XXXII ||| What in the Gar-freaking-goyle?

["Royalty of the dragons and winged serpents. Plus an army?"]

This doesn't make any sense, Jack.

["Neither does a Wolpertinger bonded to a welder of nothingness."]

Ha, ha, ha. Do not call me that. I don't even know what it fucking means, bloody hell. This is all too much. I came here to get my schedule, not to discover that the headmaster knows more about me than I ever did.

["You are a Princess!"]

Ugh, do not call me that. I am no Princess. There's no Kingdom for me. If you hadn't noticed, I'm the last black winged serpent alive, Jack.

["I know, but doesn't that makes it all more exciting?"]

I'll pretend you didn't just call the extinction of my kind, exciting. "Can you be more direct, Headmaster?"

In a second, two tea cups appeared in front of me and her, and she took hers with the grace of a Queen, "About what part, darling?"

["See? She's definitely enjoying this!"]

She's old and bored, Jack. Of course, she's enjoying it. "Sum up?"

"You are of a Royal line of Black Winged Serpents. The only kind that could ever channel the magic of void, of chaos. Your hair, pupils, and some of your powers were all meant for you to awaken when you reached a certain age, which you had. For being what you are, you can either destroy us all or be our salvation, as the world fell into a lot of chaos after your kind was gone during the Grand War of Pangea. You have the power to call and command the indestructible army that are all spread around the world, froze in time and waiting for the fated heir to call for them," then she took a sip of her tea. "Was it clearer now?"

["Could having this indestructible army be the reason why both the spirits of your mother and Naël said you would play a role in Meredith's fall? Because you're the only one who can… use them?"]

Makes sense, but commanding an army? It's too much to bear, Jack and too big of a responsibility. Especially when I clearly have some issues with dealing with other people. Yesterday was a display of that.

["It was your first time having to deal with that overwhelming size of people, Hel. And also your first day. You can manage with time."]

I clenched my jaw, "What happened in this war?"

Headmaster Mia snapped her fingers and about fifty piles of thick-as-the-bloody-seven-layers-of-hell ancient looking books, each pile going from the ground to the ceiling surrounded us. And let me tell you, her office if tall, it takes an entire wing of the Castle and with no stairs, it's a ground floor that goes from the first floor to the top of it. "Did you learn Pangean?"

"You mean the old dialect from the ancient world?"

"Precisely, yes," she grinned.

"Yes. I mean, not 100%, but 79%. The only thing I don't guarantee is speaking fluently in it. I can translate it kind of well, read, and write."

"That will be enough," she pointed at the books. "They are the only copies. The only records, handwritten by me in a long, long, long time ago. From the beginning of what caused the war, all political conflicts, all the treason, and everything that happened until the said-extinction of your kind and of the old world altogether. No one knows about this. It's as far as I can help you, Hel, even though I shouldn't interfere this much, I need to help you out. So, use the magical necklace and summon all this inside it."

She recorded it? Crone's above, this is insane. "You are giving all this to me?" I gasped, gazing at all the books.

"Yes. They were meant to you either way. They have everything you will need to know, kid. Don't ignore any detail, everything is important. I wouldn't have wrote it down if it wasn't," Crone be damned, how long it took her to write all this? All while managing Belladonna at that.

"But, headmaster, I don't understand. Why didn't my… ancestors use the indestructible army against the others?" Doesn't makes sense.

["My thoughts exactly."]

"Winged serpents were created when the Goddess came together for the first time, Hel," here we go again. "They were meant to bring peace, not destruction, though they were given the power to make that choice. And even though they had it, they wanted to believe that the races could co-exist with each other. Their army was the also made by the Goddess together, and it was their last creation, but they were too strong. Using it, at that time, would potentially destroy all the other races, and the human civilization in the process. King Umbra Miralanthor couldn't do that, so, in consent with all of his six counselors, they decided not to use the army." Wait.

After I sent all the books into the magical space within my necklace, feeling the ancient magic inside them spreading out, I turned to her, "Did you said the army's the last creation made by them together?" I gasped. "Do you mean that the indestructible army is an army of gargoyles?"

["No shit they are indestructible. How can you kill stone?"]

To my surprise, she let out a sigh of relief, "At last a knowledgeable kid who doesn't believe gargoyles are a myth and not real. And yes, Hel, I'm definitely talking about them. The only race immune to magic, able to channel everything to use against their opponents, made of medea stone, the hardest and rarest stone in the world, being the material used to build the walls of the Pit."

["Isn't the Pit in question, the 9th circle of Hell?"] Jack gasped.

"It's a hell stone?"

A nod, "You can call it that if you want to, Hel."

"Wait," I gasped. "You said the Black King's name was Umbra Miralanthor? Does that mean…"

"All the Miralanthor descendants were males, until your mom. You got the name of the circumstances," of her not marrying her mate. "But yes, it's an ancient surname, sweetheart. Unique as well."

"How do I even get in contact with the army, headmaster?"

She tilted her head, "Just call me Mia. It's how Shay called me," then she pointed her long-nailed polished in black finger at my necklace. "You will learn in the books. But I'll give you a tip, all because you're my goddaughter!"

["And I thought your mom had complicated relationships, but look at you,"] he chuckled. ["You can't run from this anymore."]

Shut it, Jack. "Anything to help."

"They are scatted around the world, every gargoyle you see, isn't a statue at all. You can connect yourself to them individually, but to connect to all of them and call them army together, you will need the Crown of Chaos, which only a black winged serpent can use. Anyone who tries will be doomed to the worse kind of suffering you can imagine," the what now?

["See? You have a crown."]

No. I don't. Not yet. "And have quite a good imagination," thanks grandma dearest for that. "So, where is this crown?"

"Read the books and you will know," she grinned mischievously.

Ugh, "Aren't you my godmother? Can't you help out?"

"And where's the fun on that?" Mia chuckled. "One more thing, when you take notes of the books, and you should do that, write down on the secret archive of the tablet I gave you. If you write in paper, thanks to the spell I put on all the books, it'll burn it down. And when you take those notes, do it on Pangean. Only a handful of people speak the language."

["She's clever indeed,"] Jack grinned.

"Thank you, Wolpertinger," Mia exclaimed winking at him.