Trial

[Aomori]

It took Kaori another set of hours translating the pages he found interesting.

"Archery?" he asked himself and turned to the other pages to see its history and details.

"Originated in the land of Aernas..." Kaori stopped and thought for a moment, another land? There might be other people other than him? He read the book again to see a step by step manual on how to make a bow. Excitedly, he stood up and ran outside to look for the items he needed... but where will he get bamboo, moreover strings? He sighed in annoyance as he walked to a nearby forest.

By sunset he had gathered enough materials, perhaps. He spent the rest of the night following the book and after many hours and many cuts, he finished it by midday.

He had made a bow and an arrow. Standing in the field of snow, he took his arrow... just to realize that there was no string on the bow. He sat down in a position as if apologizing to a noble person and laid the bow in front of him, staring at it with disappointment.

Kaori sighed deeply and groaned in annoyance. After a while of being annoyed he finally stood up and went to find strings.

"For the Grace's sake where are the strings..." He dug into the chest in the house he stayed in. Opening the cabinets, crouching under the furniture, and tip toed to reach the top of the shelves.

"Found one..." he sat on the floor, all tired while holding the ball of string. The house was getting warmer with all the torches and Kaori was getting sweaty.

"Day one... complete..." He closed his eyes and rest his head on the wall, and fell asleep for the first time.

Bows, check

Swords, almost there...

"AH! HOT!" He yelled because he touched the furnace, quite the dumb decision. Kaori held his burnt finger and tears came out of his eyes.

He had written a copy of the instructions on a piece of paper and attempted to become a blacksmith. During the hours of continuously hammering the blade, seventh blade rather, he finally made the perfect shape of a sword. His eyes widened as he examined his work and went on to sharpen it. He sat in the house, looking at his blade and smiled. It may not be the best, it might be the worst, but he cherished it like a child... quite proud, maybe too proud of himself.

"Day two, accomplished!" he says confidently with a bright smile.

Day three would be just reading more books for him, he wanted to take a rest from all the physical activities.

The library was getting warmer and warmer every day that passed. He was starting to get used to everything in this hard life. He was alone, cold and new to every little thing. The library was starting to look more pleasant and clean.

Dark oak wood, that was what the shelves were made of. the cold stone floor, the warm torches on the walls and the candles on the tables and on the shelves. The books scattered across the floor... Kaori was starting to feel a little bit warmer.

A thought came across his head: "What do humans even do everyday? They cant just be making 'weapons' everyday"

That is when he finally came across a journal filled with sketches of humans holding each other's hand and smiling. Musical notes were scattered around the drawing, it was coming from the drawing from another page, a drawing of a veiled person and a stringed instrument.

He looked like the frozen statue Kaori first saw.

At the bottom of the drawing said: "Music Festival"

Kaori saw the familiar words and rushed to one of the bookshelves.

{#######}

"A musical festival festival held by the God of Music. The god himself will descend from his humble abode to play games with children and sing with his people. The Fourth Grace would bless his festivals and spend time with the god as he played the songs that his people loved."

Kaori looked for more information on this "Fourth Grace" and came across a torn page. On it was four elegant looking women, they were quadruplets. One had dark clothing, the rest had white. The third lady in white had torn clothes and bleeding hands. The Illustration had a title: "The Custodians of Grace"

The page had blood on it and some molds. as Kaori looked at his right, at the far corner was a skeleton buried in books, holding onto another page. Some of the texts were not readable, but there was another illustration. Plans? Blueprints? All he knew is that its wrapped around cold fingers of bones. Carefully, he took it from the pile of bones and went to a table for light.

The page was filled with little sketches and instructions, notes, and details. Kaori flipped the page to see the back and saw a very detailed sketch of a hallway and at the bottom of it was a map. The map says that the "entrance" was under the tallest tower in the library. He looked around and his eyes landed on the pillars of the center shelf of the library, that looked like towers.

Curious as the puppet is, he walked towards the shelf and saw the Amorian seal. The seal was also embedded on his marble chest. He outlined the seal with his fingers, somehow feelings comfort as his fingers hovered over the golden seal. He closed his eyes for minutes and opened them to see, a set of stairs headed downstairs.

This was different from all the other stairs he had seen. The area wasn't dark, it wasn't "abandoned". He walked down the stairs and felt the thin layer of water against his soft, leather shoes.

The more he progressed into the hallway, the more the air freshens and the walls slowly appearing to have vines on it.

Finally, he came to the end. It was like the sketch...

"Five portraits of the people they so call the "Order"..."

He spoke to himself as each portrait had sunlight shining onto them. He looked through one and saw himself at the peak of a mountain. Five portraits, five seals on the floor aligned to their respective ruler or so they call "god".

One of them was severely cracked, and its seal was covered in snow and dirt. Beside it was the center portrait, a man in white, elegant clothing. He went back to the cracked portrait and cleaned it seal, its center part was black unlike the others.