The atmosphere was quiet and filled with tension as the truth was revealed to me, I guess one could say of course it'd come like a shock to me. Already beaten up by despair what more does Xerxes want from me.
"Why are you telling me this?"
The cold tune of my voice echoed throughout the secret library, obviously I wasn't happy at what had transpired so far so I needed to know. What exactly were the old man intentions telling me the truth about Xerxes? Seeing as this information was restricted from the outside world.
"Your well acquainted with the Beast Sage, am I correct?"
I stared down at the old man, I wasn't angry at him or anything, but the mention of Xerxes was a topic that would get me furious.
"What if I am?"
I fired his question back at him with another question of my own, previously I regarded myself as a student of Xerxes but now it doesn't seem to be the case.
"If the Beast Sage took interest in you, that means you have been chosen, you must flee as far away as you can from here as possible. To prevent the end of the world you must not let Xerxes take over."
This warning left me astonished, what the hell did he mean by not letting Xerxes take over, take over what?
"I don't understand what your saying pops, take over what?"
"As strong as the previous Greek Dragon Sage is, he is only still human, being mortal there's a limit to how long his body can handle the evil essence of the dark society."
As the old man spoke he flipped a page of the book resting on the altar and resumed his explanations.
"After absorbing the dark essence, Xerxes used it to wreak havoc on the mortal realm. It was a ghastly time in the history of humanity, countless life's were lost so was the life of both the first Arcana Sage and the only Roman Dragon Sage."
He paused and flipped through another page which had more pictorial presentation than the previous one, being familiar with the history of Terre Lane explaining the pictures was no issue at all.
"However the two Sage's drove him to his limit before they died and his weakness bloomed, the more he made use of the Beast Sage magic, the more his body deteriorated thereby shortening his life span by a great deal."
He flipped through another page which was more detailed than the rest of the pages.
"For centuries Xerxes has been stealing the bodies of exceptional mages and transferring his consciousness and power into his host thereby changing his appearance, a few are aware of this while most believe he died along with the rest of the Sage's."
THUD!
The old man slammed the book together and closed it, since we got here he was calm, but after closing the book, a disturbing look of concern was drawn on his face and that sent chills down my spine.
"The truth is Xerxes never revealed himself or carried out his plan all this time because the bodies he took over couldn't handle the dark essence, at most each had a span of five years remaining, if he uses the beast Sage magic they will deteriorate in less than six months. It usually takes him three years before he searches for a new host, but it's too early, if he took you in as a student now that means he found it, the perfect vessel!."
The words of the old timer slowly made me feel like I shouldered a heavy burden, it he was trying to say what I think he's saying then I have more worries than I anticipated.
"If he took interest in you this early, it means he must have realized it, it means he found the perfect vessel, you must not let him have you!."
The old man let go of his stick and slumped towards me before grabbing my shirt in an act of desperation.
"You must flee child! if he takes over your body it's all over! Do you hear me it's all over!."
Whatever the old man said was none of my concern as of the moment because I just recalled a statement he made earlier.
"As a student...oh no Rachel!"
Putting all the pieces together I realized that Xerxes also lied about Rachel, if what the old man says was true that meant Rachel was in trouble and Xerxes lied about her whereabouts.
I tried running out of the library but the old man held me tightly by the shirt, he was determined not to let me go back to Xerxes, being a strong believer he was willing to do anything to avoid me and Xerxes crossing paths.
"Stop! you must flee!."
The old geezer was persistent and it became utterly annoying, I for one won't let Rachel die. If I run away from here that'll mean until Xerxes found me he'd use Rachel's body as standby.
"No! I have to save Rachel, I won't let her fall prey to Xerxes!."
The old geezer could see my resolve but he wasn't going to allow me meet once more with Xerxes.
"AARHHHHH!!."
He lost his mind, he grabbed his stick and pushed a button I didn't even realize was there, the bottom part of the stick fell off and a blade was revealed. The old man had prepared for this, to even kill me just to prevent Xerxes from being unleashed into the world once again.
He swung his blade swiftly towards my neck, if he managed to kill me the worries of Xerxes finding the perfect vessel would dissipate.
I wasn't going to die in the hands of an old geezer, and leave Rachel in the hands of a beast.
WHOOSH!
Wind energy surged towards my body and surrounded me swiftly, before the blade could kill me I sped off with a blur of motion, the old man was catapulted towards the door as he couldn't handle the pressure of my speed. I raced out of the community library swiftly and out of Terre Lane.
"Grrrr....NOO!."
The old man groaned loudly as he let a flawless opportunity pass him by, he yelled out in rage realizing the very thing he wanted to prevent was about to happen.