"THE VALE OF WAILS was chosen by King Aarus Tamil, the Fourth Sovereign after the Golden One as a respite for old records. The library was built on the dark soil of the Dark Age, with the greatest tabula rasa of the Known World. It rose to become a monumental Pierian Spring, boasting histories of different cultures and knowledge of extinct wildlife species. This Athenaeum not only keeps the legendary books of the continent but also preserves the antiquities of the forgotten world..."
"The forgotten world?" Esabel asked.
The Keeper had been talking as they strode across the dark halls of the Athenaeum. Small torches flickered on posts high on the walls but it seemed the darkness was stronger, threatening to overpower the yellow lights.
"Yes, Your Grace," Olean replied. "The world of the Dark Ages. A lot isn't told about how the North and South came to be. Once, many centuries ago, both empires were united as one. They bore one name in unity until a Knight—"
Olean was cut short when a loud scratching echoed on the floor behind them. Marsil immediately sweeped around, pulling out his sword from the scabbard in a blur. His eyes met with darkness but the orbs immediately saw through it.
"It's nothing, Sire," Olean called to him.
Marsil noticed the man's tone was hurried, croaky even. Like he was hiding something.
The Dark Prince peered closer in the darkness. When Marsil narrowed his eyes, he spotted a small creature bent on the floor like a spider. He squinted as the creature crawled up the walls to the stone ceiling above, hanging down like a bat. The creature looked almost... human...
"Please, Your Grace. This fortress is centuries old. It makes such noises all the time."
Marsil knew the Keeper was lying through his teeth but Olean also didn't know he could see clearly in the dark.
What was the man hiding? he wondered. He suspected it had to do with the ominous creature he'd just witnessed. When he turned back his eyes to the ceiling, it was empty.
Marsil turned once more to the Keeper, placing it at the back of his mind to be careful of the man.
"Are you alright, brother?" Esabel asked. She moved her hands to touch his cheek but Marsil moved away. Sighing, she dropped back her hands and Marsil looked to Olean.
"Let us proceed."
"Very well, Sire. Tell me what you seek."
"I seek a map of the entire continent."
Olean smiled in his stride, grinning in that eerie way again.
"Then you have come to the right place, Your Grace."
The three of them walked on in the darkness, Olean's words ringing through the cold stone walls. Marsil wondered why a man—a human chose to live in such a dark place, with dark halls and wailing forests. He suspected the Keeper had something else that kept him in the Vale. The entire building was silent as a graveyard with shadows creeping everywhere.
He set his eyes on the man, carefully accessing him this time. Olean Savaeros was angular with the kind of posture that belonged to the Iron Clans. A thin, frail gait; made more obvious by his height. His eyes were dark and his lips seemed to hold a perpetual sinister smile.
Marsil removed his eyes from the man, trying to focus once more on the reason why he travelled to the Vale. The Vampire Prince, his sister; the Princess, and the shrouded Keeper walked on in the darkness, leaving only flickering torches in their wake.
Far behind them, the creature followed, it's red eyes set on Marsil.
They walked on in mild darkness for about five minutes before Olean cleared into a wide hall. Marsil and Esabel walked in a beat later. Thankfully, this room was lit with an array of shinning candles that dispelled the previous darkness in a brilliance of golden light. The room was also impressive.
It was circular with aisles that rose about twenty feet high. Books of different colors, textures and sizes rested crisp in the shelves. The musty smell of paper was everywhere, dusted by the sulfury scent of incense that kept the bookworms away.
Marsil turned around, his eyes following the paper spread. The entire room was covered in books, and books, and books.
Great tomes, Tales of past Legends, the Poem collections of revered Bards, the journals of the first Lords of Great Houses, and even a few leather-bound words of the Seventh Flame. The latter of the group written by the Cardinal: the Grace head of the Syverian Temple.
Marsil sighed at the vastness all around him. He looked to his side and Esabel. The Princess's eyes were wide as saucers on the mountain rise of books. She couldn't read through all the scripted display in a thousand lifetimes.
"It's huge," she mouthed into the massive room.
"Yes," Keeper Olean replied. "We needed a place secluded enough for all this history. Centuries of years worth of wisdom is within these walls."
Marsil turned to him.
"You alone manage the Vale and this Athenaeum?"
"No, Sire. I do have some help."
"From humans?"
Both Esabel and Olean stilled at the same time at Marsil's question. The Prince didn't fail to notice the fact that the Keeper hesitated a while before replying.
"Yes, Your Grace. Humans. Regrettably, we do not have the Annwn to aid our jobs."
The man had lied. Marsil could tell. His vampire senses had picked up an increased heartbeat when Olean replied.
The question was what was he hiding? What was the humanoid creature from the hallway?
Marsil knew not to give the man any clue as to the fact he knew he was lying. If the Keeper had some secret, the best way to discover it was to play naïve. So Marsil looked to the man.
"Is the map here?"
"Yes, my Prince. We have several in this hall but I presume you require a detailed version." Marsil nodded and Olean continued. "We have what you seek but it is in the valued quarters. Give me a moment to go and retrieve it."
He bowed again as he left the hall, the sounds of his retreating footsteps echoing off the walls of stone. Immediately he disappeared round a bend, Esabel turned to her brother.
"There's something wrong with this place. It's not just creepy. There is a weird vibe."
Marsil met her shiny blue eyes with a nod.
"The Keeper hides something. Remember the sound from earlier... the scratching on the walls?" Esabel gave a small nod. "I saw a creature in the darkness when I turned back."
Esabel walked closer.
"I didn't. Wait, you can see in the dark?"
"My eyes allow me."
"Yeah, sorry. I almost forgot you're a vampire." Marsil frowned and she smirked, obviously loving his discomfort.
"Why the hell is Olean taking so long? Night must have fallen by now and father would be worried if—"
The torches flickered on the walls and Esabel fell silent. A few candles winked out completely and shadows encroached once more. The room was now lit in only a mild splash of yellow.
"What the fuck is going on?" Esabel whispered, moving close to Marsil. The darkness seemed to shift around them.
"Stay behind me," the Prince called.
His hand met with his sword and he gripped the hilt, pulling it out slowly from the sheath. His silver mask gleamed in the moonlight pouring in from the high windows and the air turned colder.
"Something is definitely wrong with this place," Esabel rasped from where she was shadowed behind him.
Marsil stretched out his vampire senses and his eyes shone silver in the dark. He heard the scratching sound again and felt Esabel shiver behind him. He couldn't make out the exact position of the noise as the creature was moving about.
"Show yourself, creature!" he boomed. His voice rang in the walls and all the candles winked out.
"By the Seventh Flame!" Esabel croaked behind him. "No wonder no one comes here."
The only light in the room now was from the full moon bathing the hall in a ghostly silver light, and even the books looked like little wood people on the shelves.
Marsil heard a hiss just as his eyes caught on something creeping fast on the stone floors. He lifted his sword high in the air to strike but the creature vanished, moving back into the darkness. He heard nothing for a moment.
"Is it gone?" Esabel whispered from behind him. "Tell me it's gone so we can leave this frightful—"
Her words muted out when she heard the scratching sound from directly above her. Shivering with fear, she slowly lifted up her eyes and met with deadly red eyes.
"AAARGH!!!" A deafening scream tore out of her.
Marsil lifted up his eyes also at the shrill sound to spy the creature dangling down on clawed feet from the high stone ceiling. Only a second passed before the monster rushed down with terrible speed, plummeting down with an open mouth full of sharp teeth.
Marsil quickly pushed Esabel away and lifted his sword to block the onslaught. The creature raked at him on contact but the Prince was ready, swiping away before the taloned fingers could connect with his face.
Lifting his sword with blinding speed, he lunged at the creature's head. But the monster seemed to possess superhuman speed too. It retreated back fast a blur, avoiding the swipe of Marsil's blade.
The Prince couldn't see much of its body but it's head was covered by dark wet hair with only red eyes peering out. In the silver light of the moon, its limbs looked pale, but still human, howbeit twisted at awkward angles, like a spider.
Esabel moaned on the floor where Marsil had pushed her to save her. Both the creature and Marsil turned to her at the same time. He saw the monster's intent and followed it with equal speed as it rushed across to the princess. Marsil's vampire speed was faster and he reached Esabel just as the creature's clawed finger lunged for her throat.
He grabbed hold of the pale wrist with his free hand and before the creature could register his move, he brought down his sword with the other, right on its neck. Marsil was an inch away from decapitating it when the creature peered up. The clingy dark hair fell away and Marsil beheld an innocent face in the moonlight.
The creature was a girl. A human girl...
His hand stilled at the very last second, right over her skin. He held his sword to her neck and watched as her red eyes slowly began to change color. Back to a human eye color. A cream-brown shade.
His hand loosened on her wrists and she fell to the ground. Both Marsil and Esabel watched in shock as she began to shiver. Her bones began to crack, arranging back from their grotesque position to straight limbs.
Soon, all that remained on the cold stone floor was a naked heaving female with wet black hair that glued to her back and pale skin lit by the silver moon.
It was at that moment that Olean Savaeros walked back into the room. He held in his hands a rolled map and a flickering torch. His toothy smile faded when he spotted the Prince with his long steel sword stretched over the naked girl. Fearing the worst, the Keeper rushed to the Prince.
"Please, stop!" he cried. "Stop! She's my daughter..."