My short brown hair blew back in the wind as soon as I climbed out onto the top of the fifth and smallest structure on the council of five’s temple. Or as I had been calling it for the last 17 years of my life.
Home.
Some people thought I was so lucky that I lived in the council of five’s temple, that it was amazing that my mother was a member of this council. She had had a seat on the council since before I was born, the fight she had to earn that seat was legendary from the accounts I had read. Some thought I was blessed, but I saw it as a curse. Don’t get me wrong, having a lot of money, good food, an amazing home inside of a temple with four other council members made me feel safer than I could ever explain. However, the expectations I had on my shoulders were sometimes more than I could bare.
I was the oldest daughter of Lady Hearthstone, her first child, so a lot of people were expecting the best from me. I had heard it in school when I misbehaved. “I expect more from the daughter of Lady Hearthstone.” I heard it when I was acting out at a friend’s house. “I don't expect this type of behavior from the daughter of Lady Hearthstone.” I was often punished a bit more firmly by people for those actions, they thought were doing my mom a favor by teaching me a good lesson. If my grades fell a bit I would often hear the phrase. “Your mother had amazing grades so I am sure that if you applied yourself harder, yours will be nearly as good as her.” That was another phrase that I hated. “You could be nearly as good as your mother.”
Nearly as smart.
Nearly as wise.
Nearly as skinny as her.
Everyone compared me to my mom since I was her oldest daughter, it seemed none of these expectations were on my siblings. My mother was a thing of beauty, lean but had the curves and hips that anyone would want. Creamy pale skin with amazing light yellow eyes and light blond hair. I on the other hand was bigger than most girls on the island, I was rounder and with wide hips, still very much in good health and shape, but the rest of siblings matched my mother’s physical type. I used to hate the mumblings of people at school. “If she stops eating then maybe she can look like her mommy.” I hated it and often would return home ready to break down, but my mother was always there to hold me. To remind me of one thing that I could never really accept. “You are not me, my little money. You are you, so be you, don’t listen to these stupid expectations being forced on you. You don’t need to be nearly as good as me, be the best you can possibly be.”
It was hard to accept those words sometimes. If only you truly knew what expectations were thrown on my shoulders. You seem perfect, the best grades, the best combat in her age group when she was my age, awards in all sorts of sports and academics, a member of the council at the age of 29, the fourth youngest to have ever joined the council. She fought off anyone that challenge for her seat. So I had to be perfect, mother, both to keep your legacy going as your oldest, and to keep others from thinking that you had a weak daughter.
Standing on the top of the roof was the woman I loved so much. She had changed out of her amazing outfit she had worn at the dinner I attended with five other students. Some I knew and respected such as Emily Walker and Unique two bright underclassmen that I looked forward to working with. Others that I was more curious about than anything else, such as Xavier and little Sarah, the smartest kid in the school at age 12. The last one Daniel seemed like an annoying dark brat, but I knew why, he lost both his parents in the battle for the port. I only knew that because my mother had a new flag and a monument dedicated to the lives lost in that battle. I helped her with the design.
My mother was now wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a sleeveless shirt. Her hair was tied up in a bun and she was cracking her knuckles. “You know, my precious one, we could have skipped your usual butt kicking and celebrated more tonight with your brothers and sisters” She declared in a teasing voice.
I rolled my eyes at that statement, the moon was shining brighter than it had in a long time, a near full moon, it acted like a spotlight on the two of us. “I have to work off the amazing food you treated us to, as well as ask some questions of my own, and I find I think better when sparring with you.” I had changed into shorts and black t-shirt. For the 2nd time that night, I summoned my netrix weapon, netrix weapons were spiritual weapons that could take a physical form. We create them using our jepei energy and can store them into our gemstone for when we need them. As they are made from parts of my soul, I know where it is as long as it is out. When our weapons are out they take on the same physical structure as our netrix gemstones, these gemstones were worth more than diamonds and harder than any known metal or gemstone on the planet.
I slowly began to circle my mother, spinning my three section staff around in my left hand. It could be separated into its true form with just a quick twist in the center, but right now I chose to keep it together as one large staff. My mother kept her arms crossed not even looking at me right now, yet she kept talking loud enough for me to hear her. “Are you sure you don’t want to just ask questions over a cup of tea? Or maybe I can tuck you into bed and we can answer them while I read you a story. I know you say it is embarrassing for me to even suggest that, but I am pretty sure that is better than losing to me for what… the 94th or 95th time? I am losing count.”
My mother knew how to get me fired up. “I have never won in 96 tries, however, I am getting better with each try. Who knows, maybe I will be the one to beat you for your seat on the council.”
That got my mother roaring with laughter. “Oh baby, you have a better chance at beating your father than you will ever have at taking my seat on the council.” While she was laughing I moved in bringing my staff down with a powerful downward strike. I pumped it full with my own jepei in a technique called amplification. My mother held up a single hand and caught my staff with ease, her own hand letting out a bit of light yellow jepei, she had used the protection technique to stop my attack. Protection and amplification went hand and hand, one could increase the attack power and provide boosts to your entire body, including your lungs and could be used to rush healing. While the other could protect you from harm, it could stop bullets if you were good enough. Some master amplification but ignored protection, and some masted protection but ignored amplification, they were opposites but if you master them both, you could be unstoppable.
My mother was a grandmaster in both of them and as she pulled me closer I found myself face to face with her, and she was giving me the smirk that I both loved and hated. “Besides,” she began softly. “You have never even knocked me to the ground before, sweetie, while I-” My entire world went upside down as she twisted my staff to the right making me lean at an awkward ang;e and a single kick to the back of my knee knocked me onto my back. “Find no trouble in knocking you around. You are so easy to knock down when you are off balance dear. Isn’t that tail you can make supposed to help you with that?”
“I didn’t have it out,” I groaned as I picked myself up. I had gained a few gifts from my mystical ape spirit. I had amazing eyesight and smell, I had the strength of nearly 10 men and that could be made even stronger, but the thing I loved the most was the spectral tail I could summon whenever I wanted. Much like how people with flying animal spirits could summon wings, monkey users could summon a tail that they could use. I had the qualities of nearly every monkey and ape combined into one, after all my animal spirit was reincarnation of the first of their kind. Monkey King Sun Wukong, but in my case, mine was technically the current princess of the monkeys.
Victoria.
A flipped up to my feet and froze as my mother was now standing in front of me with the tip of my own staff held under my chin. “You are gonna need to try a bit harder, dear.” I snatched my staff back from her and we slowly began to circle each other. Her hands held behind her back as she walked with a sway to her step. “What do you think about your new team?” She asked me.
I quickly moved towards her, swinging my staff at her as well as I could, forcing her to weave through my attacks. “To be honest, I am hesitant to call them a team.” I answered, swinging high and then low to try and catch her off guard.
My mother leapt out of range, her light yellow wings appearing for just a moment and propilled her backwards a few feet. “It takes a while for a team to form, dear.” She answered and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she sped forward and threw a series of kicks my way. I used my staff to block, each time I felt the vibrations of her force run up my weapon and into my palms. “Teams are built on trust and it takes a while to trust new people.”
“Why was the hero not allowed on the team?” I asked, thrusting my weapon out and nearly caught her on the forehead with it. She bent all the way backwards and onto her hands, and started to flip away from me. I gave chase and went on speaking, knowing that she could hear me and fight me at the same time. “Alona Ameko, would have been a wonderful addition instead of young Sarah.”
My mother stopped as she reached the edge of the building. Her hands gripped the top of the building and caught my staff between her legs. With a hard twist she yanked it from my grip, sending it falling down and crashing to the ground below us. She then kicked out with both of feet hitting me in my upper chest with enough force to send me falling to the ground and onto my ass. She then flipped back to her feet and held her hands behind her back. “Alona Ameko was a consideration for the 15th generation, however unlike the rest of you. That child has no interest in history, and her spirit animal is new to the world and does give her the same knowledge that the rest of yours do.” My mother smirked at me before adding. “Now are you gonna start taking this seriously? Cause I can answer your questions and take you on at the same time. I am pretty sure you know this already.”
I pulled myself to my feet and barely had time to lift my hands to block her next kick. The shockwave from that strike nearly knocked me over again, dull pain ran through my forearms but I stood strong. I quickly moved forward and tossed my lighter mother over my shoulder but as usual she landed on her feet and quickly had me on the defense. Her strikes were quick, powerful and most importantly targeted. She liked to wear out one spot on her opponent and then move to the next. In my case, she focused her assault onto my sides, knowing that I couldn’t throw a powerful blow if I could barely turn left or right. I caught one of her hands and held on tight as I asked. “I am just saying, I would rather have Alona Ameko, the hero of the port, rather than a little girl that I will have to watch.”
“I am sure Xavier can handle that part. He is already so close to her.” She answered, suddenly headbutting me, but I expected that and sent as much jepei into my head in the form of protection. Even still it was like being hit by a bat, I stumbled back and barely managed to block her incoming barrage of kicks. I managed to duck underneath one and grab her right leg, I let out an annoyed yell as I threw her as far as I could manage. She flipped through the air and landed firmly on her feet still standing strong and her head held high.
We began to circle each other again. It annoyed me how high and mighty my mother walked sometimes. Not a care in the world, she never really tried in our matches, but I wanted her to at least use 75 percent of her power. If I could defend against her using that much strength, then I was confident that no one else could ever hurt me. “Can I ask you another question?” I held my hand out a moment later and my staff returned to my palm. I gave it a simple twist and it extended out into two more parts connected by a chain. I began to spin my three sided staff around my head, enjoying the sound of it tapping across the hard stone that made up this temple.
“What is it?” My mother asked, starting to move a bit quicker in our walk.
“How long have you thought about making this new team?” I asked before rushing in and starting to let out a barrage of attacks, the best thing about this weapon was the angles I could strike at. I could grip different parts of this staff and thanks to the chains that connected each section. I had an even longer reach. My mother was quick and was no longer just ducking and weaving through my attacks, but now had to use her long arms to block attacks. Her arms were coated in her light yellow aura and I knew right now they were as hard as steel from her protection coating. Each time my attacks connected with her defense sparks flew as shards of her jepei were knocked off her arms. The protection coating could be knocked off or stabbed through if overwhelmed, however it was quick to regrow, however the more jepei that was knocked away the weaker it would get. Our jepei isn’t limitless, we all have a certain amount and it takes time to recharge that jepei.
My mother eventually ducked through one of my attacks and landed a solid blow to my stomach against forcing me to step back. She was still going after my sides and chest. She knew how to beat me and I barely had an idea on how to stand against her. “The council has been thinking about getting this team together for a while now. We were just waiting for some of you to grow more, the original plan was to get you six together two years ago. However, after the loss of Daniel’s mother and father-” She trailed off a bit and in the moonlight I could see her face lower just a bit. It happened whenever she thought about the victims of the battle for the coast. It was her idea to take all of the council with her to that Nato meeting. “My show of force led to the loss of life, and I will never forgive myself for that night.” Her words that she spoke at the large funeral that was held still ring in my ears. “When they died we pushed our plans back to protect our people, and to give him time to mourn. Do me a favor, Olivia watch that boy like a hawk.”
“I will do what you want if you start taking me seriously.” I responded. “I want you to try, I want you to give me all you go. You know I can take it.”
My mother stopped moving and slowly crossed one foot over the other and leaned forward. “As you wish, but don’t tell your father I beat up his little princess.” I flushed a bit at my old pet name he gave me. Probably the only man that could still call me little. In a flash of light yellow, her weapons began to form in her hands. Two curved blades, each had a small chain attached to the bottom, each had three circles that were carved into the blade, the top one being the smallest and the largest being right in the middle. “We will start when I draw a drop of blood from your cheek.”
“Or if I knock you on your back?”
“I love that confidence, any more questions before I shatter it?”
“Was I chosen for this team because I am your daughter?” My mother’s sudden fierceness faded away for a moment. “If I wasn’t your daughter would it have been Alona Ameko or perhaps another mystical animal spirit user.”
“It is true that this group is only made up of mystical animal spirit users. However, you were not chosen because you were my daughter, out of the eight names we had. You were the collective first name put on that list. For your combat ability, your leadership, your knowledge, you had everything that was needed to be the perfect member of this team, and I couldn’t be more proud of you.”
I couldn’t help but smile a bit but my smile faded away as I narrowed my eyes. I summoned one more weapon which was my long monkey-like tail. I was ready to do my best to knock her on her back, that was the goal I had set for myself and if these missions were gonna be as interesting as our first one.
This might be my last chance.
There was silence, followed by the loud clanging of metal slamming against metal and a powerful brown and yellow shockwave that spread across the entire top of the temple of five. Our battle had begun….
And I didn’t make it past two minutes….
Damn it.
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I was still sore from the sparring I had done with my mother when I woke up. I was ninety percent sure that I could at least knock her off her feet last night, however she made it very clear where I currently stood in comparison to her. My cheek still faintly stunk from where her blade had given me the lightest of scratches to draw just a drop of blood. During breakfast I had gotten so tired of the look my mother was giving me through it. That I calmly stood up and took my own car to the northside of the island. It was a very long drive, I used to rely more on my friends with flying animal spirits or call an air uber. (Yes that is a thing on my home island, it is a service that calls flying animal spirits to come and pick you up) However, when I got my lincense to drive and my father got me my first truck. I didn’t care if it took me hours, I would drive in this baby as long as it could still move. It was a beautiful black truck that often looked brown from the amount of dirt that would spill on it from the island, mostly dirt roads. I emerged from the tall shield of trees that grew on the mountain that surrounded the council of five’s building, and onto the usually flat and grassy plains, with the occasional small pond and river flowing through.
It took me three hours to get to the northside of town where most of the larger stores and businesses resided. I drove up the smooth white streets into the parking lot of Tarun Academy. In the distance I could see the two large towers of education, each 15 feet high, the left one was for elementary and middle school students, the right one for high school and college level students. In front of those buildings were one two story building that was the cafeteria and assembly hall.
Beside that one maybe 50 yards away was the school’s library. It was five stories tall and it was extremely long with part of it bending over to the right. I spent a lot of time in this library, often having to stay in an empty dorm room for the night instead of trying to go all the way home. I walked inside one of the three sets of double doors and entered the main library. The first floor was filled with long rows of tables for students to study, there were two smaller tables set up, one with five flavors of coffee for the older students and the other with five flavors of juice for the younger. “Damn it,” I mumbled to myself as I saw the blood orange lemonade was already out and needed to be refilled. So I settled on filling my thermos with some ice cold passion fruit tea. Surrounding this area were rows upon rows of books, this section was nonfiction and there was another area above this one protected by a railing so no one fell over. A staircase in the back took you up to the other floors, the 2nd one being our massive collection of fiction books, the third being much like the first floor only with computers, and the 4th and 5th were teacher’s offices.
I headed to the back where a curved round desk was sitting. The library's help desk and I was glad to see the head librarian, an older woman with dark orange hair and eyes, was sitting behind the desk. Her face was sunken and wrinkled from age, but even though she was 80 years old, she could be mistaken for 50 on the mainland. She was wearing a soft brown and white dress with her hair done up in curls today, around her necklace was her netrix gemstone, in the shape of an owl. She was putting the finishing touches on a crown she was making out of flowers before setting it upon another girl’s head. After giving Mrs. Arwen Caddel a thank you, she scampered off with a new found skip in her step.
“Olivia,” she greeted happily once she saw me approaching. She stood up from her seat before beckoning me over with a finger. “Follow me, I know why you are here.” She flipped open part of the desk allowing me inside.
“Why am I here?” I asked curiously.
She led me into the back where books were waiting to be placed back on the sleeves. A boy that looked about 12 or so was kicking at the carpet as one of the other librarians seemed to be giving him a serious sounding scolding. She opened another door in the back where the carpet turned into dark wood. “You were invited to join the new team of researchers, the 15th generation and you were told that you now had access to the library underneath the school.”
“How did you know I would come to see it immediately?" I asked.
Mrs. Caddel looked over her shoulder at me and smiled. “They always do,” she answered before grabbing a nearby torch and in the darkness that surrounded this place it was filled with a bright orange light. She handed it to me. “Keep following the path and you will arrive at a locked door.” She reached into her pocket and handed me a key. “This is your key to the library, make sure you don’t lose it and make sure no one takes it from you. If those two things happen.” Her face grew a bit stern. “I will make you clean this entire library section by section and have you organize every book in this library to earn it back.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“And one more thing,” Mrs. Caddel walked over and took my hand. “Do not get overwhelmed by what you see, and I suggest you start slowly down there, start in the first five sections before going deeper inside.” Her hand then came to rest on my cheek. “I am proud of you, Olivia, you have gone from a child that used to hate reading to having access that only 57 have right now.”
“Thank you,” I smiled down at her, she was the one that got me into history. “I owe my success to you.”
“I only set you on the path, it was you that opened up and made away.” She gave my cheek one more pat before setting back through the previous doorway.
I took hold of my gemstone. “Victoria, I would appreciate it if you came out already.” A large amount of jepei aura began to flow from my gemstone, slowly taking shape and forming a small figure. She had light brown fur, her oddly human like features. Her ape like head was round and ape like, her body was tall and slim, unlike other animal spirits that appeared without any clothing. Victoria was summoned with clothes that she made from my jepei aura. It still matched my own color but it was not uncommon for her to borrow my sister’s clothes on occasion if she wanted something with color. Right now she held the appearance of wearing pants, and a brown vest with lighter brown symbols carved into it. Her hand-like feet were large and her tail came up to rest on my shoulder. She stretched her long arms over her head and let out a loud yawn. She was much shorter than me, looking more like a child in comparison. It was hard to believe that technically she was princess of the monkeys, the reincarnation of the monkey king Sun Won-Kung.
“I’m up,” she whined, walking forward and resting her head against my stomach. “Carry me,” she added with another yawn.
I rolled my eyes before lifting my little friend up into my arms holding her much like someone would carry a child. “Seriously you have been asleep since six o'clock last night. Could have used your help in fighting my mother.”
“Why would I help when you are just gonna lose again?” I give her a sharp pop on her hindquarters for that comment. “Don’t spank me just because you keep losing.”
“Maybe if I had a second pair of hands, I would have had a better chance.”
“I am never helping you spar against grandma, you try taking on her beautiful swan spirit and you would know why.” I once again rolled my eyes wondering how I got stuck with such a smart mouthed little monkey for my spirit animal, even still I loved her very much. I was a late bloomer as far as things go with my animal spirit, I didn’t awaken Victoria until I was ten years old. So in my case while others saw their animal spirits as brothers and sisters, I often viewed and treated Victoria as my daughter, rather than a sister.
This staircase went deep into the earth. I counted 305 steps before we finally reached a large doorway with two torches lighting the space. The door was huge, practically a vault door. I quickly scanned this massive door until I found a slot for a key. I set the key inside and twisted it all the way around, jumping as a I saw a faint outline that went around this door starting to spin a bit. Finally it came to a stop and I stepped back, the once large circular door now held the image of a six sided star. The star of David. The door clicked and a bit of smoke emerged from the cracks as the doorway in the center of this circle creaked open. “Where are we?” Victoria questioned.
“The library underneath the school,” I answered, pushing the door open and stepping inside. “Have you not been paying attention to me for the last two days?”
“If my momma was actually inter-” Before she could finish that statement, her eyes went wide as she hopped off my shoulder and stood in front of me. Her head looking all around and a soft “whoa” escaped her lips.
“Whoa is an understatement,” I whispered as I stared at the space in front of me. This space was huge with already hundreds if not thousands of books surrounding us. This room was dome shaped and running up the walls were the books, all protected by dark brown cases. A staircase had been built beside it allowing people to move up to each section. There were three small archways in this building that all lead to different sections. I held onto Victoria’s hand as we explored the doorway on the left and right first. These led to small chambers that held books as well but also had more comfortable sitting arrangement and tables. The one on the left was empty, however the one on the right held a familiar face. He had dark brown skin, and a bald head, his eyes were dark gold and were staring into a book. He was wearing a white vest with beautiful engraving in gold on each side, he was shirtless underneath that vest showing a scared but strong looking chest. He was wearing white pants that held the same marking as the vest also in gold. The lord of protection, Kanu Ashermen.
“My lord protects, my lord maintains, and my lord is wise. The lord of protection will forever fight, the scars he earns keeps all hope alive. I care for you, I love you and will fight for you.” I called out on instinct as I lowered down onto one knee.
“And as a member of the council and most importantly as the lord of protection. I will forever fight for my people and will die if it comes to it. That is my promise to you, until I die.” His voice was as smooth and silky as a jazz singer, much deeper and powerful too. “Now please, Olivia,” he called out. He had been on the council for 15 years now, he was tall even as he sat down in his comfy chair. I heard him pour something and a moment later he was standing in front of me. “Please rise,” he repeated, “no need to bow.” I held a hand to me and help me up before placing a nice smelling tea cup into my hand. “This is actually really good, I was growing bored waiting in here by myself, I would love some company.” His strong african accent was one of my favorite qualities of this man. I saw him often whenever I wandered the halls of the temple of five. I had pleasant memories of him chasing me as a small child, and carrying me on his shoulders back to the area my family lived in. “How does it feel being in this library?” He asked taking a seat at a low rising table.
I lowered myself down as well, keeping Victoria held on my lap out of fear of her running off to explore. “It is truly amazing, a bit overwhelming.” I looked around at the books around us in this area now noticing that a few of them were letting off brief traces of jepei aura. “Thank you for picking me to be apart of this team, if you hadn’t I may never have been allowed to see this place.”
“Please you are being too modest my dear,” he lifted his own tea cup and took a sip, prompting me to do the same, it had a strong fruity taste that I couldn’t quite place. “I am sure that you would have found your way into this library eventually, your skills would have led to a challenge for a grandmaster rank eventually. Perhaps even a seat on the council one day.”
“Maybe,” I looked around at the books once more. “Why do some of these give traces of jepei?”
Lord Kanu reached over and grabbed the book he was holding and it was giving off a light red smoke from the pages. “Some authors of these books wrote with pens imbrewed with their jepei, they will remain that way long after they die.”
“Amazing,” I marveled. “What are you reading?” I then asked another question. “And why is that book not allowed upstairs in the main library?”
Lord Kanu smiled at me before holding it out for me to hold. It was written in a language that I could not make out. “This book is about the wars of my native land, bloody battles that lead to the start of what is now Egypt. Some might call it controversial to learn that first true pharaoh was a jepei user. Some books here are just that, controversial to the idea and until we have a better understanding of them, they will remain downhere.”
“Is that all that is down here, my lord, just controversial texts or are the rumor true?”
“No, we do not have a dragon’s skeleton down here.” My cheeks flushed pink as he said that. “Honestly some of the rumors you children come up with about our not so hidden library are quite funny.” Lord Kanu’s chuckles sounded across this chamber filling it with a brief echo. “We keep many things down here. Scrolls in languages so old we have no cypher, old tablets some kept in good shape and others broken. Texts that may or may not have been written by other prophets and scribes that were never added to the christian bible and other religious texts. We keep relics of fallen warriors in a different chamber, netrix gemstones that we cannot trace to anyone. The information here is protected because we don’t know what it all means. If I was to give you a file that said one plus one equals three and it had proof on why that was the case, it would change your ideals wouldn’t it.”
“Yes sir,” I answered. “So that is why you keep this information hidden because the council of the past and present think we can’t understand it.” I made a slight face at that. “With all due respect, do you think we are fools?”
“I believe no one is a fool.” He sounded a bit offended by what I was saying. “What I do believe in is that knowledge is very powerful, and with enough facts discoveries could change how the world thinks and how people think. When people face new information that they might not believe in. They tend to have two choices. Either accept and adapt, or try and blot out what they don’t agree with. I am sure as you study what is done here and you find objects of your own, you will understand what I mean. Now can I ask you a question.”
“Of course my lord.”
“Olivia,” he said with a light chuckle. “I have practically raised you as my own, in private you can call me Kanu.” He then smirked before saying in a higher pitched and toddle-like voice. “Or Uncle Kanny.”
My face probably blushed scarlett as I quickly added. “I was three years old when I called you that.”
“And you didn’t stop till you were six.”
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I spent the better part of an hour just talking with another of the men that had raised me across my life. I eventually let Victoria off to go and explore by herself as she was growing bored, and she returned ten minutes later with a book in her hands. She refused to show me the cover but it seemed very interesting, by the time Lord Kanu had to wish me a goodbye. Victoria seemed to finish what she was reading and as she moved to return it. I called out. “Victoria, can I see what you are reading?” My monkey child held the book behind her back as if I couldn’t see it. “Victoria, let me see it.”
“No thank you.” Now that got my attention.
“Victoria.” I replied firmly, showing her I meant business. “Let me see what you are reading, now.”
Victoria hesitated for a moment, but she eventually walked back to me and held her book out with her head held down. “I found it in the chambers in the main part of the library.” She explained softly.
“The Spirit Line of Sun Wukong.” I read out loud the book’s title and it was a mix of scrolls on the left side and the pages on the right translated them. From what I could read from the table of content, there were 20 confirmed users that held the reincarnation. However, no one knew who the first user to gain the spirit animal of the monkey was. “Why were you afraid to show me this?”
Much like a toddler did when they were worried of getting in trouble. Her voice lowered to a near whisper and she kicked at the polished wooden flood. “I thought you would be mad if I looked into my ancestors, to find out who the others were.”
“Why would I be mad about you looking into your past lives?” I asked, reaching out to lift her up and onto my lap. “If you were curious about something of course it is fine to look into them. Do you want to tell me what is wrong?”
“No,” she answered.
“Is it something bad that you were looking into?”
“I don’t know.”
As she often used that phrase when she was in trouble. I had to clarify. “Is something that could put you or me in danger for looking at?”
“No,” she answered. “I don’t know how to explain it but something is weird. Something feels bad, something is drawing me to it.” Victoria surprised me as she slowly began to fade into jepei smoke. “I’m sorry, I need to think.”
Before I could ask another question, she was sucked back into my gemstone. I tried to connect to her but all I got was a soft message. “Leave me alone, momma.” I felt a bit of worry start to flood through my body. Knowing that Victoria was upset about something and that I couldn’t help her, it stressed me out. So I did what I always did to deal with stress.
I pulled out the one object that my mother never knew I had, the one sin that I carried on my shoulders.
My name is Olivia Hearthstone….
And I am an alcoholic.
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