Chapter 48

**Merianna**

“Is that a piece of what we were looking for?” Noch asked in disbelief.

I reread over what Hezerial held out in front of us. “It would somewhat appear so…?”

Both of us looked dubiously back up at Hezerial, only for him to curiously tilt his head to the side. Sometimes I wondered if he thought that Humans could be such brainless creatures at times. I knew for a fact that Ela would think that, and say it to our faces in the same breath.

Noch quickly snatched the tomb from Hezerial’s hands and furiously flipped through the pages. After he was done with his cursory check through, he flicked his head back over to me. “Why the hell didn’t you think of using your angelic sidekick in the first place?”

“You didn’t think of it either, so point that accusation back towards yourself why don’t you.” I deadpanned.

“Have I been of assistance, My Lady?” Hezerial asked happily.

“Indeed you have! Now get us more of the same kind of material!” Noch exclaimed as he read through the pages more thoroughly while walking back towards the seating area where we had lunch not too long ago. Thyrion on the other hand hadn’t moved from his spot there and was currently silently laughing his ass off at our expense.

Hezerial merely lifted his eyebrow at Noch’s words and immediately turned his attention back to me.

“Thank you Zerial, it looks exactly like the type of content we are looking for. Do you think you can find similar texts in this building?” I asked with a sigh.

“Of course, My Lady. I will come back to you momentarily.” He smiled and then practically skipped back to the bookshelf he left off from.

I shuffled my way to where Thyrion and Noch were now sitting together, bent over the tomb that Hezerial had found. Looking over the tomb, it was obvious that it was practically as old as the mountains. Granted, the mountains were practically the only things that survived the Cataclysm of the previous cycle. It was completely made of leather, the outer leather covering was very obviously dragon hide, but post cataclysm generations would easily mistake it for extremely tough crocodile leather. The pages seemed to have been made of either human skin or lamb leather, either or are highly possible. Some witch covens of the previous cycle used the skin of their deceased loved ones to make their grimoires, seeing it as a sign of great respect and love to have a piece of that individual with them even after their passing. Especially if they were on their last passing and weren’t going to reincarnate again.

Utterly morbid but beautiful as well depending on who you asked. Probably downright eew to most of the modern populace.

“So tell me, what do you see? Anything more useful than the general gist we got?” I asked Noch as I craned my neck over his shoulder to grab a peek.

“Actually yes, much more. If Dermon had read this book while he was Head of the Council, then all his actions up to now would make some sense. This book mainly lists the beliefs from before the cataclysm, which would explain his involvement with the Dark Warlocks a while back. Since he would have been able to understand their old beliefs and current motives in wanting to bring back their supposed founding deity. But I also wonder if that Demon of his was the one translating these books for him. He obviously wouldn’t have been able to read it himself.”

“Ah, so Dermon wasn’t one of the pre-cataclysm witches like you or me?” I asked. For a while I had thought that it could be possible for Dermon to also have a lengthy past like us because of what he had been dabbling in. But if he wasn’t, then having the demon translate these kinds of things for him made a whole lot more sense.

“No he wasn’t. He was old but he came by well after the cataclysm had already become a hazy memory to history.” 

It was a thought that I didn’t like having. Dermon was just one normal witch just like everyone else around here, heck he was even the head of the Council, then somewhere down the line he just went off the deep end. Either he came across something that changed his perspective and morals, or something could have been whispering and influencing him from the shadows for a long time. It wasn’t unheard of for a few witches here and there to have demonic guardians. The whole stereotype of witches being associated with demons didn’t just pop out of thin air of course. But those witches never allowed themselves to be wholly controlled or influenced by said force. Plus those demons were usually on the lower end of the demonic food chain.

A chill made the hairs on my neck stand up. It was a theory that everyone was already aware of, but the more I thought about it, the more that theory seemed plausible. It wasn’t just Dermon who was up to something. The demons themselves were using him as a means to get whatever it is that they want from this dimension.

Noch hummed thoughtfully to himself like he had read something good. “What is it? Something interesting?” I asked.

Noch tapped a page with a faded image that gave me a faint sense of deja-vu. The hieroglyphs around it looked familiar too. “This is apparently a depiction of the deity of the Warlocks Denaue. It’s kind of an origin myth of sorts, but even at the time that this was written her origins were a distant memory.”

I frowned at the depiction. It seemed as if the image was trying to depict the deity Denaue hovering over a moon cycle with outstretched arms and the hair on her head being light. “Does it give any physical descriptions of her? It wasn’t out of the norm for the deities to roam around with the people back then, right?”

“You’re right, that was still a time where people could actually say that gods roamed among men and dragons were the birds of the sky.” he paused. “Now that I think about it, the time before the cataclysm could have been thought of as a modern fantasy novel setting.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” I frowned. It felt unsettling to think of our pasts as something that merely survives as fantasy dreams in modern society. Even witches of today would probably be of the same mindset, thinking that something like that would be too far fetched. I peeked over at Thyrion, who was one of said witches even though one of the older ones.

He was looking at the two of us slightly bug eyed. It was a look that said ‘Am I hearing this right? Those things actually happened?! That sounds so cool but terrifying at the same time’. I could see it written all over his face, and it looked like he wanted to ask something.

Noch seemed to feel the questions in the air without looking at Thyrion. “Yes, dragons were real flying bird-lizards, why no bones? Answer, hollow bones, mass destruction and loads of time. How else would they have been able to fly? No they weren’t your modern depiction of dinosaurs even though yes those were running around in the background too. Yes, we also had other now-mythical creatures too like phoenixes. And yes if you happened to bump into a deity and you just looked at them slightly wrongly, you were instantly erased from existence.” He paused as if checking himself. “Depending on which one you bumped into of course.”

Thyrion slumped back into his chair with a dreamy sigh. I on the other hand was instantly reminded of the dreams I’ve had since before Noch had kidnapped me from my car. Those vivid dreams of touching dark red feathers, and riding a dragon over a village burning in flames. The memory sent a pang slicing through my heart. Those bonds were heavy losses, and made me wonder if I had maybe fought together or against Noch during those times, or had no contact with him at all. It was definitely something I would want to bring up to him at a later time over some wine and cheese.

“Oh, this is interesting.” Noch mused.

“What is it?” I asked, peeking over his shoulder again.

“It seems that her origins somewhat resonate with being a balance between Order and Chaos. Which makes more sense as to her being the deity for the Warlocks. Those guys always preach about chaos hiding within their perfectly organised magic scripts.” He hummed thoughtfully as he flipped the pages. “It doesn’t say much else about what happened before the cataclysm or how she ended up being merged with you.” He flipped some more then signed in frustration.

Closing his eyes Noch leaned back. “I wonder when she would have been attacked. Granted, if something like that were to happen to a deity it wouldn’t be a surprise for the event itself to cause a cataclysm if handled poorly. Although there also was the possibility of a cataclysmic item being found and utilized by a witch, warlock or random wandering soul who would have wanted to seperate the dimensions between those of the mythic and mundane.”

I sat down heavily in my chair as a wave of unexplained dread washed through me. There was suddenly an intense ringing in my ears, as my eyes fixated on the floor. Something was slowly creeping up in my mind without me looking for it. For a second I thought about quickly pushing it away, but at the same time, I had made up my mind not to run away from my pasts anymore. Whether it was my past, or Denaue’s past.

A feeling of being engulfed, encased and encircled by unseen forces rushed over my body. I couldn’t move, or speak. I was both still sitting in the chair and at the same time, not. Chanting voices arose around me and the dread mixed with a sense of betrayal and anger. It felt like my soul was being squeezed, or torn. I wanted to cry and use my power to curse those around me for betraying my trust and teachings.

How could they do this to me? After I had taken them under my wing and taught them new ways of being a part of this world when they previously weren’t able to do what everyone else were able to achieve with ease. Being able to utilise magic in ways that didn’t require it to come from a person’s body. They begged me to teach them for so long, and I took pity on them. How could they return my benevolence with such underhanded means?

Angry tears streamed down my face as I glimpsed a dark mass emerging from behind one of the chanting figures-

“My Lady!” Hezerial’s voice ringed in my ears and light suddenly seemed to flood my eyes. The sensation of my body being contained fell away just as quickly, and the sensation of hands on my shoulders and cheek replaced it.

Blinking, I looked around, quickly re-orienting myself.

“Are you okay?” Thyrion asked worriedly in front of my face. It was his hands that were gripping my shoulders. I glanced to my right and saw that it was Hezerial’s hand that was on my cheek. Noch was standing right behind Thyrion, looking ready to spring into action.

“I- I’m fine.” I managed to utter as I started feeling like I was settling back into my body. I didn’t even notice that I was gripping the armrests of my chair. Reflexively I let go, only to hear them clatter to the floor a moment later.

Hezerial and Thyrion moved away to give me some space, and when I looked down at the armrests, it looked like they had been ripped off from the chair with brute force.

“Did I do that?” I asked the guys worriedly.

Their silence would have been enough, though Hezerial dutifully answered me. “Yes My Lady. While I was on my way to bring more materials I felt your energy fluctuate, then the chair cracked, so I rushed over as quickly as possible.”

“I, see.” I didn’t know quite what to make of what I just experienced.

“Care to share Demon Spawn?” Noch asked as he made himself comfortable in his chair again.

I heaved a sigh then shook out my arms, only to fold them over my chest and bring my one hand up to tap my fingers on my lips. “I’m not too sure, but I think I just had a memory of Denaue.”

Noch’s eyebrows shot up while both Thyrion and Hezerial got increasingly worried. I didn’t want to believe what I had just seen, but the sensations were too real. And the pattern of the thoughts, those weren’t the thoughts someone who was a normal person or witch would have.

“I’m not sure if we would actually find any documents mentioning what had happened to Denaue, but I think that she was betrayed by the Warlocks. They were chanting, and she was magically confined somewhere dark. Maybe a cave or basement of sorts.”

Noch jumped on what I had said. “Do you think you could remember the chant?”

I shrugged. “Things were a little chaotic but I think if we manage to find it written down somewhere I’d recognise it.”

Noch nodded. “Alright, that will be the second important thing regarding Warlocks, Dermon, demons and Denaue that we’d need to look out for. What else did you manage to find Mr. Sunshine?” he asked, turning back to Hezerial.

Hezerial gave a sigh then plonked a couple of scrolls and bound parchments onto the table. “These are all I could find left in the bookshelves that are generally available down here. The next documents to check, would be the taboo documents at the very back that are all bound and chained up. Silly to bind a book with chains if you ask me.”

“The chains are probably just to keep others from touching them rather than keeping the books themselves contained as you are probably thinking.” Thyrion offered with a shrug.

Hezerial seemed to think for a second. “Ah, that does make more sense.”

“Do we need to get Ferina or Jernok to come down and unlock the chains?” I asked half-heartedly. I knew already that my question was probably a rhetorical one.

“Of course not. The protections on those documents are things that had previously been taught by us, so no. I refuse to grovel for approval for something that we can easily get our hands on ourselves.” Noch scoffed.

“Of course…” I sighed.

Noch beamed a smile over at Hezerial. “Glorified winged feather foul, you know what we are looking for. I doubt you need us to lift any of those protections or chains for you.”

I nearly choked on the juice I had just brought to my lips and glared at Noch. “Are you allergic to being nice or something?”

“No, I just like being a pain from time to time.” Noch grinned as he started rifling through the latest documents Hezerial had dropped off.

“It’s fine My Lady. I’ve long ago learned to ignore the prattles of slightly above average primates.” Hezerial breezed right past Noch without giving him a second glance. But in the next moment a loud crack echoed through the space and Noch went tumbling backwards. Letting out a loud “Ack!” as he connected with the tiled floor.

“You deserved that one.” I chuckled as Thyrion laughed so hard his eyes started tearing up.