Book of Fates ✔

Swords and grumblers

Nikk didn't answer, just nodded. His chest suddenly grew heavy with distant concern.

"So it is true then?" Feerce cast Nikk a curious look. "True what they say? That you actually found a map leading to the Book of Fates?"

"Seems like it."

The concern was always there, Nikk realized. He just hadn't pondered on it before.

If the daitias found the book, the time to go home would eventually come. Nikk got used to Earth and to its way of life he could hardly imagine returning to Da'Ariya. Leaving all this behind. How much had his homeland changed since the departure? Was it still his home after all these years?..

"Absolutely. Otherwise Klliss wouldn't rush us with this," Feerce shook the folder in his hand once more, and a cloud of dust rose from the pages. He went on, coughing dryly, "And this human girl wouldn't be allowed to stay if she—"

"Her name's Anya."

"Yeah, sure, I know." Feerce shrugged Nikk's comment away. He looked down at his shoes, his expression sour. "I'll never agree to such a mission again. My new loafers are wrecked now."

They went up to the third floor, and entered a room stuffed with computers and blinking monitors. A young man sat in the corner, frowning over the countless papers scattered in front of him. He wrote something in his notebook, put a pencil behind his ear, then sighed and reached for the pencil again. His slicked-back hair glinted in the lamplight every time he moved.

"As you ordered, Klliss," Feerce dropped the dusty folder on the table. "The Dunhuang manuscripts. All of them."

Klliss flicked his eyes to the documents, smoothed his shortly-clipped beard with his hand, and looked at Feerce. "Why all of them? I only asked for those written in Sanskrit."

"We had no time to select." Feerce said, an offended tingle in his voice. "The library section where this trash is kept in is pretty restricted, and it's hard simply to get in. We had to pretend foreign investors. It's not as easy as it seems."

"Fine, fine." Klliss waved him into silence. "I'll have to spend more time that I planned to, but that won't be a problem. At least, as long as there are no more energy failures."

"What failures?" Nikk felt his concerns swell up. No, that wasn't just about his home, it was something else.

"With energy." Irritation crossed Klliss's face. "Are you listening to me or not?"

"A few days back, the energy generators crashed. It has happened before, remember?" Feerce slid his hands into his pockets and went on nonchalantly. "Once when we just arrived on this planet, and another time was about ten years ago. The power flips off and back on in a mere second, but who know what damage could it do to our stones if it starts to happen frequently?"

"Everyone knows," Klliss groaned, without taking his eyes off the papers and scrawling something again. "The stones would crack, the portal to Da'Ariya would collapse, and we'd be stuck here for the rest of eternity. As in Hell."

That didn't sound promising, especially the way Klliss was saying it in his permanently irked tone.

Nikk glanced at his papers, but saw nothing except for a bunch of nonsensical graphs. "Have you figured anything out about the map, Klliss?"

"In process."

"Can I help?"

"No."

"Maybe—"

"Go away."

Feerce chuckled low in his throat.

"You go away, too."