Chapter 384: Tied Memories
Mid Afternoon - Late Fall : The Library of Eternity, Atlas | Bahamut
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Staring into Hera's eyes after she bluntly admitted to stealing my money, I felt her smug look eating away at my willpower before I finally gave in. "Ugh, whatever... If you wasted it, I'm gonna make sure it comes out of your pocket." Averting my gaze, I quickly turned back toward the librarians.
But Hera kept her gaze on me for just a moment longer. "Huhu~, I'm fine with that..." Speaking warmly, she turned back to the librarians with a pleased curl in her tail before continuing in a casual manner. "In any case, we will pay quite a bit if anyone knows anything. Any takers?"
The whole room instantly fell silent as everyone's focus turned to their own thoughts.
But while I started having some doubts, after a moment, one of them started moving, sifting through a huge pile of books by picking them up and moving them in sequence as if to create a wave. -Did she remember something?-
Her focus seemed to heighten the more books she moved before, out of nowhere, she pulled up one book, opened to a specific page, and read it. "I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, but..." Closing the book, she moved it over to me with her aura.
-Hm?- The cover read 'The Deep Black', and looked like an encyclopedia of some sort. -Is this a bestiary?- *Flutter* Quickly opening it with a flutter, I skimmed through it before suddenly coming to a stop about halfway through.
The page I stopped on was labeled 'The Continental Serpent', filled with text, diagrams, and images of a scale that looked like it belonged to a fish.
But it couldn't have come from something so simple.
And that was because of the text below the image. -'Retrieved from the deepest part of the Death's Gape, the scale measured four kilometers, by six kilometers, with a thickness of half a kilometer and the material strength of a young Elder stage bronze dragon scale'...- I had to pause after I read it. -What the fuck...-
*Fwip* Flipping the page, Hera poked her head in to read it, but her previously warm expression had turned stern, and her wings had relaxed. "Oh.. this was something they retrieved from before the war... I forgot about it..." Pausing to read, she spoke curiously. "Does anyone here know of 'The Scale of the Colosus'?"
-Hm?- It was something I had never heard of.
But every single one of the librarians nodded. "Of course."
"It comes up frequently in older texts."
Properly looking up, Hera started sinking into her own thoughts. "Does it come up in newer texts as well? We didn't see it mentioned anywhere in the first two layers, but this book looks new."
"That's because they're all copies of the 'Avgi Bestiary', which is already stored in the third layer." The clerk next to us quickly interjected. "It's very well known, and one of the most well-researched bestiaries in the world from before the war. It's one of the few texts that had enough copies to survive from the Golden Age."
"Hm..." Sinking into thought, Hera slowly pulled herself away. "Do any of you know of other places the scale is mentioned?"
There was a long silence that immediately filled the room as our eyes darted around at the various librarians.
But after a moment, a young voice met our ears. "U-Uh.. I-I might!" Looking over, I immediately set my eyes on a young pink-scaled dragon who couldn't have been much older than 30, carrying a large container of absolutely ancient-looking books.
-Huh?- She looked just like Chloe, but there were some differences. "Would you introduce yourself, please?"
Immediately coming to a stop, she tensed up. "M-My name is Anoixi!" She immediately threw herself into a bow as her wings clamped to her side. "I am a simple helper here at the library. I bring books that require careful preservation to 'The Filter' since I'm one of only a few dragons here that doesn't get sick from the runes they need."
-Anoixi...- Her name meant 'Spring'. -Even her name is similar...- "Do you have a sister named Chloe?"
But she just hesitated, easing her posture before tilting her head.
Honestly, Hera seemed more interested than the young girl did. "Who's Chloe?"
But I couldn't shake my suspicion. -Is it really just a coincidence?- "She's my maid..." But the young girl clearly didn't recognize the name or even acknowledge having a sister. -Maybe I was mistaken...- "Anyway, what is it you know? We will pay you well if you know something good." *Vwoom-Clink* Quickly creating a few platinum, I split them between the librarians who contributed before watching the young girl's eyes light up.
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"W-Well, I was in órmos a few weeks ago to retrieve a few old texts from Madam Ouranós." She motioned her head at the containers on her back as she spoke. "When I was there, I overheard some merfolk talking about one of the more isolated tribes in the archipelago. I can't remember the exact details, but there was something about an island-sized scale." She spoke with a mix of haste and enthusiasm as her posture straightened and tail curled with greed. "It actually seemed like the scale was something they worshipped, so while I can't be certain it's the same as what you mentioned, it might be similar."
-Something they worship?- Turning to Hera, I spoke through magic. "Where was the cultist you caught doing the sacrifice?"
"It was in Nkremo... I'm almost certain they aren't related to the tribe..." She answered without me needing to ask the question. "But it reminded me of something." Motioning me to give her some coins, she turned to the other librarians. "Do any of you know what 'floating scales' are?"
Most of the librarians nodded immediately.
"Are they still documented?"
Slowly glancing around at each other with confused expressions, the librarians didn't seem to know how to respond. "Uh.. the last person to document them was Avgi himself... And at the end of the war, he disappeared..."
"Is that so..." Falling into thought, she motioned them away with her wing. "In that case, we need to leave to investigate something. Thank you all for your cooperation." Motioning me to hand out a few more coins, I did, and we followed the clerk back into the library before eventually getting outside and taking to the air.
At that point, I had no idea what was on Hera's mind, I simply followed along, however, when she started speaking again, an old memory flared up. "You said you don't remember much from your time on Delphi before the war, right?" Her tone was a bit different from normal. "Do you remember the 'floating scales'? I think at the time they were called the 'Scales of the Leviathan'."
My eyes instantly jolted open as both memories from my current life, and from my time as Nott resurfaced. -Huh?- "Actually.. I think I might..."
Pausing as she noticed me trying to recall some blurry memories, she spoke softly, as if trying to help. "They were huge scales that would surface on certain days every year around The Forgotten Islands. They all varied in size, from a couple of meters wide, to several hundred. At the time, we thought they were all from some unknown species of serpent that liked nesting around the islands, but as time passed we found more and more of the same scales resurfacing."
As things finally clicked, I cut her off. "That's because they all came from the same serpent..." Although still blurry, a connection between the memories of my current life and my past was formed, bringing a faint clarity to them.
But the memories only made my expression darken. -That fucker...- 'The Leviathan' was a name that resonated with me more than any other, being one of the many aliases of a creature that had existed on Delphi far longer than I, living beneath the planet's crust, not as a protector, but as a cultivator in a symbiotic relationship with the planet itself. -Is he the bastard that nearly killed me in the void?-
His name was Jormungandr, a creature known by many names I hadn't been able to recognize until now. -But while he looked similar to what hit me in the void.. that couldn't have been him...- While he was certainly strong, accessing the void wasn't something that could be done with strength alone.
However, just because he wasn't that being didn't mean we were on good terms.
As a bit of anger was suddenly woven into my expression, Hera became cautious.
But I had to be cautious too. -Is he trying to become a god?- Although I couldn't remember the details, he was someone I was on irredeemably bad terms with, but something about the idea of him becoming a god simply felt off.
"Did you.. remember something?" Hera spoke somewhat anxiously.
"Yeah..." Pulling myself out of my thoughts for a moment, I Iooked out toward the distant blue sky hanging over the horizon. "If it's what I'm thinking.. this might be a really big problem... But..." As my gaze thinned, my aura started warping the lightly colored sky around me. "Somehow I'm nervous it's not that simple..."
Suddenly becoming serious, Hera's gaze stiffened. "What do you mean..."
"I.. can't be sure..." -But my gut is telling me the idea of him wanting to become a god is a joke...- And that wasn't because he already was one. -If I remember right.. he never showed a hint of interest in the surface...- Living around the core of the planet, he had no interest in the life that had evolved on the surface, but rather cared more about the 'life' of the planet. -But even the Acardi documented him coming up to the bottom of the Death's Gape...- "Why..." I mumbled as I let out a stressed breath.
But while it was eerie, and had me stressed, at the same time I had to simply focus on taking things one step at a time.
Keeping most of my theories to myself, I followed Hera to Nkremo, a city in the northwestern mountains of Bahamut, in order to investigate her own theories.
Her idea was that the dragons could be worshipping the leviathan because of a huge scale that surfaced in the ocean. "There would be no reason for a cultist to be making a sacrifice somewhere with no religious significance, so I'm thinking we should check around Nkremo for one of the scales... Although I only remember them existing near The Forgotten Islands, it's possible one got dislodged and floated to the surface near there."
Considering how fast it got deep right off the coast of the city, it wasn't a terrible idea. The idea that the dragons unhappy with their choice of gods would turn to worship such a scale wasn't unlikely either. -But I'm not so sure it could be boiled down to coincidence...-
Something about it felt off.. almost as if an artificial scenario.
But the issue was, only time would tell.
Simply thinking about it got me nowhere. -Maybe it's time I reactivate the other laboratories...-
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