Rise Of The Celestials

Chapter 7: The Chronicle Of Time

The next day after meeting Warden Bo, a 'charming' guy, by the way, Aiden found his way to the royal library with his ears still ringing from the crazy shouting of Warden Bo.

He had gone to the training grounds early that morning, in a bid to meet Warden Bo, as this was the most likely time he would be at the training grounds, and he was right. 

The only part he did not expect was for the Warden to tell him to stay and watch till the workers at the training grounds finished their morning shifts.

As expected of the palace guards and the army that trained there, some of them loved to behave with some sort of superiority.

An example was the incessant ordering of the workers to complete tasks that they could easily do without help or to do things that were way too hard for the workers to do without getting injured.

One such example was when a tall lanky soldier, ordered a worker to hold one of the mannequin-like targets and use it to block as he attacked.

Doesn't sound too hard, one would think to themself. "It looks like it will be tough work but nothing too serious...' 

These assumptions would be valid until you factored in the fact that the soldier was an arcana and the mannequin-like target was just bundles of straw tied together by ropes.

This became glaringly obvious after the worker was sent flying seconds after the tall lanky soldier started to attack. 

The soldier was a fire arcana. The result of the few seconds training session was that he had a concussion, both his arms broken, three fractured ribs, and some severe burns.

The punishment the soldier got was longer physical training time on the training grounds.

This made Aiden feel like he has been assigned to work in a wolf's house. Luckily, he was placed in the third section, a group of trainees; the sixteen-year-olds who had just awakened their elemental seeds.

He quickly noticed that there were a few who were quite cocky. He also found the reason for their superiority over the others.

There was not much to be said about them except that he could hear the training instructions given to the sixteen-year-olds. This would help him out greatly in learning to improve his abilities, at least when the seal on his elemental seed finally opened up.

Warden Bo had instructed that he must be at the training grounds every day during his scheduled shift time. The only difference was that he wouldn't do anything till the three days of rest were up.

After the morning shift, he had gone to the dining hall to get his food. He met Mallory, whom he thanked and asked for directions to the royal library.

The royal library was a bit farther away than he expected but it was only a ten-minute walk and some questions before he found it.

The library had a dome-shaped top and several pillars lined up in front of it. It was white and majestic. It had huge double doors that looked like they were meant to stop a horde of monsters. There were no gold decorations but its walls looked to be made of stones and coated in ivory that seemed aged with marble floors that had lost their shine. This gave it a scholarly feeling that felt too sacred to defile, like some old sage that had been through thousands of years of knowledge gathering.

Aiden had begun to feel this aura of sacredness as he walked toward the library with a solemn expression. 

The library had more people around it than he expected. There was enough for him to be able to blend into the crowd because he suddenly felt his blood starting to boil as if it was excited.

Almost immediately, a loud chime rang out from the library. Every person who heard the chime paused on the spot as they all turned toward the library. 

The chimes continued until there were seven chimes in total, each spaced apart by a few seconds before the doors of the library flew open on their own, wider than anyone would be able to if they did it.

The aged ivory walls seemed to return to their early days and the marble floors regained their shine as they shimmered in the light.

The people walking to the library all watched this scene with rapt attention like they were witnessing history in the making but Aiden could feel that the library was alive in a way and was completely unordinary.

He took a step back and began walking away. 

He had an inkling that something in his blood had caused the library to react as it had but he was not too sure until he saw the library revert to its previous state as soon as he began walking away.

This made him pause for a moment, then as any other sixteen-year-old would do, he walked back toward the library. Sure enough, the shine returned.

He did this a few more times before he slinked away when he saw an old man dressed in white arrive with King Robert, The Queen, The Princes and Princesses, and a lot of nobles. 

The shine faded away this time completely but the chimes sounded 7 more times before it fell silent, leaving the library as it was before the whole debacle.

Aiden who was walking away quickly almost felt like crying because it would be near impossible to enter the royal library without the library going gung ho[1] on him. If only there was a way to mask his blood or something like that...

...

In The Throne Room, later that day;

"Do you know why the library kicked everyone out and locked its doors?", King Robert asked an old man who was hunched in a seat that had been prepared for him.

He was the Keeper of the library and he was the only one who could still enter the library after it closed its doors and kicked everyone out.

The Throne Room had everyone that was anyone important in the kingdom sitting in it. The chime of the bells was a phenomenon that had never happened in the long history of the nation. 

They all turned to look at the old man but no one dared to look down on him as they could see that The King showed respect to this man.

The old man looked frail but his voice had an ancient feeling that seemed to transcend the normal.

"This library is just a branch of another library. A legendary existence that has existed since the beginning of time and has chronicled every event since the beginning of the world"

"There is a prophecy in the library that says"

--

When the bells chime

The wheels of fate slow to a stop

To start anew

Bringing the beginning of the end

--

"This prophecy was left behind by The Ancient Celestials that had fought with The Primordial World Guardian against The World Eater"

The Throne Room broke into a ruckus as this was new information that they had never heard of.

The Primordial World Guardian, The Ancient Celestials, and The World Eater. These were names they had never heard of. Even King Robert looked surprised. The whispering went on for a while until King Robert raised his hand to quell the whispering and murmurs.

"Old Sage, does this mean that the library will no longer open its doors?", King Robert asked.

"The library has been connected to the main library called The Chronicle Of Time,  one of the two artifacts that belong to The Celestial Worthy Of Space and Time"

"The library has awakened which means there is knowledge worth more than kingdoms to glimpsed within its walls. Some are enough to turn a normal person into a monarch, but these will only be found by those to which they are fated"

The people in The Throne Room had begun to shake with excitement as the old sage spoke.

"The library awakened because the bloodline of the Primordial World Guardian walks the land. It will open once more when the bloodline inheritor accepts its invitation"

This sent the crowd into another wave of whispers and murmurs. There was someone with the bloodline of The Primordial World Guardian alive? 

"Old Sage, how is this possible? Isn't the library supposed to open for a person with the bloodline of The Celestial Worthy of Space and Time? Why would it be The Primordial World Guardian?", King Robert asked in puzzlement.

"This is because The Primordial World Guardian is the only one living. The other Celestials gave their lives to defeat The World Eater, leaving The Primordial World Guardian to hold the world together, preventing its collapse"

The implication was simple, The Primordial World Guardian was still alive. 

What was a Celestial? This was a title they had never heard anyone be addressed as, and The Primordial World Guardian was an existence that could hold the world together.

"Old Sage, how is the bloodline inheritor of The Primordial World Guardian to be found? Since the library here is a branch, could it be that the bloodline inheritor appeared at some other branch?"

The one who had asked was the First Prince, Prince Fitzgerald. His eyes were calm to everyone who saw them but in its depths was light that flickered.

The old sage took a deep glance at Prince Fitzgerald, long enough that the Prince pulled away his gaze from the old sage.

"It's the beginning of the end and the savages will give anything to find the inheritor but all will be as fate dictates", the old sage spoke before he turned to King Robert and said, "Your Majesty", with a slight bow at the neck, then he faded away from where he sat.

"You have all heard things that are part of the history we know, I don't want to hear that this information spreads to those who are not here right now."

"Yes, Your Majesty", they all stood and bowed as King Robert walked out of The Throne Room with The Queen, The Princes, and The Princesses following behind him.

...

In front of a wide, beautifully designed double door, a middle-aged man, an aged old man, and a young man stood.

The middle-aged man knocked on the door before he said with a clear voice, "Your Majesty, the Royal Physician, and his disciple are here".

There was silence for a moment before the door opened. A servant was the one who opened the door. He said, "His Majesty is waiting in the tea room to the left".

This Royal Physician was the same man who had been asked to check on Aiden when he was still unconscious. The young man who was with him was also the same disciple who had been with him when he came to the unconscious Aiden.

They followed a servant who lead the way to another door. The servant opened the door and they entered the tea room to see King Robert seated with a cup of tea in his hand.

A servant was pouring two cups of tea. 

King Robert gestured for the two who had bowed in greeting, "Your Majesty", they said.

The two sat and picked up the cup of tea that had been poured for them. The servant left the room, leaving the three to their 'little' tea party.

After they had finished the tea, the Royal Physician spoke, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the treat".

King Robert nodded before putting his cup down on the small round table around which the three of them sat.

"I was surprised that you requested a private audience with me. What happened?"

His expression was a little solemn now. The old man gestured to the young man beside him. The young man dipped his hand into the small pouch he carried with him. 

He pulled out a small bottle with some blood in it. The bottle was pretty small, the size of half of a normal person's hand. The bottle was half-filled with blood.

The young man gave the bottle to his master who took it from him with great care.

"Your Majesty, this is blood I took from the boy His Highness, Prince Adrian saved"

[1] Gung Ho - (Adj) Extremely enthusiastic and dedicated.