Books of all shapes and sizes adorned the library's endless shelves, the history of the demon race prior to the crossing of the gate was all gathered in one place. Serving as a silent reminder of what the demons once were, and what they may never achieve again.
Adam walked side by side with Onvyr. He scanned through the shelves and even picked up a few books out of sight, but every single one was written in a language foreign to him. he quickly realized that the library held no answers, at least none that he could understand.
"any ideas on what's in the twenty-fifth section?"
Adam sighed, finally giving up after yet another book he opened turned out to be unreadable, and decides to help Onvyr so he can leave quickly and prepare for his penance quest.
"not really, the sections are just there for directions and to keep some semblance of order. most of the books are written in dead languages that no one can read, and thus can't be categorized."
"what about the one you showed me earlier?"
The two spoke in a quiet tone in an attempt to walk through the halls of the library without drawing too much attention to themselves from the guards and scholars roaming about, they were not welcomed here and they knew it. The Vu'ul clan was forced to let them in by the orders of the demon lord, but that doesn't mean they couldn't subtly get in their way.
"that one is special, it isn't too old when compared to the other books here, and the language was thought to me by my father a very long time ago. It's basically the journal of an underachieving scholar, so it isn't that impressive…yet now it is considered to be a source of great, and powerful knowledge."
That book intrigued Adam. It held no knowledge about humanity since it was written long before the demons crossed the gate, but the information it holds might help him understand more about the red harvest.
"I see…I assume this is the twenty-fifth section? The place is wrecked, it must've been one hell of a battle... somehow"
Burned and destroyed books littered the ground, resting atop the remains of destroyed shelves swimming in pools of blood.
"Indeed, she was caught rummaging through these shelves here, she fought off the one who managed to spot her; thankfully the battle drew others to the area, and the fight only escalated from there, two guards died and five were heavily injured by the end of it. that is to be expected, that girl managed to climb the ranks of the Ash'ai clan while being pushed down for being a lowborn"
Onvyr searched the ground, picking up one damaged book after the other to examine. He hoped to find a correlation between them that would explain why this particular section was targeted.
These books are from totally different eras… they aren't even written in the same language. Why would she go after this particular spot? Should I just give it up and try to get the truth out of Nula? No, I can't stir up the pot anymore or it may cause problems.
Book after book was picked up, examined, and thrown back down atop the ash and blood littering the ground. Onvyr was too deep in thought to care for the historical value they held or even the knowledge contained within them.
This is pointless, the books aren't even categorized and even if they were I wouldn't know what she took. I'm grasping at straws, the scene itself is too regular so what evidence is there to find? No special magic or weapons were used here, even an amateur can tell at a glance.
He knew that if Shiira is telling the truth, he'd have a disaster on his hands. The mere mention of will-bending magic would probably spark chaos and cause the clans to accuse each other of being controlled by the enemy, leading to another civil war, one that they may never recover from.
Adam watched Onvyr's anger increase more and more while examining the scene himself. The traces of fire and wind magic were clear due to the burn and slash marks everywhere, however, that was not uncommon in a battle between magic users, it is a powerful tool but it leaves a big mess behind.
The fire magic used here must've been Shiira's. not bad… it's certainly leagues better than anything the Vu'ul clan can use, although the fact that they managed to capture her at all is an unbelievable achievement, it's like a group of Dra'ig clan warriors fighting me into submission…wait!
"something isn't right here."
Onvyr looked back at Adam hoping but not expecting him to have figured something out.
"what do you mean?"
"you said the guards here managed to capture her while only losing two of their own, right?"
Onvyr stood up, dropping the books in his hand, interested to hear what Adam had to say.
"yes, that is what the report mentioned."
"that makes no sense, the guards here are very weak, their magic barriers are practically non-existent and their sword handling is horrible. I just can't see them beating her. I never got to see her in battle during our meeting in that forest but since she was sent after me I assume she's an elite warrior, the one leading their party wasn't too weak after all. Don't get me wrong, the whole team was incompetent, but they were incompetent soldiers at least."
"what are you getting at?"
Onvyr was confused, he knew Adam was correct in his assessment of the Vu'ul clan. they were very weak when it came to fighting prowess, but he didn't understand what it had to do with the situation at hand.
"what if she got caught on purpose?"
"what are you—"
"the easiest way to leave once your seen is escorted out in chains. Think about it, she could've easily fought her way out but that would've drawn attention to her from stronger warriors once she reached the surface, so why bother? If she has some method to hide whatever book she stole, all that would be left to do is stage a fight to destroy any evidence in the area, and then be escorted out to wherever you keep prisoners. If she managed to sneak all the way to the F floor I'm sure she can escape from her cell undetected, along with whatever she stole from here."
The pieces fell into place and the full image became clear to Onvyr. He was too preoccupied with thinking about the long-term effects this incident and its outcome would have on the balance of power between the clans, and it blinded him to the danger right in front of his eyes.
He realized how much he had underestimated Shiira and whoever she worked for, she had information about the grand library, all the way down to floor F; such intel is difficult to come by even for Onvyr himself, meaning the one behind this whole thing was much more powerful than the average adversary of the demon empire.
"we need to go, she's being held by the Dra'ig clan. they are strong but we must act quickly, she can't be allowed to leave the capital."
The clock was ticking on the two, they had a destination and a target, but unfortunately, they weren't the only ones going after her.