Aurora

Part 1, Chapter 7

Arrabella.nine

I stretched as I woke the next day, remembering that our guest was sleeping in this very castle. I quickly threw my clothes on after cleaning myself up before sprinting to her room. She was already standing outside and I skidded to a halt in front of her.

“Hi, sorry, I didn’t realize that you were staying.” I smiled at her and she waved it off.

“Are you a titan of some sort?” She asked me with curious eyes and I frowned, confused.

“I’m not a giant, no. What an odd way to call them. Does titan mean something different to you on Black Erathiah?” I asked her and she nodded.

“I’m not sure how to explain it but they are usually beings with… extra power.” She said, uncertain, and I nodded.

“Why are you here, by the way,” I asked and she brightened.

“I'm here to study everything about your universe, including your planet.” She told me and I hummed.

“Is our library good?” I asked and she nodded. “Alright, follow me.” I motioned for her to follow me.

I led her down the long corridors in silence. We were there in no time.

I grabbed the handle of one of the large doors and have it a big heave, glad it opened with ease.

Sticking my head in, I called for the librarian's daughter. “Poppy?”

“I'll be right with you in a second!” She called back and I motioned Tessa to come in.

A barefoot, blonde-headed girl came rushing over just as I closed the door. Her hair was wavy and almost reached her thighs. She was pale, but slightly tan, and had a red tattoo on her right shoulder. A long black dress that flowed and sparkled at the ends greeted me like a starry night. She blinked her light brown eyes at me, and I smiled.

“Who is this?” She asked me.

“This is Tessa, she's from the Black Erathiah in the alternate dimension, and she's here to study about everything there is to know about our universe,” I explained, looking over at Tessa and she nodded.

“Oh, well my name is Poppy Mallea and I'll help you with anything that you need.” She smiled before walking off to finish what she was doing before we came.

I led her to the largest ionak table in the castle and she looked at it in wonder, tapping the surface. The table lit up, projecting a settings panel into the air.

“What is this made of? I've never seen it before.” She looked over at me, speaking.

“This is made of ionageria. It's a crystal only found in Xera. Once it's supercharged with magic, it becomes ionak.” I explained and she nodded softly.

“What language is this?” She asked, pointing at the projected screens.

“Oh that's Na’aine, it's the language of this kingdom. It's a sister language of Daketi, which is the language that the rest of the world speaks.”

“I can't read it, can you change it to a different one?”

“Sorry, it's only set to translate from Na’aine to Daketi. We'll just have to use the actual books in the library, they're universal.” I said, tapping the table to turn it off. I paused. “How odd that you can't read it, you should have been able to by now. You understand me, don't you?”

“Of course.” She blinked and I frowned.

“Odd,” I mumbled before breathing deeply. “What do you want to learn about first?” I asked, turning to look into her, seemingly, glowing yellow eyes.

“I want to learn about your magic. It seems like it's a bit different here than in my universe.” She blinked, breaking our eye contact to look at the wall to the right of us.

“Okay, follow me!” I smiled before going off into the direction where the books would be located.

“This library is pretty big,” Tessa commented from behind me. I turned to face her, walking backward.

“It is! It's actually infinite. As things happen and history goes on, the books here write themselves. Once a bookshelf is filled, another just magically appears, waiting to be filled.”

“Is this room magical or something? I wouldn't expect it to actually be able to happen on its own.”

“No, it runs off of the magical power of the current librarian,” I told her and she hummed. Looking up, I saw that we were here. “This whole row is about magic.” I smiled and she blinked, surprised.

“That's a long row…” She trailed off, looking down at the row that faded off into the darkness. I leaned over and plucked a book off of the bookshelf. I looked down at the cover and smiled. I handed it to her and she sat down on the floor, leaning against one of the shelves.

“What is Magic.” She read aloud. “Magic is the product of stardust, one's soul, and life force melded into one. The stronger and more potent a person's life force is, the stronger their magic is. Not everyone is born with the potential to manipulate their innate magic, for the essential recessive gene that activates the ability to manipulate it is hereditary.”

Tessa raised her eyebrows, mumbling to herself. I left her to read all that she could, going to investigate a humming that I heard from farther down the row. As I got closer, I saw a faint glow in the air, and I felt the soft buzz of magic flowing through the air.

Arriving, I giggled softly as I saw Acira sitting on the ground drawing enchants in the air.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked, sitting beside her.

“Practicing my enchants.” She told me, concentrating on the water enchant that she was drawing in the air.

“Looks like you're really trying.” I smiled and she nodded as she finished. She blew on the symbol and it slowly disappeared, turning into light blue glitter floating in the air. It stuck to the bookshelf across from us and I watched in amazement as water trickled down onto the floor.

“It wasn't strong enough.” She grumbled and I chuckled, patting her head.

“Don't worry about it.”

“Hey, Arra, wake up.” I heard Acira say as she shook me awake.

I must've fallen asleep.

“What is it?” I grumbled, rubbing my eyes wearily.

“It's time for the training session!” She exclaimed and I groaned.

“Remind me why we made it as the same day as the day the Erathiahns were coming.” I blinked up at her.

“Arra, that was yesterday.” She giggled.

“Oh yeah.”

Sighing, I stood up and held Acira's hand as we walked back down the aisle to the main part of the library. When we reached the end, I saw that Tessa was no longer there and I frowned, confused.

“Tessa?” I called, looking left and right.

“I'm over here.” I heard her reply from a few aisles to the left of me. I walked over to see her surrounded by an ocean of books all strewn haphazardly around her.

“Looks like you’ve been reading quite a bit.” I raised my eyebrows.

“Yeah,” her eyes sparkled. “I read that there were these speed reading glasses so I went to ask Miss Mallea for them. She gave them to me and I’ve just been going down the aisles reading all the books that there are.”

“Wow, that's actually quite a lot. Are you sure you can remember all of that information?” I asked her and she frowned up at me.

“I am Master Knowledge Keeper, you know.” She pointed out and I chuckled. I shook my head softly before turning towards the closest bookshelf and tapped the wood. A panel revealed itself, filled with small gadgets used for memory storage. I pulled one out and held it up to her head.

It scanned her brain, quickly filling a minuscule amount of the storage. She stared at me with her glowing eyes as I gave the device to her. “This scans everything in your memory and keeps it safe for you, so if you forget something, you'll have it here for double-checking.”

She blinked up at me, frowning slightly. I hummed before nodding absentmindedly.

“Well, we're off to go train with our sisters. Would you like to come, or would you like to stay here?” I asked her and her eyes brightened.

“I think I'll be fine.” She said and I scoffed.

“Nonsense, you're coming.” I shook my head softly before motioning her to come with us. She stood slowly before coming to walk beside us.

“So I read that all of you are the strongest magic users in the kingdom. Is that true?” She asked as we exited the library.

“I'm not sure, there's probably someone out there who is stronger than us.” I shrugged and she frowned.

“How could you not know?” She asked.

“Father outlawed the use of magic when he came into rule.” Acira piped up and I nodded.

“When my grandmother, Queen Mint, was ruling, there were tournaments held to determine who was the strongest in the solar system. That changed when my father ascended to the throne. He shut down the tournaments and like Acira said, he outlawed the use of magic to anyone outside the royal family.” I explained and she hummed in response.

“That seems pretty unfair.” She pointed out.

“He's a corrupt, unfair ruler.” I sighed. The three of us walked on in silence for a few moments before Acira spoke up.

“I can't wait for you to see us training, we have these really cool suits that we wear and pretty weapons.” Acira giggled, looking up at Tessa.

“I'm excited to see it all.” She smiled softly, causing Acira to smile wider. I shook my head softly as I turned and opened a door directly to our right.

Immediately after we entered, Slone scolded us for our tardiness. I sighed as I walked over to her armored glory with the other two. Her gaze fell upon Tessa, and I felt her shy away from Slone. Slone quickly glanced at me, nodding, before turning to speak to Claire.

“What should I do?” Tessa asked me softly. I mulled it over a bit before turning to her.

“Stay here and observe. Better yet… Acira?” I looked down at her and she nodded softly. She slowly drew a glowing blue symbol in the air. Once finished, she blew on it and it turned into glitter, covering Tessa completely. I reached out to see if the spell had worked, and when my hand was blocked by an invisible barrier, I smiled, knowing that it was successful.

“Now you can walk around without worrying about getting hurt.” She smiled at me and I graciously returned it with a wider one.

“Time to get started, Arra,” I heard Claire call to me and I nodded. Once Tessa had walked away, I was quick to activate my ring. I felt my white bodysuit build itself onto my body. My hair lifted into a tight ponytail and both of my swords strapped themselves to my back. Looking over, the others were waiting for me.

“Alright, we’re about to start, are you guys ready?” Slone asked the three of us and we nodded. “Tessa, you good?” She called and she was answered with a thumbs up.

“Begin!” Slone shouted and I immediately jumped, propelling myself backward. Quickly, I scanned the ground as I flew backward. One person was glaringly missing.

Behind you!

I whipped around quickly, throwing up a shield as she blasted me with a gale of wind. I was pushed back towards the ground at an alarming rate. Feeling an odd disturbance behind me, I reached back and gripped the hilt of one of my swords. Quickly pulling it out of its sheath, I turned and parried an attack the most likely wasn't meant for me. Sending a pulse of energy in Acira’s direction, I heard her yelp in surprise before her attack stopped.

Chrys’ apologetic face greeted me as I strained to hold back her scythe. Quickly pulling my other sword in front of me, I hummed softly, causing my swords to glow a dim green as magic collected in them. Pushing with all my might, I launched her back with the magic I stored.

Temporarily without an opponent, I quickly started to collect magic in my swords again. I looked around me and saw Claire and Slone and Acira and Chrys locked in their own battles. My hair stood on end as Claire unleashed an electrical storm that began to consume the whole room. I quickly threw up a shield to protect myself and I watched as the electricity rippled over it. Over the buzzing it created, I could faintly hear Claire yelling obscenities at Slone and I couldn't help but giggle.

And just like that, the electricity vanished.

“Oh no…” I whispered.

A booming thunderclap filled the room. It shattered my shield and threw me across the room. I cried out as I felt my back hit a wall and my head bounced off of it. My vision was filled with stars as I slid to the floor, deaf and nearly unconscious.

I breathed deeply as I waited for the stars to pass. Once I did, I saw Claire dancing around gleefully.

“...win!...win… I WIN! Fuckers, you lose, I win!” She laughed and shouted. I looked over and saw Acira and Chrys sitting up sadly. I laughed softly, shaking my head.

I was the only one that noticed Slone floating near the ceiling, completely unaffected.

She immediately took her chance, considering Claire was too busy rejoicing, and cracked her whip, striking her down. Claire fell to the ground, surprised by the attack. Slone landed on the ground before looking down at Claire.

“I win.”