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Luc could tell Nix wasn’t telling him the whole of it, but he also decided he would step back from the discussion for the time being. Nix was stubborn and nagging him wouldn’t help.
They walked in silence for some time, the quiet hum of the city moving around them.
“Does father know?” Luc eventually asked. He figured Ur would have tabs on him.
“Know what?” Nix asked.
“That you’ve removed me from Sol?”
“Why should he? He isn’t your keeper, or mine.”
“That sounds reminiscent of the god of the Vasmost.” Luc smiled. “You should reconsider your position, brother.”
“Absolutely not. Besides, he discounted me for falling in love with a mortal.”
“Prick.”
“Right?” Nixus looked over at him with a dimpled smile. “Besides, he’d discount me for anything. He wants you. You know I don’t want that job. You’re the right god for it.”
Luc scoffed and looked down to watch his steps, shaking his head. “Not a god anymore.”
“Easily rectified.”
When they reached the library, Luc followed Nix up the wide steps and through the wide, ornate, dark wooden doors into the gloom of the interior. The decorative lamps buzzed with Oracle magic rather than solar energy in order to protect the contents of the Elcadian treasure trove. Luc’s eyes adjusted to the dim light as their footfalls echoed against the marble entry echoed in the expansive foyer. Several doorways branched off the vestibule, and at its center stood an oracle wrapped in blue robes offsetting his dark complexion, waiting as if he’d expected them. He probably had. This one was in training, denoted by the empty chain around his hips lacking the keys of knowledge.
“Gods.” The acolyte greeted them with a dip of his shorn head. “Welcome to the Library of Oracles. How may I guide you?”
Luc looked at Nix and froze, not sure how to ask for guidance. Finally, Luc said, “We’re trying to ascertain someone’s identity.”
The acolyte blinked, though Luc knew it wasn’t because he was confused. The Oracles had an unnerving way of communicating, as if they operated with a hive mind that was linked telepathically.
“Do you have any information about this individual that could guide us?” The acolyte asked.
“Her name is Scarlett,” Nix said.
“Wait.” Luc stopped him, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I would bet that isn’t her name. If she’s godblood and in hiding, right?”
“Right.”
“No family name?” the acolyte asked.
“Unknown,” Nix said. “What do we know?”
“She’s using magic to remain hidden.”
“This isn’t much to help a search, but Sister Prudence in the Hall of Records will help you.” The monk bowed. “This way.”
They followed the young acolyte through one of the entrances, the archway over the door marked with ancient symbols denotingRa’ha—the old language of the gods. This one readRumaha Alora Maiah, which roughly translated meantto be enlightened. Lucian hadn’t spent any time there beyond what had been required of him as a child before his ascension, but when they emerged into the gigantic room, he felt transported back to the awe of his boyhood, a feeling he’d forgotten.
The arched ceiling faded away into the open cosmos, the darkness home to distant, sparkling stars, the ribbons of galaxies, gasses, and ether as spellbinding now as he remembered. The physics of the room didn’t make sense, considering they were walking through a building since it appeared far more expansive than the exterior of it suggested, but he supposed the physics of Sol didn’t make sense either.
“That never gets old,” Nix said next to him, looking up at the sky.
Reacquainted, Luc agreed with Nix, recalling that he’d once loved this place. He smiled, remembering a time when he and Nix raced through the library trying to find all the nude artwork, competing for who could find the most. They’d gotten scolded by an acolyte, who’d then told their father.
They followed the acolyte through the long room past a series of floating orbs denoting the twelve different universe systems at various intervals of time. As a boy, all he’d had to do was touch one and the orb would expand, rotate, shifting to the selected time period. It occurred to him, suddenly how much this place had had a hand in how he’d Roamed.
The acolyte led them through the hall and up a set of stairs, followed by another.
