The Fragility of Family

Chapter Two: Demon Queen

Skipping ahead in time again, this time we are another week in the future. The Golda School of Sorcery was having a joint activity with the Golda School of Knighting. As soon as the brothers saw each other, they paired up for whatever was going to happen.

"Right then, class! It's time we start our projects!" Sir Jameson says, twirling his mustache. "A student from our wonderful Knighting School and a student from the Sorcery School will be researching a specific topic, and presenting it the next day. So pick your partners, and select a subject to talk about. You may provide drawings or paintings as long as they are yours, and if you do, it will be added as extra credit."

Ezel looked at Xane eagerly, who just looked at his brother with his usual calm express. They immediately pair up, and head off to the Knighting School's library for historical records.

"We should talk about the Hero, Logan!" Ezel recommended, grabbing one of many books on Logan the Hero.

"Ez, how many people do you think will talking about Logan the Hero?" Xane asked. "Could be one, or could be all. They need to stand out." He adds as he skims through the library's historical records.

"Oh, I guess that's true... Hm..." Ezel starts to think again. "How about the goddess and her angels?!"

"Religious figures? I doubt we could discern fact from fiction." His brother replies.

"But Logan was said to have been able to commune with the goddess herself." The blonde adds.

"Supposedly, but we have no confirmation of if  that's true." Xane says again. He then gets an idea. "How about the Demon Queen?" He suggests.

"Th-The Demon Q-Queen...?! Why her?!" Ezel asked, stuttering.

"Well, unlike the goddess, the Demon Queen has an actual name we can use, and has appeared before humanity on numerous occasions. Demons attacked human villages on an almost monthly basis, until the Hero defeated their Queen." Xane explained as he tried to search for books or records on this Demon Queen. "Hey Ez, do you think there's a secret spot in this liberty with more...taboo information?" He asked.

"I don't know... I don't spend much time in here." He answers.

"Figures." Xane stands, and uses a magic spell to locate hollow areas in the walls or floor, or below bookshelves. Luckily, he found one, and went over to a wall in far back of the library. "Can you lift me? I need to grab that torch."

"I don't think we should be doing this, Xane..." Ezel says as he helps anyway.

Xane grips onto the torch, and pulls it down, causing a secret door to slide open. It was dimly lit, as if it was intended to be forgotten about.

"I love it when I'm right." Xane says as he brings the torch from its holster, and walks down the damp steps, a frightened Ezel following closely behind.

Down below the school, was a dark room lit with four torches in total. The ceiling was dripping, and it was clear this was never used in maybe decades. The bookshelves had collected mold, and the pages of the books were hardly legible. Using magic, however, Xane managed to read the books as if they weren't wore away at all.

"These are just what we were looking for!" Xane says excitedly. "C'mon, let's head up so we can get as much research as possible. I want you to read up on those Logan records as we can cross analyze the information we recover." He instructed as they left the hidden room.

"So we're really researching the Demon Queen?" Ezel asked nervously. "Won't the church get mad at us for this?"

"The church won't even know." Xane says as the two leave the library and head home to begin their research.