Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night

Chapter 13.1: Searra

It was the first time Searra and I had met. It was serendipitous. The questions came in droves.

What was this girl doing in the Inner Sanctum? Why did she seem to know her way around so well? Why, infuriatingly enough, at least to me at the time, did she seem to be so much more experienced than I? It was a like an adult talking to a child, the way she had chastised me. Up until now I had been so caught up in my own arrogance, in the notion that I was a wondrous prodigy taken under the wing of the priestesses. Why hadn't I come across this girl before?

"I see you have questions, yes? First things first. My name is Searra, and you are Vannah. I have been waiting for this day." She laughed, a hale and hearty laugh that appeared to bubble up then from her small body.

"How in Naraka did you know that?" I demanded.

Searra giggled and told her story. She had been hidden all this time. Early on, the Order had noticed her exceptional abilities, far beyond the other girls. But Searra proved unpredictable, strong-willed and hard to discipline.

Searra smiled at me. "The Order fears me and the power I have. Yet they do not wish me to leave and become a renegade. So they tolerate me, so long as I stay hidden in the shadows. I was fascinated when you first came here because I could see it in your eyes. The same talent, the same obssession with knowledge. Something told me we would meet soon enough."

Confused as I was, I tried to follow Searra's train of thought and listen closely to her story. She had come only a few years before me. Though the isolation made her lonely, she continued to learn on her own, the power of the Seals a worthy distraction from her loneliness.

When I came, Searra felt a glimmer of hope for the first time. She realized she might soon have a companion. She noted my progress with growing interest. She knew someday I was going to catch up. So she watched me from the shadows, my hidden admirer. She told me things that I had done, my little successes. She celebrated when I did well, and cried when I was sad.

Searra smiled brightly at me. "Come." She took my hand and led me into the rows and rows of books in the Inner Sanctum. "Knowledge fills this library at all times, as it has done throughout the ages. Can you feel it? They speak to the ones who can hear." I knew what she meant by it. I was called in the same way.

I felt her soft, warm hand in mine. I looked up to see Searra's smiling face. It was as if the Goddess Essence itself coursed through me, something I had never felt before. I felt strangely drawn to this girl my age. So beautiful and so knowledgable about the world. I felt cheated. All along I had thought that I was blazing a path, going where no one had gone before me. And yet, here she was, the one who had gone farther. It was bittersweet, this feeling of defeat. I had lost first place, but I gained a mentor.

"I know what it is you seek," Searra began, "for I have sought it myself." Her eyes narrowed in the in the dim light of the Inner Sanctum, her white robes rustling softly as she moved about.

"You seek the knowledge that will unlock for you the Seal of Tsukuyomi. You think that the secret is held within these walls."

I nodded in agreement, but kept silent. I did not want to reveal how she had read me completely.

"What draws you to this, the most potent of control spells?" Searra asked. "There are other effective control spells with a far less costly price." She pushed me back. Surprised at her sudden impulsive action, it made me angry. How dare she use me as a plaything? I was the great Vannah after all.

"What pushes you, Vannah, to want to learn something you will never use?" Searra challenged me even further.

"I know all the great control spells by heart," I snapped. For some reason, it sounded like a child spitting back at an adult. I was embarrassed at the fact that I had to prove myself to her. I did not like feeling inferior to Searra. "It's a matter of proving my skill. The Seal of Tsukuyomi is a means to prove my greatness to the world."

Searra went behind my back and put her hands over my eyes. "Close your eyes, Vannah," I heard her whisper in my ear. "Can you hear the knowledge here speak to you? Not all the knowledge in this library is good. Some of it is evil, some is ambiguous. It depends upon the heart of the Sealer." I heard soft whispers, murmurs, faint, but if I strained, I realized I could understand some of it. The knowledge spoke to me.

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Double Update today. I couldn't leave everyone with a cliffhanger! :)