Chapter 94: Chapter 089 – Heart VI

What originally had been a carefree plan to grind away experience had quickly turned into a grim task. With what were probably hundreds of restless souls lingering in the bowels of the forgotten school, Teyva and Azrael set to the task of putting them to rest. The second floor turned out to be much like the first, hall after hall of rooms, laboratories, and offices dedicated to all manner of pursuits. Nothing was preserved in any valuable way, glass was shattered, what little books they found were torn and rotten, and even metalwork was bent and smashed. 

They kept the majority of their fighting in the stairwells. It wasn’t easy, but it was better than stomping around the corpses of innocent people and defiling the dead. By the time they finished the second floor Azrael had leveled up again and Teyva was well on her way to level nine. The tactic of funneling the skeletons toward choke points had been the only thing keeping them alive so far. 

Teyva shifted her arm back from its chain form and looked down at the mournful skeleton at her feet. The armored horror was still reaching toward her, even in death. She wondered if they could think or if they could feel any of what was happening to them. She glanced over at Azrael who was looking just as tired as Teyva felt. They’d been going at it for hours now. Azrael plopped down to the ground, sitting on one of the steps and pulled a waterskin out from her inventory. She chugged a significant amount of it before shoving the cork back in.

“It’s not as fun knowing who they were,” Azrael grunted.

“Yeah,” Teyva said, eyeing the bones. 

“We’ve been in this hallway for two days now,” Azrael said, “How many floors do you think there are?”

“No idea, but I get the feeling we’re going to be down here for a while,” Teyva said and scratched Nephral’s chin. “Wake up lazybones.”

The sphinx yawned and flicked its tail, “Yes mother, what can I do for you?”

“We’re moving on to the next floor,” Teyva said, “I need you alert.”

“Ah, wonderful, I was afraid we would be stuck in this wretched stairwell for another day,” The feline complained. 

“We’re probably going to use the next set of stairs the same way,” Azrael said, “Don’t get too excited.”

The sphinx groaned his displeasure but rose to a more alert position anyway. The two women packed their things and slipped out into the hall of the second floor, picking their way around more scenes of tragedy and death. Teyva tried not to pay attention to her surroundings but it was easy to get caught up in the way the bones were posed. There was terror here, sadness, a nightmare of endless suffering. She wondered how long they had been forced to last down here, if they were the last of the Labyrinthians before the race was wiped out.

“You’re dwelling again,” Azrael said.

“Can’t help it, technically they’re my people,” Teyva said grimly.

“I wonder if they’d see you the same way,” Azrael mused.

“You don’t think so?” 

“You used to be human, yes?” Azrael asked.

Teyva frowned, “Yes, once upon a time.”

“They ‘made’ humans to work for them as servants, just like they made the other races,” Azrael said, “What if they found out you were a human who had turned into one of their kind? Would they be offended?”

Teyva had to mull it over, “A slave pretending to be a master,” she muttered.

“Exactly,” Azrael said, “I’m not saying don’t pity them. Their end was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Just don’t get hung up in a connection you don’t really have. That’s probably what’s left of Rani talking.”

Teyva squared her shoulders. Azrael was right, these people were dead and gone and there was nothing she could do about what had happened to them. Mourning their loss was something that Teyva Rani may have done but she wasn’t even sure if the woman was capable of remorse. More to the point, she couldn’t keep dwelling on something she could do nothing about. What she could do was help the soldiers who stayed behind get their final rest. It was the least she could do. She reached up and slapped her cheeks a few times, snapping herself out of her dreary mood.

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“Okay, I’m good. Thanks, Az.”

“I’ll kick your ass next time you start moping,” Azrael said, shooting her a grin.

Teyva barked out a weak laugh as they worked their way around the remaining bodies between them and the exit leading to the third floor. They descended the steps and came to a stop at the doors. Unlike the two floors above, the doors here had a sign over them. Teyva read it and cracked a smile.

“The Library,” Teyva said with a relieved breath.

Azrael approached the door and pressed her shoulder into it, shoving it open just a few inches to peer inside. She hesitated for a moment before throwing it open. Teyva stepped forward and opened her mouth in awe, her eyes casting this way and that to try to take it all in.

The Library of Nulakam was one single enormous room that stretched hundreds of feet in every direction. The entire room was ringed with shelves filled with books of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The room itself was lit by an enormous sphere set into the ceiling that glowed with such intensity it took the two of them a moment to adjust. They stepped out onto a walkway that stretched across a yawning chasm that revealed more floors of the library beneath them. The walkways themselves crossed the library by length and width before ringing the library along the foot of the shelves. Down below Teyva could see the pattern repeating itself for three more floors before stopping at a final level that was filled with desks and other large objects she could barely make out.

“Teyva, look,” Azrael said, pointing toward the center of the chamber. Teyva followed her gaze and the two of them took in what must have been a librarian’s desk. A raised, circular platform was set into the space at the crossing point of the walkways. There, dozens of books were collected in neat stacks around a solitary figure. 

“Mother,” Nephral growled, “Something feels wrong.”

Azrael and Teyva exchanged glances and moved forward toward the desk. As they drew closer they could make out more of what was sitting on it. It was the strangest collection of nicknacks and junk that Teyva had ever seen. There were musical instruments, toys, statues of animals, various articles of clothing had been set out and folded neatly, some of them in relatively good shape. Teyva stepped around the desk while Azrael picked up one of the toys, eyeing it. Teyva stopped at the small set of steps leading up and into the desk area and spotted the figure laying there.

The skeleton was cleaner than the others, no mottling, no damage, pure pearly white bone shone in the light of the sphere above their heads. It wore simple robes and from its pose, it looked like it had just fallen asleep one day and never awakened. Its arms were crossed on the surface in front of it and its head was resting on its forearms. Azrael let out another growl as Teyva stepped up to the skeleton but it didn’t move an inch. She reached her hand out and tapped it once on the side of the head with no reaction coming. She sighed, “Nephral you’re making me nervous.”

Nephral made a pitiful sound and lowered his head. Teyva felt the eager voices of her mockeries reaching out through their link, they sounded eager to hunt again. Teyva reached into her satchel and ran her fingers over the pile of coins to mollify them while she inspected the desk around the body. “Nothing here but more trinkets, I was hoping to find some sort of lexicon so we could navigate this place. It could take forever,” Teyva said.

She peered up at Azrael who had picked up yet another object, “They’re all cats,” she said.

“Maybe my friend here had a thing for cats,” Teyva said, gesturing to the skull.

“Maybe,” Azrael shot Nephral a playful grin, “Bit weird if you ask me.”

“How rude,” came a jolly voice, “Speaking ill of a man’s hobbies while he sleeps.”

The two of them froze. Azrael squinted at Nephral, “Was that you?”

Nephral let out another mournful sound and shook his head, “No, Lady Azrael, it was not.”

The two of them turned slowly to the sleeping skeleton and found it sitting up in its seat, its eyes blazing with violet light. Teyva took two very quick steps backward and nearly fell out of the desk area, stumbling down the steps as she got as much distance as possible from the monster. The skeleton rose to its feet and crossed its arms behind its back, canting its head to the side. It stared at Teyva for a long time before chuckling, “My goodness, you look just like her,” It said, it’s voice seeming to come from nowhere. “How strange.”

Teyva glanced at Azrael who was standing there, equally wide-eyed.

“Uh… who are you?” She asked.

“Oh! Goodness, look at me. I’m being rather rude myself now aren’t I?” The skeleton balked, raising one hand to its heart. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Archlich Paraklytus, headmaster of this school. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Teyva Akura.”

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