The Aylin Islands was even more beautiful up close than from afar. Morwin stepped up to one of the shrines to admire the architecture of everything. The people here, not only are they firm believers in the conservation of all things nature, they actually incorporate nature into the look and feel of their buildings.

  Brightly colored trees lay all about the place, laid out in a fashion where it’s not overbearing, but enough to make any stranger passing by to gape in awe. Morwin stood in front of a statue that resembled a lady with a pendant around her neck, and a tiny baby in her arms.

  The people of the Islands had much more lighter skin than the people of Agnius. Pale, even. It reminded him of someone he once knew.

  He shook himself out of the stupor. He was here to speak to the Council. But where to even begin finding their whereabouts? They had to be some secretive bunch, right? Did they hide underground or somewhere no one expected them to? If someone knew the location of where the Council held their meetings, then it would be attacked by dissenters, right? His mind shot back to when he was in discussion with Lord Seldam and Justicar came busting in through the glass roof.

  The memory couldn’t help but make him smile. Good times indeed.

  “You’re not from here,” a stranger said. Morwin turned to see an old man standing there. He wore light green robes and held a stick with its tip burning in his hand. It smelled strongly of incense. He had a light accent to his tongue and enunciated his words more freely.

  “No, I’m not,” Morwin said.

  “Judging by your clothes, I say you’re from Agnius?” the old man spoke. He held the stick tightly in both hands and bowed in front of the statue. The smell of burning incense made Morwin’s eyes water. After he did his bow, he placed the stick into the bow that sat in front of the statue, burying it in the ash along with other sticks.

  “Yeah,” Morwin answered.

  “Well, I welcome you to the Aylin Islands. If there is anything you need, you can ask the locals. We are all friendly people. If you’re here for diplomatic or trade reasons, then you can speak to the Council, located in the central island in the Grand Hall.”

  Morwin stared blankly at the old man. Finding their whereabouts was a lot easier than he expected it to be.

  This strange place, this country, it was nothing like Agnius. Back home, crowded areas would be swarming with armored guards. Here, it was just… peaceful. He hadn’t seen a single armed guard on his stroll from the docks. Just civilians.

  The Aylin Islands would be a nice place to live. The locals that Morwin had spoken to were all warm and welcoming. The scenery was beautiful. Why would anyone choose to move from here to Agnius?

  “Thank you,” Morwin spoke finally. “I really appreciate your hospitality.”

  “Of course, Morwin,” the man spoke. He spun to face the man, but there was nobody. It was just him, standing in front of the statue. The incense the man had placed in the bowl of ash still remained there, the tip still burning.

  How did that old man know his name?

  The central island. Billboards with maps on them were posted all over the island. If anything, the Islands themselves seemed more like a tourist spot than where people lived, but he also came across a lot of natives to the place. They all had the same light and airy accent that old man had.

  He enjoyed speaking to them. Honest and open people, the lot of them are. The abundance of flowers along the island was overwhelming as well. Where there was a patch of grass, there were always either a colorful tree there or some assortments of flowers.

  Along the way, Morwin found a building made of a pretty white marble. It had an intricate architectural design with beautiful arches and magnificent grand columns that denoted the entrance. That building was the library.

  Before he went to the Council, he wanted to come here. Maybe some of the books had useful information for him. Information not readily accessible in back home.

  The inside of the library was just as grand as the outside. The woman working the front desk of the library was a pretty young woman with brilliant blonde hair that appeared to be in her twenties. She welcomed Morwin in with a warm smile.

  “Hiya, welcome to the library,” she spoke.

  He smiled back at her before venturing deeper. He had never seen so many books gathered in one spot as that library. Shelves lined the walls and the empty spaces. He thought De’Shai’s library was grand, but it was child’s play compared to this monstrosity.

  The floors made of a smooth turquoise-colored carpet, devoid of any stains or blemishes. The ceiling was just as grand as the outside, with a dome at the top and intricate sculptures woven all throughout. One of those sculptures was a dragon, its tail spiraling all throughout the surface of the roof, it’s head twirling to the middle of the dome, its mouth agape, biting the glass overhead.

  Near the walls, along with all the bookshelves stacked with books, intricate pillars lay, breathing life into the already lively library.

  There were a surprising amount of people in the building, checking out books and reading them. Morwin didn’t event know where to begin.

  The rows upon rows of shelves were also labeled. The books in the library were divided based on genre, and within those genres, they were further divided based on the author’s last name, Morwin found.

  He went straight to one section that he never saw in any library back home in Agnius: History.

  His fingers moved across the spine of the books, feeling their various textures against his skin. He picked one out and read the title: Early days of the Aylians. He opened the book and allowed the smell of an old book with worn out papers waft in the air around him. He scanned a couple pages before closing it and replacing it back on the shelf. Not what he was after.

  “Is there anything I can help you with?” the pretty lady asked, her hands wrapped around a cart full of books.

  “Yes, actually,” Morwin replied. “I was wondering if you guys have anything on the history of Agnius?”

  “Ooo,” she said. “It’s a tough subject. Most of the books we have right now are heavily outdated. Their topics cover things back from six hundred years. We don’t have any books that contains modern history of Agnius if that’s what you were looking for. The old books covered topics such as folktales, legends, myths. I know there was one on the first king of Agnius, but that book’s basically unreadable at this point.”

  “People don’t take care of the books?” Morwin wondered absently.

  The lady frowned. “No, not that at all. It’s just that time takes its course with some of these books, unfortunately. There is limited space for absolute preservation, so the most important books are there.”

  “Do you have any books about all of the kings of the country?” he asked, fingering the maple shelving and examining the various colored spines of each individual book.

  She pursed her lips. “Like I said, books haven’t really come from Agnius since six hundred years ago, so the books we do have on the kings are about kings way in the past. I can show them to you if you’d like.”

  “Does the name King Rai’Shal ring a bell with you?” he asked abruptly. “Perhaps you’ve heard something, read something within the books.”

  She shook her head. “Afraid not,” she answered. The librarian continued wheeling her cart of books and replacing some of them back upon the shelves. “I’m constantly surrounded by these books every day, so the name would sound familiar to me. But it doesn’t ring any bells.”

  “What about books on acquiring strength?” Morwin asked.

  The librarian let out a laugh. “My, my, such a sharp contrast in topics. There are legends of immortality within this library, if that’s what you’re after. You’ll have to check the Religion section. I’m not sure if that topic comes up specifically in those books. I’ve read tales about water that when drank can make you immune to nature’s hazards, but they’re just stories. I read more for the facts instead of things that may not exist.”

  “Religion…,” Morwin mouthed. “What’s that?”

  The librarian fumbled the book in her hand and turned to stare at Morwin with eyes wide in shock. “You don’t know what religion is?” she asked incredulously.

  Morwin shook his head.

  “It’s… kind of like… what you believe in,” she explained slowly. Morwin cocked his head.

  “What you believe in… And what is true are separate things, right? Like you can believe in something that’s false. But you can also believe in something that’s true that overlaps with reality.” He couldn’t wrap his head around it. “If I believe that rats can fly, then is that my religion?”

  The librarian let out a laugh. “You’re an interesting fellow. Why don’t you walk with me while I stock these books so we can talk.” Morwin obliged. “To answer your question… it wouldn’t be your religion specifically. It’s something complicated based on faith.”

  “And what’s faith?”

  “Faith… is…. Well… how much you believe in something.”

  “So religion is what you believe in, based upon how much you believe in something? Seems like a dumb concept,” he stated bluntly.

  “There are those who have so much faith in their religion that they would have your head if they heard those words.”

  “So if I believe that the king in my country should fall, then is that my religion?”

  She raised an eyebrow and stroked her chin. “Perhaps. But if it’s a belief not shared by a lot of people, I’m afraid it’s just an opinion.”

  “An opinion…,” Morwin echoed.

  “Religion revolves around something divine. Like gods.”

  “Are gods real?”

  “Well that is a matter of subjection,” the librarian answered. “Many people believe they are. And there are some that don’t believe in gods. They’re in a class all of their own.”

  “Like a separate religion? So would you say religion is based on two sides, one who believes in gods and who doesn’t?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Well… it depends. There are religions for those who don’t believe in gods, yes, but within the group that does believe in gods, there are those who believe different things about those different gods. There’s a religion where they ignore all the current gods of the world and think as the earth itself as the one true God. There is a religion for those who think every man is a god within his own right, that the mind itself is an object of divinity. Then there’s the religion that believes that gods exists through the Blessing of the Five.”

  Morwin listened as the woman droned on and on, talking about things that didn’t make much sense to him. Eventually, it all blended together and sounded like white noise. He almost fell asleep listening to her talk. But he was able to enjoy the little walk around the library they shared together. Her voice sounded soothing, yet there was fiery passion in her words. She lives for the books in the library.

  After a while, the two of them returned to the front desk. “So what book do you think you might be interested in?” she asked him. While talking to one another, he’d also looked at some titles of books and read the backside of them, but none of them really stuck out to him.

  Morwin opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, “Sorry, give me just one second.”

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  He stood there and watched as a patron walked in and placed a book on the counter and slid it towards her. “I’d like to return this, please,” he said.

  “Name?”

  “Altor,” the gentleman replied.

  The librarian flipped through some pages in a book before pointing out one. She picked up some kind of writing instrument and crossed the person’s name off. “You’re good to go!” she said as she laid down the instrument.

  Morwin looked at the book on the counter. A Definitive Guide to Curses.

  “Curses?” he said. “Mind if I have a look at that book?”

  “By all means, go ahead,” the librarian said.

  “Name’s Morwin, by the way,” he said. “What’s yours?”

  The librarian gave a chuckle. “Serena,” she answered. With that, he took the book and moved to one of the tables to check it out. He flipped through the pages and digested the contents, his eyes scanning over each word.

  Curses. A strange concept. Would this be a book that belonged in the Religion section? Or perhaps Supernatural?

  After finding the contents of the book interesting, he decided to return to the first page and actually start reading it.

  Many curses exist in this world. But what is a curse? A curse can be classified as a type of Blessing, native only to the people of the nation of Druvhar. They can be separated into two categories: positive ones and negative ones. But what makes a positive curse, well, a curse I hear you ask.

  Negative curses are inflicted in ill-intent towards a victim. Once a curse is placed, only the person who placed the curse may remove it. There may be other ways to remove certain curses, but the stronger the person casting the curse is, the more difficult that will be. Negative curses produce negative effects on the victim.

  One such example of this kind of negativity is the Curse of Shackles (see page 43). To cast a negative curse, the person casting it must be of sufficient experience to handle the complexity of the curse they wish to cast. If a curse too complex for the person is casted, side effects will follow.

  Some of the side effects can include not-so-pleasant things such as death, neverending despair, reflected curse, the list goes on and on.

  Positive curses, however, are different. They can be casted by anyone, but they will always come with a cost. The cost varies from person to person, so it would be hard to document the scope of the curses throughout the course of this book. Therefore, the positive curse section of this book will only focus on what the curse is and some known examples of recorded costs.

  Morwin stopped reading. He flipped through the pages. The book was thick, and a lot of content was packed within its flimsy pages. The first section of the book was about the negative curses, which he skimmed over.

  He flipped to the last page of the book, and the words at the top caught his eye. In the positive curse section, staring right at him, the words Curse of Eternity was written in bold.

  The Curse of Eternity - Arguable the most powerful of all curses. It requires the strongest of Cursers, and might even come at cost of said Curser’s life. The Curse of Eternity, once casted on its target, will provide them with the ability of immortality. Not age nor wound nor disease will be able to vanquish the person with this curse, but the cost of it is incredibly high. Because of the potential of this curse, not much is known about it. In some places, it’s even argued as just a myth. If someone is casted with the Curse of Eternity, then may God help their soul. Many are terrified of what kind of cost could come at infinite life, so it deters anyone from trying to cast this curse. But it’s real. And I’ve seen it.

  Morwin closed the book. Nope, nothing in here could help him with what he needed. In the end, he decided to return this book back to Serena.

  “I hope you found what you needed,” the librarian said as Morwin placed the book back on the counter.

  He shot her a smile. “Thank you. I did,” he lied.

  “If there’s anything else I can help you with, you just let me know.”

  “Actually, there was one thing.” Morwin said. She raised an eyebrow, inviting him to continue. “How do I seek an audience with the Council?”

  “Well it’s a process,” she said. “There are papers for that sort of thing that you get at the Grand Hall, located in Shorne, the capital city of the Aylin Islands.

  “And how long does it usually take for me to actually get an audience with the Council?”

  “They’re a busy group, you see. Once you submit the papers with your name and residential details, then they’ll send a mail to you within a day. On average… it takes about three days before before they have an availability for you, but the waiting list recently has been longer than normal. I’d estimate… a month.”

  Feeling drained from Morwin’s legs. His knees grew shaky and he blinked a couple times to make sure he heard right. Did she just say a month? “I don’t have time to wait for a whole month,” he argued. “Is there any way I can see them before then?”

  The librarian shook her head. “It’s a tricky topic. The Council is all about rules and making sure those rules are followed. You could try to buy your way in, but that will not work with this group. As a matter of fact, it would lower your chances of getting the help you need if you try to bribe your way past the queue. Not to mention, the Council, along with taking requests to see citizens, they’re also in charge with the politics of the whole nation. I wouldn’t go to them unless it was a serious issue.”

  Morwin nodded slowly. Drat. Getting to them might be more difficult than it seemed. He could always barge in and demand their help? He shook his head at the thought of that, ashamed he would even think of something like that, after experiencing the hospitality of the Aylians.

  It worked with him, didn’t it? Justicar came busting in through the roof, took him as prisoner, and convinced him to join their cause. And somehow they succeeded. He could try. No, it would never work. The Council, according to the librarian, didn’t work the same way as he did. All about rules, huh. An idea sprang to his mind. He wasn’t going to take any shortcuts with this. But he was going to be successful in securing a spot.

  “Say,” Morwin said. “Is it possible for someone to give up their spot of audience with the Council to someone else?”

  She pursed her lips and placed an index finger on her cheek. “It is possible,” she said. “But you would have to go to a person that’s high up on the list. And that person wouldn’t be likely to give up their spot, considering they’d probably waited weeks or even months, so most of the time it’s not even worth trying.”

  No, there had to be someone within the next couple of days that would give up their spot of audience to him. That was the only way.

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done. Truly. Thank you,” Morwin said as he began departing.

  “You’re welcome,” Serena smiled.

  Morwin left the library, a renewed sense of purpose within him.

  “So where to next?” a voice said next to him.

  Morwin yelped and jumped. Approaching behind him was, unfortunately, a familiar little girl.

  “What are you doing here?” he hissed. “Shouldn’t you be at the ship?”

  “And miss my chance to explore the Islands? I think not!” Lily quipped back.

  “Why are you following me?”

  “Because you’re kind of interesting. And I want to see what you’re going to do. How are you gonna seek an audience with the Council?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know. I have to go there first to see what I’m up against.”

  Morwin went to one of the billboards and looked at the map posted. He was on one of the outside islands.

  There were many islands, all scattered about, but the general shape of the islands formed a spiral, moving inwards. Every single one of the islands was connected by one of the tree bridges. He placed his finger on the map and traced where he was all the way to where he needed to go, determining the best path for them. Lily watched him as he did this, standing there idly, twirling her hair.

  “Got it,” Morwin muttered before leaving. He Absorbed in some emerald and was about to launch himself when a hand reached out and stopped him.

  “You might not want to do that here,” Lily said.

  He shot her a bewildered look. “Why not?” he asked.

  “Because the locals don’t know much about Gemming. You might get reported to the Council if you use this kind of magic here. Just… it’s better safe than sorry.”

  He let the essence of the emeralds dissipate from his body. “Fine,” he said. Walking it is.

  They crossed the flat terrain together, Morwin stopping along the way to admire the scenery. Everything was just so… vibrant and colorful.

  The people they passed by wore different colored robes. Some wore bright red robes, some a dark green, and some yellow ones. Regardless of the color, the attire remained consistent.

  He reached the first bridge and concerns of the bridge’s structural integrity sprouted. He planted a firm foot on the branch of the bridge and applied some weight, making sure it was sturdy enough to get across.

  “Oh don’t be so scared,” Lily said. She hopped onto the bridge and skipped across the entire distance, not even watching where her foot landed. Tiny gaps adorned the length of the bridge, making it easy for someone’s foot to get stuck in. Morwin wondered how deep the water underneath the bridge was.

  Some islands were further away than others, but the one thing they all shared in common was the bridge sprouted from a tree sapling, manipulated to grow in this manner.

  As they moved through the islands, Morwin found himself attracted to the billboard which usually lay in the center of these towns. He had to make sure they were making progress towards the center.

  Each island was more or less the same: beautiful scenery, a relaxing stroll between villages, animals in the forests, flowers planted firmly in the grass around the entire area, and lively villages. While they moved through the island, the sun began to set.

  “Where should we sleep?” Morwin wondered out loud.

  Lily shrugged. “Wherever is fine.”

  Morwin unfortunately did not bring any money along with him. He had the bag of gems full of various gemstones, thanks to Captain Mikael, but they were too valuable to sell or trade. He’d seen some shop stands along the way that sold gems, but not a single one he saw was real. He just couldn’t feel the essence inside of them.

  The two of them decided to sleep by the billboard. Mainly so Morwin could be reoriented and know where to go when they woke up.

  Morwin gathered some leaves nearby and some loose pieces of rope to string together a makeshift bed for himself. Lily watched him while he did it, not doing anything to add to her comfort.

  When his makeshift sleeping bed was made, he laid down. The day had gone surprisingly quickly. He felt exhaustion, but it was a good kind of exhaustion. The Aylin Islands… something about it makes him feel at peace. He knows he should be anxious about what the future brings, but he couldn’t help but feel a serenity. Was it the scenery of the island?

  Morwin closed his eyes and breathed out. It did not take long for sleep to overtake him.