A Thief's Gambit
- Written by Melanie Cardenas
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
The clock’s ticking was the only sound within the eerie silence of the Grand Library tonight. An extravagant place, both in size and the knowledge it contained within its walls. From curses to powerful spells left behind, It was no wonder why anyone would want to barge in and seize the knowledge for themselves.
The guards stationed tonight were patrolling the hallways, making sure nobody else made their way in undetected. Peering into the Forbidden Curses section, Xandria would use his Soul Fluctuation, scanning the area for the soul of an intruder.
“Forbidden Curses are clear” he called out to his patrol partner.
“Soul Imbued Artifacts are clear.”
Xandria stepped back out into the hallway, meeting Allan, the other guard stationed alongside him, on the other side.
“These halls give me the creeps.” The man sighed out. He’d walk down the hall, motioning for Xandria to follow him.
“So eerie, not to mention the bat infestation on the lower levels.”
“I’d reckon the atmosphere fits this place.” Xandria chuckled.
“Yeah? Didn’t know leaving a building to rot was considered an atmosphere.”
“This place has been up for generations. You can’t expect the institute to keep up with the library’s repairs.”
“I guess..” Allan sighed out.
The two guards continue their patrol, thoroughly checking the library’s many sections.
“Archives are clear.”
“Celestial Power Management is clear.”
“Records are clear.”
Xandria shuffled out of the Records, locking the door behind him. He looked around.
“Allan?”
The other guard hadn’t yet returned from his section. Xandria approached the section across from his own. He peeked into the room.
“Allan..?” Xandria called out. The section was dark, filled with books, scrolls, and occupied with a rounded table. Its walls had been sparingly covered with scones and braziers. The fires that were supposed to be dimly lighting the room had been put out. The man grew wearily, eyes narrowing while his eyes tried to see through the darkness.
Xandria barely had time to react to his soul fluctuation highlighting something new before a small throwing knife shot out from the darkness, grazing his cheek. Xandria leapt out of the sectioned library, unsheathing his sword.
“You! Show yourself! No one is allowed to enter the Grand Library of The Institute!” he hollered out. A few seconds had passed before a large figure took a step forward, significantly taller than the guard’s own height, their face still being shadowed by the dark room. Xandria didn’t hesitate, charging at the figure with a direct aim to its chest with his sword.
Shunk!
…
Thud!
Xandria stepped back, holding his sword as what he took to be the intruder toppled over to the ground. The guard’s eyes widened.
“..Yeesh, The Institute REALLY downgraded on their security within this old place.” A loud, mocking voice echoed from behind him as Xandria ran to Allan’s fallen body. “I mean, this place SUPPOSEDLY has the most powerful spells known to kill whoever casts it, yet they implement you sorry excuse of security.”
Xandria watched in horror as Allan bled out onto the library floor, unconscious. His celestial power drained from the body it once kept alive, seeping into the cracks of the floor. Without it, the body quickly turned a lifeless grey color. Xandria whipped around, face contorted in rage as he turned to face the perpetrator.
“You..!” He spat out angrily.
The thief was now seated onto one of the library’s shelves, his demeanor relaxed, with one leg over the other. His left claw, mostly covered in green fur, held more copies of the same throwing knife he had used to provoke the guard, while his other hand was holding his body upright. The man’s face had a satisfied smirk on his face, his green elven ears reflecting his joy at the guard’s misery.
“Yes, it is I, yours truly!” The man responded gleefully.
“I’ll cut you down right here! How stupid are you to enter a place as grand as this?!”
“I’d say you are the stupid one, you killed your partner, after all.” The thief yawned, hopping off of his shelf.
“But honestly? The real idiots are the guys who posted you here. Rookies? Seriously?”
“Shut your mouth!” Xandria shouted angrily. Having enough of the thief’s mockery, he raised his sword once more, charging at the thief and slashing wildly.
“Watch it there, you’re leaving yourself open!” The thief weaved past Xandria attacks effortlessly, taunting the guard. Xandria became more riled up at this game, swinging for any attempt to kill this filth.
How dare they waltz in here and trick me with these mind games!!
The thief slid towards Xandria’s side, kicking at the guard from his right side. Xandria stumbled back.
When he stood back up, the last thing he saw was the thief, standing only inches away from him.
—
“Jeez, what a pain. I was hoping to leave without bloodshed too..”
Demetrius sighed out, pulling his knife out from the guard’s head. The corpse slid down the library shelf, leaving behind a blood trail. Demetrius backed up, looking down at his attire. His dirtied white shirt had been splattered in blood, as well as his leathered boots. The knife he held was also coated with the blood of the guard. The thief briefly attempted to rub off the blood, walking out of the room.
“Alright, now that that’s taken care of... Where do I find the Curses section..?” The thief looked around, sheathing his bloodied knife onto his belt as purple eyes scanned each section’s label when he ventured deeper. Another thought hit him as he headed down the hall.
Would this even count as a curse?
Demetrius lifted up one of his arms, inspecting it with dissatisfaction. He’d continue down the stone halls, only occasionally stopping to take a closer look at the section names. The halls were long, its walls littered with cracks and signs of decay. Not only that, but the thief swore he could hear rats scurrying down here. Truly a victim of time.
Finally, Demetrius stopped at a large door at the end of the hall. This door was large, durable, and contained a lock on the door’s handle, nothing like the previous doors he had passed through. The thief plucked his hair pin from his head, fumbling with the lock until he heard a click!
Pushing the door open, Demetrtius walked into the eerie section. The first thing he saw inside was the grandfather clock a few feet away from the doorway, its hands remained at the time it had presumably stopped working. The room’s walls meanwhile were covered up in shelves of books, coated with a small layer of dirt and grime. Towards the center of the room, there were more shelves similar to that of the last room he had been in, the only difference being the abundance of more shelves and a tattered red carpet added.
“This place definitely has seen better days since the last time I was here..”
Demetrius surveyed the room, picking the shelf to his left as his starting area. The man searched for a book, plucking out one that caught his intrigue. When nothing came up of it, he would toss it, picking out another book and repeating the process.
—
“Oh come ON! There’s gotta be something in this dusty ol’ place!”
Demetrius chucked another book onto the pile, sighing irritably. The thief’s pile of books had started growing larger, nearly reaching the ceiling. The sweat on his face had started being absorbed by the irritable green fuzz on his face as his exhaustion grew. At this point, Demetrius had simply resorted to skimming the pictures before discarding it onto the pile. Climbing up the ladder, he went higher.
The man reached higher, standing on his tip toes and shoving any stray dark green strands of hair that bothered him. As he was getting ready to discard a different book, something glittered from the corner of his eye. With a raised brow, he dropped the book he had and slid over.
The book that caught his attention was a hardcover, with maroon red in its color, and adorned with golden accents. Blowing off the thin layer of dust and flipping through it, Demetrius’s attention fell on a certain riddle.
“…May ye find mercy from the lord,
He who had spared us from this world
May ye gain his favor
For his hand will grant all that you seek
Tread with caution
For even his hand is not so godly
From deep within the caverns
A Sacrifice may be all that he seeks…”
Demetrius raised a brow. His hand will grant all I seek?
A sacrifice may be all that he seeks..?
What kinda wish wash is this??
Demetrius looked over the pages. Legend of the Crystal Cavern.
“..The Crystal Caverns, eh? Haven’t heard about those in a while…”
The man pondered for a moment, staring at the poem once more.
His hand will grant all that I seek.
All…that I seek.
…
“...Well, might be worth scoping out the area.”
Worse case scenario, I wasted my time and garnered a higher bounty number…
Demetrius strolled out of the room, tucking the Book under his arm and locking the door behind him. The thief would then shuffle down the hallway, going back the way he came as he looked for the nearest window.
The window he chose for his escape was quite tall in size, located in the Celestial Spells section. The glass panes thankfully were able to be lifted from the inside, letting the cool breeze of the night inside. Demetrius sighed out as the wind hit his face, indulging himself for a moment before backing up and kneeling down onto the floor, setting the book upright where the spine was faced towards the ceiling.
“Alrighty, back the way we came..” Demetrius sneered. With his right hand, the thief would bring it over his heart, pulling out the threads of his very soul out of the flesh of his core. These threads would begin to quickly wrap around his entire frame, shrinking his form rapidly until the threads eventually fell back, revealing his avian form.
The bird stood at the height of a pigeon, a small stature that allowed it to venture out relatively undetected…At least, it would have been the case, had it not been for the elongated green horn that stuck out from its head. It added unnecessary weight, which was not ideal for flying. It’s feathers within were adorned with a gradient of a lighter green that covered the corners, before fading out into a much darker blue, then back into a gradient of a light blue near the base of its body.
It wasted no time, stretching out its long wings and taking flight and snatching the book within its claws and flying out, cawing along the way as Demetrius thought about the poem, and its message.
Grant all that I seek, huh…
