Secrecy

Magdeline and I must have been reading for hours, skimming through dozens of pages trying to look for something that would explain why we had found so many dead dragons inside of Caelum. For me specifically, I wanted context on the strange dream I had the other night. The texts to me was a lot of gibberish, clearly showing what little grasp I had on how this world worked. To Magdeline, it seemed that much of the information in it was stuff she had already known. She seemed very displeased while I was still very confused. A thought had occurred to me in the midst of me analyzing a text despite not knowing any of its technical lingo.

"Hey, what if there's nothing here about those dragons? Maybe there was no one around by that point to write about any of it?" I said aloud.

Magdeline sighed. "Well, this is all we have left, isn't it?"

I kept my mouth shut after that and continued looking through the books. I was beginning to feel hopeless until I noticed something strange. As I knelt down to place a book back on a low shelf, I saw small engravings at the base of the bookshelf. The entire base of the bookshelf was covered in decorative engravings and I looked at it for a while, admiring its craftsmanship. Then something within the overly decorative pattern caught my eye. There was a small engraving that looked somewhat out of place, like it had been carved after the completion of the entire pattern. It was small and difficult to notice at a glance. I only noticed it after thoroughly examining the carvings, but without the close inspection, I would not have seen it otherwise. Magdeline approached me as I looked at the engraving that was made up of a circle with small details in it and two triangle on either side of the circle, also boasting weird details carved within it.

Magdeline suddenly took her pack off and shuffled around in it until she pulled out a small, single red flower. I looked at her puzzled, remembering that she had lost her ability to use miracles.

"These types of markings do not require that the ones unlocking it casteth miracles. Only those making it needeth such powers." She said briefly explaining.

As she held the small red flower up to the marking, it caught fire between her fingers and vanished. The engraving began to glow the same color as the flame before immediately going out. Then, on the shelf right above the marking, there was a new book squeezed between the worn ones that were already there. I saw no transition into existence, no light, nothing. The book simply appeared into existence in the corner of my eye. I pulled it out of the shelf and turned it in my hands. Its cover was a rough brown with thick, stained white string along the spine, like it was sewn together last minute, but was still in better condition than any of the other books we had come across. I opened it to the first page which had nothing but a signed letter "L" in the bottom right. I turned the page and began reading the first entry. Its writing style was more personal, almost like a diary and unlike the very technical books we had been reading. The first passage read as follows:

"The king's secrecy knows no bounds, so I write this to those who seeketh the truth. I was a theologian and historian before coming to Caelum and I came here to escape the war of my nation. To think a city as young as Caelum could falleth into the same chaos I had witnessed before.

To whoever finds this, heed my words. Stop what this king will do before he does it, fore what he seeketh will be everyone's demise. The following pages are my personal notes of things I have learned in my discoveries. The king hideth true history and his ploys, but I've found them and summarized them here. It shall giveth thee an understanding of the horrors to come. I beg of thee, end this king's reign, so that we may see the sky once more."

I turned to the next pages, preparing myself for the aforementioned horrors. I read the personal text with Magdeline reading along side me. The following passage talked about the discovery of Caelum and its construction. Magdeline seemed bored, perhaps already knowing this part of Caelum's history, but as we read on her expression started changing. 

The passage talked about the first settlement of Caelum. A powerful man led an expedition to these lands from a far away nation in hopes of discovering dragons to slay for trade materials. The nation he hailed from was a nation who worshiped the goddess of dragon slayers, but the dragons of that area had dwindled due to the nation's culling of them. When Caelum's land was first discovered, many dragons, even species unknown, were founded, thus trade with the motherland began. The man who had led the expedition one day decided to separate from the motherland and began building his own empire. Further into the lands a large tree was discovered, apparently so large that it nearly touched the clouds. It was this tree that the man chose to hollow out and fortify, thus marking the construction of Caelum.

On the next page, a crudely drawn map displaying the cross section of Caelum's infrastructure was on display. This page seemed to be added in after the book had been fully sewn together, as the page protruded slightly out and was not sewn through, but attached with an adhesive. The tree's top ,where branches would have started jutting out, had been cut off, but some of the large branches of the tree's lower crown were still left. Within the tree, a stone structure was built, its shape reminding me of a bullet, its point just sticking out the top of the hollowed tree. This stone structure had many layers within it, with the top being marked as the royal palace. There were two points of interest that "L" had circled and labeled. Between the outside of the structure's walls and the inside of the tree's hollowed trunk, there was a line labeled "pulley elevator" that spanned the entire height of Caelum from the very bottom to the royal palace. Just bellow the base of the structure, there was a label reading "sealing monument."

Magdeline's expression shifted. "What is this? I have no recollection of these parts."

I turned the page and we continued reading. As we followed the text of each line, we began to realize that Caelum was a kingdom built for one purpose. Not for a populace, not for pride, but for a man turned king whose greed was unmatched.