Nihilist: Volume I

Chimera, Part III

The dark of the outside world crawls through the shaded, tall window of Keir's vessel. She opens her bedroom door with the same care as the library door that faced her wrath, letting it slam shut behind her as she cradles the new tomes in her arms. She sits them down at the edge of her bed. Locking the door behind her, she shakes the ash out of her hair and watches them flutter to the gray carpet below her.

 She places two of the books over a long desk at the side of the room and drags a candle to the moonbeam watching over it. Standing at the edge of the desk, she reaches for a rusty lighter on the desk and brings light to the candle. She moves the flame to the other ends of the desk where more are clustered and lit into view.

She reaches for the first book over the stack and crawls into her bed, dragging her knees to her chest, and blows off the dust still holding on to the tome's cover. Running her fingers over the fabric, she can almost feel the touch of her lost father as he had once brushed the cover. As she reaches for the edge of the book and begins to open it, a rush of warmth floods through her body as she nears new insight. The feeling of opening a new book has never felt so precious, especially when the last of her father rests within the pages.

Every word has a meaning. As gorgeous as the outside world may seem, the grim reality stays all the same: some words within this story may have more importance than the future nearing this desolate kingdom. Keir holds her fingers over the dried ink of the pages and pleas to the stars that what she reads may save her people. She begins to read, her eyes scanning the pages and her mind deciphering the words of an ancient knowledge.

She wonders if these stories will truly be worth her time. She could be training to fight against her sister as the battle for the throne nears, yet she rests her hands over tattered pages rather than gleaming steel. She continues to read, despite her greater doubts, and flips the page to discover a new story.