Adei wept, she had never wept. The emotions scattered in her inner persona made her emit a silent wail as her dorsal fin lay motionless on the ground. But her heart, never indifferent but always hollow, called up to her mind in a rhythmic, incessant order. She was ravaged. Or rather her soul was ravaged but not her duty. Her spirit may have failed but her blade, ever drawn to the lands beyond, expressed the wickedness and diligence to seek and find. Seek and find.
Now back onto her feet, Adei glanced at the window. The sun's gaze had largely withered, but still remained far over the walls. Her mind ajar thanks to her soothing warm tears, she attached her new dagger to her belt before venturing through the neighbourhood.
Before long, an arch appeared around the corner. It belonged to an abnormally vertical building, extending for many storeys in an endless strive to grasp the elusive sky. Its outer shell boasted golden motifs of a multitude of different races embedded in it. Both the segmented and weird shells found on the Bathys' insignias, but in addition, all kinds of other shells.
"Oh dear! You must be that warrior." The woman who had just come out of the building held a book in her hand "Those symbols are surely new to you; do you want me to help you?"
Adei nodded, surprised by the eagerness of her interlocutor.
"Do you know anything about us, my dear? No?" As her eyes glimmered, she took in a deep breath.
"All of the people you see represented here constitute the six tribes of Nerei. All of them have shells, and everyone you will see in this region will be one. You should recognize the Pasmathans at the centre, identified by their imposing segmented shells. As you may have already noticed, we are a hostile defensive group. Here's where it gets complicated my dear, so hold tight." Her bottom two arms focused on holding the book while the rest gave a visual representation of what she said. "Now at the top is the Saokians. They have a similar shell to us on this sculpture but are much narrower, much smaller and mostly transparent. They are very weak, and Saok was almost wiped out when the attacks started, but they found their saving grace and we have never heard about them again."
Adei was puzzled when hearing about "Attacks".
"Oh, don't worry about that my dear! Every piece of information comes at the right time. Now as I was saying, next is the Hellians, those at the bottom. This tribe was similar to the Saokians until they joined the enemies and now terrorize even our strongest allies. Thankfully they do not live close to this place. Then, the generic Nereian can be seen, a simple round shell on the top. We simply put this motif as there are too many variants to count. It is the motherland. Any shelled creature may live its life behind Nerei's sturdy defence, however, their policies lacked strength and because of that, the Hellians could develop. So, we Pasmathans decided to leave. Right next to them is the Lamadeians. Those tongue twisters are, as depicted, small triangles that look like rocks, who attach to the walls and purify the air among many other things. They are embedded in Nerei and help them in exchange for shelter."
Her eyes travelled downwards and to the left, facing towards the last design, that mysterious shell present on the Bathys. She gulped.
"And that's all for the tribes! How about we explore the inside of the library, my dear?" She pulled Adei's arm, drawing her inside.
Awe. Sheer awe. That was the single expression seen on Adei's face. The room was filled with suspended circular bookshelves which moved everywhere. Thin but robust wires attached each individual one to the ceiling. The roof itself was much lower than expected, leaving place for the complex mechanisms which controlled this marvel.
The place was occupied by a multitude of citizens, who walked up spiral stairs to grab books from passing sections. Finally, at the main control board could be found a brown Pasmathan.
"Have you already returned, Katala?" He inquired as he laid eyes on us. "And with that newcomer! What knowledge does she desire?"
Katala smiled, which was incredibly hard to decipher with her mandibles. And with a softened tone, she answered.
"Hello again Élen, this little dear doesn't know anything about our world, could you call in the Salcia shelf?"
He got to work, and with the flip of a few levers, the walls started to churn. From the multitude of bookshelves above, one lowered as if sent from the heavens. It was a thin but tall cylinder, with books spiralling up all around it. As it reached the ground, it locked in perfectly with one of the flights of stairs. The weird locations of the books around the shelf now made sense. As Katala walked up the steps, the books were all aligned with her like clockwork. She grabbed a thick book which looked as if it had spent a millennium stuck in a spider's den. As it was dragged out of its spot, Élen gave some context.
"Salcia… That name must be new for you, it's new for most of us, to be honest. Were unsure where it comes from, however, what we know is that it was used long ago… before everything broke down. Back then, both shelled and shell-less alike could coexist under this definition: a Salcian. Now, such a union would be outrageous… anyone who wants to have something in common with Hellians would be delirious."
Katala was back. On the cover of the tome, in intricate, seemingly important print was written "The Rise and Fall of the World". She opened it, and an innumerable number of notes could be seen throughout the pages. Katala's arms flew through the chapters, finally stopping at a particularly worn-out page.
"Now this book talks about the history of Salcia, it is a collection of many scriptures found throughout the ages. A multitude of librarians have examined the texts to evaluate what should be added and removed, but here is a poem talking about the enemies: Tritonians.
'Divine they came in their white robes,
To crush and pillage as would rogues.
From our utopia came our fall
For naiveness forced us to crawl.
But the yell, that pierced all ears
Caused them to shudder and shiver.
In crippled state we wiped our tears
To praise our sacred caregiver.
The enemy, labelled Triton,
Lingered and reigned where he could not,
And fearing we were left to rot,
We left to build a new nation.'"
Adei's head started to throb.
"This text originates from right after the aforementioned yell. It was a Saokian poem, traced back to their departure from Nerei to become a tribe. This text leaves a few things for interpretation, like who exactly saved everyone, but it is clear that the Tritonians destroyed everything. There you go, my dear."
"Enemy"
Her lips never moving, the ominous word had come from Adei. Her voice was not hers; it was a deep, loud growl. Concealing their apparent dread, Katala and Élen refrained from bolting away and simply closed the book shut.
"A-Adei dear? Are you alright? Maybe we should simply go outside. Don't you agree, Élen?"
Adei looked up from the closed book. Her pure white eyes peering straight through the two librarians.
"Enemy. Find. Proo."
As she prepared to lunge at their neck, but as her iris shadowed her white eyes once again, her consciousness stopped her instinct. She crumbled to the ground. The white patches on Adei had imperceptibly grown. The screams of everyone around were heard. In an instant, they rushed to the door and crammed their way outside of the library. Books were everywhere. Soon enough, many Bathys were at the door. Adei lifted her head from the ground, terrified by the imminent retaliation she expected.
"You are almost late for your meeting; we see you had other matters at hand. Follow us."
They were surrounded by three warriors, justifying their confidence. Two of them helped Adei up, and they marched. Even in the low light, she knew that all were staring at her. Katala too glared at her with distain. The blurry houses, now colossal monsters overarching her, seemed to distort in laughter as the sun hid behind the horizon. Scarlet walls engulfed the group as they moved into the city hall. She sat down.
The governors left for quite some time as the warriors kept her seated, but in her limbo, it only felt like an instant.
"We have seen your might, now understand our angst, you have burst our protective shield and exposed us to novelty, a worrisome novelty. After much deliberation, it is our obligation as protectors to ostracize you. Go. Find new regions which shall bask in your strangeness, but do not disturb our everlasting Eden. Begone before daylight"
In her comatose state, Adei only managed a smile. A crazy, jarred smile. Her defiance surprised the Bathys, not that it mattered now.