Chapter 16 Chapter Fifteen

Xuelin crouched on the roof of the low building behind the Mengzhi Library, looking at the huge square building, feeling more and more suspicious.She could see that the fire was quite concentrated, quite normal in a building made mostly of stone, but it wasn't the fire that worried the elf most now.Two things made her feel very wrong.The first is the lack of signs of activity around the library.Winter was drawing to a close and the roads were reopened, but Xuelin didn't see any priests walking around the place, stretching their weary limbs in the warm sunshine. What's even more strange is that Xuelin doesn't understand why all the windows are boarded up, especially after the fire - in her opinion, the library should have opened all the windows wide to let the smoke seep out and fresh air come in .The Moezhi Library was not a very airy place to begin with, but with the windows all sealed, at least on this side of the building, the smoky air inside must have been almost suffocating.

Percival was hopping from branch to branch on the nearest tree, and offered her little comfort.The squirrel was still visibly agitated — in fact, so frantic that Xuelin wondered if he had some kind of disease.It came down against Xuelin - for a moment she thought it was going to crash into her arm. "What's going on?" she asked softly, trying to calm the squirrel, which was hopping around in circles on a branch. Percival jumped down onto the roof of the mausoleum, circled again violently, squeaking loudly, as if in protest, then jumped high, returned to the low branch, and sat there facing the mausoleum, still squeaking .

Xuelin ran a slender hand through her blonde hair, not really understanding what that meant. Percival repeated those movements, and this time, the squirrel danced almost frantically on the roof of the low building.It flew back onto the branch, sat there facing the mausoleum again, and protested angrily again. Xuelin understood that the squirrel was looking at the low building, not at her or at the library. "Inside?" she asked, pointing straight down to the mausoleum roof. "Is there something in here?" Percival flipped somersaults on the branch, and his scream sent a shiver down the elf's back.

Xuelin stood up straight, staring down at the slate roof covered with twigs.She has a certain understanding of human customs and knows that this is a funeral house, but this alone should not bother a squirrel, even Percival whose understanding seems to surpass that of ordinary squirrels. "Is there something there, Percival?" she asked again. "Something bad?" The white squirrel started dancing wildly again, squeaking wildly. Xuelin crawled to the front edge of the mausoleum and peeked down.There was a dirty, dusty window, and the door was closed--but the elven girl's keen eyesight allowed her to see that the edge of the door frame was quite clean, showing that the door had been opened recently.

Xuelin looked around, observing the small field and the garden behind the library.Seeing no one, she grabbed the edge of the mausoleum, rolled gracefully, her feet close to the ground, and jumped off. Percival was on the roof at this time, approaching her, the noise the elf girl made felt that it was too loud. "Please be quiet!" Xuelin snapped, her voice a sharp whisper.Percival sat frozen, quiet, his little nose wriggling. Behind the grimy window, Xuelin couldn't see anything moving.She fell into a deep trance, forcing her eyes into genie's night vision mode, which allowed her to see in the infrared spectrum, seeing heat rather than reflections of light.

Viewed in this mode, the place also appears to be deserted. Xuelin didn't feel much relieved because of this, she let her eyes return to the normal spectral mode, and walked towards the door.After all, this is a tomb, and any monster inside may be undead.Undead monsters are cold, they don't emit body heat. Xuelin couldn't help shrunk when she heard the rusty door frame creaking against the old door.The dim twilight seeped into the room, bringing only a faint light.However, Xuelin and her Simista people have lived in the starlight longer than in the sun, and she doesn't need much light.She kept her eyes focused on the normal spectral state, silently entered the room, and left Percival, who started to squeak again despite her reprimand, on the eaves above the open door.

The mausoleum seemed empty, but Xuelin knew otherwise from the shaggy hair on the back of her neck.She slid the longbow down her shoulders, both to poke around and probe, and to keep the weapon in her hand before moving deeper in.She looked back at the door almost every step she took, and noticed that Percival was nervously climbing on the outer sill of the window, his protruding eyes staring straight.Though worried, she almost laughed at the concerned animal's expression. She passed the first row of flagstones, and then noticed a lot of blood—it seemed fairly new—on the floor, and a torn shroud.The elf girl shook her head at the successive mysteries.She slipped past the second row of flagstones, looking at the deep wall to the left of the door, lined with marked stones she knew to represent gravestones.

Something in the far stone near the corner of the back wall of the mausoleum — something wrong — caught her attention. Xuelin looked at it suspiciously for a while, trying to figure out what was wrong. It hangs there a little askew.Xuelin nodded and took a cautious step forward. The stone flew away from the wall, and the elf girl jumped back.A fat corpse appeared, a bloated and decomposing body that fell into a heap at the foot of the wall.Xuelin hardly had time to comprehend this disgusting scene in her mind, another figure jumped out of the open tomb, bounced with incredible agility, and then stood on top of the stone slab closest to the wall, not far from the startled elf Ten feet away.

Headmaster Sobicus! Even though half of its skin had somehow melted away and what was left was blistered and shattered, Xuelin recognized him.She recognized the Headmaster, and understood that he had transformed into some sort of terrifying, powerful monster. The elf girl continued to back up, trying to pass through the last stone slab between her and the door, using the last pillar as a back support, and then quickly turned around and shot an arrow.The day was drawing to a close, but she knew that any light, as long as there was light, could help her fight the monster. Thobix crouched on the stone slab like an animal, and Xuelin tensed her muscles, expecting it to pounce on her.It just stared at her without blinking or breathing, and she couldn't figure out why he was doing that.Is it out of hunger or fear?Is he a vicious monster, or a cursed wretch?

She reached the last slab and felt the pillar just behind her shoulders.Her feet slipped back and she turned secretly. The elf sprang into action, sprinting behind the pillar, but the movement had been predicted, and the heavy door slammed shut with a loud thud. Xuelin skidded to a stop, and saw Percival somersaulting frantically on the window lattice.She felt a chill when the dead man approached her back, and she understood the truth. What the undead monster did just now was all a disguise.She turned and squatted defensively, while retreating backwards, while Thobix slowly advanced. "The door won't open," the vampire explained, and Xuelin didn't doubt it. "You have no escape."

Xuelin's violet eyes scanned back and forth, searching the interior of the house.But the building was solid, with only one window (the glass was framed with lead and she simply couldn't get through in time) and one door. The vampire opens its mouth wide, proudly displaying its fangs. "Now I have a queen," said Thobex, "like Rufo has Danica." Those last words hit Xuelin hard, not only that the dastardly Zirkan Rufo was announced to have reappeared, but also the fact that Danica had clearly fallen into his clutches. She looked at the door and Percival on the window, searching and searching, but she could not refute the truth of Thobicus' next sentence. "You have no escape!" ※※※ When they stopped running, the library was almost out of sight, left behind winding paths and shaded by numerous trees.Cadderly stood bent over, gasping for breath, not just from physical exhaustion.What the hell happened to his library?The thoughts in his head yelled at him.What happened to the sect that had guided him in his life for so many years? Pikel was bleeding from several wounds on his body, jumping frantically around in the small clearing, and several times even bumped into the rocks piled on the south side of the site and bounced back (which did not help his injuries), over and over again. He said "Ooh!" incoherently.Ivan just stood there gravely, staring back at one of the top corners of the library still visible, shaking his disheveled head. Cadderly couldn't think clearly, and Pikel's panic was not helping.More than once, the young priest's concentration was on the problem at hand, looking for a solution, but then Cadderly was either swept up by Pikel or interrupted by a loud, emphatic "Ooh!" . Cadderly straightened up, stared straight at the green-bearded dwarf, and was about to reprimand Pikel when he heard the song of Denir clearly.It carried him like a twig in a torrent.It didn't ask him if he wanted to follow, but took him directly into the current, faster and faster, with more and more momentum, and all the priest could do was hold on tight. After a while, Cadderly had a little control over his swirling thoughts, and voluntarily steered himself into the center of the torrent, approaching the strongest notes in the song.For the first time since the Battle of the Wall of Trinity, since he parted the ground from the feet of the evil mage Aballister and destroyed his own father, he heard the song so clearly.It sounded so sweet, very sweet, and freed Cadderly from the sorrow of the library and the fear of the future.Now he is purely with Denir, basking in the most perfect music. Corridors began to open up to him, many tributaries of the main river.Cadderly thought of the Book of Universal Harmony, the most sacred book of the Denirians, where every line of the song was inscribed, though translated.Originally there were only notes in the song, pure and perfect, but these notes precisely matched the written text, the human interpretation of the music of the god Denir.Cadderly knew this—and so did Pertelope—but they were the only two who knew.Even the Headmaster of Thobicus Academy, who is the head of the sect, has no idea how this music is broadcast.Thobicus could quote the words of the song, but the notes themselves were far beyond his comprehension. For Cadderly it was as simple as turning the pages of a book, following the flow of the river, and then he followed one of the many tributaries that now lay before him to the Field of Healing Magic, drawing healing spells from the water. After a few minutes, Pikel calmed down, his bleeding stopped, and several of Cadderly's wounds disappeared.The young priest turned to Ivan, the dwarf who by all appearances was the worst beaten in his brief encounter with the vampire, but to Cadderly's surprise he found the yellow-bearded dwarf standing still , seems unharmed. Ivan stared back at Cadderly's frozen stare, not understanding why. "We need to hide," reasoned the dwarf. Cadderly shook his head to shake himself out of his stupor. The song had faded from his thoughts, but he was confident he could bring it back if need be. "An open space is better," reasoned the young priest. "In the light, out of the shadows." "The light won't stay on forever!" Ivan reminded him sternly.The dwarf poked a finger toward the west, where even the distant towering mountains now stood darkly, their edges gleaming in the last rays of day. Pikel didn't utter a word—or should say a word—of explanation, but rushed out and into the bushes.Ivan and Cadderly watched him go, then looked at each other and shrugged. "We should hide somewhere for the night," Cadderly said. "I will find the answers we need with God Denir. His blessing will protect..." Cadderly stopped short, looking back at the library, his gray eyes wide with horror.The note of fear echoed in his thoughts again.Maybe it was an inspiration given to him by the god Denir, maybe it was just the logical conclusion that Cadderly had come to after thinking about everything in a clearer light.Just as mysteriously as Pikel, the young priest ran back west, heading back for the library. "Hey!" Ivan yelled and began to chase.Just then, Pikel came running out of the bushes, with a big smile on his face, holding his waterskin bag dripping with water. "Huh?" he asked, seeing the others running quickly back to the library.The dwarf gave a small whistle and ambled after him. Cadderly cut to the side, making a sharp turn around some thorny bushes.Ivan rushed straight through the middle of the tangle of branches, hitting the young priest sideways. "What's going on?" the dwarf demanded. "You just said we were looking for a place to hide! I don't want to go back..." Cadderly scrambled to his feet, running hard before he could get his footing, leading him away from the whining dwarf.Ivan started chasing again, following his footsteps, and Pikel, who took the same—or should I say equally painful—shortcut, soon came to the other side of Cadderly, running up and down. "What's going on?" Ivan demanded again, trying to hold the stubborn priest to a halt.They had reached the edge of the library entrance walk by then, between rows of silent, trimmed trees, and could already see the battered doors, now closed again and apparently blocked from the inside. "What's going on?" Ivan growled furiously. "Here she is!" Cadderly replied.The young priest took further strides, leading the two dwarves across the flat, empty garden. "You can't go in!" Ivan roared, not quite understanding what Cadderly was talking about. "Night is coming! Night is his time, the vampire's time!" "Ooh!" Pikel agreed wholeheartedly. Cadderly's answer made all the logic Ivan wanted to use to protest going back to the library and confronting Rufo disappear, nightfall or not. "Danica is here!" They had shorter legs, but they loved Danica no less than Cadderly, and when Cadderly stood up and slowed down, trying to figure out how to get past that barrier, trying to tell if the doorway was dangerous By the time he blocked the magic or trap, Ivan and Pikel had already sprinted past him, lowered their heads, and shouted "Oooohoooooo!" in unison. Rufo propped up the door with both magic and heavy furniture, and deployed half a dozen zombies behind this barrier, ordering them to stand still and press against the door to hold it shut. He really didn't have to go to such trouble.When Ivan and Pikel ran out of momentum, they fell face-down in the hallway, raining splintered wood, furniture, and zombies around them. Cadderly came in after the dwarf, the holy symbol held powerfully in front of him, singing the melody of Denir's music.As soon as he passed the threshold into this fallen place, he felt his powers dwindle, but he had enough drive, and enough rage and determination, to complete the act of summoning his god. The six zombies stood up stubbornly, approaching the dwarf and Cadderly.Then they froze in place, expressionless, and a golden light scanned their bodies from head to toe.Where the light passes is either torn clothes or dirty skin, the light becomes stronger. After a while, those zombies were reduced to a few piles of dust on the floor. At the entrance, Cadderly slumped heavily against the doorpost, nearly fainting, quite amazed that it took him so much effort to bring the god Denir here—and again amazed by the Moezhi Library, his library , his home, turned out to be such a distant and unwelcome place. ※※※ When Rufo leaned over her, she didn't scream because she didn't think anyone could hear.She didn't struggle either, because the shackles that bound her were too tight, and her weakness was too complete. "Danica." She heard Rufo's voice whisper her own name, which sickened her as it came out of the monster's mouth. The monk sank deeper into herself, trying to pull away from her body, because she knew what was coming.Even though Danica has endured a lot in her short life, such as the loss of her parents, years of harsh and relentless training, and battles along the way, she doesn't think she'll make it through this time. Rufo leaned closer, and she could smell the stench of its breath.Instinctively, she opened her eyes and saw its fangs.She struggled against the unrelenting bondage.She closed her eyes tightly, trying to deny the reality of this hellish scene, trying to force it away with willpower. Danica felt a sting as Zirkan Rufo's fangs pierced through Danica's neck. The vampire groaned with ecstasy, and Danica was filled with utter disgust.All she wanted was to escape, to escape from her bruised body.She thought she was going to die, and she wanted to die. die. The thought hung in her rambling thoughts, a flash of redemption, a way for her to escape from this horrible monster and the undead state he wanted her to be. Danica felt the infection in her leg, felt the pain throughout her wounded body, and then she let go of her defenses, took the infection and the pain, soaked in it, called it. die... ※※※ When Zilkhan Rufo felt Danica's blood gushing into his mouth, he experienced true ecstasy for the first time in his life, a pleasure greater even than drinking the curse of Chaos.Danica!This was far better than any blood feast it had tasted so far.Danica!Rufo wanted her, desired her from the moment he first saw her, and now she's going to belong to it! The vampire was so lost in his fantasies that it took Rufo a long time to understand that the woman's blood was no longer pouring out of its own accord, and that if it wanted to suck any sweetness from the wound on Danica's neck, Liquids must be used with force.It bounced back to its kneeling position, bewildered, and stared down at the woman who would become its queen. Danica lay perfectly still.Her chest didn't rise and fall with the rhythm of her breathing, and the blood stain on her neck didn't increase as the blood continued to flow.Rufo could see that he had bitten her artery perfectly.On other victims blood spurted profusely from such wounds. Not so now.Only a few red spots.No strength, no pulse. "Danica?" the vampire asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.But it understands.Beyond all rational doubt, the vampire knew, because Danica's face was too calm, too pale.And she was too completely still. Rufo had wanted to transform Danica from living to undead, into its domain, and become its queen.She was bound and weak, and there was no escape, or so he thought. Rufo's body trembled as it realized what had happened, what Danica had done.The vampire backed further away from her, to the bottom of the four-poster bed, brushing an arm across his bloodstained face, his black eyes widening in horror, then widening in anger.Danica finds a way to escape, Danica finds a way out of Rufo's plans and desires. Danica is dead.