Whispers of a Dead Empire - Chapter 87

She scampered over to me and hid behind my chair. The tips of her fingers pressed gently against my back. Kharon clacked his teeth together in a facsimile of a laugh as he regarded my daughter. “Hello once more, Nyx.” He gave her a slight bow before he sat down.

I felt her fingers clench behind me, and I had to suppress another giggle that threatened to escape from my lips. I wonder why the poor girl was so terrified of him outside of what she told me earlier. But I wouldn’t push her on it. Not yet, anyway. “I didn’t expect to see you today, Kharon. What brings you by?” I sat forward in my chair and interlaced my fingers.

“I come by, bearing a gift from Redrick.” He reached into the cavernous maw of his robe and pulled out a small satchel-looking bag with a single turquoise stone in the center with a string that held it close. All along the seams were a bunch of gems, though I wasn’t sure what they could be. Possibly diamonds, or crystals, maybe. Regardless, it was a cute, something that I wouldn’t mind wearing around.

“Oh, I like it.” I reached out and took the bag, shocked at how light it felt. It was almost on par with my sports bag.

“He said there was some wine, coins, and a few other things that you may like in there.”

When I heard wine, I perked up and instantly undid the string. Back on earth, I was a bit of a drinker. Nothing extraordinary, but I was a line cook. How else was I supposed to wind down after a long day? Honestly, though, I much rather it is wine than anything else. I’d rather not toe the fine line that is alcoholism.

I pulled the flap back, glanced in the bag, and saw that only darkness sat within. Now, if this was anything like my sports bag, all I had to do was just reach my hand in and feel around for a second. With the eagerness of a child in a candy store, I reached in and tentatively felt around. First, my hands brushed against a book. Damn, not what I wanted first, but this would do for now.

I pulled it out and laid it on the desk. The front had dozens of strange magical rune-like shapes inscribed into the surface painted in a myriad of reds, blues, and greens that fulgurated in the lighting in my office. While I couldn’t understand what the runes meant, I was still drawn to them, as if some part of me knew what they were. I reached out and traced my fingers across the shapes that seemed to twirl across the cover. Each second I spent following the runes with my eyes, the more patterns that I seemed to find. At first, they seemed to be shaped like a star, but then the colors and lines would meld together, into the shape of a snowflake, before that too shattered into dozens of smaller geometric shapes that my mind had no name for.

“Kharon, what is this book?” I asked as I slid it away and tried to fight the desire to grab the book once more. It took a lot of mental strength to break the trance that had come over me, but I yearned for more once I did.

“Hm, it seems to be a book on various forms of magic. The cover has some form of illusion magic, though it was nothing that could harm you.” The skeleton reached across the table and swiped the book. His crimson eyes flashed as he stared at the cover. “Oh yes, it’s just an illusion charm to make the book a little more appealing.”

I felt a twinge of heat rise to my cheeks as I cleared myself through. How embarrassing. “Do you think you can use that book then?” A part of me died at the thought of parting with it, but let’s be honest. It’s not like I had a use for it, other than for it to sit around looking pretty. I did lack the use of magic, after all.

“Hm, potentially yes. I can try to teach some others how to use magic with it. Maybe even advance my class with it.” He shifted the book to the side and peeked around its corner.

“Go for it. Just make sure that you teach Nyx how to use magic.” I waved my hand and buried my disappointment. It was just so pretty to look at, and I didn’t want to risk consuming it. Not at least until I was sure that I could get all the knowledge within.

“Wait! Mother!” Nyx shot from around my chair and glared at me. Her dress seemed to billow in the air from the sheer speed she moved in that moment.

“Hm?” I raised my eyebrow at her as I sat back in my chair.

The panic in her eyes was prevalent as her lips were locked into a pout. “Don’t make me do that! I implore you!”

“Nyx, you are going to have to. This is a dangerous place, and I need to make sure that you know how to defend yourself.” I stared right back at her, meeting her gaze, trying to read it and understand her a little better. I know she was scared, but he wasn’t going to hurt her.

“But I’m a dragon! I can take care of myself.” The fear in her eyes vanished, and she crossed her arms and huffed at me, and turned her head away.

“Don’t you want to be stronger?” I sighed as I sat back in my chair. She is such a hard-headed child, but there are ways to get to her.

At those words, she turned her head back towards me just a little. and cocked one of her eyebrows upwards. “Stronger?”

I bit the inside of my lip as I fought the smile that wanted to cross my face. There we go. “Yes! Learning magic from Kharon will help you become an even stronger dragon.”

She carefully looked at me as if she was scrutinizing me for any sense of me lying to her before she looked at Kharon. “Fine then. I will begrudgingly accept your offer.”

Kharon met my gaze and gave me a strange look. I could only shrug. She was a handful, that’s for sure.” Good. I want you to become the strongest dragon that you can be.” I layered a bit of sweetness to my words, trying to bolster her ego just a little bit. After all, how else was I going to point her in the right direction without directly forcing her?

A snicker left her lips as she put her hands on her hips and jutted her face upwards proudly. “Of course, I will be!”

I could only roll my eyes at her—definitely a handful. I hope she doesn’t get worse as she gets older. I sat back up and reached out towards the bag as Nyx rushed from her spot and towards Alessia, throwing herself onto her lap. Now let’s see what other goodies are here for me to take. I rummaged through the space once more, and a felt cloth brushed against my fingers.

Curious, I grabbed it and felt the heavyweight of coins. Damn, I knew Kharon said there were some in there, but it didn’t help dampen the disappointment that I felt. I know I shouldn’t be greedy, but a girl can dream after all. I placed them on the table, quickly undid the tiny string that closed the bag, and dumped out all the coins. The first that I saw was a bundle of the copper ones, which I already had a bunch of. There were a few silver coins, but I didn’t expect to see two golden coins.

The edges were chiseled and had small markings that were all intertwined. On the front of the coin was a laurel wreath, clad in three leaves, that rested on top of a sword. That must be the country of origins banner or something of the sort. Regardless, the coin had little in the way of shock value, other than the fact that it looked like freshly polished gold. I wonder what the exchange rate for this coin was on the outside. Perhaps I should do a little digging and see for myself. Skillfully I stacked the coins by material, slid them over, and reached back into the bag, eager to find out what else lay within.

Next was the wine that Kharon was talking about. The bottle itself looked much like how I’d expect a wine bottle to look. The label was paper and looked to be written by a very skilled hand. I nodded as I read over the label and saw that it was made in the year twelve thirty-two. I didn’t know what year it was for them now, so there was no telling how valuable it was. But it didn’t matter. It was mine now.

I gave the bottle a quick swirl and saw that it was thick and viscous and looked as if they filled it to the brim with fresh blood. I set it down and fought the urge to pop the cork and down the bottle. The mere thought of letting my child down seemed to haunt me in more ways than one. Why did I have to be responsible?

Without a second thought on the matter, I shoved my hand into the bag to see what else was in there and came across a few more books. Ah, this was good, very good. I quickly pulled them out and set them down on the table before giving the bag one last look over to make sure that there was nothing else that I was missing in there.

I set the bag down next to the desk and glanced everything over. I now owned another book on magical theory, which I would read and then give to Kharon. While I had no use for a book that detailed the use of magic, I was still curious about its theory. Perhaps I could do something with it in the domain once I figure it out. As for the rest, it was a collection of histories and folklore, which I was thankful for. Perhaps now I wouldn’t be as in the dark as I have been.