Warning warning warning. Fair. Warning. There is a scene of double penetration and mfm threesome at the end of this short chapter.
This chapter will also take a dark turn. Anyone who is hoping for a love story with a happily ever after ending should stop reading. I won't be offended. If you want love story, check out my other stories under the username secret_reader.
Warning over. Enjoy : ) Comment : )
Chapter Seven: The Gift
It was early morning in the Great Library and Gene, Celeste, Maverick, and I were all gathered around a secluded wooden table hidden away somewhere on the fortieth for forty first floor. Gene had insisted we get out of his cramped apartment, convinced that the shelves of the Library would be safe. The Source sat in the middle of us, the black smoke boiling inside the glass orb like it had done the first day I had laid eyes on it almost two whole weeks ago.
Gene was dressed in his official librarian uniform; a cream colored robe of light cotton with deep pockets around the cinched waist for storing books. Back in the days when people actually visited the Library, the white robed librarians moved like ghosts between the shelves, eager to help anyone with a question. Now librarians were rare, and dying off. I had my suspicions that once the last of the librarians were gone, the King would turn their tower into something else. Perhaps an expansion of his palace next door or barracks his King's guard. Ignorance was the King's greatest weapon.
"Time for a history lesson," the librarian said, his voice grave as he stared into the smoke of The Source, "Thousands of years ago, as you know, the elves made contact with humans. Where they came from or why they decided to appear is a mystery lost to time. But, as you also know, not all humans took kindly to their presence. Factions formed and two groups of humans emerged; one that welcomed the elves and one that did not. Following a hellish attack by a group of rogue humans on an elvish settlement, the Elvish Wars ignited.
"What you also know is that the elves taught humans the secrets of magic during these wars. What might surprise you though is that before elves, there was no magic in nature. The elves gave it as a literal gift, imbuing not only humans with the knowledge to manipulate it, but the land with the power itself."
This did surprise me. Magic was so prolific and plentiful it was shocking to think that it had once not existed at all. I wanted to know more about this revelation, so I let Gene continue without interruption.
"There is hardly any evidence to support this theory, until now perhaps, but," Gene continued, "It is thought that magic was given to the people and the land in symbolic ceremonies involving elvish and human leaders in major cities across the globe." Gene pulled out a plain wooden box from one of his pockets and opened it. From within he withdrew a glossy piece of paper with images of two small groups of people standing around an obscured object in the center of a wooden table.
"This picture, as it is known, is the only indication that we have that these ceremonies took place. Through careful preservation from some forward-thinking scholars, it has survived the millennia and has recently come into my possession. Very interesting that you should bring me this treasure so soon after, Brian. For I think they are connected.
"You see, in order to spread magic around the land, the elves would have needed to possess it in some physical form. This form could then be released, where it would then spread out and bond with nature. After enough of these 'releases', the land would have been imbued with magic to the degree it is today."
I cleared my throat, interrupting for a moment for some clarification on Gene's theory, "Just so I'm following. Elves brought not only the secrets of casting to the humans, but also the very magic to cast with? And this magic came in some physical form which would then be spilled out into the world following some sort of ceremony?"
Gene nodded, "Exactly. And this," he pointed to the orb, "Would have been used in one of these ceremonies." He pointed to the middle of the 'picture', "Here is where I have suspected a vessel would be placed that contained the magic in its purest form. It would have been a temporary container, designed specifically for the purposes of this ceremony. Notice the lack of ornateness in this treasure. The orb is brittle glass and the pedestal common brass, with simple scripting. It was not meant to sit in any hallowed hall for eons, but to be used as a tool and discarded."
"This all sounds very speculative," I said, "How do you know magic did not exist before the elves?"
"The Ancients did not practice magic," Gene answered, "This we know for a fact. Whatever their technology ran on, it was nothing we have knowledge of. Humans are naturally attuned to the magic in nature after very little training. It is not a stretch to say that, had there been magic before the elves, Ancient humans would have discovered it purely by accident early in their history. But they never did, and the only records of magic existing are all younger than the Elvish Wars."
"So there's pure magic in this orb?" Celeste said with awe, "That's what the black smoke is?"
"I think the smoke is just smoke," Gene said, "But those flashes of light..."
I shook my head in amazement. So I had been right, almost. The Source was literally a source of magic. A physical conduit for a force of nature that we all just took for granted. The spiritual connection I felt between myself, all living things, and even innate objects boiled down to some lightning in a glass orb. It was very humbling.
"So how would this ceremony go down?" I asked.
"I'm not sure of the specifics," Gene shrugged, "But I'd assume after some speeches or readings, the elves would break the glass orb and release the magic. It would be invisible, hence the smoke. Without it, there would be nothing to watch dissipate into the air."
"This is all very strange," I said, and turned to Maverick, "Do you know of anything like this in Summoned culture?"
He shook his head, "Magic has always been around in my world. But I will say that I had never visited this world or met a human until centuries after the Elvish Wars, once the gift had been given. And magic is needed to bring us to this world. It is what connects us."
"So many questions," Celeste said with awe, and I cracked a smile at her natural curiosity. A nymph through and through.
"What now?" I asked, staring at the eerie image of elves and humans gathering around a table as if some religious sacrifice were about to take place, "Can I sell this thing or what?" Despite the orb's importance, I was still a treasure hunter and had come to Nycene for a single purpose; appraisal.
Gene looked like I had asked to fuck his sister while he watched, "Sell it!? Are you insane? Do you know how much power is contained in this one small orb?"
"I thought you said it was just for ceremonies," I countered, "How much magic could it actually contain?"
"The elves are a very ceremonious people," Gene said with a pointed look at Celeste, who nodded in mute agreement, "All the magic they released to this world would have been done so through orbs like this. And when you consider the sheer abundance of it around us, any conservative estimate of the power in each orb is still more than any one person should have access to."
"So," I said childishly, "A lot?"
"A million times more than a lot!" Gene shouted, his excitement rising, "If this fell in to the wrong hands, there's no telling what would happen."
"I've heard that before," I chided, but a shock of fear shot through me. The Source had replenished my energy just by being around it a few nights before.
What if I had been actively trying to draw from it? How much energy would I have gotten after just one second? A minute? Would the power destroy me or make me unstoppable? These were only a few of the questions I was sure were racing through Gene's mind at the moment. And they were frightening.
"This must have been left and forgotten after the Elvish wars," Gene said, "It would have stayed forgotten in that tower forever if you hadn't gone snooping around. Now it's here and I have no idea what to do with it. Break it maybe. Release the magic inside..."
