The Elemental Luna Book 1 Sable's Rise : Dreame Edition

Amethyst's Secret Library

Head High Priestess Laurel and her daughter, Karrah sat in stunned silence as they absorbed everything that Amethyst had told them over the past several minutes... their tea was completely forgotten. Just as Amethyst stood up, Vestuvious and Maxius walked in with Vestuvious feeding Sable. Amethyst glanced at them over her shoulder before walking to where she could see and address them all.

"Hello, Vestuvious and Maxius. I'm Amethyst. Sable's wolf." she informed them. Startled, they widened their eyes, walked over to Karrah and Laurel, sat down on their couch with them, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Vestuvious was the first one between the two to speak, though barely able to formulate his thought into a question.

"Amethyst, how... how are you sitting here... with us... like... this?" Amethyst chuckled softly and responded with a smile.

"I'm Moon Goddess' sister and the original Elemental Wolf. They'll fill you in later. Karrah, Laurel, I think it's time that I took you to my personal library under Mt. Seeker." Amethyst said, looking at them.

"What do you mean 'under' Mt. Seeker?" Laurel asked curiously. All eyes turned to Amethyst.

"Centuries ago, this was my home. My life in my first vessel, actually. With my parent's instructions and a plan in place with my sister, Moon Goddess, I set my house... well... technically castle, up as a temple, and called it 'Mt. Seeker'. I created a non-negotiable condition that myself, my vessel, and anyone else that we choose always have full reign and use of the castle. No exceptions. Another non-negotiable condition is to help anyone, no matter what race or gender, who comes here truly seeking help and allow them sanctuary within these walls. Most of the people here are direct decendants of the people that I entrusted with the care of the Temple... a few of them are the origonal people as well as their decendants."

"In order to ensure that those seeking sanctuary are truly seeking safety and help, at the main entrance, I cast an anti-deception and manipulation spell. Simultaneously, I casted a truth spell. In addition, the whole castle, as well as the castle grounds, a self-renewing and strength-increasing protection spell, is in place. These spells are of my own creation, so nobody else should be able to break them or manipulate them in any way. They're written down in a special spell book in my personal library. The entrance is actually in this room." This time, Laurel spoke up.

"Why this room? Where? This has been my room since I arrived, and I've never found any extra doorways." Amethyst looked at Laurel with a small smile and replied.

"This was my room during my reign as Queen of the North after I fixed the Kingdom of the East and helped the Royal Council appoint a new ruler. At that time, Lycans were climbing even more in numbers and were our full allies. They were our key to keeping Argus and Lucius still long enough for the witches and other races gifted with magick to encase them in stone so thick they couldn't escape it. Many Lycans lost their lives in that war. Very few had actually sided with them. Those that did either died, ended up imprisoned or successfully ran and hid."

"This was also during the time when werewolves and Lycans lived together in complete harmony practically everywhere. There are still a few mixed packs today. My second-chance mate in my first vessel was the brother of the Lycan King of the West. They came to the Kingdom of the East during the Four Corners Kingdom negotiations to form alliances and my replacement appointment because I was needed back home in the Northern Kingdom. My vessel's mother died and my vessel's father was barely holding on after losing her. He was fading fast. Too fast to be explained easily.

We discovered we were mates when the Western King, his brother the Lycan Western Prince, and the First Royal Beta came to officially introduce themselves. As soon as we recognized out loud each other as mates, per custom at that time, they stood by my side until the time came to officially announce everything. The Royal First Beta of the Lycan Western Kingdom became the official King of the Eastern Kingdom. He was the youngest brother of the three. This castle was barely used during that time, because after I came back home with my second-chance mate, with the new changes to the Kingdom, we built a new castle roughly two and a half weeks away from this one."

"Where?" Maxius asked after glancing at Vestuvious.

"If you go out the back door of the temple to the enclosed garden and step outside, you'll see a floral arch slightly uncentered towards the left. Look through the center of that. It's our mutually decided way to guide those who need to get to the new castle of the Northern Kingdom. The Royal Family that's there now, are my direct descendants from my life as Erelene - Gunhilda, and also carry my blood." Amethyst paused and looked directly at Vestuvious, then at Karrah before making her next statement. "You're directly related to myself and Moon Goddess."

Everyone's eyes went wide. While they were processing this unexpected revelation, Amethyst walked over to an Ancient statue of a woman adorned in Royal Armor, an elaborate crown, and a sword where the hilt was the Goddess' symbol. Amethyst pushed on the full moon center of the symbol. Instantly, a light rumbling and scraping sounded through the quiet chambers. Everyone turned towards the sound to see what they thought was a single large floor-to-ceiling bookshelf split in half seamlessly straight down the middle... half slowly moving towards the right, the other half slowly moving towards the left, then just as slowly disappearing into the wall while revealing an arch designed into the stone wall, shimmering and swirling lightly with all the colors of the elements.

"This is the entryway to my personal private library. What you see shimmering is my personally created security-protection spell to keep those who aren't supposed to find it and still stumble on it from being able to access it. The spell will repel them and re-seal the entryway. Are you ready?" Amethyst asked. Everyone stood up and followed Amethyst through the gateway.

Once they stepped through the gateway, they were inside a large office that was gorgeously decorated without being overly done. Large glowing orbs of white, light purple, and what appeared to be starlight all over the high ceiling. They all went wide-eyed in awe. As they looked around, they saw a dimly lit, high-arched hallway. When they saw Amethyst walking through the archway, they followed her. After several minutes and plenty of turns, they came out into a gigantic room with what appeared to be a limitless number of books. Closest to them were a few tables with various numbers of chairs.

"Each section of the library has specific book subjects and a set of tables and chairs. There's also plenty of parchment, pens, quills, ink, as well as a complete library index. This whole first section is nothing but my personal journals. I don't really remember what's in them all, but they should be in order from my first one to my last one in each vessel. This entire section is Erelene - Gunhilda. Each of my vessels and I used the same system in each book and with each entry."

"What's that?" Maxius asked as Vestuvious set down an empty bottle to burp Sable, only for the bottle to disappear. Amethyst pulled out a chair, sat down, and relaxed. They followed her lead.

"My vessels got to journal first. Sometimes they'd put in just a few words and then draw the rest. Sometimes they'd just draw. Other times they'd magickally seal something on the page and write a bit about it. Yet, there were still times when they'd just write something like 'I'm not feeling right today. It's as if I'm being drained, but from where I don't know. I'm going to rest and let Amethyst use my journaling pages, too.' It was always quite odd. Started off being random and then became quite frequent. Sometimes they slept so much that they practically died." Vestuvious looked up at Amethyst with his eyes widened... as if something clicked.

"My uncle told me about that. He said that some of our ancestors were somehow put into a magickal slumber... not really dead, but not really alive, either. He said it only happened to women and their wolves continued on and took over the body. He also said their wolves were very unique and tried for several years to save the vessels, but they never awoke, so the wolves lived the remainder of their lives until the end. The Royal Family of the Eastern Kingdom... my ... our family... has always frequented this temple. I never knew why." Amethyst briefly nodded her head and spoke.

"Yes. That was me. I was coming here to help them wake up, or at least try to find something to tell me what was going on. I was also meeting with my sister in the Divinity sector of my library. Neither one of us has any idea what happened to them. We even had our parents here to talk to them about it too. They had one theory, but we haven't been able to prove it either way."

"What's the theory, Amethyst?" Laurel asked. Amethyst took a deep breath before answering.

"That Argus and Lucius linked themselves to me somehow during the last battle in the war, allowing him to keep an eye on me as far as when I have a new vessel, and use my vessel's life force to strengthen his own until he's strong enough to break the stone he's encased in, or at the very least weaken it where it can be broken without killing him." They were all quiet... each in their own thoughts.

"If that's true, then... it's also possible that he's been able to communicate with his allies. They could've been working on and putting into place a new war." They all nodded their heads in agreement. Vestuvious stood up and handed Sable to Maxius.

"I have to notify my uncle. We need to plan out our defenses... gather our alliances. All of them."

"Yes, but we must do it quietly. We don't know if this theory is anything more yet. Without proof, it's still just a theory."

"All the research books we've read through don't say for sure where Argus and Lucius were placed after they were encased in the stone. Just speculations." Karrah started. "If we knew for sure where his stone-encased body was placed, we might stand a fair chance at preparations."

"True, but I don't remember where he was taken. As far as I remember, he was placed in a deep cave somewhere close to the battlefield. A vampire and witch couple... mates... took charge of that, and were instructed not to tell anyone where they hid him. I only remember the first part of the vampire's name and telling her to make occasional visits to the temple... that she'd find me here either in this form, in my vessel, or both. She's due for another visit in about ten years or so. She may come sooner if I can get a message to her."

"OK, so a simple messenger spell should work, right?" Laurel asked. Amethyst shook her head in response.

"I have my own specific messenger spell. If I try to use something other than a wild wolf, she won't believe it's me. I also have to use her full name. Since I don't remember Cereleene's last name, I can't do that quite yet. We have to find her name in my journals." Vestuvious walked around the table until he was only a few steps away from Amethyst.

"Where do we start, Amethyst... First Royal Ancestor of Divinity?" Amethyst went briefly wide-eyed before she smiled.

"The middle of the left wall at the top to the end of that shelf, below that one, and so forth. Hopefully, we will find what we need soon." Immediately, Vestuvious went over to the bookshelf and pulled the first book from the shelf Amethyst indicated, took it back to the table, set it down, and looked back at Amethyst.

"Paper and pens or parchment, quills, and ink?" he asked. Amethyst pointed behind him.

"I keep a bunch of them in those dressers there. They should be marked." Vestuvious turned around and grabbed a handful of each before placing them on the table, sitting down once more, and opening the book to read and take any needed notes. Maxius checked on Sable, then repeated Vestuvious' actions. Amethyst stood up and turned to Laurel and Karrah.

"Laurel, Karrah, while they're going through the first two books of that section, I'll take you to the Divinity section at the back of my library. It'll take a while for us to get there. I built it under the mountain."

"That's about a day away from the Temple." Karrah said with wide eyes and obvious surprise in her eyes. Amethyst chuckled and responded.

"Yes, but it'll take us about a quarter of that time in here." They started walking and came to an arch that seemed to be just decoration. On either side was plenty of room to walk.

"There are two ways to get there. The first way is to simply walk around the arch. If you want or need a long walk, you'll get to the Divinity section in just under a day. The second is to simply walk through the arch and come out the other side." When Amethyst turned toward Laurel and Karrah, she saw their confused expressions, so she continued."It's a transporter arch. I have them all over the library. I built this library with the Lycan Kings. They've even included copies and a few originals of some of their most important work." Laurel and Karrah visibly swallowed and slightly but quickly, nodded their heads to indicate they understood... and were ready. Amethyst raised her hands level with her chest, snapped both her fingers at once, and then lowered her hands again as she stepped through the arch, completely disappearing. Karrah stepped forward and followed Amethyst, then Laurel followed Karrah.

When they all emerged on the other side of the arch, they found themselves in a massive room with the ceiling reflecting the night sky... a full moon and sparkling stars. The walls were uncovered stone castle walls with ancient torches that were magickally lit when they emerged from the arch transporter. Three of the four walls were covered mid-wall down to the floor with bookshelves filled to the max. Some even had books on top of books. Beside where they were standing was yet another dresser filled with paper, parchment, ink, and quills... a box on the top was full of pens with another box next to it filled with pencils of the modern day, both with and without erasers. A different, somewhat smaller box was beside the pencils with a bunch of moldable rubber-like balls.

Karah looked back up at the sky and noticed the night clouds were different shades of blue and purple. She was in awe. Laurel was carefully studying the books in this incredible room they walked in, trying to see if there was any indication by the titles that something here could help them. Meanwhile, back at the beginning of Amethyst's library, Vestuvious is still meticulously pouring through the book he pulled out, only one clear line written on the paper in front of him.

'Notes from Amethyst's 1st Vessel Erelene-Gunhilda; Period After and Around Trapping Argus and Lucius in Stone'

Suddenly, Vestuvious went wide-eyed as he stared at the pages.

"What is it?" Maxius asked, concerned.

"My dad's mentioned. But... it doesn't make any sense. I know we lycans have an unusually long lifespan and that hybrids inherit it, but these journals go back at least thirty-seven decades before my dad said he was born. That's 370 years." Vestuvious answered disbelievingly, barely audible. Maxius, not knowing what to say, stayed quiet and checked Sable's diaper. Vestuvious desperately kept reading, searching for any answers that might be in Amethyst's journals.

"Dad, I'm going to take Sable up to bed and have the kitchen put together some food for us all." As Maxius stood up, Sable started to fuss, so Maxius quickened his pace and disappeared up the stairs.

"Alright, son." Vestuvious said as he kept reading, all but forgetting the original task. Nine pages later, Vestuvious stumbles on a passage explaining more about his dad.

'Erelene - Gunhilda

Sunday Night

It's been almost six weeks since we escaped Argus and Lucius. I'm still at home with my parents. Throughout the time we were imprisoned, Amethyst was the one 'in charge', so to speak {it's what we decided to call it when one of us is out and in control}. My parents are starting to feel a bit under the weather. A Lycan couple came this morning. I don't know much about them, other than they're the King and Queen of one of the Lycan Kingdoms and that their Kingdom is under siege. I believe that the King personally escorted his Queen here to see for himself that she's safe. She's pregnant and it appears as if she's about to give birth. Anyway, I'm happy to be home. But... we have a war to prepare for. I'm not really much for war. I can fight if I need to, but I'm not very good. Amethyst will be in charge most of the time soon, so I can try to study. I want to get stronger for my people... and myself. I don't feel right, and I need to change that. Amethyst, switch with me, please. It's your turn to journal.

Erelene - Gunhilda

Sunday Night

Amethyst

Erelene - Gunhilda's right about the Lycan couple. Mostly. The guy accompanying the woman is a King and she is a Lycan Queen.. but they're not together. They're brother and sister. Queen Alonnah will be going into labor soon, and with their destiny, my sister will be helping Queen Alonnah's husband, King Castor - Zephor, get here to our castle on time from the Lycan Southern Kingdom. The Queen's brother, King Alfred, is from the Lycan Western Kingdom. He's un-mated and had gone to the Southern Lycan Kingdom to celebrate his sister's first pregnancy. They were attacked soon after he got there with his Beta and a handful of his warriors. King Castor - Zephor had King Alfred bring Queen Alonnah here, knowing that I'm here. Very few know who my sister is. Selene is answering Queen Alonnah's silent prayers for her husband to be here when she gives birth. They're destined to carry my divine blood, so my sister believes that giving them a special magickal blessing will help. Selene will be popping in with King Castor in the next several hours. Once she gets here, I'm going to have her scan Erelene - Gunhilda. I sense something strange, but I'm unsure what it is. Hopefully, Selene can help me pinpoint it. For now, I'm going to the Lycan Royal Family. I need to prepare to deliver the twin boys.

Amethyst'

Just as he finished reading that passage, Amethyst, Laurel, and Karrah came walking up to him at the table.

"Dad... where's Maxius and Sable?" Karrah asked. Vestuvious slightly shook his head before responding.

"He took Sable up to your chambers to change and feed her... there should also be some food for us all in your quarters by the time we get there." Amethyst noticed the passage that he had her journal to.

"Ah. The passage about your father and uncle's birth, your grandparents, and your grand uncle."

"Yes. Before this, there was a passage mentioning my dad. How's this possible, Amethyst? Please... tell me." Amethyst only hesitated for a few seconds before she granted his wish.

"Erelene - Gunhilda had the gift of sight. She had a vision of your father, your uncle, you, and your sister. She saw a feud between your dad and uncle over the throne, your dad believing he should have an equal chance at the throne because of them being twins, instead of being placed as Royal Prince Beta. His wife, your mother, was fatally wounded when she placed herself between your father and uncle. Your father was in an unexplainable blind rage and only saw your uncle and blood. Your mother's water broke, so she threw herself between them, hoping this would stop their fight. Unfortunately, it didn't. Your father's claws, fully extended, tore through your mother's bulging belly. Luckily, he missed you both almost completely... his arm busted through her spine.

When your father saw this, after he felt the connection with her break, he bent down, clawed open her belly to reveal the both of you, took your sister, and ran out of the castle. Your uncle went to you, took you out of your mother's womb, and from there on, raised you. Your father and sister have completely disappeared. You inherited your father's title, and if your uncle doesn't find his mate and produce an heir before his death, you inherit the throne. It happened about a week later." Amethyst revealed. All three were silent as they quickly followed Amethyst out of her library and made their way to Karrah and Maxius' chambers.