here? This is private property and you are hereby being escorted off the premises forcefully if you don't state your business," the lead man growled. The man seemingly in charge had a balding head that seemed to swell in size after each self-righteous word coming out of his whiskered mouth.

"What are you hooligans waiting for?" Triwyn screeched. "Explain yourselves!"

Daxelle gawked at him, ready to march over and throttle him but the click of the gun's safety being turned off stopped her in her tracks.

"Answers. Now."

Iaelie sighed, "We thought this man here died and came here to look for a man that would explain what the heck was going on—"

"A man? Here? Who?" the man—general, person, whatever, Zadyn didn't give a crap—snarled, taking a menacing step forward to emphasize his question. "Tell me."

"We don't actually know his name, but he claims he lives here. Or lives around here I don't know," Adahlia answered, a slight tremor rocking her voice. The head man ignored her and turned to Zadyn for an answer.

"Boy, tell me," he ordered, a threatening tone lacing every syllable of his words.

"But, she just told you everything—" Zadyn started.

The man scoffed, "Who said I wanted to hear anything from a bitch?"

"You technically didn't clarify—" Avanth started, anger blazing in his eyes.

"Zip it, Sherlock," the general-guy snapped. His arm didn't waver as he made a wide sweep of the tunnel with his gun. "I'm not afraid to shoot. State your business here or you're gone. Do you really want to be detained by the Imperial Government? Do you even know who we are? We're the Eternal Warriors, the imperial legion of skilled warriors that serve our King—"

"Oh big whoop," Daxelle muttered.

"—And faithfully take down traitors and usurpers—"

"Do we look like we're trying to overthrow your precious king?" Daxelle retorted.

"—For the greater good of our realm."

The man continued his delirious reciting of "facts" about the legion and how they would chop off the heads of anybody willing to stand against them. With each word coming out of his mouth, the tension in the room thickened as Adahlia glared at each soldier holding them at gunpoint. 

When the man started to go on about battle strategies that have been working for them against spies and rebels, he was interrupted.

"Oh my gods," Adahlia shouted. "I already told you everything you asked for and you're here rambling on about how you're so loyal to your widdle-pwecious King!" Her chest heaved with anger, something dangerous flashing in her eyes. Even one of the soldiers towards the end of the line backed up a bit at the fire that blazed in her gaze.

It was like a physical thing, watching the general-guy absolutely snap. He fired a warning bullet in the air that made a cloud of debris rain down on them. Triwyn jumped up at that from where he was lazing around on his bench.

Taking a deep, calming breath, the general-guy straightened his golden lapels decorating his crimson red soldier's uniform, and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles on his trousers.

"Now, please escort these wonderfully behaved children to the library," the man commanded, his voice strained from the sheer effort of remaining calm. His men nodded and saluted their leader before forcefully taking hold of the group's arms and dragging them up the stairs.

Everyone but Zadyn failed to notice that Triwyn was left alone, no one forcing him anywhere, even if he was just as involved with this as any of them.

Adahlia was still staring daggers at the general-guy and when she was pushed past him, she rolled her eyes.

Zadyn saw her pleased smirk when the man audibly gritted his teeth.

"You see these kids, Greg? They're like whimpering puppies," one of the soldiers chuckled as he led them up the stairs.

"Oh, lordy lord, I'm so scared right now. Like I'm visibly trembling. These guys are so scary, right Daxelle?" Avanth cried. His way of coping seemed to be through joking around and while Zadyn might've been annoyed in a past life, he was jealous. Jealous that Avanth had found a way to deal with everything while all Zadyn had was screaming into his pillow at night.

Avanth's method sure was less destructive to the vocal cords.

"I'm practically pissing myself right now," Daxelle cried, dramatically slumping to the side. The guards nearest Daxelle cringed away from her.

"Get your dirty, peasant self away from me," he hissed.

If it weren't for the guns still pointed at their heads, Zadyn was sure Daxelle would have lashed out at him then. But if there hadn't been guns in this situation, they wouldn't be led to a library, of all places.

Zadyn glanced back at Adahlia who lingered at the end of the group. She glared at the floor like it had done something to personally offend her, which could've been completely normal as Zadyn has heard of concrete attacking children in storybooks.

Or that could've all just been a fever dream, who knows?

When Adahlia dropped too far behind, the guard holding onto her jerked her forward, the butt of his gun hitting the side of her face.

She responded by stomping on the foot of the soldier. He yowled in pain and shoved her forward again, looking as if he would pounce on her. And she caught that look.

"No brawling on the streets. Least of all with a little bitch, am I right?" Adahlia cooed menacingly, which somehow worked for her. The soldier muttered a string of obscenities that would have withered frog cells.

A few blocks more of walking led them all to the front steps of an imposing white structure. What the heck was the deal with all of this white pearl material? Was the town cheap or just trying to be aesthetic? Maybe a lack of imagination from the architect? Probably.

Four large columns held the obsidian ceiling up and away from the crowds of people milling in and out of the historical building. A statue depicting an image of the triumphant Kelas as he ascended to godhood was sitting atop the stairs, leading to a red-carpeted path leading to the interior of the library.

The soldiers dragged them all inside, bypassing the intense security easily by just flashing their IDs.

"Stay here," the man who was second in charge commanded. Avanth watched the men leave and scoffed.

"Alrighty, who wants to go sightseeing?" he said, half-sarcastic. Or Zadyn hoped was half-sarcastic. Daxelle perked up and grinned.

"Ok, what are the chances that one of the soldier-humans come back and find us gone?" Avanth asked.

"One-hundred percent," Adahlia remarked as she stalked off deeper into the library. They all followed after her, converging into a small group to scan the book titles near the fantasy shelves. While the exterior of the library had been big and white, the interior was stock full of wooden shelves and natural light filtering through the skylights.

Tens of thousands of books in worn hardcover bindings were shelved in the large library. With the ivy vines twining around the wooden beams supporting the ceiling, the reading space emitted a natural fantasy vibe.

"What are we looking for specifically?" Zadyn asked.

"I don't know. I don't even know where we are," Adahlia admitted.

"I do," Iaelie responded, her first words since the Eternal Warriors had found them.

Daxelle raised both eyebrows, "You do? I mean I know you used to kinda live here, but, uh, yeah . . ." She trailed off as she realized she had no idea where she was going with that statement.

Iaelie shrugged, "I used to work here when I was younger before I was sent to Ryhun."

"So you know the people here? That work here, I mean," Avanth asked, adding a bit of clarification. Iaelie deftly scanned the large space, eyes pausing on the various librarians wandering among the shelves.

"Kind of. I mean, I mostly kept to myself and read books in the back. I only worked for like, one hour at most per day," Iaelie grinned sheepishly. Avanth gave her a thumbs-up of good job. She rolled her eyes.

"What type of books do they have here?" Adahlia asked, trailing a finger along the spines of the books on the shelves. She was the only one paying attention as Iaelie listed a couple of specific genres that she supposed Adahlia would be interested in.

Everyone else craned their necks to stare at the ceiling.

"Holy cheese, I need to get up there," Avanth said, awe shining on his face. Zadyn, who had been staring at the greenery flourishing on the wooden beams, flicked his eyes towards where Avanth's gaze indicated the spectacle was.

Zadyn's eyes widened as he took in the impossible sight above him.

Possibly a hundred chair hammocks hanging from the ceiling, which was far, far away from the ground. Each chair was adorned with a single colored pillow and hung in groups of five. In the center of each circle was a hanging table, which had a cup holder and something unperceived from their place on the floor.

Adahlia followed their gazes and gave a squeal of excitement.

"I want to fly up there," she said, pure ecstasy radiating from her smile.

Zadyn wasn't sure if the show of floating chairs was just a prop or something people could actually access and read on. Just as he was about to ask Iaelie about the hammocks, a librarian seemed to materialize from thin air and startle them all.

Maybe she did teleport, that would explain how anyone could get their butts up into a chair on the ceiling.

"Hello, children," the old woman smiled, revealing a gap-toothed smile. She was surprisingly tall and towered over them all, including Zadyn, who was the tallest of them all. Despite her height, however, she seemed infinitely brittle. Her paper-thin skin mixed with her white hair made her seem like a piece of a crumbled flower petal, ready to wither away at any second.

"Hello, ma'am," Daxelle said brightly. She pointed towards the chair hammocks swaying from ropes attached to the ceiling. "Can people actually go up there?"

The woman's eyes crinkled, "I don't know, maybe you should ask your friend over there." The woman, in turn, pointed at Iaelie. "She is quite knowledgeable."

"I—I don't know the answer to that," Iaelie stuttered, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Oh, do you not? I believe you are lying," the woman stated matter-of-factly. Iaelie seemed at a loss of words. What was she supposed to say to contradict that? That she believes that the woman believing she is lying is wrong?

"It's quite simple to get in the chair," the woman said. "You just have to bend your knees and sit."

"But the chairs are up there," Avanth pointed out.

The librarian tutted her disapproval, "Who is anyone to tell you that the chairs are on the ceiling?"

"I—um—my eyes?" Avanth said. "Not to be rude or anything, I mean."

"And you actually listen to your eyes?" the woman asked, surprise clear in her voice. Listen . . . to your eyes? Zadyn was most definitely losing brain cells from that sentence alone. The librarian seemed to be parallel universes ahead in understanding simple physics. Was it physics? A universal rule that stated the obvious? No, that's literally the definition of physics. Or kind of. I don't know.

Zadyn shook himself out of his mental monologue.

"Are you looking for any books in particular, children?" the librarian asked, switching the subject, thankfully.

"Not really, but there is something I really want," Adahlia answered.

"And what is that?"

"To sit on one of the chair hammocks."

"Then sit on one of the chair hammocks," the librarian said simply. Adahlia tilted her head to the side. The librarian sighed, "When you learn to stop trusting your eyes and see everything for what it truly is, you will find that vision deceives you. Your vision will not. So don't see, see."

"I-I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't understand a word you said," Adahlia replied.

The woman stared gravely at her for a few moments before switching back to a cheery expression, "That's alright, sweetheart. We have books on chemistry, the maths, the arts, mythology—"

"Mythology? As in gods and monsters?" Adahlia interrupted, though quickly apologizing.

The woman waved off her apology, "And don't forget demons. Demons and faeries and witches." The librarian's eyes seemed so all-knowing that Zadyn could have sworn a deep intelligence flashed from within and had somehow grasped the severity of their situation.

"Yes, that would be perfect! Do you have any books like that here?" Daxelle exclaimed.

The librarian's momentary omniscience was replaced by mindless chatter, "Of course not, silly. We don't have mythology books in stock. Corrupts the brain, you know."

"But, you just said—" Avanth cut in but ended up being cut off by the old lady.

"I said we have mythology books but we don't have them here," she clarified, but none of them were any closer to understanding her.

The woman huffed and glanced around them, making sure no soul was in sight before continuing. "Please grasp this, children. There are forces at work that you don't know about, so don't go meddling into primordial drama. If you want to find a book with knowledge on all the demons and gods, I have one in mind, but we don't have it here. That is a journey you must take on your own, along with your path to wisdom."

"What book is it?" Daxelle asked.

"We mustn't speak of it here," the woman whispered. Then in a conversational tone, she added, "You want to preorder the book? Follow me into the back, we have the cataloging computer in my office."

This time, they got the hint and stayed silent as they trailed the librarian to a brightly lit room in the back.

"Now, this book is extremely dangerous and holds information no mortal should ever see," the woman started.

"But, we're m-mortal—" Daxelle started.

"Don't start that shit with me," the woman hissed and Daxelle's eyes flared in shock. "I know you're fae, I can smell it all over you."

"How can you . . . are you fae too?" Iaelie asked.

"Yes, now pay attention. Once you retrieve this book, make sure it does not fall into mortal hands. If it does, do not let the human read the contents of the book. Disastrous things will occur if such a thing happens. Promise me." The woman only continued after they had all mumbled their oath. "Take the book back at any means necessary. This is imperative, you understand? Once a mortal finds out about the hidden realm, we are all dead and doomed."

None of them were understanding but took her warning seriously. They didn't want to risk anything bad happening.

"When you get the book, go to a private location before interacting with the volume. You must be very careful about this or the wrong person can access this book."

"What do you mean 'access this book'? Isn't a book accessible to everyone if you just have the hands to open the book and eyes to read it with?" Iaelie queried. 

"Not this book, darling. Now, let me continue. So, in said disclosed location, you may now open the book and read its contents. You will not have full access to the information until the book deigns you worthy, so expect most of the pages to be blank," the woman explained.

"Does the book have a . . . conscious?" Adahlia asked in a hushed whisper.

The old woman shook her head yet said, "In a certain way, yes."

"How do you know all this?" Daxelle asked.

"I have been alive for centuries, honey. I've learned quite a few things during my lifespan," she replied. Zadyn felt his jaw slacken at the admittance of her age but quickly composed himself to not seem rude.

"How do we prove ourselves worthy?" Zadyn asked, possibly the most important question. All eyes were focused intently on the librarian's as she leaned in closer to them and glanced around secretively.

"You can only prove your worth once your worth is ready to be proved," she whispered.

Daxelle leaned back, something like annoyance flashing in her eyes. "That's all good information and all, but what's the title of the book we have to find?"

The librarian smiled a secretive smile and her eyes danced with lifetimes' worth of memories, "The book is called Xørki Dæmon Trithë in the ancient fae tongue, but what you would call it is The Demon Spell."

april 19. 2022
𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖍𝖊𝖊, 𝐁𝐚𝐢
© azalyme ₂₀₂₂