What Makes a Monster

♱Fifty♱

Warning: The latter half of this chapter gets dark.

Wallie P.O.V.

Three days have passed since Soran's departure. Nothing out of the ordinary has transpired. Am I relieved? Nope. Nothing happening is almost more frightening than something happening. This feels like the calm before the storm, waiting patiently for chaos to arrive.

Knowing Malatis is capable of helping eases the nerves, kind of. Not seeing the winged creature though leaves me a little on edge. I would prefer if he were walking about with me, but I understand why he isn't. At least I think I do. Soran may not want others to know he has a familiar. I sure as hell didn't know!

So if he has one, does that mean the royals do too? What about the High Priest and Grand Knight? Should they wish to send theirs, can Malatis handle them on his own? Soran did mention setting up the necessary precautions before departing. What those are other than Malatis, I don't know. Soran and I are going to have to have a long talk when he returns. He knows what we're up against but I don't, not fully.

To top it all off, there has been no word from Soran either. Where he is and what he's doing seems to be beyond any of us, but I feel as if I'm the only one that truly cares. Others go about their business as per usual. Some appear even thrilled that Soran is gone, although I don't see why. When was the last time he caused a scene? Can't remember, which means it's been a while! Seems others are choosing not to remember; they rather hate on him while he isn't here. I try not to listen to any of it, doing my work diligently while impatiently waiting for his return.

He better keep his promise too. We can't keep avoiding our situation. That will only make everything worse. Which is saying a lot since the situation is already dire, dire enough to warrant Soran giving me his familiar...or sharing it? Still not entirely sure how that works, which has me questioning more about magic in general. Although I've seen it used more often on the streets in Vashna, there wasn't much of it back home.

In Chandri there was a healer, nothing more, and she used magic with incantations. Soran though, he didn't speak a word the few times I witnessed magic from him. Flung me out the door with a flick of his wrist, literally, not a single chant. I haven't anyone else to compare to either seeing as everything was done by hand in Chandri. People were too poor and lacked basic education to tap into something as natural as magic.

Seeing as I'm stuck at the mansion, I decide to give looking into magic a try. The library is a good place to start so, after work on the third day, I go there. I end up finding a book titled; Lumen and Vilis, Two Parts of a Whole.

There's no one else in the library so I take a seat in front of the fireplace. The first chapter begins with a brief break down of what lumen and vilis is. Even I know that; lumen comes from Aena and her life giving light, vilis comes from Tethros and his consuming dark chaos. Suppose "two parts of a whole" makes sense since it doesn't take a genius to guess that there needs to be a balance. With light comes darkness and with darkness light, the world cannot exist without both, as fearsome as vilis is.

Sadly, the text is far too advanced for me. Do they have a Lumen and Vilis for dumbies handbook?

The next chapter I struggle to make through, but I already know more than I once did. Apparently, lumen is not just something that courses through humans. Lumen runs through everything, from air to water to animals to even objects such as weapons and homes. While stationary objects have more to do with the memory of lumen, such as the memory or feelings of those that were creating it at the time; lumen within living beings is ever changing and evolving along with us.

Vilis, however, is rarely discussed in the first chapter. The most I get is that it's a magic that consumes rather than gives, think of it as fire. A dark fire that takes away, but in doing so allows more to grow, and that doesn't sound nearly as frightening as some make it out to be. Soran probably knows far more than any of the books in here though. I do hope he'll talk to me about magic when he returns. At the rate I'm reading, it'll take me a full year to comprehend this monstrosity. Even with the difficult reading though, I take the book downstairs with me.