Book of Chimera, Part Two

Under the harsh winds of the kingdom, a librarian tends to the shelves of a foreign past. Above creaking floors and shelves blanketed in dust, the remains of humanity's knowledge, discoveries, and secrets rest within the sanctuary. As gemstones of guidance hidden in blotted ink and tattered paper, Sonata is the only one in the kingdom to know how much weight a library holds in this hollow kingdom. Pushing up the thin, round frame of her glasses up the bridge of her nose, the librarian nears the front row stacked with books and scans the contents. Finding one that springs her interest, she reaches out to the book in mind, lifting it from its home. Observing the cover, she opens the book and begins to read. In the midst of her reach to turn the page, a heavy thud echoes across the library. Sonata snaps her head to the entrance, peering her gaze through one of the two arches that separate the lobby and the main room.

The front doors have met their fateful enemy once again as they snap open again, slamming against the walls of the lobby. Sonata growls and thins her eyes, slamming her book shut as she races to the lobby in frustration. A storm of emotional turmoil has torn the kingdom as the throne remains without a ruler. Despite the people of the kingdom causing destruction as a form of therapy, Sonata knows well of who enters her sanctuary. Pacing into the lobby to the sound of a stack of books slamming on the desk ahead, Sonata glares at the princess and crosses her arms.

"You expect to pull the cost for those damages out of your father's treasury, your Grace?" The librarian calls out. Keir rolls her eyes and nudges the stack of books sitting next to her.

"I'll fix them when you tell me why you lied to me," Keir growls. Sonata tilts her head, waving out the dust around her face that falls from the ceiling. The impact of the doors had likely been enough to shake the room.

"In what realm would I ever lie to you, Keir?" Sonata asks softly, calming herself to attend to the issue more important to her.

"You said these books would teach me knowledge. You told me they'd teach me about humanity and about my father. These are nothing more than children's stories! Sure, a prince ran from home. A woman named Aries lost her sister. What does this have to do with humanity? Everyone knows they're a species made to mourn," Keir waves her hands out, thinking about what she read from the three tomes. Sonata sighs, walking closer to the princess, her ivory dress flowing with the wind rushing through the front doors.

"You have not read very far, have you?" Sonata asks gently. "Aries lost her sister, yes. In the end, she carried her grievance close and moved to a new threat. Assuming you've only read to the first volume, you know little of that threat."

Keir gasps. "You told me you didn't read these books out of respect for my father! You did lie to me!"

Sonata raises her arms. "Your father was very adamant that I was not to tell you anything about them until you were ready."

"I have two days until the battle for the throne begins, and you mean to tell me I'm not ready to know its secrets? You should just tell me what's within these pages, reading them is useless!"

"Telling you would not be the same, my dear. You must read them to understand them, for there are some things within those pages I cannot explain. I feared that if I had told you that I knew of their contents, you'd ask for me to tell you of them just as you are now, and you'd not even care to open them in the first place."

"Consider yourself right, then. I care not to read any further," Keir growls.

"You don't understand, princess. I told you I craved to find what lied within those pages," the librarian defends herself, "Where your father had fled was one of them. I am no more than a librarian anymore, dear, I no longer have the strength equal to yours to find your father again. You must keep going, Keir, you must keep reading."

"Why would they matter to me, or have anything to do with my father? These fantasies will not help me in battle," Keir growls, glaring through her black unkempt hair.

"They are not fantasies, my princess. They are the very core of humanity's history. That threat that she faces, should you keep reading, is what your father is now facing himself," Sonata answers. "It is not the stories themselves that matter most, my dear, but the message hidden deep within their words. You will not only learn the reason for humanity's destruction, but you will discover what they had left behind in their remnants."

"What's that? Bones and ashes? This world has plenty of that already," Keir scoffs. Sonata lowers her head, hoping the princess will find passion in her words.

"This kingdom was built not long ago, but it will fall even sooner than it was built," Sonata says, her voice falling to just above a whisper. "The kingdoms of humanity were the same, as they failed to learn from their mistakes. They built, and fell, and built, and fell..."

"What are you trying to say?" Keir softens her tone.

Sonata looks to Keir. "We Inners have no right to say we are more than humans. We have stolen their structures, thrown their knowledge into pits of flames, and claimed their bodies as sleeves for ourselves. This kingdom will be ruled, but without the knowledge within these books, Keir, I'm afraid that it will crumble, even with your body on the throne. Another may be built to replace you, but once again, the cycle repeats. At humanity's end, we have not used their hollow bodies to better ourselves, but instead to hold their burdens, their curses, their torment. Humanity is no longer the species that mourns, Keir, for they have no reason to any longer," Sonata holds Keir's arms softly, "It is us that now carry those burdens. Soon, it will bury us, too."

Keir frees a growl of disgust from her throat and lifts her arms to remove herself from Sonata's hold. Stepping back and turning away from the librarian, she waves her hand to disregard Sonata's response.

"You're wrong, this is all wrong," Keir growls.

"Do not be in denial! You do not believe it because you see those stories as fantasies! You know that if you ignore this truth, the fate of your history will be the same as the prince's kingdom, and to Aries' turmoil, and unto the rest of humanity!" Sonata raises her voice.

"Then what is to be done?" Keir screams. Sonata steps back from the sudden call and takes a deep breath.

"We learn from their mistakes. We study what they did to face the enemy that threatened and brought their end. Then, you, Keir, will break the cycle and prevent our species from reaching the same fate. Though death may be nothing more than a myth to us, our species is now bound to an eternity of torment and violence. Within all of the books in my library, they speak of the same cycle: of life and death, of light and darkness, and of victory and defeat. They're always tied together, like a pair of lovers, walking an endless path throughout time. No matter what, however, even in these triumphs and losses, these two lovers follow time in stride -- and neither ever halt. As long as time continues to move, these two lovers will remain eternal, and their hearts pulsate the flowing rivers of existence."

"I don't understand," Keir responds in heavy breaths, "If I am to read these stories, what changes of us? What makes you think the answer to saving us lies within these pages?"

"These lovers I mentioned -- they were once lovers to one another. While they cannot be separated, they are polar opposites to their beliefs. The woman adores peace, while the man adores violence. She adores the light of the sun, while he bathes in the ink of the darkness. These lovers care for each other, deep down, but their desire to clash their sides against one another has brought the fate of all existence into a tilted, restless war. The books in this library talk of this war in fantasies, in reality, and in any realm beyond," Sonata reaches for the stack of books on the desk, "But these books, my princess, are unlike the rest. The lovers battle all the same in the books beyond this lobby, but they're hidden deep in the background and thought to be known as the way of existence. These books, however, focus on those lovers alone. Yes, these little stories may seem nothing more than simple fantasies, but soon, you will understand how they are woven together into the fabric of our past, our present, and our future. When putting the pages together, you will find where these lovers rest, and you will bring purpose and prosperity to our kingdom in the end."

Keir turns her head to the books and looks back to Sonata. "How do I break the cycle?"

"You find the couple, face them, and teach them to love again," Sonata answers with a smile. She picks up the three books again, leaning to Keir, and offers another chance to the ignorant princess to hold the weight of existence in her arms. The princess embraces the librarian's lecture, nodding to Sonata in trust, and returns the future to her chest. Watching Keir leave the library again, Sonata sighs and traces her path to the front doors. As Keir passes other buildings and enters the crowd bustling within the town ahead, Sonata looks up to the lone, shining star in the sky and drags her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"You two will find peace soon, my dearest lovers."

The streets of the kingdom are more tattered than the pages tucked in Keir's arms. She passes through merchants begging for money, civilians clothed in black fabrics with their faces veiled in hoods, and a few guards that stand on flat rooftops to watch over the crowds. The winds rush into small tornados flooded with ash. The ground shakes abruptly to the sudden collapse of another structure. Sonata's truth may have been closer than she let on. Her path to the castle is a winding road up a great, outstretched hill full of debris. She passes through the crowds with ease, her agility as sharp as the winds that drive against her, and she soon drifts her eyes to a structure of greater size hiding in the hill's decline.

As she steps out from the strip of markets scattered across the street, the bleak horizon of the kingdom displays in all its hazed glory. Keir stares upon a monument across the city, half a mile away, and observes it closely as the chants of drums begin to echo out from within. A great coliseum lies before her, its size overshadowing the city, but not enough to climb to the peaks of the castle east of it.

A group of Inner knights, phantoms in human bodies wearing black armor of steel, flee from the coliseum to hand out their daily announcements to civilians around the kingdom. Keir ignores these guardians, aware that their words warn of her death, and she continues to near the field of debris at the castle's edge. Despite the winds being her way to avoid hearing the soldier's daily calls once more, they repeat their message in waves across the city.

"To all of the Inner Kingdom, we desire to interrupt your activities and inform you of the great battle for the throne that is to come. As many of you are aware, the King, His Majesty Crysis, has fled from the throne and has not returned for nearly thirty dawns. Upon the ruling of the knights and the daughters of His Majesty, the time for new royalty has come to walk the black carpet of the Great Hall and claim the throne of our kingdom. Due to His Majesty holding his duties as a father to two children, it has come with great honor and pride that the two contestants, Princess Tyche and Princess Keir, will be engaging in physical combat at the Inner Coliseum -- to the death. The princess that succeeds in this battle will claim the crown and hold the weight of our kingdom as the new Queen," the knights echo their words across the streets. Keir holds her tomes close to her chest, hoping that no one will notice her passing through, but the eyes of the many follow her body as she paces through to the castle. Whispering a prayer of malice, Keir holds a weapon she hopes will be more powerful than the steel of her sword and keeps her head low against the gaze of the people.

"To His Majesty, do not raise my sister upon the throne, lest her weight bury this hollow kingdom to the grave of our ancestors."

Keir tightens her grip of the tomes wrapped in her arms as she passes through the torn corridors of the castle. Avoiding the small groups of rubble that rest over the worn sable carpets beneath her feet, she gazes up to the tattered banners of her kingdom with a vision to heal the future when piecing together the past. Despite being the species that now rules over what humanity had left behind, the world beyond is a mystery to the Inners, and what remains will soon be buried in darkness. Keir keeps her head down and opens two wooden doors three times the size of her body. Within the room ahead, broken chandeliers sit in rows beneath the ceiling, sitting as no more than decoration without any light left to give. While no artificial light bathes the room, the rays of the moon tear through long, shattered windows that rest on the upper half of the walls. Reflecting fractured glass over stained carpets, faint beams of light unveil the path to a throne that lies across the room.

Keir expects the room to hold a few guards in armor to protect the throne from misuse, but while she passes a few on the way to her vessel, she notices someone slouched above the crimson cushion that holds the weight of the monarch. She slows her path as she notices a woman brushing her long, black hair and scoffing to Keir in shame. Wearing gray robes as tattered as the kingdom beyond, she calls out to Keir and mocks her.

"What are those you're holding, sister? Useless artifacts to a lost species?" The woman upon the throne asks. Keir growls and brings her foot forward.

"Get off the throne, you pathetic child! You have not yet earned the right to sit there," Keir bites back. The woman laughs and shakes her head in disbelief. The knights stand still, without any care to halt the argument.

"Please, Keir, we both know well that I'm far more worthy of ruling this kingdom than you. While you've been running off to your pathetic librarian to learn of defeat before it reaches you, I've been training alongside our strongest knights. I'll have your head in just a few days, now, so perhaps you should get to writing your farewell letter to the kingdom?"

"The day you capture the throne will be the kingdom's last, Tyche," Keir calls out to her sister.

"Yet the future of the kingdom will outlast yours, sister. It is useless to read those stories when there's no one left to read them, don't you know? The remains of humanity are left in ashes and dust. Those books are only there to remind us of their defeat, what good will it do you upon the throne, if not to bring you the same?" Tyche asks, softening her tone.

"Refusing to learn from the mistakes of our ancestors will only be harmful to us, sister. We must know how they were defeated to prevent us from facing the same fate," Keir suggests. Tyche shakes her head.

"Not many of us can understand the words in those tomes, anyway. Your precious librarian was so kind in reading one to me, though, and she had told me that humanity had brought their own collapse," Tyche mentions.

"What? She gave you these books?" Keir gasps.

"No, but she read one that occurred just before those were said to be written," Tyche sighs and looks up to the ceiling, "The war between humans and their celestial creations."

"Tell me of it," Keir calms herself hesitantly, eager for more knowledge of a passion that once burnt from within their bodies before their souls were replaced with the vapor of an Inner.

"Perhaps if I do, maybe you'll find a reason to put down those books and start turning to a true weapon," Tyche smiles, gazing at her sister. Keir steps closer to the throne, her glare growing sharper, but her interest outweighing her frustration. "It all began when a suffering woman began searching for a way to set herself free from a trauma she couldn't live with. As a profound researcher, she invented a new way to create a fragment of her mind that would hold this memory for her, separate from her own identity, and through vigorous practice, she tore that fragment from her mind and tossed it out into the physical world."

"You speak of Autumn. She created the first true demon," Keir remembers. "A memory of a human turned into a physical being and birthed with a hunger for more."

"A demon, a malicious reflection of her worst nightmares, a cloud of smoke and static carrying the weight of a mistake, or soon to be known as an Inner. These inners grew in size as she continued to develop them, tearing out pieces of her mind, one by one. It didn't last long, though, for these inners grew self-aware. While they were entities made to hold one memory, they soon learned how to gather more as they explored the world under the command of the woman that created them," Tyche continues.

"They learned from humanity," Keir whispers. Tyche holds up a finger to halt her sister.

"They were born to hold the burdens of humanity," Tyche continues, "While they grew to watch humans go about their lives, they were right to know that all of the efforts the species had made were only to hide from their greatest fears."

"What was their greatest fear?" Keir asks. Tyche sends her stare deep into her sister's crimson eyes.

"Extinction," Tyche says. "Eventually, the inners learned to escape from the woman's command, realizing that she was doing the same. She was a human, too, and what were they to follow what they hated? They fled from her reach, hid in the shadows that blanketed the world at night, and remained out of sight, awaiting for the moment the humans would soon find their efforts were against themselves."

"When did this day come?" Keir asks, convinced of Tyche's story to the origins of their species.

"When that woman who lost all of her power desired to obtain it once more. She knew herself that humanity was doomed to collapse, and so she developed a new plan to help save them. Beneath her passion to save her species, however, lied one promise that she bestowed upon herself: that if she were to turn humans into immortal beings, she would be crowned as an eternal monarch for her creation," Tyche explains.

"The universe would become an eternal kingdom for her reign," Keir thinks aloud to herself, though Tyche nods to assure her.

"When she had reigned over the inners of her creation, she took many of them and condensed them into physical items. She learned that when an Inner connects with the skin of another, it swarms into them like a living virus and searches deep through their minds, tormenting them until they are forced into desolation until death. When collecting inners with a physical item, however, these inners rest in the item until one comes to touch it," Tyche says.

"So what of it?" Keir growls again.

"What remained of her control over the Inners she had created were trapped from the world beyond. They remained in precious stones, obsidian and crystal, until they were touched by the small hands of human children that she captured. She took them, sunk the crystals into their skin, and these children nearly walked with death as their innocent minds shattered with unforgiving knowledge of the world around them. Their minds couldn't take it, their hearts forever changed, and the mental chaos pressured their precious minds," Tyche stares out one of the shattered windows, "Shortly after meeting contact with the stones, some of these children survived and adapted to what they saw, and some of them had even forced themselves into changing physically, and even beyond that."

"What happened to them?" Keir reaches for more answers.

"They were called celestials, the youngest humans to be exposed to the nihilistic perspective. They witnessed the horrors of humanity, and with Autumn in control, they sought their own species as hopeless creatures lost to an inevitable oblivion. They believed they were the only ones capable of saving their people from the end. Humans with strengths much greater than the rest of their kind and under the control of the same woman, the same tyrant, the great Autumn. So, just like before, Autumn used her creations to take hold of humanity's throne, ruling over with powerful children named after constellations in the stars. No one knows how it all truly ended, but it was said that once Autumn was defeated, and the celestials had descended into madness without their leader. In the end, the creations forged to challenge nihility only saw devastation in their resistance. Whatever the case, I see no Autumn, I see no celestials, and I see no human left to roam this wasteland of a world. What remains are us, the last of the Inners, who've fled from our shadows and claimed the bodies of our ancestors as our own with their kingdoms left with us," Tyche finishes her tale, Keir's stare sunken into the floor as she is left without a happy ending.

"That's really all that's left? They brought their own collapse faster when attempting to halt it?" Keir whispers.

Tyche shrugs. "I told you, sister. What are we to believe humans and their books really mattered, if all that's within those pages you hold are distractions from the truth? There's no true peace in humanity, and if you truly believe that our kingdom will follow in their footsteps, you'll soon be buried in your own ashes to join them."

Keir tightens her hold around the books in her arms once more and shakes her head. "There must be more to this story."

"I wish you luck in finding it," Tyche laughs, frustrated that her sister remains persistent. "Perhaps you may find your answers when you rest with them far beneath this kingdom."

Keir begins her stride to her vessel, ignoring the words of her sister that echo through the room, and sends slams her sister's manic laugh away with the slam of her bedroom door. Her eyes begin to shed tears, her anger resurfacing to choke her, and she throws the books down over her table. Under the light of the moon, she opens the books again, reading through another chapter of a forgotten story.