Page 93 of One Last Promise
“That’s the problem.I don’t want you to leave at all.”Running my hands through his sweaty, curly black hair, all I could do was gaze into those dark orbs of his.
I had the same fear.Deep down, I didn’t want to leave either, but we needed answers.I had to work out a way of getting the Dylin copy of The Book of Elder World.
Darce was taking me to his library tomorrow with the fire twins.Maybe I would be able to make sense of part of the book.
Between the four books, we knew thetruthwas hidden somewhere.
Chapter Thirty
The Noxlin librarywas inside a beautiful, gothic church.As I followed Darce, the candlelit space felt very welcoming.It wasn’t grand, like the library in Dallethas, but none of the books were under lock and key.Any Noxlin could read whichever book they wanted.
“They are around this corner,” he whispered, moving towards the back of the church.The two Books of Elder World were wrapped in worn brown leather.When I saw them, I understood what Darce and Luz meant about the books being difficult to read.These books were slowly corroding away.“You might be able to make sense of some of them.”The text in both books was written in a language I had never seen before.“Nadine believes this one is something to do with the creation of Afterlight.”He motioned to the first book.
“That might be a sun, but our scriptures never depict our suns that way,” I observed, studying every part I could to see if I could understand anything.Darce turned a few more pages.A lot of the text was faded, but I noticed the lettersLuxandTenebriswere still clear to read.“Can any of your kind read this language?What about the fire twins?”
“This is the language of the gods.Unfortunately, no one understands it.Not even the fire twins.”
“LuxandTenebrisseem to be used a lot.”Even with the faded text, I could make out a light outline of the letters.“AndLunae Lumenis mentioned a few times, too.”Darce continued to carefully go through the pages.One image reminded me of something, so I touched his hand to stop him from turning the page.“That looks like darkness being shattered by light.I’ve seen a similar painting in the Dylin Palace.”
“On the other page, the image seems to be reversed.”He turned the page to show me what he meant.Darce was right.Darkness appeared to be surrounding light, weakening it.“What do you think it means?”
“I have no idea,” I whispered.Studying the last few readable pages, I noticed a small drawing that looked a little like the tattoo on my inner arm.It was a swirling sun with triangles around it, but this one had small arrows underneath connecting to a small circle with several lines of different lengths that looked like light beams.“Are there any drawings like your tattoo in this book or the other one?”I asked Darce, pointing to the image I’d been studying.“This is very similar to my power source tattoo.”
“The last page has a few similarities to mine.”When he turned to the last page, my eyes fell on the wordsamor semper vincere.I didn’t know why, but they seemed important.Almost like a warning.“This book is about light and darkness, I’m sure of it, but there is a missing piece...something we’re not seeing.This last page is about harnessing Solace’s power.You can see with the two dark circles why Charna thinks it’s about two bonded Noxlin.”
“It does look like a joining of some kind.”Two dark circles appeared to be overlapping each other.“What is the other book about?”Darce opened it, and the first image was easy to make out.Our two moons, surrounded in darkness.“Is this the book ofNantu?”My breath caught in my throat, feeling strangely drawn to the image.“The moonlight goddess?”
“It will make you see Nantu in her true likeness.”Most of the images and text were faded like the first book, but the pages near the end, depicting the destruction, were easy to make out.The massacre of both Noxlin and Dylin.Thehatred.Thewar.The sacred mountains being formed inMoonlight.Nantu was no goddess, she was amonster!
“Why?It makes no sense.Why would Nantu do this?”Tears stung my eyes, taking in the pain depicted in the images.The last few pages had been burned from the book, but I had seen enough when Darce finally closed it.
“I’m sorry, Starshine.I know how much your fake goddess meant to you.I took no pleasure in showing you the truth.”Putting his hand over mine, he squeezed it gently in reassurance.
“What would cause her to do so much damage to Afterlight?These images reveal that she might have made the sacred mountains herself.”
“It’s not easy to piece the parts together.”
