Elred stood in front of a wall, mind already turning with the prospect of what she was about to do. She looked around, noted the absence of servants and relatives storming through the corridor, and turned back to the wall. A heavy breath misted on the glistening surface as she shook her growing hesitation.

Okay. Here goes.

She pressed her hands on the wall and closed her eyes. Her brain ran through the rysteme spell she had learned from a crafty tutor she had ten years ago. When she had spoken the not-so-familiar ancient words, she opened her eyes to watch the wall shimmer and flicker. A smug smile tore through her lips as an image began forming in front of her.

She watched herself stride towards Cirasa's room, break the door open, and disappear inside. She clicked her tongue. That wasn't what she was asking for though. Was there a command to skip to the part she was curious about? Then again, it could mess up the spell. Well, fine. With a sigh, she peeled her eyes open and watched.

Soon, the walls showed her going out of Cirasa's room. A red-cloaked figure tore from the other corner and sped past Elred. There. That's the one. Elred inched closer to the wall and squinted. Who was that? Why would they wear a loud color in a place full of pale palettes? Were they asking for attention?

Elred snapped to attention when the walls followed where the red-cloak walked. Her footsteps rang in the empty corridor but she followed the development of her spell as it bled from wall to wall. She tried analyzing the red-cloak's face but it seemed they were aware of the glass' ability to reflect events and the possibility of those reflections to be summoned. Instead of a well-sculpted reflection of people's face red-cloak had passed, theirs was just a blurry circle as if someone took a brush with wet paint and smudged it in.

Still, they weren't able to hide their movements and their red-cloak did make them pop out like an errant ear. Elred matched the reflected figure's steps, turning corner after corner until it led her to...the archives.

As a child, she had only spent time here to read about the magical kingdom of Helinfirth and the tales they tell children about magical palaces in the sky and cool, lost cities under the ocean. She had never thought there was more to the archives other than that. Wellthere's not a day where one wouldn't learn something new.

The red in the walls' reflection blipped in and out between shelves filled to the brin with dusty tomes and rolled parchment. Elred stood on her tiptoes, trying to traces where the red-cloak had gone. She tore into the aisle that would bring her closer to the eastern wall when the spell faded. No!

Elred stomped her foot, her soles stirring a mound of dust. Huh. For a palace with hundreds of servants, they sure like to skip the archive. She sniffed and rubbed her nose to drive theust away. She looked around. Okay. Red-cloak was here, that much the reflection spell told her. The question was: what were they looking for in here? Couldn't they find it in other libraries like the one in Gingow? Elred heard it was quite the collection.

The dim lights from lowered settings in the light rods gave Elred shivers running down her arms. There was no breeze, adding to the errie feeling of no movement. Silence clouded the entire space. Shadows danced and ate at the objects they sprouted from. The shelves crowded in an array. Being the same height as the previous and the next ones, there was nothing remarkable about those shelves.

Should she cast the spell again? She looked around at the dim walls and shook her head. Rysteme spells needed time to cool off, or they could become too costly to cast. Besides, if she was traced casting spells here, it could arouse suspicion and even alert Red-Cloak and force them to keep their activities to the shadows more.

Elred was lucky enough to have gotten this far.

She kept walking, head swivelling from the ceiling, the chairs and tables scattered in huge spaces between shelves to the tomes slotted in an unbothered stack. The tip of her shoes hit something solid. "Ooph!" Her hand clasped her mouth as the other one reached out to brace the nearest shelf, stopping her form from flying forward. What in Umazure—

She looked down to find a mess of tomes scattered on the floor. Some were open in the middle while some where thrown haphazardly in a hazy circle. The one her foot hit had skittered underneath the shelf, through the dusty realm. What were these?

Her legs fold underneath her, lowering herself into a crouch. She drove her skirts away form the floor and tucked it behind her knees. Her mother's going to kill Elred if she found a speck of dust in Elred's clothes.

She picked up the only open tome and dusted its surface off. The wrinkly parchment was peppered with blotches of yellow and dark beige. Hmm. Judging from the worn spine and the frayed bindings sticking the pages together, this one's here for some time. She squinted in the dark, forcing her eyes to read the letters scrawled into the present page. Why would Red-Cloak leave traces like this if they're careful enough to use glamour to hide their face from the walls?

There are moments in my life when I felt tremendous power emanating from the ground. It was almost like there's a vat of untapped magic underneath us, one that we haven't unearthed yet. My friend and I have spent days trying to find an opening to no avail. We will continue tomorrow and will spend the night offering sacrifices to the gods in exchange for their guidance.

A snort tore through Elred's nose. A diary? What lunatic reads someone else's journals? Besides, what's an untapped vat of magic doing in Umazure? Magic was everywhere. There was no need to look for wells under the ground. It's enough for everyone.

Elred turned to the next page to find more entries.

My friend and I crested hills and traveled plains to reach this sacred city in the sky. This is where our search for the magical reserve has led us. We met with the locals and they told us the same thing: that they feel the same pressing power bleeding from the ground when they weren't paying attention. Some holier men and scholars, who have devoted their time uncovering all kinds of secrets the islands might offer, have said that it wasn't coming from the ground.

It was the mountain itself.

Elred arched her eyebrows. Okay. Now she's getting somewhere. There were plenty of mountains in Umazure. Which one were they talking about?

The locals wouldn't let us continue our search, claiming it was forbidden to help outsiders to enter the city. That's what piqued our interest. The locals had let it slip. There was a city in the sky. That might be where the key to the magical reserve was hidden.

So we asked the locals what that city was called. They said it was Helina Firthe. A fitting name, I presume.

Elred stuck her bottom lip out. Helina Firthe? It sounded a lot like...

Oh.

Helinfirth.

Who wrote this diary, even? Elred shut the tome and peered at the letters carved into the dried leather cover. Pelrise Seros. Who was that?

And most importantly, why was Red-Cloak looking into this?

Elred set Pelrise's diary away and moved to the topmost tome in the messy pile. The title read The Legend of Selna and Other Myths. Hmm. A myth, huh? Was this even worth spending time on? She peered at the next tome underneath. Secrets of Helinfirth: A Review. Oh, dear. Why were Lantegian scholars researching her territory? Had the Queen approved of this? Why were these tomes in the archive and nowhere else? Also—

"I am done waiting for them. Tell them to decide amongst themselves," a voice rasped in the shadows. Elred sucked in a breath and pressed herself against the shelves. "Make yourself useful, imbecile. Tell them the Crow isn't going to wait any longer."

Crow...

Elred pressed her hand to her mouth, muffling the sound of her breathing. A bumbling voice answered, "I-I will do my best." By the sound of it, male. The other voice clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Be back in three days. I want my answer then."

"A-and if they say no?" the weaker voice of the two asked.

The raspy voice snorted in amusement. "Then, they will see how well I remember favors," he paused, no doubt to look at whoever he was talking to. "And how I repay neglect."

Elred strained her ears towards the exit, waiting as one set of footsteps vanished down the corridor. The other set remained in the library. Oh, no. She edged towards the eastern wall, making sure she rearranged the tomes back to their original placement. She swept a hill of dust to hide any traces of footsteps and scuffling. By the time the shadow of the newcomer's figure towered over the aisle, Elred was already at the archive's door.

Before anyone else could see her, Elred tore through the corridors in the dark and lonely night, making sure to hide her face from the walls' memory with a glamour.