“Not just difficult! No!” The woman screamed as another layer of her magic was shredded as though it never had been. “I survived the fall of Everium! I survived the rage of the gods! I can’t die, not here!”
“You died. Created undeath. Not survived,” Sistina corrected, shaking her head as the web shattered the last defenses of the spirit. “Rest. Goodbye.”
“No!” The spirit gave a last scream of rage, even as the web of light closed around the orb. The web paused, but slowly cut through the orb, leaving behind glowing trails as the enchanted item shattered.
There was a blast of magic which rocked Sistina back on her heels, and she winced as she heard stone bouncing off the floor. When she looked again, the orb was nothing more than fragments on the floor, and she felt the sense of necromancy through the building begin to dissipate. So she let out another sigh and murmured, “Goodbye.”
That done, she continued her explorations.
Opening the main library door had been difficult, but finally Sistina found something that was good news in the academy. The library was almost fully intact, in part due to the door having been magically barricaded to the point that the ghouls hadn’t been able to get inside.
Eventually she managed to crack the spells, which had been difficult with how incredibly well-layered they were. The library was three floors of closely fitted bookshelves, which was surprisingly well kept, to the point that Sistina was startled, right up until she saw the corpse sitting in a chair, a book open in front of the skeletal figure.
She sensed no necromantic energy from the figure, which looked almost like the man had gone to sleep in his chair and died there. His robe was threadbare, and she could see several spotless rings and necklaces on the table. But she stepped forward and glanced at the book, only to raise her eyebrows in surprise. The last page appeared to be the last entry of a journal.
I’m not certain what date it might be. Perhaps turning to undeath was not the best of solutions, but at least I did not go mad like Risana. The headmaster warned me that I might not be able to find a way to escape in the library, but I never believed him. Still, he did manage to preserve the last pair of surviving students with Kassandra’s aid. I never thought that the vampire would actually be a help, but she was quite selfless. Hopefully she still sustains the spells, but I have no way of knowing.
Having now read the library no less than four times, I’ve grown weary of my imprisonment here. All attempts to contact outsiders have failed, and the stone is oddly resilient even to the spells I would have sworn I’d cast correctly. Perhaps it’s the aftermath of the dead gods? I couldn’t say. But lest I join Risana in madness, I am going to end my unlife by my own hands. If any ever read this journal, let it be known that I, Bentar Firstlight, did not give up easily. But no matter my determination, time has worn me down, and it is time for me to rest at last. If Kassandra’s unlife still holds, she and two of our students still live in a chamber hidden behind the headmaster’s office.
Glancing at the corpse again, Sistina looked around the library, considering for a moment, then shook her head. If he had read all of the books, as he claimed, he must have been here for a century or more before giving up. Still, the information about the vampire intrigued her, and she hesitated only a moment before leaving the library. If it was possible there were survivors, no matter how remote the chance, books could wait.
While Sistina couldn’t be certain, the headmaster’s office probably would be at the top of the tower. She had no idea why they would put an office in such an inconvenient spot, but it seemed to be normal in the books she’d read.
It was a fairly long trip, and the stairs weren’t in the best of shape. Some of them were crumbling and would need to be fixed. Eventually she made it up to the top floor and found the door that she thought was likely the headmaster’s office. It was half off its hinges, revealing an office that had seen better days, much like the rest of the academy. It was funny how the library had almost been in better shape than the mage academy, but the library had also been essentially abandoned.
The more pertinent aspect was that she could feel faint emanations of mana from in the room, including the barest hint of necromancy, aside from the fading remnants of the orb from below. Following the emanations, Sistina came to a wall near the desk on the left side of the chamber.
All across the surface of the wall were claw marks, but they went only a quarter-inch into the wall before they exposed scratched old metal which looked like steel. Obviously the ghouls hadn’t been able to get through it, so they’d eventually given up. It was when Sistina examined it, though, that she saw a problem.
There were no enchantments she could see on the door. Oh, it’d once borne enchantments, but they’d faded long before, and she couldn’t see how to open it. Maybe they were hidden from regular magical sight?
It took her nearly an hour of searching for a magical mechanism to open the door before she finally was convinced there couldn’t be one. Not even the most powerful of wards should be able to avoid her detection at this range. But as she glared at it in aggravation, a slight discoloration on a nearby mural caught her eye. She blinked, glancing at it and her eyes narrowing, then reached out to touch it.
The button was old and stiff, and took a moment to press inward, but when she did, the wall rumbled, crunching backward slightly and starting to swing out of the way, only to grind to a halt due to the rubble. Sighing in even more aggravation, Sistina glared at the wall. Why did a mage academy use secret buttons to hide rooms, anyway? It just was frustrating!
Shaking off the annoyance, she shoved the door out of the way, curious to see what was in the room, slightly hopeful. The interior of the room was lined with bookshelves, faintly guttering enchantments still attempting to preserve them, while a circle with a body in the center dominated the center of the room, and two columns of ebon darkness sat in the corner.
The circle was a complex formation, and laying in it, clothing half rotted to nothing, was a wizened female body with an ash stake thrust through its chest, hands clutching the stake. The figure’s teeth were normal, save for two lengthened incisors, and Sistina knew it was the vampire. She could also sense the faintest hint of unlife from the vampire, indicating that she still lived in a manner of speaking, though it was… fragile at best. The circle itself was drawing mana from the vampire and supplying it to the two columns of darkness.
Those pillars were each stasis fields, and their presence shocked Sistina. Stasis magic was incredibly unstable, particularly when a living creature was contained within them, so that even a vampire could sustain these for potentially thousands of years was incredible. Examining the spell forms, Sistina’s respect for the caster grew, as she saw how despite being crafted quickly, the caster had done everything possible to ease the instabilities. The problem was that it was so unstable at the moment that she wasn’t certain she dared touch the spell. Touch it wrong, and it might explode and take those inside with it.
Frowning, Sistina shook her head and murmured, “Need to think. Will help. Promise.”
And with that said, she carefully closed the door again, to protect the poor survivors from death by accident.
Chapter 41
“If the library was in this bad of shape before we arrived, I don’t blame Sistina for being grumpy with Farlon,” Phynis told Desa as the mage helped her over a fallen pillar.
“Agreed. This place is a disaster,” Desa replied, frowning as she looked around them. “I think I got spoiled by the library.”
They bypassed the pillar and headed toward where Sistina had said the library was. Phynis couldn’t believe that the building was still intact with so much damage dealt to it. But as they came around a final corner, the guttering lights of the ancient structure barely functioning, she let out a soft sigh. “Oh, there it is!”
Phynis could hear the soft voices of Ellis and Zarenya from inside the library. The two researchers seemed to be spiritedly discussing something, which see
med out of character for either of them. Mostly because Zarenya rarely seemed to get worked up about anything, really.
“What’s going on?” Desa asked, stepping into the musty library. Phynis followed with a wrinkled nose. It smelled like death throughout the academy, which she couldn’t get over.
The two researchers paused, looking at Desa, before Zarenya pointed at a trio of books on the table, sounding almost angry as she explained. “We’re discussing who needs to lecture Sistina about defiling priceless artifacts! I can’t believe she would make corrections to them!”
“What are you talking about? Why are these particular books the priceless ones?” Phynis asked, frowning at them. She couldn’t see their titles, but the books were rather thick.
“Because even the Royal Academy only has one of these books, and it’s an incomplete copy!” Ellis exclaimed, gesturing angrily. “Marin’s Codex was almost a legend even before the Godsrage, with no one I’ve heard of claiming they had all the volumes! There are three of them here… three! That’s a third of the total, and she… she…”
“Marin’s Codex?” Desa asked, her eyes going huge, and she almost instantly stepped forward to open the first book, her breath catching as she murmured, “Oh, goddess! It’s the first volume! I’ve only seen part of the second volume!”
“Why is this codex so important?” Phynis asked calmly, and her eyes narrowed. “Besides, I’ve never heard of Sistina doing more than reading books before. Why would she correct this book?”
The other three exchanged looks, and after a moment Zarenya spoke, her tone still disapproving, almost incensed. “Marin’s Codex was a legend because it was said that the nine purported volumes were the basis of magical theory for nearly a quarter of known ancient mage academies. It was said to be an exhaustive summary of the basics of magical theory. According to the first volume, which is a copy of a translation of a copy of the originals, I must add, the originator of the codex, Marin herself, died and most of the volumes were lost. Even a single volume is utterly priceless. And then Sistina just took an inkpen to it without thought.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” Desa murmured, frowning as she looked one of the pages over.
“Why?” Ellis demanded, staring at her. Desa looked up and tapped the page gently.
“Because she clarified a line that was somewhat unclear here on the first page,” the mage replied, tilting her head. “This is a book for beginning mages… which means you should look at it, Phynis. But that gives me a better idea of its contents than you would necessarily have. Her notes are a clearer, more concise way of explaining one of the core concepts of weaving a spell. Being perfectly honest, I find that somewhat disturbing. I know she has immense magical knowledge, but—”
“But you don’t know the half of it,” Farris interrupted, stepping into the room and looking around for a moment. Everyone stared at her, somewhat surprised, and the golem looked at them after glancing at the room. “Why do all of you seem so surprised to see me?”
“I’m mostly surprised that you came down here. You seemed to mostly be staying back in the cavern,” Phynis spoke after a moment, examining Farris with a little concern.
“I’m here because you came down here, Phynis,” Farris corrected her gently, smiling slightly. “I made a promise to Sistina, when I came to her. I was frustrated and angry that I’d failed to help you when you were shot, and that I died without being able to do anything important. I chose to come to her for the chance to protect you again. Perhaps it’s a minor thing to you, but it’s important to me.”
“Oh.” Phynis blushed slightly at the information. After a moment, she shook her head and asked. “Um, so what did you mean? About Sistina’s knowledge?”
“When I was merely a soul, Sistina held me in her sea of knowledge. I could only understand the tiniest scraps of what was there, but even what I could manage was enough to increase my knowledge tenfold,” Farris explained, approaching and glancing down at the book. “It is such a fundamental part of her that she draws magical formulae the way you or I can breathe. The difference is, she’s also rather slow with magic.”
“What do you mean that she’s slow? We’ve seen her drop a ceiling on people without notice!” Desa protested.
“That wasn’t a spell,” Farris told her, shrugging slightly. “It was like moving her arm. It took a lot of energy, so it probably would be more like you rolling a massive boulder, but it was part of her. When Sistina actually casts spells, she’s slow and precise. You or I could cast essentially identical spells as her in two thirds the time or less.”
“Hmm. That is rather slow. I wonder why?” Desa murmured, considering.
“I think that we’re getting sidetracked. Ellis? What were you and Zarenya doing before you got outraged by Sistina’s corrections?” Phynis asked politely.
“We were trying to find books on demons, so we could figure out more about the brands,” Ellis replied, looking at his mentor. “We just started with the books on the table.”
“Right. Well, I suggest you get back to work. I’ll go find Sistina and ask her why she wrote in the books. Is that acceptable?” Phynis inquired, her eyes narrowing slightly. She wouldn’t be amused if they didn’t think it was acceptable.
“Yes, ma’am.” Zarenya spoke first, glancing at Ellis and nodding. “That is most reasonable.”
“Excellent. Now, does anyone know where Sistina is?” Phynis asked, looking at them. She felt like she could probably find the dryad, but she wasn’t certain. Their link could be useful, but it mostly seemed to lead to the tree.
“I thought I saw her head upstairs when we got here,” Ellis offered. “I don’t know more than that.”
“That’s enough for me to find her. Thank you, Ellis,” Phynis replied, smiling at him, then looking at Desa with a raised eyebrow. “Coming, Desa?”
The mage reluctantly pulled away from the tome, looking wistful. “Of course. This is just incredible.”
“You can look at it later. We’ve got all winter ahead of us,” Phynis said firmly.
The murmuring words of spells from the chamber ahead made Phynis pause. Why would Sistina be casting a spell?
When they entered the room, Phynis blinked in surprise as the words grew louder. Sistina was in a chamber attached to the room proper, seemingly having been hidden by a secret door. Phynis recoiled slightly at the sight of the corpse and two black pillars, opening her mouth to say something. Desa stopped her with a quick gesture, shaking her head as she nodded at Sistina.
The dryad was murmuring her spell as she chalked out an intricate array of symbols on the floor around the circle that surrounded the corpse. Her runes were tightly packed and complex, and she’d done over ten rings around the figure so far. Phynis blinked and looked at Desa, whose brow was furrowed as she watched. After a minute, the mage let out a soft sound of comprehension. “Ah!”
“What is it?” Phynis whispered, watching Sistina keep going.
“She’s trying to reinforce the spells that are in place. At least, that’s what the first couple are for,” Desa explained, and looked back at Farris. “Farris? Any other ideas?”
“No, you have the right of it. I can’t tell what the full formation is for either, but it seems to be extremely delicate,” Farris confirmed, nodding slightly. “We’d best wait for her to finish.”
Sistina worked fairly quickly, but even so, she was making such large circles at this point that they were waiting several minutes. The dryad was so focused on her work that Phynis began to grow worried. Why would Sistina be so concerned about this?
Eventually Sistina finished her runes and stopped. Brushing a hair away from her face, the dryad slowly walked around the circle again, carefully studying it. Finally nodding in satisfaction, she looked over at them and smiled, approaching Phynis and giving her a gentle, warm hug. Phynis smiled, murmuring softly, “Thank you, Sistina. Are you well?”
“Yes. Busy,” Sistina confirmed, glancing back at the body.
�
��Before we ask what you’re doing there, let’s ask about the books,” Desa interrupted quickly. “We get sidetracked in conversations with Sistina a lot, and I don’t want to forget about that.”
“Books?” Sistina inquired, her brow furrowing. “Which?”
“Ellis and Zarenya were dismayed to find that you’d written in some books in the library,” Phynis explained delicately, trying to ensure the other two didn’t sound so angry. She luxuriated in Sistina’s soft warmth and the scent of lilacs that Sistina seemed to exude. “The academy library, I should add. Why did you write in them?”
“Those books.” Sistina seemed enlightened and nodded, smiling. “Incomplete. Mistranslated. Annoyed, so corrected.”
“How… you know what, never mind. You probably don’t remember how you know that,” Desa began, then sighed and shook her head. “I don’t suppose that the other volumes are around here somewhere?”
“No. Obnoxious. Meant as set,” the dryad replied, her voice revealing faint annoyance. “Try to remember. Rewrite.”
Phynis nodded, but before she could speak, Farris asked, “While that’s interesting, may I ask what you’re doing with the body and spells in there, Sistina? I don’t recognize anything of the original spell save for that it’s designed to draw out power from the… corpse.”
“Vampire. Sustaining stasis spells, survivors,” Sistina told them, pulling away from Phynis to point at the black pillars. Phynis saw Sistina pause on seeing chalk dust on her fingers and frown. The dryad wiped her fingers off, and gently batted at Phynis’ clothing where she had left chalk marks. The ridiculousness of her actions made Phynis giggle, even through her shock.
“Those are stasis spells? And they’re still functional?” Desa asked, shock in her voice as she stared at the two pillars as if she’d seen a ghost. “How?”
“Difficult. Very unstable,” Sistina replied, pointing at the vampire’s body. “Almost dead. Century more, perhaps. Spells delicate. Wrong action, explode. Destroy upper floors. Must be careful.”
Spells of Old (Ancient Dreams Book 2) Page 29