“We’ll land here,” Alister commanded. Cinder and Terra immediately adjusted their flight, their massive wings creating powerful gusts as they descended, kicking up dust as their claws dug into the sand.
They touched down smoothly in the open plaza before the castle. Alister then leaped off Cinder’s head, landing on the ground with a massive thud. With a shimmer of light, Cinder and Terra reverted to their humanoid combat forms.
Cinder’s silver hair and armor gleamed under the sun, complementing her black tail that swayed lightly behind her.
Beside her, Terra stood with elegance. Her golden hair caught the sunlight like threads of spun gold, her gold-and-white armor gleaming. Her glasses glinted as she adjusted them, her tail swaying behind her.
Alister gave them both a brief glance as the desert winds ruffled his black hair, his signature calm expression unchanging. “Let’s move,” he said, striding toward the open entrance.
As they moved, Terra quickened her pace slightly, aligning herself with Alister’s measured strides.
Her golden hair swayed gently in the dry breeze, and her glasses caught a fleeting glint of sunlight. She glanced at him, then spoke.
“My Lord…”
“…if I may, I would like your permission to take back some of the books here. The knowledge of my ancestors should not remain lost to time.”
Alister glanced at her, his expression calm but thoughtful. “I understand, Terra. You have my permission,” he said. “But remember, that is not our main focus.”
Cinder, walking a step behind, tilted her head, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly. “Then what is, my Lord?” she asked as her tail flicked behind her.
Alister stopped for a moment, turning to face them both, his voice suddenly becoming calm and intense, almost making the air around him seem heavier.
“If I’m correct…”
“…there’s a fragment of Restria somewhere in this castle.”
Terra froze mid-step, her right hand instinctively rising to adjust her glasses as a look of shock crossed her face.
“Restria?” she asked, her voice filled with shock. “The legendary blade of the Dragon God… Are you certain, my Lord?”
“Yes,” Alister replied, his eyes meeting hers with resolve. “And if it’s here, retrieving it is our top priority.”
Both women exchanged glances before turning back to him, their expressions turning intense.
“Understood, my Lord,” they said together.
They continued walking. The grand entrance stood before them, its weathered stone archway etched with runes long forgotten by the passing of time.
Beyond it, the air grew heavy, carrying the faint smell of dust and aged parchment. The castle library loomed ahead, its towering spires piercing the pale light of daybreak, their cracked surfaces draped in creeping ivy and shadowed by centuries of neglect.
Inside, the temperature dropped sharply.
Alister stepped in first, his boots echoing against the ancient stone floor, his breath suddenly visible in the cold atmosphere. The walls were lined with towering shelves filled with crumbling archives.
A faint golden glow flickered from enchanted wall lamps mounted sporadically along the walls, casting shadows that danced across the room.
“This place feels alive,” Cinder said, her crimson eyes scanning their surroundings. Her tail flicked, reflecting her unease. “Like it’s watching us.”
“Alive or cursed, it doesn’t matter,” Alister said flatly, his gaze sharp. “We’re here for the fragment. Stay focused.”
Terra adjusted her glasses, the faint blue glow of her eyes shining brighter in the dim light as she looked around, past the shelves to see if there were any monsters nearby.
The group moved deeper into the vast hall, their steps accompanied by the creaking of wooden shelves and the distant sound of shifting stone.
Every so often, a faint whisper echoed through the chamber, like the rustling of pages being turned, though none of them mentioned it aloud, believing it was due to the wind.
The air within the castle library was dense. The faint golden glow from the enchanted wall lamps flickered intermittently, casting long shadows across the walls.
The towering bookshelves seemed to stretch endlessly upward, their cracked and decaying frames holding countless tomes that exuded an aura of ancient power.
Some books hovered slightly off their shelves, as if resisting the pull of time and gravity.
Cinder walked beside Alister, her crimson eyes scanning their surroundings. Her hands were folded neatly in front of her, her posture relaxed yet tense.
Occasionally, a stray lock of her silver hair would fall over her face, prompting her to gently tuck it behind her ear.
Meanwhile Terra’s demeanor shifted from cautious curiosity to outright excitement. Her cosmic blue eyes gleamed behind her glasses, her tail wagging furiously as they passed by towering shelves filled with old tomes and scrolls.
Every so often, she would dart forward, her hands gently caressing the edges of the weathered parchment or tracing the glowing runes etched into their covers.
“By the Wyrm’s breath!” Terra exclaimed, her voice quivering with delight as she carefully pulled a scroll from a nearby shelf.
She held it up like a priceless treasure, her cheeks flushed. “This is ‘The Codex of Celestial Threads’! It’s said to detail the weaving of dimensional spells that could stabilize entire planes of existence! Oh, I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime!”
She hugged the scroll to her chest for a moment before carefully placing it into the mind
space.
Her tail wagged so enthusiastically that it brushed against a nearby shelf, dislodging a layer of dust that made Cinder grimace slightly.
“Terra,” Cinder said, folding her arms and stepping back slightly as Terra’s excitement became very clear, “are you… drooling?”
Terra blinked turning to look at her with drool of the left side of her lips, quickly wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. “N-No! Of course not! I’m just… overwhelmed by all this knowledge! You don’t understand… these aren’t just books… they’re treasures of my ancestors, pieces of history!”
Alister glanced at her, his calm expression masking a faint trace of unease from her behavior. “Just don’t get distracted,” he said. “I said you can take back some books, but please do it
calmly.”
“But my Lord!” Terra gasped, darting to another section. She plucked a massive tome from the shelf, nearly trembling with excitement.
“This is ‘Draconic Arcana: Volume XVII’! It holds forgotten techniques of elemental
manipulation! We could-“
“Terra,” Alister interjected, his gaze narrowing slightly as he spoke, “focus.”
Terra froze, clutching the tome tightly to her chest. She adjusted her glasses with one trembling hand, her tail wagging slower but still hinting at her giddiness.
“Y-Yes, my Lord,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. With a reluctant sigh, she placed the book into the mind space.
Cinder exchanged a look with Alister, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly as she folded her arms again. “This is going to be a long search,” she murmured, stepping aside as Terra darted toward yet another scroll.
“This one is ‘The Veil of Shadows’! Oh, the potential applications for this are beyond anything We-“
“Terra,” Alister said firmly, though his tone was with a faint touch of amusement now.
“Right, right!” Terra blushed again, hurriedly placing the scroll into the mind space. Her tail wagged faster despite her attempts to regain her composure.
“I-I’m focusing, I swear!”
As they continued, Terra’s excitement persisted, though she made a concerted effort to
suppress the more outward displays of her enthusiasm.
But every so often, a faint giggle would escape her lips as she stored yet another priceless piece of knowledge, her joy as infectious as it was slightly unsettling.