The Last Dainv-Chapter 120

The Last Dainv-Chapter 120

Rachel paused, her back to him. But even as his eyes couldn't see her face, the tendrils showed him the tears welling up before she blinked them away.
"I thought you should know what my grandmother believes. What our family is built on," she said.
"That's not the whole reason," Gale said.
"I want to show you something. Something few have ever seen." Rachel ignored him and moved through the bookshelves. Gale followed, better to not push it when she's already mad.
They reached a shelf with identical black-bound folios. Nothing special about it until Rachel pulled the third book from the right. Instead of coming free, it tilted forward with a click. The entire bookcase swung inward, showing a narrow passage.
"A secret room inside a secret library," Gale said. "Neat."
Rachel didn't smile. "This way. Quickly."
The passage opened to a small miniature library the size of his washroom at home. The space felt warm, or it could be just Rachel giving off a heatwave. Not too hot that it would make him sweat.
"Personal bloodline records," Rachel said, waving to the walls lined with slim volumes. "Every Ann born has an entry here."
But Gale barely heard her. His attention was fixed on one of the shelves as if drawn to it. The book looked like it was bound in metal with an odd looking shimmer that shifted from silver to black with no semblance of logic. Even when he didn't move, the book looked like it had distorted the light to shift its appearance.
"What is that book?" he asked, moving toward it.
Rachel stepped between him and the shelf. "That's not what I brought you to see."
"But why does it look like that?"
"Grandmother just said it's just an old family relic," she said too quickly. "The bloodline records are over here."
But Gale had already stepped around her. The book drew him closer, making the hair on the back of his neck stand.
"Gale, wait!"
He touched the metallic cover. A jolt ran up his arm, strong but not painful, which felt more similar to when he first held the Weber sword.
The cover flipped open by itself. Pages turned on their own, flipping quickly before stopping halfway through. The text glowed with a blue light that pulsed steadily.
"CEV," Gale read aloud. The words brightened as he spoke.
"Gale. What ar…." She said something, but he couldn't hear it.
Gale's eyes dropped to the page.
The children of Cev carry within them the space in between realities. They move through matter with ease. Distort their surroundings. Alter reality to their will. And their minds comprehend battle and war as others comprehend breathing. These gifts serve their sacred duty: to be the vanguard against the corruption that seeks to unravel what the Ancients have cherished.
Below that, historical accounts described warriors from Cev's line fighting alongside users of the everlasting fire. The warriors used various weapons, all using them as if flowing through multiple forms without the need to change their weapons. Alongside them, the healers raged on with their fire, healing their sisters and brothers while burning away the corruption with the cleansing flame.
When he turned the page, the script lit up. A figure appeared above him, about his height, but undiscernible and translucent with a deep dark that covered its chest. 14 swords pointed at him, each one veiled in darkness. Each of them encased in the similar dim glow of Phase Touch. Behind the figure, a single massive eye looked at him.
The being above him spoke. It did not move its mouth, in fact, nothing moved. The message itself embedded into his skull.
Hide. It's too soon.
The very words reverberated around everywhere. When he looked back, Rachel was frozen, unmoving as if stopped in time.
Hide.
Stay low.
It's too soon.
It repeated.
"Hide from what?!" Gale shouted at the being.
Young lamb. Hide.
The dark knight told him to not hide, but then what was he supposed to hide from? He's been following his parents' teachings all along, and all it did was hurt him. Now this stupid being was telling him to hide again.
Young lamb. Do not tell anyone.
"Tell what? Tell me!!" Gale shouted even louder.
The being's eyes pointed at Rachel, then it said,
Too soon.
That single word shook the whole room, deafeningly loud, that Gale had to close his ears. When the sound was gone, he blinked and saw the book closed like it was before he had touched it. He looked back, Rachel, staring at him.
"What were you doing?" Rachel asked.
"I… uh."
"We should go," she said. "This section has always been weird, even for me. It's not safe."
She grabbed him by the arm, the warmth from it snapping away the daze he'd been in after that experience.
As she pulled him out of the secret room, he asked, "What was that book?"
"I really don't know. My grandma says it's just a relic that she can't open," Rachel said, this time looking at him straight in the eyes.
She wasn't lying. Tendrils that monitored her heart rate also said she wasn't lying.
Gale sighed, "What does Cev mean to your family?"
She paused. "That depends on who you ask. To Grandmother, the name represents an ancient threat. To others in our history..." She hesitated. "My mom said he's an ally."
"And to you?"
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"I don't know."
She pushed the bookshelf back into position, sealing the secret room.
"Grandmother will be expecting us soon," she said. "We should head back to the main house."
They walked in silence back through the rows of books. Why did the being look at Rachel when he told him to hide? Hide whatever he was? Of course he was. Even the dark knight had told him he was the last… and then there were also Rachel's own secrets. He wasn't any different from her, hiding his own.
While he followed her, she moved quickly, checking her watch every now and then. That was right. Family was always more important, and he wasn't one of them.
"We should be close enough to the entrance," she whispered. "Grandmother is precise about timing, but-"
As she turned to face him, Rachel's hip hit the edge of a nearby shelf. A slim volume from the top fell to the floor between them.
"Not again," she muttered, glancing nervously toward the library entrance.
The book lay open at their feet. Unlike the others, this one was bound in a material so dark it looked like it absorbed the light around it.
"The Watching Stars: Survival Among Hunters," Gale read from the page.
"I've never seen this one before." Rachel hesitated to pick it up. Instead, she knelt beside it, her fingers hovering above the paper without touching it. Gale joined her, taking in the contents of the book.
Eyes. Dozens of them, drawn in silver ink that shined like actual stars. They dotted what looked like a night sky, but their arrangement had a note of the uncanny, as if the eyes themselves watched the two of them looking into the book.
Gale leaned closer. The text was in an old script, but still readable:
They watch from the void, hunting what they cannot become. The Divines scattered across worlds, fleeing the gaze of the Celestials who would consume their essence.
Below that, an illustration showed humanoid figures running across star fields, chased by massive shapes made entirely of eyes and darkness.
"What is this?" Gale asked.
"I don't know. Grandma always mentioned something about 'the stars are watching,' but I thought she was just paranoid. She won't tell me."
Gale turned the page. A new illustration showed the fleeing figures hiding among crowds of smaller beings on various planets.
The Hunters cannot distinguish their prey when properly concealed. Assimilation is the primary defence. The Divines who survived were those who hid themselves within lesser beings, adapting their forms and suppressing their true nature.
Those who revealed themselves became targets. Those who gathered in groups were located and eaten. Only those who remained apart, hidden among the mundane, survived the great culling.
"This is..." Rachel's fingers moved to her throat.
Another page showed the eyes in the sky focusing on a planet where a gathering of beings had formed. The next illustration showed that same world broken open, the beings inside consumed by the watching darkness.
"The stars are watching," Gale read from the text. "Even now, they search. The survivors must remain hidden, for to be found is to invite destruction not only upon oneself but upon all in one's vicinity."
"Grandmother used to say that. 'The stars are watching.' I thought it was just another cryptic saying."
Gale turned another page, finding a list.
To use one's full power is to become visible. To gather with others of your kind is to become a beacon. To reveal your nature to lesser beings is to risk exposure through their indiscretion.
Hold on. In other words, isn't this the tale of staying low, blend in, and just survive?
A footstep behind them caused Gale to flinch, head snapping to the source.
"Enough reading for today," Gerard said.
Gale and Rachel both stood up quickly. Gerard stood at the end of the aisle, expressionless.
"Young miss, your grandmother is asking for you," Gerard said. "And Master Hathie has overstayed his library privileges."
Rachel closed the book quickly. "We were just finishing up, Gerard."
"Indeed." Gerard took the book from her hand, floating it up to the top of the shelf. "An interesting choice of literature."
"It fell," Rachel said. "We were just putting it back."
"Some books have a habit of finding themselves in the wrong hands," Gerard said flatly. "Your grandmother is waiting in her study, Miss Rachel."
Rachel nodded, glancing at Gale. "I'll see her right away."
"And you, Master Hathie," Gerard said, "are free to leave. The car can take you wherever you need to go."
"Thanks, but I can find my own way."
"As you wish." Gerard gestured toward the exit. "This way, please."
Gale looked at Rachel, who seemed to look between him and Gerard.
"Go," he said. "I'll text you later."
She smiled with a sigh. "Good luck with your research."
"Good luck with your grandmother," he replied.
Gerard walked them through the library's main doors into the mansion's grand hallway. When they reached the main lobby, Rachel headed up the staircase while Gale was led to the front entrance.
"Master Hathie," Gerard said as they reached the door.
"Yeah?"
"What you read today... it would be best not to mention it outside these walls."
Gale kept his face blank. "What did I read today?"
A slight smile broke the usual flat demeanor of the butler. "Good day, sir."
Stepping outside, the morning air felt oddly refreshing from that pressure cooker of a mansion. Gale walked down the long driveway, past the garden and towards the gate that opened automatically when he neared it.
If the last book was right, then the being from Cev's book might have been telling him to hide whatever he was to survive. Don't tell anyone what he was lest he incur the wrath of the watching stars.
It was definitely too soon. Even Guide would always say to attain a higher core class. He sighed as he reached the sidewalk. Having a secret he couldn't tell a friend didn't feel very good.
[Ancient’s Era Excerpt]
Long ago, a million years after the beginning of time, four Ancients woke up. Beside them, a molten planet revolved around a small star. They knew that this planet will undoubtedly form life in the next few million years. They also knew that they were the first ever beings to become sentient in the whole universe and their power came from the density of what they called “Origin Artifact"
It is this “Origin Artifact” that gave them knowledge, language, abilities, and foresight of the future. In consequence, they knew of their imminent death. Sooner or later, they would die at the hands of their own bodies.
For several millennia, they travelled across the universe and patiently waited for that day. As it got closer to their times of death, they went back to the molten planet and saw life sprout from its soil.
In that abundance of life, they saw beings of similar structure to them, yet not similar. These beings relied on their intellect instead of their brawn to fend off prey. They relied on numbers and on each other to survive the day.
From observing these creatures, the Ancients all looked at each other and decided to intervene.
They intervened in the evolutionary process of the intelligent beings so that the intelligent beings would be akin to themselves. They would be akin to the Ancients, without the error in their bodies. They modified four individuals who would pass on their own Ancient genes. With these four individuals, they would reproduce and, sooner or later, the whole population will be akin to the Ancients.
Through this answer, the Ancients found what they were born to do. At least, that's what they thought. They entrusted this species with their legacy.
The species, in turn, gave them names.
To the Goddess of Life and Death, Aurumn.
To the Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom, Vianne.
To the God of Creation and Matter, Asain.
To the God of Space and Void, Cev.
Hundreds of years passed by. With the influence of the Ancients, the species grew at a remarkable pace. In 300 years, they were able to reach the industrial era. Of course, this was all thanks to their still minuscule Origin in their bodies that gave them knowledge. Every year, their offspring’s Origin would grow depending on the purity of their lineage. But it would not continue to grow up to a certain point. This was the Ancients’ fail-safe modification. Their bodies would still be similar, if not the same. Once it reached that point, their Origin would remain constant and they would take over the Ancients’ Legacy.
The Ancients soon understood that the end of their time was near.
One by one, the Ancient Ones flew away with knowledge of their deaths.
Death, however, didn't come to them. Instead of death, they became mad. They destroyed everything in their vicinity without rest. They saw through their eyes the horrible destruction of countless stars. They could do nothing but watch as their bodies moved on their own.
The Origin in their bodies soon sought after the other Ancient Ones, consuming them from the inside. Only one was left.
His body grew weaker and weaker as endless time passed by. His body soon shattered.

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Chapter 120