The dark side of magic

[albatross]

Aurora only nodded, having not had much experience with magic she could only take what was said as the truth. She had no reason to think they were lying to her and she didn't believe they were. Though she'd only just met them they didn't give a single vibe of being threatening.

"A lot of today hasn't made a whole lot of sense considering my extent of magic dealings has been going to see the Harry Potter movies," she pointed out and finished her glass of water.

"Wait, you can get lost in your library? Really?" She asked, her eyes a bit wide as she looked from Barkeley to Muroe. "Really? Lost?" She asked again and looked to Barkeley. "You guys eat normal food right? Not... eyes or some weird type of animal I've never heard of?"

[Lady Jenn]

"Yes, normal food," Muroe said with a laugh. "Magical animals are almost entirely inedible, at least according to the few people who tried eating any of them anyway."

Barkeley appeared again with a bowl of fruit and another of chips, setting them in the centre of the table.

"Its not much but I'll fix up something a little more substantial later," he said. "Its easy to get lost in the library, whoever built this house designed it so that its secrets were hidden fom all but those who could find their way around the tricks and jinxes put on it. Go down into that library unprepared and you could easily never find your way out again. Be glad you've got me and Muroe to protect you."

[albatross]

"Okay, so don't eat magical animals. Got it," she said with a smile and looked at Barkeley when he appeared with a bowl of fruit and chips.

She walked over to the table and picked up a piece of fruit and popped it into her mouth then nodded her head. "Fruit is my favourite pickish food," she grinned.

"So if I get seperated from you down there I should just sit down and wait?" She asked and looked between them. "Or I'll just hold your hand. I think that'd be better," she said, talking more to herself then to either Barkeley or Muroe.

[Lady Jenn]

"Stick with Muroe," Barkeley said with a laugh. "He spends more time down there than I do so he's probably long since figured out a way around most of its traps."

"Can we see what your grandfather left you before we go down there?" Muroe asked. "I'm genuinely curious what has got so many people chasing after you."

"Fine," Barkeley said, laying it on the table and slowly unwrapping it to reveal a long sword which glowed with a strange green light which revealed writing all the way down its blade and gemstones embedded in its handle. "I don't know what my grandfather wanted me to do with this, I'm hoping the answer is in that library somewhere."

"Is it just me," Muroe said as he studied the blade, "or does that look a lot like the swords the two statues guarding the bridge are carrying. And not just because its a sword too."

[albatross]

"You got me all nervous now so you won't be able to get rid of me once we're down there," she warned as she looked at Muroe then offered him a bit of smile.

When Barkeley laid the sword on the table and unwrapped she looked at Barkeley. "I can understand how a sword can be a key to something but that's definitely a weapon. It's a sword. And it's glowing which is kinda creepy but definitely a weapon, if even only a knife," she mumbled.

She leaned down to try and read the words then looked to Muroe when he pointed out the sword's resemblance to the ones outside and looked back down at it. "I'm not sure, I didn't take much notice of their swords. Tea scared me," she admitted.

"Maybe we should go outside before going downstairs and check? Cause if you're trying to find answers knowing if it's linked up with this place would be a good place to start. Right?"

[Lady Jenn]

"I've seen that language before," said a voice that nearly made Muroe and Barkeley jump out of their skins, turning around to see a small winged girl perched on the top of one of the sofas. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stayed hidden so long, I'm..."

"Tea," Muroe finished her sentence. "You're a Chameleon Sprite, I've heard of your kind before but you're the first I've ever seen with my own eyes. They're like the fairy equivalent of an animagus," he said, seeing the looks of confusion on the others faces. "Its why she didn't feel human, its because she isn't. I'm guessing its no accident you came here then."

"No," Tea replied. "The writing on that blade is a language so old there are few of my kind alive who can still read it. There should be a book in your library you can use to translate it though. As for the statues, they are fae knights, fairies who once stood beside human mages in an ancient war. That is why their blades match yours, they were all forged by fairies."

[albatross]

Aurora let out a squeak when she heard the voice and clasped both hands over her mouth as she looked at the small winged girl sitting on the sofa. When Muroe said it was Tea Aurora relaxed, dropping her hands to her sides.

As Muroe and Tea talked she tried to wrap her brain around everything that was being said. She glanced towards Barkeley then back to the other two. "You don't know which books are in your library?" She asked, looking to Barkeley. "Gosh this place must be huge," she mumbled.

"Are you going to come down with us?" She asked as she looked towards Tea. "I mean, you're a fairy and you can fly so you'll probably be able to find it quickly right?"

[Lady Jenn]

"I've lived here half my life and I've probably only seen even half of that library," Barkeley replied. "The deeper into it you go the more likely it is that you won't find a way back out again. I did warn you it'd make your head hurt."

"I will come with you," Tea said, nodding. "The fairy queen sent me here years ago, knowing one day the sword would come to you. There was no way we could take it out of the vaults ourselves, not with the creatures who seek to control its power."

"But this is the first time we've seen..." Muroe started saying but then he laughed. "Of course, me and Barkeley both have to sleep at some point, you'd only have to shapeshift while we were asleep our off the island to ensure your secret was hidden. I get the feeling we probably owe you a few favours for protecting this island for us."

[albatross]

She couldn't help the small whine that escaped her throat but nodded her head. "What about bread crumbs? We can leave a trail of bread crumbs and bring a Swiffer or something down with us to clean up on way back," she said, getting a bit more nervous over the fact she could get be lost in a huge library within the hour.

When tea said she was coming with them she relaxed a bit more. Having Tea, who could fly, was a bit of relaxing knowledge. "What kind of creatures are after you? Just those elemental things who were at the bank or are there worse things out there?" She questioned and looked between the lot of them.

"I think I should stop asking questions. I'm just digging myself into a deeper hole of worry and nerves," she mumbled and ran her fingers through her hair before taking a deep breath. "Okay, can we go get this over with?"

[Lady Jenn]

"The elementals are only the footsoldiers for far darker forces. Even the shades are nothing but pawns in this war. There are humans wielding dark magic, demons, orcs...and far worse if you can believe that."

"And then there are the dragons," Tea said with a tinge of sadness in her voice. "Who long since turned their back on the outside world. Their city, Dragonblight, is said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world but the last non-dragonkin to know its location took its secret to his grave centuries ago."

"Let's go the library," Muroe said. "This discussion's starting to get depressing and I want to show Aurora how...well, extraordinary this place really is."

[albatross]

She appreciated the honesty the others were showing her. They weren't sugarcoating anything and giving her the best answers they could, or so it seemed like they were and she was usually fairly good at knowing when she was being lied to.

"Dragons?" Aurora asked, her eyes widening a bit. Wizards and magic and fairies and people who could change into animals was a bit hard to handle but dragons were a whole other story. "There's dragons in this world but nobody's seen them?" She asked, staring at Tea for a moment before Muroe's words caught her attention.

She reached out and latched onto his hand. "If we're going I'm not letting go," she warned and pursed her lips a bit as she looked around. "Where's the door to the library?"

[Lady Jenn]

"Dragonkin are expert shapeshifters," Tea said. "Far superior to even the most skilled animagus or Chameleon Sprite. It is said in their human form you could look one directly in the eyes and still be unable to tell the difference between them and a human being. You could've walked past any number of dragons without realising it."

"Follow me," Barkeley said, leading them to a trapdoor at the back of the kitchen which opened after he had uttered a spell in an unrecognisable language under his breath. "Its about the only bit of fae language I was ever taught," he said to Aurora. "It takes years to learn how to speak the fairy language."

After walking down the stairwell that stretched down from the trapdoor for what felt like hours it opened into a cavern that, while well-lit, stretched well beyond the reach of the torches on the wall. Even the ceiling stretched beyond their sight. Line after line of bookcases stretched out in front of them.

"The ceiling can't be that high, its..." Tea started saying.

"Impossible?" Barkeley said with a laugh. "You're right. We've never figured out how this ceiling can reach far above where the floor of the house would be, except whoever did this was immensely powerful."

[albatross]

"So my landlord could be a dragon?" She asked, he was the first normal human that popped into her head and a frown crossed her features as she tried to figure out who in her life could have been a Dragonkin and she didn't know it. Even though Tea said she wouldn't have realized it she was still trying to sort it out in her head.

She walked forward though her brain was preoccupied but the mutter of a foreign language caught her attention and she looked to Barkeley as he explained. "Okay," she said and looked at Tea. "Maybe Tea would be willing to teach you know that you know what she is," she suggested and started down the stairs.

After all the walking Aurora looked around then looked up. She had her head tilted all the way back as though she was trying to see a night sky full of stars and stayed like that until she began to lean backwards from having her head so far back. "Wow," she mumbled and squinted to try and see deeper into the library.

"Okay, I'm impressed now,' she said and looked at Barkeley before she looked upwards again.

[Lady Jenn]

"Even my eyes cannot see the ceiling of this place," Tea said, "and my eyesight is far stronger than any of yours. I think I know where in the library we seek though."

"Okay, everyone grab a torch," Muroe said. "Stay together and move carefully. I don't know how many traps are dotted around this library and I'm sure I've not found any of them."

They took the last few steps down to the floor of the library, walking between bookshelves that dwarfed them, the occasional ladder left to help access the higher shelves. The shelves were stacked with books and scrolls, some written in human languages, some in the fae language from the sword and some in languages even Tea seemed puzzled by. Suddenly there was a noise from somewhere in the darkness ahead of them.

"This place is empty right Barkeley?" Muroe asked, trying to stay calm.

"It should be," Barkeley replied, drawing the sword and gulping as he noticed it had begun to glow brighter. "Something tells me that's not a good sign."

[albatross]

Aurora looked at Tea when she spoke. "So it just keeps going?" She asked and tore her eyes from the ceiling when Muroe said for everyone to grab a torch and did so. She gripped it tightly and squeezed his hand as she stepped closer to him.

She began to relax a bit more and started looking at the spines of the books, most she couldn't begin to understand but there were a few in English but it didn't seem like something she'd even begin to understand if she were to open it and read it.

When there was the sudden noise she stopped dead in her tracks and remained silent as Barkeley and Muroe talked. "That's not very comforting guys," she mumbled and took in a deep breath. "Should we run? Or..." she trailed off when she saw the sword. "Oh damn," she whispered and stared at the growing glow.

[Lady Jenn]

"Wait," Tea said. "I think I know what it is. If it thinks you're threatening it it'll attack and believe me that sword will be no use against it. Stay here."

"Okay," Barkeley said, sheathing the sword and waiting patiently. For five minutes there was no sound from Tea until Barkeley heard a whistle from somewhere ahead. "Follow me," he said to the other two. As they approached where Tea sat the torches caught the shine of something even Barkeley had never seen before. It was a dragon who took up a huge courtyard within the library, but its skin sone like a diamond. "It..." Barkeley was lost for words for a moment. "I thought they were a myth."

"There are so few of her kind now they may as well be a myth," Tea said, stroking the dragon's head. "She is a crystal dragon, even rarer than her ordinary kin. They and my kind fought together long after most dragons had retreated to Dragonblight but I had feared they were all long gone."

"You should feel special," Muroe said to Aurora. "No human has ever seen a real Crystal Dragon before, and believe me wizards have spent centuries searching for them."

[albatross]

"Should she go alone?" Aurora asked as she watched Tea go forward and looked down at the sword as Barkeley sheathed it and jumped when the whistle came. "I thought we were coming down here for books," she mumbled to herself and let go of Muroe's hand a moment to wipe off her palm which had become sweaty.

"Sorry," she mumbled to Muroe then grabbed his hand again when they began to move forward and stared at the dragon as they approached. "I thought we just talked about how they were not around or hard to see," she whispered and continued staring, wide-eyed at the large creature.

"She is pretty though," she mumbled and nodded at Muroe's words. "I do feel special. I've felt special all done. Waiting to wake up from this dream but still special."

"Can I touch her?" She asked, looking between Tea, Barkeley and Muroe.

[Lady Jenn]

"Yes," Tea said. "If she was going to attack you believe me you wouldn't have got this close to her alive."

"What's she doing down here," Muroe asked, in awe at the creature in front of him.

"She and her mate once protected this island together and then...a war came. He left to fight, and told her to stay here and wait for his return, but..." A tear fell from Tea's eye. "I fought with him, I know what his ultimate fate was."

"And she's stood guard here ever since, even knowing he'll never return?" Barkeley asked.

"Yes," Tea said, nodding. "She saw it as her duty to. Plus its not the books she and her mate were guarding. Your sword isn't glowing because of her, you've come within reach of the door it was destined to open."

[albatross]

Aurora let go of Muroe's hand slowly and walked closer to the dragon, she looked at the huge beast as she approached and reached out, she took her time, making sure the dragon wasn't going to lunge at her.

When her hand touched the dragon's scales she smiled and let out a quiet laugh. "Wow," she breathed out and drew her fingers over the dragon slowly as she listened to the story and looked into her eyes.

The smile faded as the history of the dragon came to light. "I'm sorry," she whispered and continued moving her hand over the dragon and looked back at Barkeley when Tea said the sword was glowing because they were within reach of the door it was supposed to open. "Is she going to leave when the door is opened? Go back to her own kind?" Aurora asked, looking back at the dragon. Feeling nothing but sympathy for the beast at being left alone all this time after her mate had gone.

[Lady Jenn]

"Whatever is in that vault she was sworn to guard until her job was done," Tea said. "So either it gets to the point where whatever is in there is no longer needed or she dies, until then she is sworn to protect it and anyone who doesn't try to use it for the wrong reasons."

"Then what are we waiting for," Muroe said excitedly. "Let's get down to the vault and find out what she's guarding."

"We can't," Tea said. "Although the sword is reacting to the fae spells that protect it they are not the only magic guarding it. Dragonkin magic is at work here too, and I can't even begin to dispel magic that strong. She said there's a book in the library that we can use, she can help us translate the language too."

[albatross]

"Oh," Aurora said quietly and continued to pet the dragon, she looked at Muroe who seemed excited to get going with the whole thing and couldn't help but crack a little smile because of him. He seemed to have a very positive outlook.

Her eyes moved back up to Tea as the fairy spoke then looked towards Barkeley. "Maybe we should split up? Go in groups of two's to try and find the book," she said and looked between them.

"I know I wouldn't be much help but we may find the book faster if there's two different searching parties," she suggested and dropped her hand from the dragon's scales.

[Lady Jenn]

"Or she can just show us," Tea said with a smile as the dragon moved, revealing her formidable height and ponting one claw to a bookcase that was a matter of metres behind her. "There's a green book on the top shelf, its easy to spot because its the only one not in English."

"Great, I'll go get it," Muroe said, starting to run before Barkeley stopped him. "What was that for?"

"There's no way you can safely climb that bookcase," Barkeley replied. He stretched out a hand and within moments the book was floating through the air towards them. It was green but covered in golden letters in a language that no-one aside from the dragon seemed able to interpret. It looked like it hadn't been opened in many years, a thin layer of dust covering it.

[albatross]

"Oh," Aurora blushed. "Sorry, I didn't know that was an option," she said and looked at the dragon after she pointed out the book. "Thank you," she smiled and moved to stand next to Barkeley as Muroe began to run off towards the book shelf.

As Barkeley stretched out a hand she stared, wide-eyed, as the book floated down towards them and stared down at it. "You do know you could be a millionaire if you took your show to Vegas right?" She asked and looked down at the book again.

She drew a finger across the cover and looked at the layer of dirt. "So, we let the dragon read it and Tea'll be able to understand what it is she's reading?" She asked, glancing between them to make sure she understood what was going on.

[Lady Jenn]

"It'll have to work like that I'm afraid," Tea said. "She can speak fae and read English but she can't speak English I'm afraid. But...there's something she wants to show you before you read the book. Something even few fae have seen."

"It would be an honour for us to see it," Barkeley said. "Something tells me this isn't something we'll forget easily."

For a moment the entire room filled with light and when it cleared it revealed a mountain ridge filled with an immense wall more than twice the height of even the tallest man.

"This..." Muroe said in awe. "This is Dragonblight isn't it?" Tea nodded. "But how?"

"She cannot take us there but she can show us her memory of it. Do you want to see closer?" Tea asked. In the far distance they could make out a tower that stretched high into the air, dragons of all sizes and colours cricling it.

[albatross]

Aurora nodded in agreement with Barkeley about being honoured the dragon wanted to show them something. "I don't think anything about today will be easily forgotten, " she mumbled to herself and covered her eyes when the room filled with light then peeked around her fingers.

"Wow," she breathed out and stared at the mountain ridge and the wall. "What is it?" She asked then tried to remember as Muroe spoke and remembered Dragonblight was where the dragons lived.

"Oh my gosh!" Aurora said in an embarrassingly high voice and pointed as a little dragon kept trying to fly but continued crashing to the ground, only ever making it a meter or so off the ground. Another dragon remained close by the youngster. "That is so cute," she said and stared, completely focused on that scene.