(I accidentally published this as I was writing the author's note again- sorry for the false alarm guys😭)

Unknown POV

The petals of the arranged flowers bent and twisted in the harsh wind. Seven individual suspects lay on the warped wooden table, limp of detachment from soil and water for multiple hours.

Her gloved hand reached out, hesitant for a moment as she decided which flower to test next. The glove was worn, made of a heavy black leather that held tools only of use to herself.

The girl held the third flower in the lineup; the black petunia.

The dark petals of the plant blended into her black gloves, the only contrast being the thin stem and stark white folds of the flower.

The sole reason she had chosen this flower to inspect was its striking similarities in color to the mystery substance. The poison substance was capable of killing—and it was doing just that.

She had been tracking the strange and unexplainable taking place over the course of the past four weeks. They had begun slow and fairly harmless, but continuously became more frequent and violent, poisoning the nature and those living in it.

All of her documenting and tracking had led to one site. The Lost Cities.

It wasn't much of a surprise when the deaths had begun to build a pattern. When things died or fell apart, they tended to point towards the Neverseen. But with these recent incidents, they didn't lead to the Neverseen like she thought they would.

They led to the Black Swan.

Sophie POV

Sophie's dagger clattered to the ground for what felt like the hundredth time, thanks to Aelia's combat skills and Sophie's lack of them.

"How long do we have to spar?" Sophie asked between ragged breaths.

Aelia kicked her legs out from under her, "As long as it takes for you to get one hit on me."

Sophie gathered herself as much as one could while being on the ground before Aelia pulled her to her feet. She took up the fighting stance she learned about thirty minutes ago, wiping off the mud collecting on her training gear.

The storm had brought heavy rain, and following that turned the sparring circles from dirt to mud, very, very quickly. And said mud had begun to collect on Sophie's training attire from the first slip up.

Another crack of thunder pounded through the combat area, causing several recruits to look to the skies in worry—Sophie being one of them.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Aelia jabbed the hilt of her knife into Sophie's left arm.

Sophie let out a yelp of pain, "OW- well now it feels like you're just being mean."

Aelia gave a small laugh, "You're not focused, that's your fault, not mine! You're enemies won't stop for you to tie your shoelaces or go pick flowers during combat."

"They don't exactly teach battle skills in business school," she retorted.

Whatever Aelia might have said next was inaudible because of the ear splitting whistle that sounded.

Sophie ignored the sound for a short moment while her sparring partner looked away for the source of the sound, and instead nicked Aelia's left hand. Not enough to cause any real damage or pain, but certainly enough to make a snarky comment.

Aelia turned to face Sophie, mouth open in astonishment, "I know you did not just-"

"You weren't focused, that's your fault, not mine," she chimed, wearing a cheeky grin.

Aelia rolled her eyes, but Sophie could see her suppressing a smile.

The smile quickly dropped as shouts rang out and blades audibly clattered to the ground, a confused expression took its place as her eyes searched the training area for the source of the clamor.

Sophie followed her gaze, seeing a rush of recruits running back into the base, ushered inside by older recruits or people in dark green cloaks.

Before she could ask any questions, she was pushed into the stampede of people, separated from Aelia and the one person she was slightly comfortable around.

The storm boomed above them all, the rain flooded the shouts and the thunder drowned them out.

Sophie had the impression that everyone else knew even an inkling more as to what was going on more than she did. The mud streaked down everyone's clothes, washing onto the drenched grass thanks to the heavy rain.

She could hear an audible sigh of relief from essentially everyone in the room once they reached the shelter of the indoor base.

The hall was cramped with over two dozen recruits filling in, eventually dispersing to get cleaned up from the mud and grime of the combat training. Sophie wiped off some of the excess mud caked on her new training gloves and rung out the rain water from her hair.

Because of her poor sense of direction and the fact that she has only been in this base for a day and a half, Sophie had no idea where she was, or where she was going.

The blonde trudged through hallways that all looked the same—same wallpaper, same floors, same lights, same doors. Sophie peered into doorways, attempting to find rooms or halls that looked familiar.

She came to a halt, peeking into a room cloaked in darkness, other than the occasional lightning strike that would light up the room for a moment.

The door was notably taller and seemingly older than all the other doors, with a dark color and a glossy finish.

Sophie walked into the room, and her mouth dropped open when a flash of lightning illuminated the area.

The room was lined with mannequins, each individual one decked with corsets, beautiful dresses and jewelry. Sophie's eyes wandered, catching on a gorgeous baby blue corset, emblazoned with white flowers and stunning gold designs on the hem.

She approached the corset, the only sound being the creaking of the floor and the violent storm outside. Sophie was nervous to touch the corset, as it looked so ancient that it might just crumble at the touch. Her eyebrows furrowed as she delicately swiped her finger across it and it came away with years of dust.

She wondered how long these clothes had been left untouched for. But if these outfits and jewels had been left alone for years, then why was the door open?

Sophie didn't have time to wonder any longer once she heard the pounding of heavy footsteps. She took a sharp breath, pressing her back to a wall she hoped was hidden from the outside view. She closed her eyes and tried to listen for who the footsteps belonged to, and where they were going.

There were at least three sets of footsteps, possibly more. By the heaviness of the steps and the pacing of the strides, she guessed they were wearing the kind of boots Sophie only saw in the training room—massive combat boots that would be seen in the military, with several straps and laces—and wherever they were going, they were in a rush.

Once the footsteps had passed, Sophie tumbled out of the room. She tried to look normal as she sauntered down the hallway, passing several doors she didn't bother to check.

Sophie turned the corner and collided with someone at full force. The two backed up, and she almost fell backwards tripping over her own feet.

Sophie spoke first. "Sorry- didn't uh- didn't see you-" She paused, and her apologetic expression dropped into a blank one.

Ruy and Sophie shared matching faces of annoyance.

"Nevermind," she retorted. Ruy rolled his eyes in reply.

The blonde tried to move around him but he moved with her, blocking Sophie's path.

She looked up at him, blinking furiously in an attempt to sooth her annoyance towards Ruy.

She moved the other way. He moved with her.

"Are we gonna do this all day?" Sophie questioned.

He thought for a second before sighing.

"I'm supposed to take you to the library." They stared at each other blankly.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because Aelia sent me to bring you to the library." More blank stares.

"Okay? Bring me to the library then."

The raven haired boy turned around silently and began to walk back down the way he had just come from. Sophie followed in pursuit, passing doors and walking through hallways she had never seen before.

The doors to the library were two french doors, at least ten feet tall and four feet wide. The right one was left slightly ajar, even prior to Ruy pushing it open for Sophie to walk through.

She paused for a moment before entering, not realizing he was holding the door for her. The blonde's lips parted slightly as she wandered into the enormous hall.

Sophie let her eyes wander the breathtaking library.

The room was humongous, the floor filled with beautiful patterned tiles, the upward curve of the mosaic ceiling, the few scattered desks gathering dust, and the endless shelves of books.

The books.

There was a sense of comfort in the books after days of unsettling events. Sophie wished she could just sit down between the aisles and go through book by book, with endless time and nothing to do but read.

She heard Aelia and Alvar start to speak, even though she hadn't noticed them in the library before.

"Finallyyyy," she dramatized. "I was beginning to think you guys got a little distracted..." Aelia continued to talk, but Sophie could care less as she took in the rest of the room.

The back of the library was wall to wall stained glass windows, and it was a stunning sight of the lush fields as the violent storm carried on. Her legs seemed to move on their own towards the stained glass mosaics, mesmerized by the way the light refracted through the hall.

"Sophie. Sophie. Sophieeee," Aelia vocalized. She turned away from the windows to face her.

Aelia grinned when she saw she had the blonde's attention.

"Come here, I want to show you something!"

Sophie only made it a couple feet before the glass shattered.

Thanks for reading this chapter :))) I love that I actually updated within a week instead of my usual pattern of writing one chapter and then waiting a month to update💀💀

I haven't started writing the next chapter yet so, I'm not sure if it'll come out quite as soon as this chapter did, but I'm planning it out and it should be a pretty fun one with some drama ;)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and make sure to comment and vote!

         ~bk <3