Oath and Kingdom [The Swordbreaker Archives]

Chapter 16: Asherah, A History

 Bol's discoveries were greater than he imagined. The Numen lived a million lifetimes before their contact with humans. In fact, they came into contact with another race long before history of them was written.

This race no longer existed. They died to the hands of the Numen. An elven empire known as The Elysian. The original elves.

In fact, Numen did not go to Asherah until they were driven there by the Elysian. There, they found the will to hate.

But none of it explained the evolution of their biology. According to these books, it happened over a period of ten years. Any Numen born in that time had the chameleon trait they were known by.

As soon as this appeared, along with their discovery in the mountains, they destroyed the Elysian, and left all the survivors for dead in their homeland. The Elysian that died were eaten by the great sea serpents of the isles just south of Asherah, believing there was new land to conquer there.

Of course, they knew there was land to the south, but it was not in that direction.

Over time, the city was built, and Numen learned the sciences and magic. It became a natural part of their lives. They did not come into contact with any life until the Aves flew to Asherah's mountains, curious of them.

The Aves fled when they were attacked, never returning to Asherah.

Then, civilization to the south found them. They made peace over time, and agreed upon trade.

Then the north came and for a time, they agreed upon the same terms. Unlike the south, they were greedy, taking more than giving.

Numen stopped trade with them, and banished them back to their homeland.

When they came back, they agreed on similar terms to their first agreement.

Again, it did not last.

So the war began.

Bol wrote this simple summary of his findings to present to Grand Maester Orvayle. Though it did not explain the extent of his findings, it was a good summary of the important events of the timeline.

It did not explain the brutality of the Elysian and the Numen. The Numen speared down the first Aves that came into contact, spearing them to the mountain top to drive the rest away.

Those skulls remained as long as they sea salt and sand winds allowed it.

That was only a small entry from a single book. There were almost one hundred.

And Bol translated them all. It took away ten years of his life. To translate and make them perfect.

This would show Orvayle that his work was not in vain.

Bol walked into the grand maester's office, where his desk was now neat and tidy, and Bol was no longer needed to help translate the previous grand maester's work. Those had been set aside in the gallery, where anyone could read it.

Only the last one was in the restricted section, full of secrets Bol did not believe, even though he helped the grand maester understand it.

Orvayle glanced through the paperwork and came upon a conclusion. Beneath the summary was a book count, and a possible cost to make it available to all scholars.

"This is extensive work, Bol. I will present it in the grand maester's court next year and we can discuss further action."

"Next year?"