Girls In Love - A Lesbian Romance Anthology

A-YA-KA

The Old Tome

In a village far removed from the nearest neighbor, lies an old, abandoned cathedral. Its windows lie broken on the ground, its doors hang like leaves on the wind. A lonely raven has made a nest in the highest tower, the only living being that dared to enter the cathedral in aeons.

It's a lovely morning and the raven caws its hello to the world, then peeks down from its nest and tilts its head sideways. It's seeing something it has never seen before. A human, with its light hair dancing in the morning wind, is walking towards the cathedral with a small backpack and a walking staff in hand. The human stops in front of the doors, leans its staff against the old walls, and sits down. The raven tilts its head sideways again. It wonders what in the world is going on and what is that creature doing here. The human takes its backpack down from its back and opens it up. It picks up an old tome and opens it. The raven looks at the pages and its small animal brain is filled with images of teeth, blood, and dead. It caws loudly and flees as fast as it can, never to return again.

On the ground, Emily Maple, a young scholar and student of the occult arts, flips through her book that she got so many years ago. She traces her finger along with the old, crumpling pages, feels the rough surface of the paper that eons up eons have caused the paper to have. She reads the words again, though she wouldn't - she knows them by heart by now, but reading the tome has always calmed Emily's heart.

She looks to be in her mid-twenties, give or take a few years. Her light hair is fine and curls ever so slightly among itself. It's flowing freely in the wind, all its near-shoulder length that she wishes so much would be more, but alas, it won't grow longer. Her amber eyes are half-closed as she reads the book half from memory, half from the pages. She closes the book and her eyes, putting her hand on top of the old tome. She takes a deep breath and opens her eyes, looking towards the old cathedral's doors.

"I'm finally here...", she says barely aloud. Her voice is warm and carries with it years of wishes and hard work. "After ten years, I'm finally here... ten years..", she says, "Ten years, but it feels like just yesterday that I was working as a novice in the tower, working for the Old Master in his library..." Emily stares in the distance, clearly lost in reminiscing about years past. In her head, opens a scene. A musty old, dimly lit library. An old man, back bent with age, beard as long as the years in his eyes. A raised finger.

"Make sure you do your job properly, young lass!", the old man says. He shakes his finger and waves it around in front of her. "And do not touch the books on the black shelf! This is important, child!" He says and makes an angry face.

"Yes, master", young Emily says and curtsies coyly. "I'll remember it, Master" She starts taking books out of her basket that she carries under her arm, and puts them back into the shelves in the correct order. The old man watches her for a while. Then he grunts, nods at her, and turns around. Walks through the door and disappears from the memory. Young Emily keeps working and occasionally glances towards the forbidden black shelf. How she wishes she'd know the secrets behind those books, but she's too afraid. Not of the books, but the old man. He's a strict master and won't tolerate failure. Emily has worked for two years to be accepted into the tower and now that she's finally here, she's not going to get herself outed just because she got a tiny bit curious.

Young Emily puts the last book in its place. She turns around and smiles happily at her accomplishment. She takes one final glance towards the black bookshelf and... there's a glow. There's a from a book! Emile walks closer, entranced. Her hand reaches out for the books. She looks around. This feels weird, she thinks. A glowing book? That doesn't sound like anything I should touch, but... It's not on the black shelf! She glances towards the black shelf, its books deadly silent and non-glowing. But the bookshelf next to her, the one with old myths and stories, fables, and perhaps even a true amount here and there. Emily grabs the book. It feels warm to the touch. There's a picture of a roaring dragon on the cover of the book. The book's name is written in ancient runes that Young Emily didn't know what they meant. There are three of them. Large, intricate designs adorned with shining silver. A-YA-KA, they spell out. Emily learned this a few years afterward from a different book. Young Emily's fingers wrap around the book, her heart beating faster and faster. She lifts the book and holds it against her chest. From this moment on, Emily never went anywhere without it. She would look at the picture of the Dragon every night and little by little she learned to read the book and uncovered something in it, that laid hidden on the pages, for aeons on end.