CHAPTER THREE
OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FACES
Crossing over the top of the hill, the town began to appear in the distance. It was a quaint town built on the east shore of a large body of water, to the south of a huge orange orchard. The trees stood in perfect, neat rows, their full green leaves covered in round, plump oranges. The entire orchard was open at the front, and all sides were surrounded by a white corral-style fence, with lanterns hung on every fourth fence post or so. Light ivy crept in places around the fence.
Men and women diligently picked oranges, loading their baskets so they could be moved into the village for sale. Others cleared debris. The village streets were filled with shops and cottages made of stacked stone with mortar, topped with flat stone shingle roofs. Outside the buildings were beautiful cobblestone roads, lined with green bushes and flowers. The entire village was overflowing with foliage, especially purple irises. The ancient cobblestone roads were filled with people entering through the port, docking their ships for bartering, gambling, and lustful acts with the adult workers of the village.
“We’ve finally made it. Do not get distracted by the bustle of this city. I know it can be very enticing, but we are here for the library only, not for pleasure. It’s on the west side of town,” said Zeron, gesturing to a side alley that seemed to be emptier than most of the streets.
They crossed behind a few buildings, passing what they assumed to be the town’s tavern. There was a drunken sailor sleeping on the ground, covered in straw. He smelled of alcohol, filth, and piss. Next to him, a rat nibbled on some discarded bread. “The drunken filth of this city,” Seraphina commented in disgust as they continued down the foul-smelling alley before emerging onto a rather busy street next to a confectionery shop, whose windows were filled with cakes and delicious pastries. It was there that they saw it.
The large, engraved sign read “Haker’s Books.” The sign was mounted on a wooden pole in front of a large Victorian-style building, the only one like it in town. It was two stories tall with a sloped shingled roof, and a large turret rose up from behind the building. The building was covered with large arched windows with beautiful curved Gothic accents. The entire structure was white with mild gray accents. A large wisteria vine grew up the right side of the building on an extremely large trellis. As they approached the building, Seraphina noticed the roses planted next to the library. They were a brilliant, deep red—she had only seen roses this pretty back on Zeron’s estate.
Never had she encountered anything as beautiful anywhere else in the world. The gardens had a beautiful, deep black mulch coating the ground beneath them, with a border of shining white beach stones. Someone definitely took the time to maintain all the plants on this property. Unlike the rest of the town, where the flora was abundant and grew as it pleased, this estate belonging to the library was manicured, residing in its own independent majesty.
Advancing on the building, they walked up to the large set of wooden stairs with elegant, clean black handrails, finding themselves in front of a large wooden door. The door was dressed with a small brass knocker.
“Do not touch anything in this particular library. If you do, it could possibly be the last thing you do. For this is the library of All Things. Its entrances are scattered throughout the world.” Zeron instructed Seraphina in a flat, morbid tone. A chill ran down her spine from his words. She nodded to show she understood.
He raised one hand and touched a finger to the brass ball of the large knocker. The door pulsed with a bright light that started to pour from the edges of the door. Zeron bit the tip of his thumb, breaking the skin and letting the blood flow. He pressed his blood-covered finger to the center of the door. An oval-shaped ring of bright light began flashing faster and faster, alternating vivid colors and vibrating aggressively. After about a minute, the door clicked with the sound of a large metallic latch turning over. The door slowly began to open, revealing a glowing white portal in the frame where the door had stood.
“After you,” Zeron said, gesturing for Seraphina to go first.
The young girl stepped toward the portal, plunging her body through the membrane of light, with Zeron close behind her.
A familiar sensation washed over Zeron as he followed Seraphina through the portal. That heavy, gelatinous feeling of crossing from one plane to another, followed by the metallic taste it leaves in one’s mouth for the brief moment after the transition. Zeron hated that taste. Unfortunately for him, he was more used to it than anyone should be. In his travels for the secrets to unlocking the sword, he had spent many years traveling from plane to plane, checking every realm he could possibly think of, using the clues left behind by Merlin. Once he had that sword in his hands, it would all be worth it.
Grinning as the room began to crawl into existence through the light, Zeron stepped into the large, elegant lobby. He made himself at home, strolling through the expanse of the marble-coated room. They passed through the elegant foyer, approaching a large, circular brown desk in the center of the massive marble room.
The ceiling above the desk soared many stories high, with a massive water feature pouring water down onto the large stone at the back of the koi pond. The koi pond was situated in the center of the grand staircase at the rear of the room. It was beautiful set of sculpted marble stairs, they twisted all the way to the second floor, with golden handrails that were impeccably polished. Everything here exuded such elegance. It was a lot for Seraphina to take in. Her style was more “maim and slash” than regal. Zeron had never brought her to places like this. Something was definitely happening here, but she couldn’t tell what. Nor would she risk the wrath of her master to ask.
Zeron approached the wooden desk. It was polished so smoothly you could almost see yourself in its shine, illuminated by the overhead light that seemed to magically beam down. Atop the desk sat a brass bell. Zeron rang it quickly three times: Bing, Bing, Bing. The sound echoed through the large room, with an astounding acoustics, likely due to the silence in the space.
A loud crack echoed, and then, in less than the blink of an eye, there he was. Out popped an older man with white hair, dressed in a black suit, his very dark, sunken eyes giving him a haunted look. He appeared out of thin air. It seemed. Standing about six feet tall, he was thin and lanky.
“Sesik, how many years has it been? Did you get my letter?” Zeron asked, his tone joyful.
“Yes, we got your letter and have been doing our best to make the accommodations. They were just finished about a fortnight ago. Do you not think it’s rather large, sir?” Sesik asked, his voice a dull monotone, drawn out.
“No, it will be just what we need,” Zeron replied, his face serious.
“Pardon my manners, Seraphina. This is Sesik. He is the keeper of the library,” Zeron said, introducing them.
Addressing Seraphina directly, Sesik said, “Welcome, Seraphina, to my library. As an acquaintance of Master Zeron, you are free to look around and read what you like. There is a pr—”
“She will not be doing any of that today. We have no time, unfortunately,” Zeron barked, cutting Sesik off. “Please, show us what we came for. Time is of the essence.”
Sesik nodded, gesturing for Zeron to follow him.
They walked through the large, marble-filled room, passing many statues and paintings. The halls were brimming with shelves, each filled with tomes that appeared both old and new. Leading the way down the hall, Sesik brought them to a blank section of the wall. He laid his withered hands on the wall between a statue of an arm less woman and a sculpture of books chaotically stacked. Pressing a block, multiple loud metallic clicking noises echoed, followed by a soft “psshhh” as air escaped from the cracks of a hidden room. The wall swung open effortlessly.
Inside the room was small but well-lit. At the center of the room, a small gemstone of vibrant, deep green floated in midair. Zeron approached, only to stop a few feet away from the gem. He held out his hand, as if reaching for the hand of a dear friend. The stone sprang to life, spinning wildly to his touch.
Seraphina watched in amazement, unsure of what her master was doing, but excited nonetheless.
“It seems to be accepting your power, Master Zeron,” Sesik noted.
Taking the stone in hand, a wildfire blazed in Zeron’s eyes. It was ready!
Zeron quickly went over the plan in his mind.
“OUTSIDE… OUTSIDE NOW, SERAPHINA!” Zeron proclaimed in an almost crazed joy, before flicking his wrist and magically moving her out of the room. Before she could blink, she was back in the main room of the library.
Zeron rushing with the stone in his hands, Seraphina asked, “Master, why are we going so quickly?”
“This is it, girl. All of my planning, hunting, and waiting, all in my hands. This is an enchanted gemstone. With its power, I’ll be able to sacrifice this whole town in an instant if I choose. Once in place, Helian High officers will notice this large influx of magic. They will Drop their enchantments to send mercenaries after me to investigate. Then, and only then, will be our chance to sneak into the city through the Door they will open for us. We must create a spectacle for them,” Zeron said hastily.
Seraphina’s facial expression shifted to one of great joy. Her bloodthirsty nature was definitely showing. She stormed through the entry of the library, heading back toward the portal with an unwavering pace. From there, they made their leap, feeling the rush of passing from one plane to another through the entry portal.
Their feet landed back on the front deck of the Gothic library. Zeron threw the gemstone as high as he could above the city with his immense, unnatural strength. The gemstone stopped above the center of town, spinning rapidly. A green beam of energy bore down into the well, destroying the canopy over the structure in the process. Shingles flew in every direction.
Zeron raised his hands quickly, ripping an entire house from the ground, breaking it into hundreds of pieces and scattering them in every direction. Distant screams echoed from the horrified townspeople.
“Seraphina, prove to me that you deserve to be my protégé!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, cracking with a wicked grin. He threw her a small stone from his satchel, his wicked eyes ablaze.
She recognized it as one of the stones from the cave as it traveled through the air. Once it hit her hands, she could feel it pulsing in her palm. All the power he had collected while she slept, trapped in this small stone. It was tremendous
Quickly acting as she needed no instruction from her master. She took it with both hands, breaking it in half and swallowing the pieces. Choking them down violently was brutal, but the reward was heavy.
Her body resonated with an influx of energy. Electricity crackled from her body, ripping through the air from the surge of magical power. It arched, crashing across the ground and nearby structures. “This must be what Master feels all the time,” Seraphina thought excitedly to herself.
She focused her sight on a man with a little girl, both running from the house explosion caused by her master. In an instant, she was on him almost as fast as she had the thought to move. Lifting the man off the ground and choking him with just her gaze. She was mere feet from the man now staring into his eyes. The man scraped his hands at his throat, gasping for air, but nothing came to satisfy the burn in his lungs. She let the man fall to the ground, his body slamming into the solid earth, hard as he gasped for every precious breath he could get. Seraphina whispered into his ear, “I’m going to enjoy eating this child after I kill you.”
With a swift grab of the man’s neck, a loud snapping noise echoed. His upper spine was broken. His body went limp, collapsing to the ground.
Seraphina turned to face the ghost-white, shell-shocked child, staring her down with those menacing red eyes.
“P-p-please don’t eat me, please,” the child begged, frozen in terror.
“Not to worry, child. That was only for dear papa to think about as he died. My master won’t allow me to kill you. Lucky for you, though, you would be delicious,” Seraphina said, laughing deeply, showing her teeth to the girl.
The child ran off, fleeing from the chaos. Seraphina turned to continue her rampage through the town. “CREPITUS.” Seraphina whispered as an entire row of four houses exploded. Debris-filled smoke choked the area, lowering viability.
Zeron made his way through the town as if it were warm butter, destroying houses, killing livestock and magically flinging people into the air to fall to their deaths. He was determined to cause so much chaos that no one could ignore him. He would hide no longer. Normally, sacrificing people would be fast and quiet. This, however, needed all the attention he could grab.
A group of people came running toward him, armed with sharp farm instruments such as pitchforks and axes. This excited him. Compared to these non-magical people, he was essentially a god. He let them approach, allowing a man to shove a rusty pitchfork through his stomach.
Zeron grabbed the pitchfork handle, burning it in half. He yanked it from his stomach just before throwing it, impaling the initial attacker. The man flew back from the force, coming to a fatal stop, pinned to the side of a nearby cobblestone store.
The crowd stood stunned, unable to react in any way other than panic. Before they could process what they’d seen, Zeron snapped his fingers, tearing their tools from the hands. Animating the tools, he butchered the townsfolk in a quick maner.
He set his sights on the orchard, rubbing his hands together over the fence before placing them on the nearest fence post. The entire fence line erupted in hot flames, trapping everyone inside the orchard with him.
“Inviera!” Zeron’s voice boomed through the orchard. All the root systems sprang to life, lashing out and whipping the skin off the workers’ backs in deep red chunks. Some roots dragged people up into the trees, beating them into bloody ribbons.
Zeron picked up an orange from the ground, biting deeply to suck the juice from it. He turned to see his assistant using her newfound, abundant strength to grab escapees, ripping their throats out with her hardened nails.
A tremendous shaking, followed by a loud crack, echoed through the air.
“Ah, right on time. I was wondering when they would open the rift,” Zeron said as he charged back to the front of the orchard.
A mysterious figure charged in from the treeline. She was fast—really fast. Standing roughly 5’10” in tall, her hair the color of orange flames, cascaded down her back like a molten river. Her eyes, pools of emerald green, crackled with magical energy, reflecting the depths of her power. Clad in a tightly woven white and golden combat outfit, with ancient runes stitched into the sleeves, she exuded power and speed.
Before Seraphina could even react to the woman’s presence, it was too late. The figure was on top of her. Grabbing her by the throat, she yanked Seraphina off the ground and repeatedly slammed her head into the cobbled road, forcing Seraphina to release her grip on an innocent citizen. Each impact sent a sharp jolt of pain through her skull, and in the moments between slams, Seraphina caught a flash of the woman’s face.
As darkness overtook her vision, just before she lost consciousness, Seraphina realized this was no ordinary guard. It was the Royal Princess Serana.
With one final, brutal slam into the road, Seraphina blacked out. Serana kicked her in the side of the head for good measure, sending her body flying into a nearby building.
“Now that the gazelle is asleep, it’s time to dance with the lion,” Serana murmured to herself, a smile curling on her lips.
She took off through the chaotic mess the duo had created. Holding her hand over one of the runes, she conjured dark clouds over the town, blocking out the sun. Two magical circles appeared on the backs of her hands as her eyes began to glow a fierce, penetrating green visible from far away. The wind picked up, and soon, rain began to pour from the sky. It was a storm she had summoned. Zeron watched in impressed silence as the heavy rain hammered the ground, extinguishing fires everywhere.
Then, she saw it. The smoke rising heavily from the other side of town. “There!” It had to be where he was hiding… setting her sights for the orchard.
Charles Cox | Kingdom of Roses Books 