The Library

Prelude

 A loud, sudden sound of pounding on the door broke through the light sleep the Altean woman had been enjoying.

The pounding came again, ringing throughout the woman's house.

A commanding voice came through the door: "Temple guard, open up!"

Sudden realization and fear gripped the woman as she looked about her house. Books of various shapes and sizes were haphazardly strewn around the small room.

Jumping up, the woman hurriedly grabbed a handful of books.

Once again the pounding came from the door.

"Last warning, open this door now or we are breaking it down!" the voice commanded.

Frantically running around the small house, the woman began shoving the exposed books anywhere she could fit them.

A loud crack could be heard through the wooden door as something smashed against it. The door held for just a moment before shattering to a second hit, flinging splinters of wood across the house. The woman stuffed the last book under a chair before freezing, as four temple guards rushed into the room. The first three guards wore form-fitting leather armor inlaid with the light but durable ire metal, with joints unarmored for maximum mobility. Cloth wrapping covered their heads and an expressionless metal mask covered each of their faces. The last one, who the woman recognized as the captain of the guard, wore no armor other than his own mask which bore the depiction of a tree forged onto it. Despite this, his massive frame dominated the room as his entire body was covered in hardened living bark.

One of the guards brandished their silvered glaive at the woman as the captain addressed her: "We received a report from an anonymous source that you were in possession of books."

"I do not know what you are talking about," the woman responded.

"Well, for your sake let's hope you aren't lying. As I'm sure you're aware, the punishment for having such illegal items is banishment from the city."

The captain motioned to the two other guards, "Search the house," he commanded.

The woman held her emotions steady as the guards began their search, gluing her eyes to the floor. Out of the corner of her eye the woman saw something out of place, a book corner sticking out from under a chair. Sweat trickled down her brow, she knew it was only a matter of time before they found the book. Searching wildly for a distraction, her eyes landed on a small wooden splinter from her door, it rested on a chair near her at arms height. As stealthily as she could, she grabbed the wood splinter while the guard captain spoke to the guard brandishing his weapon at her. Gripping the splinter hard, the woman jammed it into her other hand, biting her lip to stop her cry of pain. Blood poured from the wound, covering the splinter. Focusing her mind on the blood, she felt its flow. The flow shaped the splinter and, as she removed it from her hand, it grew, becoming a sharp wooden stake.

"Speaker, we found something," one of the guards addressed the captain as he came back in view holding a book, "and sir, there's something el-" desperation struck the woman and she instinctively lashed out while they were still distracted. Gripping the spike hard, she thrust it into the unarmored elbow joint of the distracted guard in front of her. The man let out a cry of pain and fell back clutching his arm, his weapon clattering to the floor. Quickly scooping up the dropped glaive, the woman took a defensive stance towards the other two guards in front of her.

"Blood magic," the guard captain snarled, anger dripping from his words, "then you truly have been corrupted. It wasn't enough to reject the gift of the life seed and run off with the lesser beings you call humans, you learned their fell ways. After we accepted you back into the city, this is how you repay us, you break our laws and attack our people. No, banishment is too good for you, it is clear you must die."

"WINDS, OBEY MY COMMAND!" the captain shouted, pointing an outstretched hand in the woman's direction. A gust of icy cold air shot in from the door, causing everything not tied down to be flung across the room. The gust rushed past the unaffected guards landing the full brunt of its force against the woman, knocking the weapon from her hand and pressing her against the back wall of the house. As the wind receded, the captain quickly lunged at the woman before she could react, impaling the blade of his glaive into her stunned body. As he removed the blade, the woman's body crumpled to the floor, lifeless.

A cry rang out and a small figure ran across the house to kneel at the corpse, sobbing.

"Sir, I was about to tell you...there was a child," one of the guards said.

"What are we supposed to do with it?" another asked.

The captain of the guard looked at the pitiful figure for a moment, sobbing on his mother's corpse.

"I will take him, he can become a servant at the temple. Now, collect the books in the house into a pile and set the place on fire, we cannot let this corrupt knowledge spread."

The sun was setting when the guards finally left the house, child in tow. Above them, at the tallest point in the city, sat the gleaming Temple of Light, the destination of the group. Behind them, tongues of flame licked away at the house, consuming it bit by bit until it became nothing but a blazing inferno.