The Gate Keeper ✔

Chapter Five

Nyal stood in what was probably Veridun's smallest library, facing rows of multi coloured books. His fingers grazed the spines of the books, gliding over the ornate gold writing of the titles. His eyes scanned for anything that popped out at him, anything that might seem helpful. So far, he had found absolutely nothing.

A common theme of the week, it seemed.

It had been two days since his run in with the winged woman and the fire breather, and only one since he found the feather. He had spent the rest of the day in Dreeva's library, but hadn't found anything of use. The only book he had found on the Key and the Gate Keeper, was one on the history if Veridun, and it barely went into any detail about anything, let alone the Gate Keeper themselves.

All he knew was that they were a powerful demigod, a child of Yararanje. No name, no appearance, nothing. It was almost like they didn't even exist. The book he had found only told him what he already knew, just about nothing.

A book of the species within Veridun only talked about the ones that inhabited the realm now, and nothing about the Ancient Ones. He thought it a good idea to know what he would be dealing with if the Gate was opened, but the books told him nothing.

He thought the Guild library would have some more information, as they dealt with the Key and Gate Keeper more often. So far, he was having no luck. The library was tiny, with barely ten shelves in the space. Only a few candles had been lit, leaving the room dim and making It hard for Nyal to see. Cobwebs dangled about the room, sticking to the books and shelves and attracting dust to the old tomes.

There was only him, the librarian, and one other person in the room. They sat at one of the old unpolished tables, occasionally glancing up at Nyal with a distasteful expression. Nyal only ignored them, focussed on his task.

Nyal sighed loudly, not caring if it caught the attention of the old librarian. He wasn't going to find anything this way, but he couldn't leave Skodur, not without jeopardising his career. He wasn't sure what to do any more.

The feather was tucked neatly in his coat pocket, the end of it jabbing him in the side whenever he turned. An irritating reminder of what he had to do.

He crouched down, facing the bottom shelf of the final bookshelf in the library. If he found nothing here... Who knows what he would do. He was sure the Gods had ignored his prayer, or just decided not to help him.

At the end of the shelf sat a large green book, the title written in faded gold letters on the spine. The back cover was starting to fall off, a ragged tear covering half the length of th spin. There was a strange stain on the corner of the spine and back cover, one Nyal did not want to find the cause of. Gingerly, he grabbed it, weighing it in his hand. The front cover looked more battered than the rest of it, the green faded to a sickly pale colour. It was huge, maybe the same size as both of his hands combined.

The History of the Zlohiel by Corpius Ringwild. Could this be what he was looking for? Not exactly, but there had to be some information he could use in there. Something about the title drew him in. He had no idea what Zlohiel were, but perhaps that was a clue. With a triumphant grin, Nyal stood straight, grasping the old book tightly in his hands.

Corpius Ringwild founded the Guild after he helped lock away the Ancient Ones. He would know everything there was to know about them. There was a chance that Ringwild had written about the Gate Keeper, seeing as he would have working with them.

Giddy with excitement, Nyal rushed over to one of the old table, carefully placing the book on the dirty wooden surface. Part of him wanted to rip the book open and find everything he was after, but there was a high chance he would break the book doing that.