About seven years had passed since I'd been brought to Codrean, and Bernar still hadn't returned from his training in Caegwen.
In the early years of my time there, it was a grueling process to try to get used to the extreme physicality that being a Synner demanded. Ed, Batch, and Irun had stayed by my side the entire time, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't grateful for their presence.
However, this also meant that we spent nearly every waking moment as a team, including studying in the fortress's library.
As the books began to pile on our table, I could see the sun starting to set, the final rays of sunlight casting an orange-pink glow on the nearby mountains and hills. I took a moment to appreciate its beauty, but with the week of written and practical exams coming up, a shared anxiety loomed over our heads.
We all knew we had no choice but to cram as much information into our heads as possible, and that meant forming a small study group. After all, none of us wanted to fail a test we were told wouldn't be difficult; however, the grading thereof was based on our team's overall performance.
This also meant that if one of us failed, the rest of us did as well.
"Hey, do you know anything about this stuff?" Batch asked, sliding a book over to me. "What stuff?" I asked, pulling the book the rest of the way toward me. As I read the contents of what he was reading into, I noticed it was a bestiary entry on ghouls. These foul necrophages were rare, hideous, and highly dangerous to anyone caught unaware.
Shit, are these on the test, too? Might be a good time for me to brush up on them as well, I thought, idly tracing my finger over the entry.
"Well, what do you want to know about them?" I asked, flipping a page to make sure the little I had studied about them was as good as my memory said it was. "It says they'll attack when provoked, but what I can't seem to figure out is what kind of provoking would be enough," Batch said, scratching his head while Irun let out a sigh.
"Fifteen meters," he began, prompting us to look at him. "If you do just about anything within fifteen meters of them, that's enough to send them into a frenzy," he said, hardly looking up from his book. "But that's depending on the environment, right?" I asked for confirmation, prompting him to consider it for a moment.
"I mean, yes, but they're more likely to be found in places with solid floors like caves, where the vibrations will reach them through the stone beneath their feet. They can't see or hear very well, so they heavily rely on smell to determine where their prey is, and vibrations to warn them against predators," Irun continued, burying himself in the book again.
What kind of fucked up creature would want to eat one of these things? I wondered, staring down at the sketch of a humanoid beast with rotting flesh and jagged teeth.
"Well, I guess that sums that up," I said with an awkward smile, sliding the book back to Batch. "T-Thanks," he replied, flipping the page to the next section. I returned to my own book, which was an absolute slog to get through, but I did my best to keep myself focused while reading.
Ed, reading another book by the same author, sighed and slumped his head. "Ughhhh, I don't think I can fit any more information today," he groaned, his voice muffled by his arms and the book in front of him.
"Come on, just another hour and then we can head off to bed. Is there anything else you need to study?" I asked, though I was beginning to feel the heaviness of my eyelids as well. "Nothing I can think of. I'm pretty sure I've covered everything this week, and while I'm confident I can take the test, this last bit of cramming is killing me," he said, peeking his bloodshot eyes and dark circles just over the brim of his book while Irun and Batch nodded in agreement.
"Do you really think another hour is going to help us now?" Irun asked me with a sideways glance, causing me to consider. "I think an hour of sleep might be better in the long run, but…" I trailed off. "But you can't sleep. We know," the others chimed in at the same time.
I chuckled and scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "You guys can go on ahead. I'll stay here and try to finish this chapter before bed," I said, getting a sigh of relief from Batch and Ed, but Irun had only quietly closed his book.
"Don't stay up too late. If you're not back before we're already in bed, I'm going to drag you out of here myself," Irun said, lightly punching me in the shoulder. "Yeah, yeah," I waved him off dismissively as I returned to the part of the page I'd left off at.
He chuckled and followed the other two out of the library, but after sparing a glance in their direction, I thought I saw a small amount of worry on his face, though for what reason, I didn't know.
An hour must have gone by, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I'd been able to finish. "All done," I dipped my head while closing the book. When I looked up, I realized I was the only person in there, and panickedly looked over at the hour-candle we'd kept near the entrance at all times.
"Fuuuuuck, that wasn't an hour, that was three!" I hissed, quickly getting up from my seat and immediately feeling the stiffness in my legs. I stumbled a little, but managed to make it over to the bookshelf and returned the book to its original location. As soon as I turned around, however, something glinted out of the corner of my eye.
What the…? I wondered, realizing there was a book two shelves over that seemed to have a metallic lock on it.
I walked over to it and noticed there was a thin layer of dust on it, some of it trailing behind the book as I pulled it from the top shelf. My face wrinkled a little, hoping not to get any of the dust in my eyes, and I gave it a quick wipe with my hand.
It was a black, leather-bound book with fine engravings lining its borders. The spine held gold writing inset into the leather, but the language was one I had no way of recognizing, let alone knowing what I was looking at. Turning the book back over, I noticed the lock itself was bent in an odd way, as if someone had tried to pry it open long ago.
"That's an interesting read," the Master, Taegin, said from the doorway behind me. I flinched in surprise, already fearing whatever potential punishment came next.
Oooooh, I'm fucked, I thought, hesitantly looking over my shoulder at him.
However, I wasn't met with the cold expression I'd come to know over the years. Rather, his face was one of an almost expectantcuriosity, which I quickly found I had no idea what it meant. "M-Master," I stammered, offering him a bow, which I could tell he acknowledged by the flickering shadow on the stone floor. "Here, let me see that," he said, reaching his hand out to take it from me.
I promptly offered it to him and watched as he undid the bent lock with a small amount of mana and minimal effort, causing a bit of dust to fall from it. "Do you know what this book is about?" he asked as he cracked it down the middle, gesturing for me to follow him while he moved toward the table to his left.
"I-I don't, Master. I saw the padlock glinting out of the corner of my eye and went to see what it was, but I still can't seem to recognize the language," I said, following his example and taking a seat. "I'd be surprised if you had recognized it, as it's not even from Coltend. It's Caegweni," he said with a hint of gravity that was quickly subdued by the grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"C-Caegweni? You mean that's the language of the Elves?" I asked in disbelief, feeling my eyebrows raise in surprise. "Indeed. I know the language quite well, and if you want, I'd be more than happy to translate for you, if you think you have the energy for it, that is," he added with a curled eyebrow of his own.
Waaaaait, is that why he came here? But how did he…? I halted my own question when I watched him lay the book down and trace his index finger along a sentence somewhere in the middle of the page.