Hsalihba's Fascinating Library Trip
The sun shone bright on Hsalihba's face as he emerged from the east exit of the Ridgemarket. Shielding his face, he scratched his brow. He was finally alone.
He squinted at a sign ahead. ‘Sirfhangar District’, it read. He flagged down a local and asked for directions. "Walk down the main promenade. It's at a big crossroads, ten or so minutes ahead. You can't miss it."
Hsalihba thanked the young man and started walking. He was nervous. It’d been a long two years without any meaningful leads and every hint would point him somewhere else. Every excursion had been a dud. Was this one going to be a waste as well? No, his gut told him differently. This time would be different.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the time go by, but a glint in his eye brought him back to reality. Glaring at him was his destination, the Grand Ridgethorn Library.
It was bigger than he had envisioned. This building was three storeys tall, with circular walls. "Seems to be a motif here," he thought. Trimmed hedges and fruitless trees formed a square perimeter around the premises.
The door was big too, at least nine feet tall. Banners of green with gold gilding adorned the gateway. As he walked up, he saw the head jamb. There were three symbols etched into the frame, none that he was familiar with. His tail twitched as he took a deep breath and entered the building.
He caught that breath. For a moment, Hsalihba allowed himself to forget everything and take in the vision in front of him. The library was beautiful. Natural sunlight glimmered through the many windows on the upper floors. Releasing his breath, he took another. The air was fresher than he expected, even though it smelled like parchment.
He looked ahead. In the center was a thick, tall pillar, with large reliefs carved into the stone. One of the symbols, an eye in the crook of a staff, was etched huge in this pillar. To him, it looked like it was looking past him into the horizon. He felt drawn to it without knowing why.
There was a green rope fence a ways out from this pillar, and he could see people sitting on mats beyond it. The floor beneath him leading up to the pillar was a polished blue marble. Columns of white stone seemed to go around the outer circle, seemingly pockmarked at random. Upon closer attention, he found that the white columns were bookshelves themselves.
People milled around various columns, browsing for something to read. A thin woman skimmed through a few pages before promptly turning towards the center. She walked up to the green rope and spoke to an attendant, before going in. Hsalihba made sure not to stare, but he was curious to see that she sat down on a vacant mat. Her back was turned to him, so he couldn't tell if she was reading or not.
He blinked, then rolled his shoulders twice. Walking forward, he approached one of the columns. A metal plate at eye level said "History". He looked up and was surprised to see that the columns spanned all three storeys. This column didn't support the upper floor. Instead, there looked to be a hole around its perimeter.
"That makes no sense," he thought. "What purpose does that serve?"
The back of his neck tingled. He caught himself and relaxed his shoulders. Being careful not to look out of place, he looked around to see if someone was watching. He then strolled over to another column with a plate that said "Artisanship", and looked up. Another hole.
A cat-faced figure wearing a nun’s habit approached him. “Welcome to the library,” she whispered. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Oh, um thank you. I’m just looking around.”
“Alright then, but should you require anything, do approach me or any of the attendants on the floors. Please enjoy your visit to the Grand Ridgethorn Library.”
Hsalihba walked back to the History column and started looking through. Many of the tomes pertained to different aspects of life in Ridgethorn; historical retellings of the founding, trade relations with Leridia and Fallgrave and Greyberry, biographies of important figures - nothing he was looking for.
After a frustrating few minutes, he decided to try his luck with the upper floors. The bookshelves extended all the way up the columns, and as he spent a couple of hours researching and looking for books, he was amazed by how sturdy the floors felt despite not having these columns used as support pillars. Clearly there was some impressive architectural science at work, or magic, or both.
After a few tedious hours, he found something promising - a book titled, ‘Artifacts of artistic merit and significance.’ It contained details and descriptions of named items across the lands of Erus, and although it didn’t contain exactly what he was looking for, he knew it would suffice.
The fenced-off region downstairs was clearly a meditation practice area for people to extract greater knowledge out of the books of the library. Hsalihba was loath to meditate, but he knew that potent power lay in these halls, so he tucked the book underneath his arm and made his way downstairs past the green, silken rope fence.
Hsalihba sat with his legs underneath him. When it began to hurt, he changed to cross-legged instead. Holding the book in his lap, he thought about what to do. He tried pressing his palms to the front. He gripped it hard. Looking around to see if anyone was looking at him for being weird, he brought the book to his forehead. He discreetly licked it and almost coughed because he caught some dust.
When nothing seemed to work, he allowed his shoulders to slump. “Well, no more beating around the bush,” he thought, as he let the book settle in his lap. It was open to the section about divine relics. Placing his palms on the page, Hsalihba closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then another, and then one more. With that last exhale, he tapped into his power and cast a minor spell.
His senses expanded, and the sound around him fell away. He found himself focusing deeply, and in his mind’s eye, the tome glowed with soft white light. Blackness surrounded him, but he barely noticed. He willed himself to extract more knowledge about the relic he was after - The Book of Seemut. He thought about it, how he had quoted and misquoted it to anyone who would listen. He thought about his frustration of the last two years that he hid so well behind his laughter. His mind flooded with the weight of his memories of endless travel, as his back tensed.
Releasing that tension, he continued focusing on the tome and on the relic. Suddenly, he found himself pulled upwards. It took him a second to realize what happened. He had only a moment to look down and see his body sitting in the library as he ascended upwards to the first floor and then the second. All too quickly, the moment passed and he found himself staring at the roof of the building as he continued to ascend at a break-neck pace.
In what must have been only a few seconds, he was high in the sky. He was wheeled around, and in the distance, he saw the Skyspire mountains, far away from Ridgethorn but still visible. A force in his abdomen, like a string behind his belly button, pulled him forward. Thrust towards the mountains, he found himself going headfirst into one of the peaks. Instinctively, Hsalihba raised his hands to protect himself, but he encountered no resistance. He passed through the mountain and into a cave within it. Going through the floor, he only glimpsed a few passageways, until he stopped moving.
He was in a wide room within the mountain. Icy white light filtered through a large hole up above somewhere, but he couldn’t turn his head. His gaze was transfixed to the front, where a large metal door stood in the cave wall. The design was deliberately rough-hewn, as if the metal was shaped by hand, however large such hands must be. A large purple gemstone in a relief with a claw motif was the centerpiece of this door. In this, he recognized draconic artistry. The door seemed to radiate heat and power, and Hsalihba felt his throat dry out. His limbs felt like concrete, and he found that he couldn’t approach, no matter how much his mind willed him to do so.
It felt like a lifetime in a few seconds, and before he could try anything else, the thread behind his belly button jerked him backwards and he flew back with arms splayed at an impossible speed. He flew out of the cave, left the mountain behind, and in the blink of a hooded eye, he was back in the library.
His eyes flew open as he hunched over. Trying not to let anyone notice he was out of breath, or that he was sweating, Hsalihba didn’t even try to move for a few moments. A bead of sweat fell onto the tome in front of him. He was silently panting.
After a minute, he allowed his shoulders to slump. He moved to sit up as his eyelids closed again. The moment they did however, he couldn’t move. He couldn’t open his eyes. His body grew icy stiff, and then uncomfortably hot. He found himself back in his mind’s eye, standing up straight. He looked out into inky darkness as he regained control of his limbs.
That’s when he noticed movement in the darkness. It seemed like the entire horizon was wavering. Hsalihba watched on as the horizon split open. Behind it was the biggest eye he had ever seen, yellow with a black slit for an iris. As the eye materialized, so did the red scales around it, and Hsalihba heard a rumbling sound that he’d only heard a few times before.
“My child,” it said, “how far you have come.”
“All in your name, my queen,” replied Hsalihba. “And it has gifted me the opportunity to be in your presence. How blessed I am.”
Laughter rang out from around him, in many voices. “You do well with your honeyed words,” she replied in a different voice. Her eye flickered. “You find yourself filled with purpose again, after much time has passed, do you not?”
“Yes, it seems I now have a destination to match the purpose. I shall find The Holy Book yet.”
“I do not doubt it,” she purred. Hsalihba heard the drag of scales on stone as she continued to speak. “And what are your intentions after finding the book?”
“I do this all for you, my lady. Once the book is in my hands, I shall depart immediately. I’m ready for the journey overseas.”
“Good, good,” she hummed. “You walk a dangerous path, and it is with my blessing that you continue to do so. Remember that.” The warhammer on Hsalihba’s side began to glow, and he felt it thrum and vibrate with a new power. “A gift, for your continued endeavor.”
“You are too kind, my lady.”
“Aren’t I?” she chuckled. Hsalihba felt the scales on the back of his neck shiver as her gruff laughter boomed all around him. In a moment, he was reminded of the disparity of scale between them. He found himself standing up a little straighter.
“You will need a sharp mind going forward, my child. Pay attention, find allies to use, and don’t hesitate to drop them when necessary. Go with my blessing, so that you may grow.”
The eye blinked out, and Hsalihba felt the pressure release. He let go of the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and he allowed himself to slump, just a little bit. Everything around him was still dark, but then two lights lit up in his vision.
A small way ahead, he saw two sights. One was of him standing on a cliff’s edge looking down upon a realm, a cloak billowing around him and his claws lit up with a maleficent purple power. The other was him in the middle of battle, wielding his hammer with fire all around it and his trident with ice on its prongs.
He chose the former path, and the moment he approached it and touched the vision, he found himself back in the library, with his hand reaching out. He turned to see if anyone was looking, and the cat-faced librarian was watching over him, half-concerned and half-excited.
“It seems you were blessed with a vision. Did you find what you were looking for?”
Hsalihba allowed himself to smile. “Oh yes. I know exactly what to do. Thank you for your help.”