“Thou art not able to defy thy fate. Death is what shalt be bestowed to this cursed place. Thy will shalt not be enough to purify this damned land.”
The Lich’s words sounded like sharp nails scratching the surface of a blackboard.
Disgusting to hear and hurtful to the ears.
We were at the master’s librarian office. That was the only place, in the entire building, suitable for an interrogation. And I took the honor of entertaining our unwanted guest, myself.
With some security guards still recovering from their catatonic state, we were short in personal.
At least the team was of a tough kind. Most of them resumed their activities even feeling dizzy. Sérgio knew how to choose a team member. I had to give him credit for that.
We left two guards standing outside the office door. From my chair, I could see their silhouettes against the walls in the entrance. Sérgio preferred that the door remained open. Worried about a perspective of the dead mage to attempt an escape.
Sometimes one guard, or both of them, leaned their heads to peek inside the room. Curious about the strange creature tied to the chair in front of the librarian’s table.
I could also perceive a feeling of shame and anger towards the creature coming from them.
They, like me, felt guilty by failing in their duties.
About our lousy unwanted guest. He got quiet during the entire trip from the botanical gardens to the library. The treacherous thing was waiting for an opportunity to escape. And return to his master. I could see in those dark empty orbs the wicked thing’s malice. And I knew that his mind was busy, devising a way to change the odds in his favor.
The sirens sounded outside the library. What signaled that the two mobile units sent to treat the wounded were about to return to the hospital. Since the Triskle labyrinth was a local of hard access by car, they had to transport the injured by a long distance.
"Luciano"'s body would travel inside one of those.
Soon the poor kid should arrive at the morgue. Where strange hands were about to carve into his flesh to perform an autopsy.
That thought saddened me...gone so young.
And leaving a girl that cared a lot about him behind. Hard to think about that without remorse.
I and the colonel were the ones that transported the Lich. We tied the rotten creature to a borrowed litter.
I must admit that when we got back the gothic building, it looked spookier than before. Like the place had also died.
No sound was coming from inside.
Yet, seeing that place again had the power to revolve my stomach.
I had to control my guts to not spill their content in the floor as the doctor did before. We had to be sure that no other surprises were waiting for us in that damned place.
The colonel took the lead. He was more used to these operations than I. He sneaked in front of me and by the time we reached the main entrance he stood by the side of the wide-opened door. After that, he pointed two fingers to his eyes and stopped with his fist a few inches from my face. The silent gesture telling me to wait, while he would be the first to enter the building.
Like we would raid the place or throw a grenade inside.
I waited to lean my face against the cold surface and holding my breath.
Still, nothing to worry about.
Sneaking he arrived at the balcony separating the main entrance hall from the book room. Everything remained quiet on the ground floor. Besides the silence, the cold air coming from the broken window was the only welcome granted to us. The lights inside the book rooms were still on. But after what we experienced our senses were in a state of full awareness.
We passed the main balcony and looked to the displacement of the shelves. Everything was the way we left them.
Secured the perimeter we allowed the rest of the guards and our prisoner inside.
More important than interrogate the Lich, I had to find father Thomas’ phone.
I went to Cínthia and asked her if she or someone from her team could find the phone. Maybe they had time to search for it before they got hijacked from the library. Unfortunately, no one inside the library nor the doctor could find the missing device. The Lich became my only source of useful information.
So when he started talking I played with his emotions.
“Full of ourselves, aren’t we?” I poked the creature with sharps words. That trick could make his anger work against his own will. I needed answers, and I didn’t have enough time to experiment with the living corpse.
The creature was weak and losing energy fast. I knew it would crumble to dust in a few hours.
“Save me from your feeble threats. You are in no condition to menace anybody. I defeated you and didn’t take me much to do so.”
He swallowed a grown, didn’t want to give me the taste of noticing how angered he was.
“I am not the one that wilt feast upon thy souls thou are not that smart. Thinketh you defeated me? I will return if my master so desires.” he tried to mock me and backfire my plan.
“Your master, the leader of the Shadow Weavers. What a nice and obedient slave you are.”
The Lich exploded in laughter.
“HWA ha ha ha, thou know nothing of nothing. Shadow weavers art no more. Stupid lad”
“What do you mean by no more? You lie vile creature. I found their book and the bones of their victims. The room below us filled with corpses and more corpses from their sacrifices.”
That amused the thing even more.
“Their victims, thou haft looked to the body of themselves!! Hahaha. Thou be lost in wrong. More than you imagine HWA haha.”
“You say that the bodies in the sacrificial chamber belong to the Shadow Weavers?”
“That they art. Killed by their own kin. Traitors of a sacred cause.”
The Shadow Weavers were no more.
That made sense. Why would they leave the bodies of their victims rotting in the sacrificial chamber? No wonder I never heard about the Shadow Weavers before. They ceased to exist during the break of the century.
So, someone from inside caused the demise of the dreadful necromages sect, I thought to myself.
“Well, thy face amuses me. I shalt tell thee about their deception. You won’t be able to do anything to stop my master.”
There was more about the Weavers and that land than I read in the books. All those hideous crimes did not go unpunished as I imagined. Knowing about their demise gave me a joyful sense of justice. I must admit that part of my being was relieved that their evil ended.
Well, it ended in part, because the most dangerous of them were still very much alive.
The bodies I found inside of the sacrificial chamber were not of their victims or their enemies.
Belonged to themselves.
Their final resting place was the same damned local where they took the lives of many others.
Made me think about Poetic Karma.
The Lich told me that the group of sorcerers cracked from inside. A big part of their members awakened to the terrible reality of their sins. Horrified by the bloody path they had been following. These awakened mages recovered a part of their humanity. And in that horror, they stepped out of their self-induced trance. Loathing what their coven became.
They found hard to bear the horrible truth about themselves. So, they blamed their sins to the entity and their cult leader.
Sick of all the time they spent helping to feed the hunger of the demonic creature. Sick of the horror they perpetrated. But above everything: they started to perceive themselves as slaves. Slaves of the beast and their immortal ruler: Don Antonio Fernando.
The same sick boy that was the reason for their pact with the darkness. And my relentless adversary.
These newfound repented mages turned to holy magic in a burst of despair.
Created a second-order, secret and hidden inside the dark one. They named themselves the Lightweavers. The exact opposite of the dark order they used to serve.
In silence, one group declared war against the other.
Seizing the opportunity when the underworld entity got imprisoned. They slaughtered their older sect, and left their bones scattered around the magic prison.
With the souls of the dark mages to fuel the locks, they created the holy symbols. And all the structure that was perfected during the years to come to protect the magic prison. That way when the spell became complete the old farm was to remain locked forever.
But the main leader of the sect found out about their deception and fled before they struck. His whereabouts were never found.
I filled in the blanks of the rest of the story. it was easy to imagine.
Don Fernando became a priest. Hid in the same holy order that protected the church and his land. Now an immortal being, he used his influence to become the one appointed to reopen the farm.
I bet he was the one responsible for maintaining the Tuberculosis treatment center. And the main influence for transforming the farm into a Catholic school.
I saw him before, and as I deduced, it was the only person in the meeting with mother Ana that remained quiet and in the dark.
Now I had all the pieces of the puzzle.
All I needed was to solve the mystery of the Mosaic, end that curse and protect everyone inside the school.
My thoughts got interrupted by one of the guards:
“Hey stop poking!!” he said looking angered at the other guard.
“I didn’t poke you, are you insane?” there was irritation in the voice of the other guard too.
What was happening outside the office?
“Hey! Are you two ok?” I asked.
“Positive sir, It was just a misunderstanding” one of them prompted to apologize.
“Okay, I am in a very dedicated process here. I don’t want to stop because you two don’t behave like adults. Am I clear?” I had to show them who was the boss around there.
Then a burst of small laughter came from somewhere in the office, near the tall shelves. I recognized the owner of those juvenile giggles. And that was enough for me to understand that the guards were innocent.
“Bayon you little devil, stop messing with the guards. Come right here now!!” to be honest I found amusing what the imp kid did to them.
But I had to show professionalism.
____
Here we are closing to the end of the first book. How are you feeling? Let me know in your comments. A few more episodes and we will see the astonishing conflict between two minds. And our duo of investigators will face a powerful Immortal enemy. Will they succeed? At what cost? Will Grotheske be happy with what I planned for her? Will she hit me in the head?? Like and comment to your hearts full. Subscribe if you didn't do that already. See you in a few weeks. Don't forget to check our Insksgiving feature and win nice prizes.
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