“You might have to,” Ernaline responded, shoulders tense. “They’re a personal favorite of the gods. They’ve used them three times in the last five decades, which is more than they’ve ever reused a creature in the tournament. It’s been a few rounds since the last time they were brought in so they’re overdue for an appearance.”
“At least that’s one fight I’m not entirely unprepared for.” Ambrose tried to look at the bright side but the idea of seeing an Alkijin again only made the weight in her stomach sink further and the hair on her neck stand on end. Claws and teeth still came to her in the night when she finally found herself able to sleep and she’d woken up in a panicked sweat every time.
“How did you win?” Ernaline asked as she scanned the passage again. “I haven’t been able to find anything that can tell us how to fight them, let alone actually kill them.”
“It was kind of a fluke, I’m not sure I’d be able to replicate the same results,” Ambrose told her honestly, leaning her head on her hand as she propped her elbow up on the polished wooden table.
“What kind of fluke?” Ernaline didn’t take her eyes off the page she was reading.
Ambrose thought of how to respond, but in all honestly she didn’t know. The light was brighter than anything she’d ever seen. So consuming it covered everything the eye could see until there was nothing left. “There’s this light that comes to me. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s strong. It gave me the opportunity I needed to be able to fight back.”
“Have you tried calling it?” Ernaline titled her face towards her.
“Of course I have,” Ambrose yawned behind her open palm. “I don’t even know how to find the Element that’s calling me when I use it. It just kind of comes. It’s one of the few that I can’t feel when I focus.”
Ernaline flipped through another leather-bound book written in a language Ambrose didn’t understand but Ernaline had no issue skimming. “That sounds like Absolute Light. The only counter to Absolute Darkness. Light mages, let alone one powerful enough for that skill are rare and the last documented case was over one hundred and twenty years ago.”Ernaline glanced up at her. “Are you sure you couldn’t call it?”
Ambrose shook her head, “I honestly don’t know.”
“That’s disappointing.” Ernaline’s brows pressed together as she closed the book she was reading with a big thud. “I guess we can’t plan on relying on that power when you’re in. Did anything else happen in the woods that could be important? Anything at all? No detail is insignificant.”
Ambrose suddenly remembered her encounter with the dragon. If anyone would know any information, it’d be Ernaline. She’d practically spent half her life in the library, memorizing almost every page she’d ever read.
“Yeah, actually.” She shifted in her seat. “When I met the dragon he said some things that I haven’t been able to make sense of and it’s still bothering me.”
Ernaline’s mouth opened. “Hespoketo you?
“What?” Akadian even sat up now, waiting for her to continue.
“Yeah…” she replied, looking between them. “Is that bad?”
Ernaline fell into her own chair. “It’s certainly unusual. Dragons can’t speak. At least, they never have before.”
“This one did. Very well.”
Akadian leaned closer. “She’s right. What did it say?”
“He said the gods pushed the dragons into the mountains when they came here. That the dragons were the first species and this was their home before they—we—stole it.” Ambrose paused and glanced at Akadian. “He said all twelve of them.” She then shot a pointed look at Ernaline whose mouth hung open in silent confusion before she pressed her lips into a tight line, shaking her head as her curls bounced around her face.
“That’s not possible, there are only ten gods,” Ernaline’s eyes narrowed as her mind seemed to process this information against what she already knew.
Ambrose folded her hands, placing her chin on her intertwined fingers and nodded. “That’s what I said.”
Ernaline leaned forward in her chair and placed her hands over her mouth. “And what did the dragon say?”
“He called me a fool. Said I was ignorant to our history. Thatwewere. And he seemed pretty smug about it if I’m being honest.”
“That’s not possible…” Ernaline pushed herself out of her chair and walked down one of the sides of the shelves. “Everything we have recorded states ten gods, with drawings of what they looked like so we can make statues. I’ve read every edition ofAn Accumulative Historywhich goes back to when the gods arrived.” She shuffled through shelves, running her fingers over leather spines as she looked for something. “For gods sakes’ their effigies are all over the kingdoms. You can’t enter a capital city without seeing them. It explicitly states the dragons were createdbythe gods,beforethe royals as a test of their abilities. And they definitely can’tspeak.”
“Shows what I know.” Ambrose wished she would’ve paid more attention to Ernaline’s history lessons when they were younger. She always thought the royals were created first. She hated history, but now, it seemed it was more important than she ever could’ve imagined. What were the gods hiding? “Well, we know one of those is a lie because this dragon without a doubt spoke to me.”
Ernaline shuffled through books until she finally found what she was searching for, a leather bound book similar to the ones Magnus kept in his office:An Accumulative History, First Edition. She skimmed through the pages and placed her finger over a passage tapping furiously. “Right here,” she announced before reading. “‘The Ten came as benevolent rulers to a world and found a lush ecosystem that carried every possibility for life, though they found none in current existence. The perfect home for their new kingdom, they set to creating the building blocks of life. They created the first class. A species of serpent with wings more powerful than the storms that raged in the sky from which many new species were born. This serpent class would rule as the dominating species under the gods until the royal class was created to build the kingdom that would become their home. Together, the gods and the royal class built the first kingdom and called it, Naenaros.’” Ernaline hit the page with the back of her hand. “See? It’s all there.”
Ambrose turned to Akadian. “What do you know about this?”
He shook his head. “The same history we’ve all been taught. I’ve never heard of twelve gods, only ten. I wasn’t around when Naenaros was built but its creation is legend, we all know it. It’s common knowledge across all the kingdoms.”
Ambrose stared at the passage. “They’re definitely lying to us. For all we know, the drawings they gave us for their effigies aren’t even what they really look like.” Her eyes flitted to Akadian briefly. “On top of that, half of their names have been lost to history and aren’t even in the texts, so who knows what their true names could be? Everything we know about them might be a complete lie. That dragonspoketo me. I didn’t imagine it, and it certainly had no love lost on the gods.” She tapped a finger on her chin. “I can’t imagine that kind of rage coming from nowhere. They’re hiding something.”
