Royal Scribe

Fesha and I sat in the lush patch of grass facing Lanus, awaiting his story. Lanus cleared his throat, aggressively hacking, then proceeded to tell his tale.

"I assume thee awokest having no recollection of parts of thine life." Lanus stated. 

Fesha and I nodded to confirm his assumption, forgetting that Lanus was nearly blind, so I immediately answered aloud for us. "That's right."

"That's what I and all the other passerby have agreed upon. Strange isn't it?" Lanus asked rhetorically.

"So there are others above us that have passed here?" Fesha asked.

Lanus coughed before answering. "Yes, though I don't know what has been made of them."

Before anyone could say something, I interjected. "Has a burly sounding man and a tough sounding woman come through here? Maybe the woman was accompanied by a metal clanking noise?"

Lanus's eyes widen. "I do remember two people of that sort who came here a couple days ago. They were my first guests in a long time and they treated me well. I pray for their safety." He said putting his hands together.

Fesha and I looked at each other, grins spreading across our faces knowing our friends were okay. Knowing that, we urged Lanus to continue.

"Right, as I have told, I do remember some of my time as a scribe for the royal archives, even back when I first awoke after Caelum's fall. In fact, the last thing I remember was transferring records before I awoke. I had found myself several layers down, far from where I came, though I had no memory of how I ended up down there atop the rubble. All I had were mine clothes and the records I was suppose to transfer in my satchel. I miraculously hadn't lost it in my fall." Lanus told us.

He suddenly peaked my interest. "Your satchel of records, you still have it?" I asked.

Lanus stopped for a moment. "We'll get to that I assure thee." Then he continued. "Anywise, with no direction or memory, I simply found no other way back but upwards, eventually landing here." He said in a way that made it sound like he was remembering something.

A question popped into my mind. "So why didn't you go further? You talk as if this happened ages ago yet you didn't keep going?"

Lanus looked directly into my eyes. Though he was blind, his gaze pierced me. "Because... the things thee shall findest above... may not be worth the effort, especially for a mere scribe with no battle experience." he said with sudden fear in his tone.

His fear resonated within me. "So, what did you see?" I asked.

Lanus laughed a bit. "To be frank, I can't remember now. Somehow I had lost mine memories of what I saw from above as well, and yet... the fear I felt still lingers. That is why I chose to spend the rest of my days here."

I looked into Lanus's eyes, staring into pure white and an abyss at the same time. Somehow, it all felt very similar to something I had seen before. Then Fesha asked a question that would remind me of what was so familiar.

"Thou hast not said a thing about the so called accursed man." Fesha commented.

"Ah right, sometime ago I began to lose my vision. I think it was while I explored above. Well, darkness slowly replaced my sight, I can just barely see light now. Though it is nearly dark for me now, I swear it to thee, I can make out some sort of face in the dark, all distorted and twisted, just moving its lips but saying nothing. It frightens me, but I try to stay sane. Perhaps thee doubt me but I see what I see." Lanus said coldly.

I shuddered at the thought, realizing why Lanus's case sounded so familiar. A name had popped into my head: Dahlea. I recalled her ramblings of something watching her in the dark before we put her to rest. She was also blind, making Lanus another case of this mysterious phenomena. The thought of it scared me, especially now knowing that whatever awaited us in the coming layers may lead us to where Lanus and Dahlea are now.

Fesha spoke up again, interrupting my thoughts. "Now then, may we see thine records?" She asked politely.

Lanus grinned softly. "Of course, take all the time. I have even added to them some time before I completely lost my sight, though I can't remember how I made my new discoveries." He said as he held a hand to the wooden door of the tower.

The door creaked open, revealing a small cylindrical room with a arched window that let a beam of light illuminate the air. Just ahead was a rustic wooden desk and chair with the satchel Lanus mentioned hanging from the chair's backrest. There was an unlit lantern and small stacks of stained papyrus on the desk, the papers' edges torn and olden. We approached the desk and began flipping through the pages, absorbing the information and neatly drawn diagrams that have been laid out. The records that Lanus carried had newfound knowledge on dragons, some that even Fesha seemed surprised to see.

The records consisted of dragon anatomy of various species. Each species had different head and body shapes, some had two wings while others had four, and even different amounts of limbs, ranging from two to eight. However, there was one constant between them all that lined up with what Fesha had told me a while back; they all lacked a stomach. We flipped further until we found a section on dragon diets. The text read as follows: "A dragon's diet consists of nothing tangible due to their lack of stomach. Instead they feedeth on things of a non-tangible nature, such as thoughts, memories, spiritual residue, etc. By absorbing these things through their teeth, they are able to consume their food, sustaining their energy for long periods of time." There was also a note at the bottom of the page, seemly added later on by Lanus. It read: "Supplementary: Dragons may also consumeth things of divine nature. Though the word 'consumeth' is used, any concept eaten by a dragon may still be brought back." Fesha and I turned to each other, attempting to process this revelation.