Chapter 6 Part 3

["I'm not a child! I can walk by myself. Let go, brute!" he yanked his arm from Camila and stormed off with her on his trail like a bodyguard.

"He's so snappy," added Maree as they left.]

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"What's gotten into you? You're behaving like a madman." Camila said pointing her small and dainty pastry fork towards Haiden, whom for the past week have not been himself. The only traits he maintained were his short-temper and quick tongue which were greatly exacerbated by his jitteriness. He would jump and scare from basically anything sudden and abrupt. Maree was probably the only one enjoying the whole situation; he was having fun at Haiden's expense, planning elaborate schemes driving him deeper into his unbalanced state.

"He's a genius, Camila. He's misunderstood. That's all." Maree added, trying to contain his laughter and miserably failing. He could barely eat his sweet buns without choking.

"I'll misunderstand a force blast right up your - "

"You two, just calm down. Haiden, for the millionth time, there's nothing there! And you,"  she told Haiden while he looked over his shoulder, gaze fixed on the shadow of a lonely bust in the corner. She turned to Maree wagging her finger. "You little baby, stop it right now. You need to behave."

"Yes, mother." Maree said, his grin clearly showing he will do no such thing to which Camila just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Just tell us what happened in Master Rwoy's class, Haiden. We won't judge." Camila tried to coax the crazy person who kept looking over his shoulder, with his stew untouched.

"Yeah, maybe a 100th time will be the charm. Face it Camilla he's," Maree leaned in and whispered loud enough for Haiden to hear. "Deranged," and pulled back and reverted back to his normal tone. "Clearly a misunderstood genius, he is."

"Should've left your ass to those three halfwits." Haiden said and got up in a rush, his spoon clang on the expensive porcelain and splashed in the stew. "I need to go to the library."

"Again?! But it's the fourth time this week." Maree whined and got up to follow Haiden.

"You don't have to come with me, you know?" He interjected.

"Yes we do, mister. Creators know what trouble you might get yourself into. Master Rwoy tasked us with making sure you stay clear of anyone... with ill intent, let's say." Camilla said after a pause.

"Daddy's boy and his dumb dumbs." Maree added. Camilla palmed her face and quickly scanned the dining hall to see if anyone heard.

"And you wonder why he wants to kill you. Come on, let's go."

They followed Haiden to the library which was located in an isolated part of the castle. It was an entire building inside the mighty white palace with pristine white walls of it's own that glistened even during night time when there was no light, as if they emanated their own. Haiden felt static fizzing off from the walls of the building and came to the conclusion that some spell might have been placed on them to keep the books in the best condition possible, after all, this is where the Academy held their most precious tomes.

On either side, massive statues in the likeness of strange beings, human but not quite, acted as columns supporting the intricately decorated entablature that depicted the same strange beings among humans. It was a scene that left Haiden speechless the first time he saw it. Strange beings helping humans get out of an even stranger oval bed with an overhead canopy made out of a solid material, not textile. Geometric leafless vines circled the bed and flooring. Around them, there were all sorts of creatures, mrons and hamil among many others; some were viscous looking while others looked docile. When asked, the Librarian said that the relief on the entablature was called "Genesis" the brith of the human race. Haiden made sure to always take the view in before going in the building, to etch it into his memory. He could finally match the word Creators to something more than a shapeless abstract concept. The strange beings had very similar features to humans, but had certain characteristics that were most definitely unhuman-like. Their arms and legs were slender and long, giving a lanky appearance, towering over the humans in the relief by almost what looked like to be three feet. Their clothing was fitted, sticking to their skin and defining every muscle and curve, similar to what Master Wielders wear under their black cloak. If one would simply glance at the relief you would not think twice if it was human or not, but once one would pay more attention to the fine details, the marking on their forehead resembling an eye was no mere depiction, but an actual functional organ, their horned head adornments were no strange hats, but part of their morphology, however, the most defining feature would be most definitely their second pair of arms that they kept clasped at their back.

People passing the statues would stop and pay their respects to the Creators. Some would make a half circle sign with their hand and touch their hearts, others would drop to their knees while few would ignore the figures completely. Camilla explained that there are many schools of worship when it comes to the Creators, Haiden wasn't surprised when he heard that the most common are the Green, Red, Blue orders, named aptly after the three sisters, all of them having to abide by the Disciplinary Order since it's sanctioned by the Empired.

Camila and Maree both did the half circle and touched their hearts before entering the library and Haiden just mimicked without really caring.

Once inside they were welcomed by deceivingly tall walls plastered with bookshelves and between them rows upon rows of shelves stacked and neatly organised. There was no nook or cranny that was left unoccupied. Haiden was immediately struck by the feeling of being watched. The hair on the nape of his neck stood in warning. He tried to ignore it as much as he could, but he could not help but constantly look over his shoulder.

Up at the front desk they met with the Librarian who stopped them in their tacks.

"A bit late for cracking a book, isn't it? What are you doing here at this hour, off to bed now." she made a shooing motion. "If Uligarth hears of this he would not be pleased." she added, shaking her head. The poor old woman had the false impression that it was night time. It happened quite frequently in the windowless library inside the castle. She would forget to sleep for days and for some she would simply disappear no one knowing where just for her to pop up as nothing ever happened among the search party.

"It's mid afternoon, Master Liv." Camila said looking at both Haiden and Maree. They quickly nodded in agreement.

"Just came from lunch," Maree added.

"Oh, is that so?" her wrinkled fance wrinkled even further in confusion, going to the door and opening it ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of one of the castle's many windows. "Oh, would you look at that! Must've lost track of time, again." she giggled then greeted them warmly, her senile gaze glazed over them as they walked by looking into the distance thinking of Creators know what. Her fragile and slender frame needed the constant support of her staff that had a large rough stone at the top. Haiden had learned not to dismiss the old woman as she had accumulated a wealth of knowledge during the years, even if her memory was not there and her awareness of time was non-existent.

Maree plopped nonchalantly in their usual spot and closed his eyes. Camila joined him and opened her book to continue reading her disturbingly detailed romance novel, of which the academy had plenty on its shelves. Haiden never understood her interest in those tacky books, but he always credited it to their difference in taste. She raised her eyes from the needlessly thick book and looked at an unnerved Haiden who kept looking over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked shaking her head.

"Nothing, I think I'm going to look over there," he pointed over to the other side of the room at the anthropology section, and without waiting for a reply Haiden walked over to the bookshelves he had yet pilfered in search for answers.

"Come on! Where are you?" he whispered to himself, he was feeling pressured to hurry as much as he could. He could not shake the feeling of being watched. He quickly brushed his finger across the back of the books glancing over their titles searching for a book the Librarian mentioned in passing. The old woman heard the group squabbling over the sparkling howler from the other side of the room and when she came to check the disturbance she casually brought up the title

"Back in my day we actually had to work for valuable information. My late 3rd husband, Hubard. Or was it Tonne? Oh, who cares? Creators rest their souls. One of them translated a book that mentioned the sparkling howler, I think it was "Secret traditions of the Hundui tribe" or something, I don't remember, pain in the ass, the husband not the book. The book was quite well written." she paused to reminisce about something. Haiden was unsure if it was about the book or one of her husbands, but he was inclined to go with the book since her face had the resemblance of a smile as she looked into the distance. "Emperor Ryel spoiled you youngins, Creators bless his soul. All this information readily available to your fingertips and you don't use it. Try the anthropology section in the back!" She yelled as she walked away behind a dark tall bookshelf dissapearing probably for another few days, who knows.

What a strange woman, he thought.

Haiden would take a peek, now and again, at Camila, since her giggling, squealing, and overly dramatic gasping over her bawdy literature were obnoxious and loud, but it made him feel comfort as at least he was not alone. If something would happen they would be there for him, he was certain of it.

He could tell time had passed considerably since she had gone through a good amount of the book. Maree was still sleeping peacefully, drooling all over the table; it had amassed to a small puddle around his face.

Finally deciding to quit after not finding the damned book through all the shelves in the anthropology section, he went to wake up Maree and get Camila.

Haiden drew the tiniest amount of energy, his fingertips barely registered the static. He then focused on Maree's nose until a discharge of electricity zapped him off of his chair landing him on his backside.

"The fuck!" Maree yelled and rubbed his nose. "A gentle 'sweety it's time to go' would have sufficed!"

"You deserved that." Camila said laughing.

"Come on, it's not here and it's getting late." they grabbed their things and went for the front desk where the Librarian waited quietly with her staff in her lap, Haiden was slightly thankful that she didn't dissapear - he wouldn't have wanted to waste another night looking for her.

"Good evening Master Liv." Camila said bowing her head in respect.

"See ya'later old crone!" Maree added bolting through the door. Camila and Haiden were frozen in place, jaw to the floor, mortified.

"See you later, children." Master Liv said with a smile, thankfully she didn't seem to have heard what Maree said, allowing them to breathe in relief. "Oh, young man! Here, before I forget." she waved at Haiden to come closer and grabbed a book from the inside pocket of her cloak. "I saw you going past this book over and over again the other day and thought I would just save it for you here." she handed over the book. Haiden looked at the title on the cover and in huge golden lettering it said "Secret traditions of the Hundui tribe". Embarrassed, he reached for the book.

"Thank you, Master Liv."

"Oh, don't mention it, couldn't stand looking at you searching in the dark like a blind bafoon. My 2nd late husband, Hubard, or was it Tonne?I can't seem to remember which, oh who cares! One of them always did this annoying -"

"You already told me that, Master Liv." Haiden said to ditch the old woman, he didn't want or had time to stay for another story of hers. "Thank you again, have a great evening, Master Liv!" he said turning away and heading towards the door.

"Oh, did I? Right, then. Good bye, young man! I should go memmory check."

Once they arrived at their dorm they parted ways, and Haiden carefully walked up the stairs looking behind each corner, staring down each dubious shadow to make sure there was nothing there and once he was fully satisfied that it was just his overly increasing insanity, he opened his own door and threw himself on the bed. The feeling of being watched subsided once he left the library, but one could never be too careful. He took a moment of reprieve and closed his eyes to relax and before sleep could settle in he forced himself to jump out of bed, opened the window above the desk and sat in his chair, placing the book in front of him. The clean and crisp cold air brought him back from his sleepy state and awakened his senses.

He brushed his hand over the hardcover of the book and embossed lettering feeling somewhat triumfant.

He reached over for the back of his neck and caressed the now scabbed thin scratch from the other day. The final plea of the figure had left its mark on his skin convincing Haiden that it has to be real. If this indeed was just a manic episode of insanity driven by the effects of the seed he inhaled, there would have been no physical evidence of what had transpired, right? In any case he was not interested if others thought this to be real or not, this being one of the reasons for why he refused to talk about what happened that day, the other one was that he didn't want people to think he's crazy - though might be too late for that.

Regor's voice constantly ringing in his head 'Free me!' drove Haiden to push through and now he finally had somewhere to start. He first flipped through the book looking for the work Sparking Howler. Page by page, he traced his finger over every line searching for the plant's name. Nothing. Going over from head to tail multiple times the two words were never to be found in the book.

Again, he took the book flipping the pages looking for those two simple words. That's all he needed. Sparkling. Howler. And again nothing. Grunting in frustration every time he had to start over - He could not let this go, he had to find away.

Hours passed and it was getting late. The blue sister was nestled up in the clear sky shining her melancholic diffused light on everything she saw. Haiden's eyes were red and stung from exhaustion. He started again, once over, from the beginning looking for those two words.

Finally, mid way through, his frustrations got the best of him and threw the book against the wall.

"Fuck!" he screamed to the top of his lungs. "It's not in there! I tried. I looked. But it's just not there!" he yelled some more. He was certain that he had woken up every single living thing in a radius of thirty feet, though no one came bagning at his door to tell him to 'shut up' - for which he was grateful as he definitely was not in the mood to deal with that.

The air in the room got quiet and he became aware of his surroundings. The hair on the nape of his neck stood up when a sudden spark of static pricked his cheek. Someone was Wielding.

He turned in circles and checked every dark corner. He went in the lavatory, checked the hallway beyond his door and finally outside the window. There was not one soul.

"I'm not crazy!" he told himself. "I'm no-" he quieted. There it was again. The static. Small, almost imperceptible if it weren't for the dead of night where everyone was sound asleep, no Wielding to be done except for this one person or thing. Haiden could not tell if it was so refined, so perfect it was meant to be imperceptible, or just weak and pathetic.

The sound of pages rustling made him jump in fright and turn around facing the book he had just tossed away. He was certain the book had landed splayed open on the floor. Now it stood right side up, it's pages being turned by an invisible hand, flipping and jostling the paper hastily until it stopped. Finally finding what it was looking for. The static had disappeared and Haiden inched closer to the book once he made sure nothing had found its way into his room.

Instead of picking it up, he got onto all fours and looked at the pages but it was too dark for him to see anything anymore. He fished out of his pocket a tiny light pebble, carefully charged it and placed it next to the book.

The title of the chapter read "Spiritualism and the Hundui people". Haiden at that moment remembered what Malticia said in class. The Hundui tribe used the Sparkling Howler to communicate with the dead. How foolish could have he been, such a small but important detail. He should have remembered, but now it wasn't time to dwell on his own stupidity.

He would have to ponder on what transpired in his room at a later date, for now, he thanked whomever or whatever showed him the page. His hopes of making it up to Regor were now renewed and stronger than ever.