Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Lock and Lesser Key

CHAPTER TEN

Lock and Lesser Key

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I had to hand it to Divah. That Peter Pan reference would have been a hard code to crack for anyone who hadn’t lived with her for the last five years. Seriously, my master devoured human pop culture like they were priceless treasures, which they were, but she was especially enamored by the classics; Dickens, Stoker, Barrie, Shelley, Tolkien, and the rest. That made them my bedtime stories too.

“We shouldn’t be in here… Only novices of the expert and master ranks are invited inside the special section,” Liara whispered. Although I didn’t see her walking back to the exit either.  

“Too late now.” I waved at the librarian eyeing us from behind the table she was leaning over.

The librarian was a female half-orc who was three times Liara’s size. She had an oval face framed by long braided hair that was a shade darker than her fiery red skin. She had almond-shaped scarlet eyes and a long nose that widened at the tips. The twin tusks protruding from her lower lip were decorated with gold rings.

“I assume you didn’t find the door to the special section through sheer luck?” she asked in a soft, husky voice that didn’t quite track with what one usually associated with librarians.

While the half-orc Kaveera was all brawn and muscle, this older, red-skinned half-orc had a voluptuous figure barely hidden by her tight kimono-style robe that just oozed the kind of sex appeal that made the cave boy in me blush and look away.

“Um,” I cleared my throat, “we came here on purpose.”

“Hmmm, interesting…” the half-orc sounded more curious than suspicious. “I suppose you know the rules of the room then?”

I nodded. Although I still couldn’t look her in the eye. Sigh, I was a noob when it came to handling adult females. Not that I was any good at handling teenage girls either. I blamed Divah for this glaring flaw of mine, of course. It wouldn’t have killed her to teach me some social skills, wouldn’t it?

“There are rules?” Liara asked.

“As you’ve managed to get here of your own accord, you’re given the right to browse the special section’s secret collection,” the half-orc explained. “Assuming you also have the skill to unlock the wards that keep these tomes from incapable hands, Ms. Lockwood.”

I glanced sideways at Liara. “You know who she is?”

Liara nodded. “Mistress Grimsever is the instructor for Black Magic Defense.”

“Which I assume you’ll be missing today considering where you are right now,” Mistress Grimsever chuckled lightly.

“I—”

“It’s alright, Ms. Lockwood… if you’re bright enough to find your way in here then it’s fine for you to miss a class or two…” Mistress Grimsever raised a hand. “Assuming you learn something from your time in the 2^nd stack’s special section.”

“We’re not staying long,” I answered.

Finally, I’d found my voice again. Perhaps it had something to do with the way Mistress Grimsever gazed at Liara with amusement. As if she didn’t expect Liara or me to make good use of our time here. It annoyed me a little.

“Oh, interesting.” Mistress Grimsever trained her cool gaze on me next. “Most people who stumble into this room for the first time rarely know what they want and are unable to fully utilize this opportunity… I am curious to see what you will make of it, Mr. Wisdom.”

It didn’t surprise me to know that Mistress Grimsever knew who I was. Not after my encounter with Dess. I didn’t bother responding to her though as I’d already moved over to the bookcase mounted on the wall that had caught my eye. It was the one right next to the door and was exactly the one I was looking for.

The book sealed within this case was an old, leather-bound tome with an intricate magic circle and triangle formation emblazoned on its frayed cover. It was a thin volume, suggesting that there were only a few yellowing pages within its binding. I knew for a fact that there were a little more than seventy-two pages in total. The magic circle on its cover suggested as much.

“The Ars Goetia… a macabre choice,” Mistress Grimsever noted. “Do you perhaps have an interest in studying demonology?”

“Nope,” I said as I unclipped Divah’s journal from my belt. “Demons would be too hard to control at my level.”

A glance at my master’s notes—a review of the magical hacks she’d thought me—and I clipped the journal back to my belt before it caught Mistress Grimsever’s interest. Then, after a deep breath that helped to calm the nerves, I raised my right index finger to the Aegishjalmur scrawled over the bookcase’s protective glass and—

“What are you doing?” Liara whispered into my ear.

Her interruption had nearly cost me my finger because my concentration winked out right before I brushed the protective rune that would have burned me if I had touched it without the proper preparation.

“Seriously”—I was acutely aware that her lips were close enough to my ear for it to tickle, making it even harder to concentrate—“can I have some space to work my magic, please?”

“You think you can bypass a ‘Helm of Awe’ with just your finger?”

“Yes… now, stand back and let me shock and awe you like usual…”

Liara hesitated a moment longer before finally backing up. “If you die—”

“Then you can tell me you told me so,” I interrupted. “So, shush…”

I took another deep breath to help reclaim my cool before I pushed just the right amount of mana into the tip of my forefinger. Not enough to trip the Aegishjalmur’s alarm but just enough trickling mana that I could disrupt the inner workings of its complicated magical system.

See, the ‘Helm of Awe’—a realmsverse symbol of protection in the form of a circle with eight tridents emanating from its center—was what scholars called a near-perfect lock. If one had a key—like how Liara’s bronze token had been enchanted to act as a key for the fairy well’s chamber—then the Aegishjalmur’s protection was easily dealt with. However, if one lacked a key, then anything short of overpowering the Helm of Awe with high-tier destructive magic wouldn’t work on the lock. Especially if the Aegishjalmur in question had been cast by a powerful mage. Still, for those few knaves who dared challenge such a powerful enchantment, its creator, a 5th-century Sorcerer Extraordinaire named Myrdinn, devised a trick that could unlock its seal without risking someone’s life in the attempt. Divah had somehow rediscovered this long-lost trick and passed it on to me through her journal.

Like all complicated magical enchantments, the Aegishjalmur’s got a magical circuit embedded within its array. To unlock it, you just need to link these circuits in reverse of the complicated order they were made in. Every Helm of Awe is different, however, which is why you have to locate the end circuit first with your mana and a little help from—

“Spirits of light, let my sight peer into the unseen so I might know the unknowable,” I whispered the chant that activated True Insight—and then the world around me shifted from one that was full of color into shades of gray where only the ghostly hint of magic was noticeable. In this case, the eight tridents that made up the circle of the Helm of Awe lit up like ghostly Christmas lights, with one in particular—the trident facing south—glowing brighter than all the rest.

“Easy peasy”—I traced a line leading from this first trident over to the trident in the middle facing eastward while maintaining just the right amount of mana leaking from my fingers which was the real hard part of this hack—“lemon squeezy.”

From there, I traced another line that led to the trident facing southeast, then northwest, north, southwest, and finally, the left-facing trident—and voila!

The Aegishjalmur began to blink once, twice, and then a third time before it winked out entirely from the bookcase’s protective glass surface.

I wiped at the sweat on my brow before I glanced over my shoulder to wink at Liara who was looking at the bookcase with her mouth open.

“See. Told you I’d shock and awe you again,” I chuckled.  

The glass swung open automatically for me, and the Ars Goetia fell into my greedy hands without much fuss.

“That was an impressive use of mana to bypass a protection charm I’d cast myself,” Mistress Grimsever clapped, which was a good thing as I half-expected her to scold me for hacking an Aegishjalmur’s lock.

“Um, are all novices supposed to do it this way?” I asked curiously.

She shook her head. “Novices who are invited into the special section are also given a key.”

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“But we weren’t invited,” Liara replied.

“And yet Mr. Wisdom has found a way past this complication,” Mistress Grimsever nodded approvingly at me. “As I said, impressive.”

“So~~o, you wouldn’t get mad”—I tucked the book under my arm—“if I did it again, right?”

“Ms. Lockwood,” Mistress Grimsever called, “what is the most important trait required of an adventurer?”

“Imagination,” Liara answered instantly.

“Some claim that imagination is greater than knowledge. Imagination leads to ingenuity which then leads to cunning, the sort required to trail-blaze unknown realms and face unseen dangers,” Mistress Grimsever recited. “Why would I punish a novice who clearly understands this principle?”

“Oh, okay, good to know then,” I grinned.

“I’m curious, Mr. Wisdom… What will you do with that tome if you aren’t interested in the summoning of demons?” Mistress Grimsever asked.

“As cool as demonology sounds, I’ve got other plans for this book,” I insisted.

Without wasting time, I quickly found the next tome on my list and unlocked its bookcase using the same hack I’d used for the Ars Goetia. I repeated these steps three more times while searching across the special section for those grimoires I needed. Soon enough, the Ars Goetia, Ars Theurgia Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria would all fall into my hands.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Mistress Grimsever said as she looked over the books I dropped on her table. “You’ve found interesting tomes in demonology, divination, angelology, and sorcery… I wonder, do you—”

“Know that they’re all part of a single collection?” I finished for her. “Yep, I do.”

Liara, who’d been reading the titles of the books along with Mistress Grimsever, let out a sharp breath. “These are the tomes of the Lemegeton!”

“More commonly known as the Lesser Key of Solomon,” Mistress Grimsever agreed. “Now, give me your badge so I might record your borrowing of these books onto the ledger.”

She eyed the badge I showed her. It made her frown slightly.

“I would be remiss not to remind you that these are advanced reading material... Perhaps too advanced for an apprentice who’s been in the Academy less than a week,” she stated.

“Um, if I wanted advanced, then I would have gone for the Greater Key of Solomon,” I joked.

Now, while that corny joke made Liara roll her eyes at me, Mistress Grimsever looked like she was actually trying not to smile.

“How are your Latin and Elder Futhark?” she asked.

“I’m fair with the former and excellent with the latter, as you’ve probably heard,” I grinned. I did show off my skills with runes against Doomsday after all. “I’ve also got Googlie Translate on my status bar.” 

This joke didn’t win her over though. Still, Mistress Grimserver seemed curious enough about my choice to let me keep the books I asked for after reminding me that I had to return them by week’s end. “I assume you will be as careful with these tomes as you are with your life… No stains on the pages, please… Especially not Cheese Whiz... damn things are hard to clean off.”

“They might get a little dirty, maybe even singed, but I think these books will find their way back to you on their own… Also, I only need them for today,” I explained.

She raised an eyebrow at me before understanding dawned on her face. “Hmmm… You are certainly Divah’s apprentice… Good luck with the sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?” Liara repeated. “What—”

With a quick goodbye to one of my future teachers—because now that I’d met her, I was seriously considering picking Defense Against Black Magic as an elective—I dragged Liara out of the secret section before Mistress Grimsever could change her mind.

After the 2^nd stack’s special section, Liara and I made our way past stacks three and four and up to the fifth stack which was little more than a small chapel with an altar dedicated to Mimir on its far side. On this altar was a golden brazier, one that hadn’t been lit yet as the chapel was empty. I moved over to stand in front of this brazier so I could throw all five books of the Lesser Key of Solomon into it.

“Are you insane?” Liara gasped.

“Jury’s still out on that one…” Like all capable adventurers-in-training, I came prepared with the standard survival kit which included the matches I needed to get this bonfire started. “Don’t worry… I’m not going rogue. This is part of the ritual.”

“What ritual?” Liara pressed.

“Mimir’s a Norse god,” I reminded her. “And what do you think Norse gods want in exchange for their blessings?”

Liara’s face lit up with understanding. “They’d want a sacrifice…”

“As a god of knowledge, the best sacrifice we can offer Mimir is a sacrifice of information, right?” I reasoned.

“But if you’re only using them as a sacrifice, then couldn’t you have found other less important grimoires?” Liara gazed with longing at the books I’d thrown into the brazier. “The Lesser Key of Solomon is priceless.”

“It’s because we need this specific ‘key’ that I have to use these books.”

“Elaborate.”

“To open a very specific door, one needs the right key.”

This vague response earned me a punch in the shoulder. Sheesh, this half-elf could get violent when the mood hit her.

“Look, just trust me, okay.” I lit the match. “It’ll be worth it.”

Before Liara could stop me, I threw the match into the brazier. Sure enough, the books I used for kindling quickly caught fire. Much too quickly, I might add. As if Mimir was far too eager to enjoy this sacrifice I offered him.

Liara frowned. “Mistress Grimsever’s going to kill you.”

“No, she won’t,” I grinned at the sight of the magical blue flames exploding out of the brazier. “She let me take the books knowing what I would do with them, remember?”

Liara’s doubts lasted about as long as it took for the blue flames to burn as brightly as starlight and then wink out just as flashily, which was when we both heard the loud click that preceded the rumbling of the wooden floor beneath our feet. Then the sound of a steeple bell—one that hadn’t rung in nearly a hundred years—filled the air with its chimes.

“Blessed Freya,” Liara whispered. “You made the bell ring?”

I nodded. “Told you it might happen.”

Finally, the wall behind the altar slid open, and cool light from the room beyond spilled out to greet us.

“You needed a specific key to open this door,” Liara repeated.

“Behold,” I bowed to her like a magician who’d just revealed his trick, “I give you one of the biggest treasures of the Academy… the Great Library’s hidden vault of treasures.”