Rilen patted the book and put it on the table across from me. “That’s my to-be-read pile.”
This was going to be interesting.
There wasn't much to interest me for all the hours I spent wandering this giant ancient library. There was a lot of thishumanhistory everywhere, and most of it was war. I did stop at one point and read a history of the Roman Empire, at which I chuckled more than once in the opening chapter about the founding of Rome.
Earth had truly little magic that I could see. Humans lived only a handful of years. Most were far younger than I was and would be old and infirm at my age.
I was still considered incredibly young for a druid. Vampire. Whatever I was. I was immortal if I chose to be while humans would wither and die—a finite life.
But they could pack that life with hate and war, that was for sure. The books all told of wars and conquests and… Well, we were in one now—a battle between the magical beings and the…plain ones.
How did one survive without a connection to their world, to the very ground they stood on? It didn’t make sense to me.
My fingers danced over the ends of the scrolls as I wandered again. Even though there wasn’t much here that interested me, I wouldn’t abandon the chance not to be stuck in that damn room all the time.
I froze.
My fingers hovered over the handle of a scroll, and they tingled. Not with the imprint of people who had touched it, but something completely different. Familiarity and an ache to share knowledge.
It was an old scroll, so I did my best to pull it out slowly and carefully from the bin it was in. There was a swirl of magic around it, which was probably why it wasn’t nearly as degraded as the scrolls around it. Still, I didn’t want to destroy it, so I was gentle.
Rilen must have felt the magic as well since he appeared a moment later, his eyes wide.
“What did you find?”
“I don’t know yet.” I placed the scroll on the table and unlatched the case it was in. The magic was soft and gentle but strong.
The door to the library slammed open, and Roran stood there, looking wild-eyed and surprised. “What the hell is on that scroll?”
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t opened it.”
He walked over to stand with us, and it took me a moment to get my courage up to unroll the thing. Magic was the only thing still holding it together at this point.
“Whatever spell Dorian cast for languages works for all of them.” I didn’t know what language it was, but I could read it easily.
“Because Dorian never does anything half-assed?” Rilen asked.
We read through the scroll slowly, and it was loaded with magical history—the vampires, the druids, the witches who were native to the world. It detailed how the very people who had raised up the witches turned on them and made them out to be evil and cruel, and in league with someone named Lucifer or Satan.
Then, the whole thing changed to prophecy, and the meanings became fuzzy, as prophecies were wont to do. Turn after turn of the scroll contained hundreds of prophecies, none of which meant anything to us at all.
Until, finally, there was just one last turn of the scroll left, and the Prophecy of the Breaker appeared at the top of the page.
“Oh,” Rilen whispered as we scanned down the words written there.
“No,” Roran whispered a moment later.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I reread it more slowly. And again. And a fourth time.
“Are you reading the same thing I am?” Rilen asked, looking up at Roran.
“I think so,” Rilen said.
“What do you see, Kimber?”
“Nothing I wanted ever to read or find out,” I said.
“Then, we’re all reading this correctly.”
I looked up, glancing between them. “That’s not going to happen. It’s not. I’m not doing…”
Rilen put a hand on my shoulder, and we just stared at the words on the page.
I didn’t think I would be able to sleep soundly again for an awfully long time.
