The stone doors of the library creaked open, revealing a vast chamber as impressive as the transit station they had left behind.

  But unlike the station, this place had been completely bowed by time. Dust motes floated lazily in the light of ether crystal chandeliers. They were dark, but reflected the light of their flames and Justin’s cane.

  They walked forward, passing a few downed spider constructs, quickly reaching a railing surrounding a central shaft of sorts, stretching both up and down. Justin counted at least twelve tiers of bookshelves spiraling around the shaft, with stacks leading deeper into each level. The shelves, made from stone, still stood, but most of their contents had long been withered by the passing of the ages, a mix of books and scrolls.

  But some, miraculously, still survived in some state of preservation, though it might have been one in a hundred. Who knew if they were actually legible?

  Despite its ruin, there was something undeniably awe-inspiring about the space, as if the knowledge it once held still lingered in the air, waiting for the right minds to seek it out again.

  Eldrin spoke, barely loud enough for the rest of them to hear. “I consider myself privileged to have seen the Grand Library of Velandia. Over one million scrolls, manuscripts, and books. Scholars from all over the world would come to study there.” He paused reflectively. “Judging by its size, this library likely contains just as many tomes, if not more. And if the librarians of Velandia knew of this place’s existence, they would send an army to claim its knowledge.”

  “If any knowledge is left,” Emberlyn said. “Over the ages, most of its useful content has likely been pilfered. It will be impossible to find anything useful for dealing with the sphinx if we search blindly.”

  Justin’s attention was drawn by the unmistakable scuttle of metal legs. Toward his left, emerging from the stacks, was a pair of constructs, their ether crystals glowing with power. His monocle logged them as Level 20 Knowledge Crawlers.

  “Seems like we’re not alone,” Eldrin said, drawing his new longsword.

  As the spiders charged forward, surprisingly fast, Justin kicked into gear. He was readying his Drake’s Breath when Emberlyn kicked into action. The first spider was surrounded by an aura of red magic, its metal heating and then melting, causing it to collapse.

  The second spider lunged, leaping and twisting its form to point its large, sharp legs directly at Justin. He activated Gentleman’s Sidestep, easily dodging the strike before attacking from behind. Ice spread along the impact of his cane.

  Lila and Eldrin quickly brought it down; the construct powered off.

  Eldrin pulled the ether crystal off. It was about the size of his hand. He put it in his pack. Emberlyn harvested the other one.

  But things were far from over. The noise of their fight had drawn even more of the knowledge crawlers, four more appearing from the stacks. Followed by even more.

  The time for stealth was over. Lila started singing, boosting Coordination, and they fell into a rhythm. Justin fought and redirected the crawlers toward him using Dandy’s Swagger while the rest did damage.

  Lila aimed for the crystals, finding that if she scored a direct hit, she could cut off their power source. Eldrin cut the legs, rendering them immobile, while Emberlyn used her Metal Melt spell, easily doing more damage than any of them.

  And they just kept coming. They backed away toward the entrance, just in case it got to be too much, but thankfully, they weren’t too hard to kill—as long as they had Emberlyn.

  The crawlers seemed to know she was the main source of damage, focusing on her, but Justin’s Dandy’s Swagger was usually enough to gain their attention, and even Poison Barb could get a specific crawler’s attention if it was being especially insistent. He was surprised the skill worked on them, but he wasn’t questioning it at the moment.

  It took ten minutes before the steady tide slowed to a trickle, and then nothing at all. By the time the attack was over, at least fifty of the things had gone down, forming a metal wall around them. Half had been melted by Emberlyn’s magic, while the others were smoking ruins.

  “Is everyone all right?” Justin asked.

  “Easy,” Lila said.

  Emberlyn nodded. “I wonder how the constructs are still powered after all these years.”

  “Maybe the Vault made them,” Justin said.

  “Maybe,” Emberlyn said. “Well, it’s hard to imagine them hiding out in a place as dangerous as this. I’m grateful we’re so close to the Vein here. It makes magic easier to cast.”

  It was something Justin hadn’t considered, but it made sense.

  Emberlyn shook her head. “Maybe we should extend our search elsewhere.”

  “Or think about a strategy for taking down that sphinx,” Justin said.

  “Perhaps,” Emberlyn replied. “But we should do so in a spot safer than this. Maybe we can head back to the elevator station. I don’t think they could have survived here for long.”

  As they turned for the entrance, a pair of footsteps ran from the direction of the stacks. “Wait! Don’t leave me!”

  Justin turned to see a male Fyrspawn running up to him, his flames flickering erratically in agitation. He was smaller and less imposing than his kin, with an air of nervous energy that contrasted sharply with the other male warriors of his tribe.

  “Ignis,” Emberlyn said, her fiery eyes narrowing. “You are here?”

  “Ashralok be praised!” Ignis said, coming to a stop. “I didn’t think it would work, but here you are!”

  “What do you mean?” Emberlyn asked. “Are you responsible for those constructs?”

  “No, of course not. The Vault, I mean. We got through the gate, Emberlyn! Solanis is safe, and there’s a thriving city on the other side. Everyone is there, all of our kin that we left behind twenty years ago.”

  “Wait, slow down,” Emberlyn said. “Start from the beginning. What happened?”

  Ignis, for the first time, seemed to notice the strangers, his flames flickering in trepidation. “Who are they?”

  “Hello, there,” Justin said. “We’re helping Emberlyn clear the Vault.”

  “You can trust them,” Emberlyn said. “Explain.”

  “Of course,” Ignis said. “Well, I’m glad you came. I have been hiding from those things for days!”

  Clearly, the Fyrspawn had gone through some sort of trauma. He could hardly think straight.

  “The beginning, Ignis,” Emberlyn said. “Or I’m going to get more than just annoyed.”

  “The beginning. Yes. Though we shouldn’t do it here. No. In my hideout. It’s much safer there. The crawlers don’t know where it is.”

  “Is it far?” Emberlyn asked.

  “No, not far. Just a few minutes. I waited for the fight to die down before coming out. Well, follow me. It’s close.”

  Without waiting for them to follow, Ignis led them back toward the shaft, navigating through the rows of dusty bookshelves and shattered constructs. Justin kept a close eye on the surroundings, but he suspected the battle had drawn the attention of pretty much every construct in range, though he was certain more lurked in the library’s depths.

  After a few minutes, Ignis stopped at a narrow passage that led behind a collapsed section of the wall.

  With surprising strength, he pushed aside a large, broken piece of masonry, revealing a hidden alcove tucked away from the main hall. It was small, but the air was less musty here. The space was lined with stone shelves, stacked with various old tomes, some of them charred, others partially burned but still holding some semblance of preservation. There was a small desk filled with well-preserved books and scrolls that had the look of being meticulously selected. At the far end was a small cot made from blankets and scraps of old leather. Clearly, it had become something of a base of operations for the beleaguered Scholar.

  Ignis motioned for them to sit, though there was no proper place to do so. Once everyone was inside, he hurriedly pushed the masonry back, sealing them in.

  He then took a seat on the cot, his flames flaring slightly as he looked up at them.

  “Now,” Ignis began, his voice a little more controlled, “before I start, maybe we should introduce ourselves. What I have to say is…a lot.”

  Emberlyn nodded, gesturing for him to continue. “These humans came to the village a few days ago. They’re helping me clear the Vault for their own reasons.”

  Justin introduced himself, and Lila and Eldrin did the same, but didn’t offer any details beyond their classes.

  “I see,” Ignis said, his flames flickering with a mixture of curiosity and caution. “That’s all the information you’re willing to share?”

  “For now,” Justin replied. “So, what’s your story? Are you alone here?”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Ignis’s flames flared again, his expression growing more solemn. “I am. The others didn’t make it. But I’ll get to that in time. I’m just relieved that the Vault gave me knowledge of this ‘Aranthian’ language. Without it, we’d be completely lost.”

  “Give your report, Ignis,” Emberlyn said, her tone sharp. “Time is of the essence.”

  “Right. Well, the expedition went well, at least at first. We went straight to the gate. There was nothing more dangerous than a few constructs on the main street of Zanthera. They were bigger than these knowledge crawlers but easy enough for the others to deal with. In short, we made it right to the gate and even passed through it.”

  “And you found everyone on the other side?” Emberlyn asked, her voice tinged with hope.

  “We did.” Ignis closed his eyes. “I’d seen faces I hadn’t seen since I was a child. My uncle and his family were there. A few of my childhood friends. Can you imagine that?”

  “And my father?” Emberlyn asked. “Does he live?”

  “He does,” Ignis confirmed, though his voice faltered slightly.

  “What took you so long to come back and share the good news?” Eldrin asked.

  “A storm,” Ignis said, his voice sinking. He looked at the humans. “The gate opens into a desert, you see. And this storm lasted weeks, reducing visibility to nearly nothing. There was no sign of it letting up. At last, Ashfang said we couldn’t wait any longer. She was worried you’d send more warriors to find out what became of us. We were going to head back in the morning.”

  Justin nodded, knowing this story was about to reach a tragic turning point.

  “Well, we set out into the desert,” Ignis continued. “It wasn’t easy, but we found the gate again. Without the key glowing, it would have been impossible.”

  “What happened?” Emberlyn asked, her expression tight.

  “The Pyrosphinx happened,” Ignis said, his tone darkening. “The damn thing was just blocking our way back! It gave us a choice: answer its riddle in three tries or fight it. Just like those blazing stories.”

  Justin was going to ask what “blazing” meant, but he took it to be an imperfect translation of a Fyrspawn expletive.

  Ignis continued. “Ashfang, knowing the wiliness of sphinxes, chose to fight.”

  “And?” Emberlyn pressed.

  “Ashfang and the others…they died. I’m a Scholar, so there wasn’t anything I could do to help. I begged for mercy, asking for the chance to solve a riddle. It was a long shot, but there’s the story of Seara the Learned. Like me, she was a Scholar, and while I don’t place faith in fables, it’s said she outsmarted a sphinx and won the Ruby Sun.”

  “The Ruby Sun?” Justin asked, his ears perking up at that.

  “It’s a very famous story, but I won’t go into it now,” Ignis said quickly. “To my surprise, the sphinx didn’t offer a riddle, but a deal.”

  “What deal?” Emberlyn asked, her voice growing colder.

  Ignis’s shoulders slumped. “It…it asked for the gate key. And to my shame, I agreed; it’s said that a sphinx cannot, by its very nature, break a promise. Once the deed was done, I passed through. I thought I could explain it by saying I dropped the key during the chaos. It wasn’t noble, I know, but I wanted to come home. I wanted to live.”

  “So why tell the truth now?” Eldrin asked.

  “Not out of nobility,” Ignis said, his voice trembling slightly. “I was heading for the elevator when I was ambushed. I ran straight into the library and hid. I couldn’t get out; the spiders were just as thick in here. I holed up in this alcove, and luckily, it’s kept me hidden. I wanted to find a way back to the elevator, but those damn spiders—always clicking and clacking through the stacks. I was too afraid.”

  Emberlyn listened, her expression darkening as she considered the gravity of the situation. Justin wasn’t sure what else Ignis could have done. The sphinx could have easily taken the key and kept it on the other side, so it could have been much worse.

  “There’s more to the story, isn’t there?” Eldrin asked.

  Ignis’s flames flickered. “Yes. While sleeping, I heard the Voice. It told me it saw my plight and gave me the chance to turn my unfortunate situation into a Vault. For whatever reason, the Creator took pity on me, though I don’t see why.”

  “So you said yes,” Emberlyn said. “Hoping someone would come along and rescue you.”

  Ignis nodded. “I wasn’t sure if you would come down without the incentive, to be honest. I didn’t know it would start off at Level 25 right off the bat and then become Level 28 over the course of a couple of weeks.”

  Justin realized then that they were lucky it hadn’t gone up while they were away.

  Ignis continued. “But I knew the sphinx had entered the gate, probably unable to resist its curiosity. And I figured if I turned this city into a Vault, it might trap the sphinx here—giving any would-be Vault Runners a chance to bring it down and get the key back.”

  “It’s a mess,” Emberlyn said, her voice a mix of frustration and reluctant understanding. “I want to be mad. But you did the best you could with a bad situation. I appreciate your honesty.”

  “I feel like I could have done better,” Ignis said. “But Vaults have a way of drawing adventurers toward them.” Ignis regarded the humans. “I could scarcely imagine how it might come to pass, but it seems you three were in the right place at the right time.”

  Justin nodded slowly. He couldn’t deny the strange sense of fate, though it certainly wasn’t ideal. Whether it was the right place at the right time remained to be seen.

  “So, what now?” Emberlyn asked. Her fiery eyes scanned the nearby desk. “Clearly, you’ve been researching things here.”

  “I have,” Ignis confirmed. “I was trying to figure out a way to bring these constructs down. I’m not sure the Vault had anything to do with it because they were still active when we came down here.”

  Emberlyn frowned. “I don’t remember anyone ever mentioning they were here in the stories. Before the elevator powered off…”

  “Maybe the two events are connected,” Eldrin said. “At the time you guys got the elevator working again, maybe it also gave power back to the constructs.”

  “Maybe,” Emberlyn said, “though it’s hard to imagine how they could be connected. It seems they are guarding something.”

  “They were the gnomes’ army,” Ignis said. “I’ve gleaned that much. The gnomes were masterful engineers and knowledge seekers. But they rarely stood over two or three feet high. They had to find things to do the fighting for them. And being so close to the Vein of Aetherus, they had an endless supply of magic and energy to power their constructs.”

  “Makes sense,” Justin said. “Did you make any headway?”

  Ignis’s shoulders slumped again. “Not really. My Zantheran is spotty. I’m a Scholar and can absorb pages at a glance. But that does no good unless I can learn the language. There are no comparable modern languages to compare similar works to, nor any ancient languages to form a basis for comparison. So, I’m completely stuck.”

  Justin sidled over to the table to take a glance at a few of the tomes there. Indeed, most of them had titles in unfamiliar languages, one quite similar to the glyphs he had seen in the elevator transit station. Clearly, the gnomish language was hieroglyphic.

  But not all were like that. In fact, he was surprised to see that one had a title in English.

  Justin picked it up, an unassuming leather-bound codex. “Mind if I handle this one?”

  Ignis blinked. “You…you can speak the Ancient Tongue?”

  “Maybe.” He blew dust off the cover, allowing the words to become more legible. “The Comedies and Tragedies of the Six Worlds.” He hummed thoughtfully. “Sounds like a collection of plays, maybe?”

  Ignis stood. “Are you being serious? Is that what it says? How do you know the Ancient Tongue? I didn’t think anyone understood it!”

  Justin shrugged, giving a nonchalant smile. “Well, you pick up a few things here and there.”

  Ignis sputtered. “No, you don’t! No one can speak it! Unless its knowledge has been recovered on Eyrth?”

  Justin nodded, but didn’t elaborate. “Speakers are rare, but the librarians of Velandia have made some progress.” Justin hoped Ignis didn’t ask too many questions. If all went well, the Fyrspawn would go back to Solanis at the end of this anyway, so even if he discovered the truth, it shouldn’t hurt him. In theory. “What matters is… is it possible we can find the same work, except in Zantheran? Or better yet, can we find another Eng… I mean, Ancient Tongue title with knowledge about how to deal with this sphinx in some way?”

  “Maybe,” Ignis said. “Part of the trouble has been trying to find my way around in this place. But I’ve noticed signage in the Ancient Tongue as well. After all, it was a sort of lingua franca of the Ethereal Era.”

  Ignis was looking at Justin, his flames flickering in trepidation. He still didn’t believe Justin could understand it.

  “Justin, I don’t think you appreciate the enormity of this,” Ignis said. “If you know the Ancient Tongue, all the lost knowledge of the past would be open to you. If I could learn it…”

  “Could you learn it?” Justin asked.

  “I’m certain I could. My Scholar class will let me accomplish in weeks what would take years otherwise. We just need a body of books from both languages and to cross-reference them. I could map it out in weeks, in ideal circumstances.”

  “We don’t have weeks,” Lila said. “We have days at best. At least, until our food supplies run out.”

  “Right,” Ignis said.

  “Maybe the solution is more practical than trying to hunt for the right book,” Eldrin said. “Maybe we just need to find out where the constructs are coming from.”

  “Or,” Emberlyn said, “maybe there’s a central enchantment that can be targeted to power them off completely. They are clearly controlled by something.”

  Ignis seemed to be deep in thought. “Yes, that is an option. But I have another idea. One I’ve already been toying with…”

  “What idea?” Justin asked.

  “Emberlyn has the right idea of targeting a central enchantment. Such a place would need direct access to the Vein of Aetherus to remain powered. An enchantment of that scale would need to be constantly fed with ether. But rather than turn it off…why don’t we try to take control of the constructs?”

  “Is such a thing possible?” Lila asked. “Sounds dangerous.”

  “In theory, it would be simple, as long as we had the right knowledge. These constructs are obeying something, even if it’s baseline logic that says ‘protect the city against all intruders in the absence of further orders.’” Ignis was watching Justin now as if he were their ticket to freedom. “It’s a long shot, but I think the best move is to explore the library a bit more. Find the artificing section and see if Justin can find the pertinent information.”

  “Sounds like trying to hunt for a needle in a haystack,” Eldrin said. “And there’s no guarantee that the right information even exists.”

  “But assuming Ignis’s theory is correct,” Lila said, “it could be a nice way to take care of the sphinx, or at least to distract it. It could hardly ignore an army of constructs.”

  “It might get scared off,” Justin said. “Flee through the gate. Unless the magic of the Vault is keeping it contained.”

  “It won’t abandon the gate,” Ignis said. “It’s bonded to it by now. It won’t give up such a thing.”

  “If that gate was always there, what caused the sphinx to become interested in it?” Eldrin asked.

  “A good question,” Ignis said. “It likely detected its use and was drawn in that way.”

  Justin frowned as he considered it. Flipping the constructs was a tantalizing idea, but it was just conjecture at the moment. The Vault was offering no guidance on how to complete its objective of defeating the sphinx. Even if they didn’t directly take control of the constructs, they could be used as a tool. Maybe they could be baited and kited to the gate.

  “The point is, this is a Vault,” Justin said. “That means there’s a solution to this. While we could directly attack the sphinx to get the key back, Vaults often have multiple solutions. More than that, they sometimes provide a way to complete things in a way that doesn’t rely on outright violence. This is a lead, however tenuous.” Justin lifted the English-titled book. “A book of plays likely won’t help us solve this one. But if we can find a book about gnomish constructs or the defense system of Zanthera, for example, that could point us in the right direction.”

  “Indeed,” Ignis said. “What you said about Vaults is true. There are always breadcrumbs. We just have to go looking for them.”

  “It’s a direction, at least,” Eldrin said. “Even if I’m not convinced.”

  “I’m not convinced, either,” Lila said. “But at least we’ll learn more.”

  “Mind if I take this?” Justin asked, holding up the book. “I’d love to read it someday.”

  Ignis’s eyes flared for a moment; clearly, he wanted the book, especially now that he knew he could learn the Ancient Tongue. But with Justin as the sole source of that knowledge, he had to play nice. “Sure. But maybe you could teach me a few things about the Ancient Tongue in exchange?”

  “I’m not sure I have the time,” Justin admitted, “but I can teach you a few words. Enough to get you started, at least. So, where are we likely to find the right book?”

  “We’ll have to read the signage,” Ignis said. “I can’t be sure of the way information is catalogued here, but if you translate any Ancient you see, I should be able to piece it together quickly.”

  “Sounds good,” Justin said. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

  They gathered their things, Justin packing the book. In time, maybe he could read it.

  If this world was connected to his, maybe he would find more clues in the fiction of the Ethereal Era. He wondered how many more books there could be in here, how many potential answers.

  It was frustrating to know that the answers were only steps away…if only he could find them. This could be a place to come back and visit. When he was stronger. When he had the time.

  “Let’s get to it,” Emberlyn said.