The hidden knowledge

Regan turned to face Sabreena with a shocked expression on his face.

"You don't have to give me that look, I know what it means to have dreams in this kingdom. But let me warn you, It isn't the usual good or prophesied dream. This is ugly and scary and life-threatening...believe me when I say this." Sabreena kept blabbering on and on to the amazed cousin before her.

It took a long pause before Regan spoke after Sabreena stopped for a minute to catch a breath.

"How scary is it? Would you mind telling me in full detail about all those dreams?" Regan uttered looking quite concerned.

Meanwhile, the movements of the patrol guards interrupted their intense conversation and Regan dragged Sabreena to hide against the wall facing each other until the guards passed by without spotting them.

Since they were the same height even with Regan's young age, their lips nearly touched each other from the position of their stance as their breaths mingled closely, creating a tensed uncomfortable atmosphere around them. So they hurriedly broke free from each other as if ignited by the sparks of fire when the footsteps of the guards were no longer heard, which indicated their safety from getting caught.

They both took a few breaths as they inhale and exhale to calm down their tensed nerves and they avoided eye contact with each other for a while.

The further time wastage was what concerned Regan and got him back to his senses. Therefore, he hurriedly descended the staircase towards the forbidden library since he couldn't spend too much time away from the palace for long. His absence away from the palace usually turns to create tension when his whereabouts is not known, and his father normally called for a search party to look for him.

Even though they seemed to have already wasted too much time engrossed in their conversations, it was time they got to the mission at hand.

"Let's hurry, we have already wasted enough time. Let's find out about what we came looking for before our sudden disappearance gets noticed." Regan leads the way with Sabreena trailing behind him.

The more they descended the endless stairway, the darker and more creepy the place seemed. And the total silence was suffocating, an unknown fear settled within Sabreena's heart, yet, she kept following behind Regan, gathering all the bravado that seemed to evaporate into thin air as they moved.

The only sanity Sabreena could hold onto was the thoughts of Regan teasing her later about being scared of the dark and all sorts of uncomfortable nicknames at any opportunity he gets, to remind her of her fear. And she knew that will take a lifetime before he stops. That's the only reason that kept her moving step by step behind him.

"Stop!" an outrageous command suddenly invaded their midst.

Sabreena paused in her tracks when she heard the familiar voice which had invaded almost all her nights throughout the years. A voice she could recognize anytime with the bat of an eyelid, and would sacrifice anything to never hear again.

"Did you hear that? Who is there? show yourself!." Sabreena turned around looking frightened and nearly jumped out of her skin when Regan tapped her shoulders to ask who she was talking to. Then he noticed Sabreena shiver from his touch.

"What's wrong Sabreena?" Regan asked concerned. But Sabreena kept turning here and there to see if she will see that lady again. The silver-haired old lady holding the stick with the rune marks, who appeared before her years back with a prophecy she falsified.

"Nobody is here Sabreena. Remember, it's just you and me, since nobody would even dare to set foot here and go against the King's orders. What's wrong?" Regan asked in worry staring at the frightened expression on her face.

"You didn't hear a voice a while ago?" Sabreena held her hands to her head. "Did I imagine it? But it was so clear...

Before Sabreena could barely finish saying the words out of her mouth, she heard the voice once more time.

"It's me! You remember my voice. The path you are about to take right now has consequences. Think before you act Sabreena. Destinies are deadlier than any weapon put together.!" This time around, the voice echoed loudly within the quiet stairway, and when Sabreena kept turning her head side by side to see where the voice was coming from, or whether she will see the silver-haired old lady again.

The Lady never appeared before her since the first time after the warning years back, and she wondered what suddenly prompt this surprise out of nowhere.

"Did committing another forbidden sacred act prompted her sudden appearance once again?"

Even though Sabreena wished to meet that lady since the very first night she woke from her first dream, which was kind of strange. Since it wasn't the usual good or prophesied dream the chosen few people in their kingdom reported to mostly see, which ended up translated as great visions and labeled them as The Chosen Seers.

Hers was a creepy, scary nightmare and it appears before her as pieces of images that she couldn't put together or even understand. Then it later started appearing as the same recurrent dream which change with time and became more scarier.

Sabreena had mostly awake from those nightmares sweating profusely and almost breathless, it later began to seem so real, as if she was living through it at that very moment.

At times, she couldn't bring herself to wake up no matter how hard she tried, and kept tossing and turning, which her maid Tessa told her. Tessa was the only one apart from her who knew she was having these recurrent nightmares, but she just added Regan to the list by telling him.

On the other hand, Regan stared at Sabreena for some answers about her sudden frightened reaction. He realized Sabreena barely even looked his way so he had to shake her into reality.

"Sabreena! Sabreena!! Look at me!"

Regan's loud voice interrupted Sabreena's sanity and she slowly turned to stare at her cousin's deep blue eyes which emitted worry and concern.

"It's the voice, Regan! it's her!" Sabreena yelled.

"What voice? Who are you talking about? Speak Sabreena...who is her?" Regan asked worriedly.

"No! I can't do this. I can't follow you to the forbidden library. I have to leave." Regan held tightly to Sabreena's arms as she tried to break free from his hold and leave.

"Wait! Come back to your senses Sabreena... There is no one here! It's all in your head." Regan held Sabreena in a tight hug to calm her. "Something is surely wrong somewhere...More than ever, we need to reach the forbidden library. It holds the secrets to all knowledge, and it might help us figure out what exactly is wrong with you. Let's find answers together Sabreena."

As Regan's words began to sink into Sabreena's mind, she immediately calmed down from her frightened state, and before she could think of changing her mind one more time, and decide to leave, Regan dragged her by her hand as they both continued to descend the stairs towards the underground library and she followed willingly.

All these while, Sabreena hoped her cousin was right about them finding answers to her problems and all her recurrent dreams. So she began to trust Regan's words and took deep breaths when they got to the main gate of the library.

Regan fished out a key tucked in the pants of his Royal attire hidden around his waist to open the library door.

"I almost forgot about the key aspect." Upon second thoughts, Sabreena stared accusingly at Regan.

"Don't tell me you stole the keys from the King's chamber? But how, and when? Were you already planning on going into the forbidden library all this time?" Sabreena's eyes were wide with surprise.

"Of course! where else would I find the key?" Regan smirked mischievously as he nodded to Sabreena's question.

"I had it all planned for today and I wanted to invite you and Rally along on this expedition to invade the forbidden Royal library. Coincidentally, we met Commander Modred on the way and everything simply fell into place, I guess. The news he reported to my Father a while ago also boosted my curiosity even more. So, here we are!" The satisfaction on Regan's face for these accomplishments increased Sabreena's fear once more. But Regan jokingly held her cheeks in a slight squeeze to clear the tense expression on her face as a smile lurked around his lips in comfort.

"There is nothing to worry about. It's not like we are going to execute the knowledge we acquire here and approach the TUTUS or anything. It's just in case, for our awareness. Who knows when the knowledge will come in handy right?" Regan went further to soothe Sabreena's worries.

When he realized Sabreena was now calmed after her frightened episode a while ago, which was good, he proceeded to shove the keys into its hole and unlock the library gates.

Both of them would work better at unveiling the secrets to the TUTUS as fast as they could, and also search for the reason behind Sabreena's visions in a calm and attentive state.

The rusty cringe from the door after Regan opened it almost frightened a hell out of the both of them. And the piled dust surrounding the door as they both shoved the door widely open, went through their noses. They sneezed and cough for some time before their eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Regan immediately reached for the light, the flaming torch at the entrance. But the moment he lit the first flame, the entire library lightened up with the connected flame at the entrance.

"Wow! It looks like magic!" Sabreena's eyes were filled with bewilderment as she looked at the millions of books arranged on the shelves and the brightened state of the library.

"Come back from your fantasy world Sabreena..we have work to do!" Regan waved his hand before a dreamy Sabreena to call her attention.

"This is a whole lot of books! But where should we start?." Sabreena moved to follow behind her impatient cousin as he walked towards the counter at the corner of the library.

"What are you looking for?" Sabreena asked curiously.

"Each shelf here is arranged in a content of the books according to its titles and dates within it, and the main table content book should be somewhere around here." Regan replied while he searched effortlessly for the recorded section of the library's detailed records.

"Found it!" Sabreena who moved to look around got flustered at the sound of Regan's echoed voice within the library. She moved to join him as they both glanced through the contents for the files with the sacred knowledge of the TUTUS.

"It's not here! It's arranged alphabetically but the section of the TUTUS is empty.!

Regan pondered this discovery for some time before he began to crack his brain for answers.

"You don't expect the wisest King to place the records of the TUTUS to be easily assessed, do you? It just isn't him. But how can we find them?"

"I think you are forgetting something...I am his son after all!." Regan replied with a smile as the puzzle of the records began to fall into place, and he cross-checked multiple times to get it right since any mistakes might create a warning alarm and alert his Father or endanger their lives. He must admit, his father was truly the wisest.

"The pattern for retrieving the book comes with great difficulty so we have to work diligently together and carefully too...Sabreena."

Before Sabreena could reply, Regan had immediately started giving her orders to and fro while he fidgeted with a locked area on the small safe-like locker which appeared out of nowhere, hidden behind the wall. And he chuckled in surprise and excitement when he finally cracked opened the complicated pattern on the safe and open its door to reveal a scroll.

"We did it! we did it!!" Regan hugged Sabreena in excitement as she stared admirably at him for a good job done. She must admit, she doesn't hold a candle to Regan's foresight and wisdom. He just surpassed her in everything!

Even though she didn't know why, she became suddenly relieved after admitting this fact to herself, but she did!.