Licia

A young woman stared out from the balcony of her dormitory, gazing upon the sun-mottled waters of Llynbrith. In her lap was a small booklet, opened to a page containing various written documents including Scriptsmith cuneiform, Empyriel calligraphy, and even early Fringefolk iconography. Various notes covered the page, most of them indicating translations or similarities between the distinct languages. One note in particular featured thick circles around a group of icons and the text “Ask Salus about this!” written in Modern-Commonscript.

“Licia, in or out?” A voice cried from inside the main room, startling the woman back to the present, “I’m closing the door, so make up your mind please!”

“Out, sorry!” Licia responded. Closing the booklet and placing it in a saddlebag, she returned to the edge of the balcony. Staring out into the city, Licia looked on as the residents of Brightharbor made their way through the spiderweb of roads and alleyways, each starting a new day all their own. After a few minutes the northern winds from Gohlg nipped at Licia's nose and ears and signaled the end to her people-watching. She made her way back into the dormitory’s living room and sat herself down at one of the studying desks.

Along with the booklet, Licia also had a leather-bound book titled Empyriel Reports: Pre-Contact. Thumbing through the text, Licia was not finding the information she expected.

“These are all just personal letters and inventories,” Licia quipped under her breath as she glanced across multiple pages, “And this entire page is just some guy complaining about poor quality copper!”

With lengthy exhalation, Licia threw her head back in defeat. She had grabbed the wrong book from the library. Checking the chronometer in the room, she hazarded she could make her way down to the library in time before the morning home room started. Packing up her materials Licia exited the dorm, crossed the bridged staircase to the ground floor, and made her way to the central library.

When she first laid eyes upon the library five years prior, Licia nearly broke down in panic. Compared to the single bookshelf in her village’s local chapel, the academy library’s multiple floors, each containing hundreds of books, made her feel she had been transported into a completely different world. As far as she was concerned that might as well have been the truth for her first 2 years of study, consistently needing Salus Attius, her sponsor at the academy, to find her within the labyrinthine rows when she failed to attend multiple classes.

Licia learned the library functioned based on the age of the material; Older material was moved into the lower floors to make way for new discoveries. For contemporary information on Scriptsmith culture, one would have to go into the basements of the library. Descending into the basement, Licia beelined toward the opposite wall from the stairwell. The air took on a denser and mustier feeling, confirming she was heading in the right direction to find the book.

A loud thud echoed from behind Licia, a book had fallen off the top of one of the cabinets. Collecting herself, Licia turned back around to head down the furthest row of books when her body was thrust forward into the corner of a bookshelf. A deafening rumbling followed as more books fell off the shelves. Licia stumbled toward the wall, an effort to avoid being crushed, when a particularly large tome landed squarely on her head.

____________________________________

Licia woke up on the stone floor underneath a toppled bookshelf.

“Ugh, my head…” Licia lightly touched the back of her head, relieved at the lack of blood. Crawling out from beneath the wreckage, she stood up to find a sea of wood and paper in front of her.

“Hello!” She cried out, waiting for a response.

…

“Sal’way…?" She called out in her native tongue.

…

‘This doesn’t make sense, unless that earthquake just happened…’

Licia dusted her uniform off and checked her surroundings. She had landed on her bag, leaving it unharmed underneath the bookshelf. Her head notwithstanding, she also felt no worse for wear physically. There was no way for her to reasonably get back to the stairwell; The stairs leading up to the ground floor have collapsed in on themselves, and a hole has appeared near the middle of the floor. Peering into the hole, Licia could clearly see the bottom, with toppled bookshelves creating a convenient ladder to make her way down. The academy was built over a natural cove, so the possibility of this hole leading to lake wasn’t entirely outside possibility. Licia grabbed her saddlebag, clapped her hands, and hopped down onto first bookshelf to the caves below.

Watter pooled at the bottom of the sinkhole in small puddles. Licia breathed a sigh of relief, she was going to make it outside somehow. Reaching into her saddlebag, she pulled out a small jar filled with dirt.

“Lux…” Licia whispered, clutching the jar in both hands. The dirt flickered with aetheric activity before shining brightly, illuminating her surroundings. Slowly walking over the wet rubble, Licia followed the natural pathway ahead of her.

‘Interesting, I wouldn’t expect a cave this open right underneath the academy…’

The rough bedrock abruptly gave way to an opening; a dim light source peeked from beyond the hole. Licia instinctively covered her own light before stepping in, and noticed the walls were unnaturally smooth on all sides. The dim light came in the form of a single torch at the far end of this unknown hallway. As Licia walked closer to the light, she began to hear noises further past. The torch was held in place at the corner, poking her head down showed no immediate signs of life, but more torches. Keeping her jar covered while slowly walking down the hallway, the noise increased in volume and coherency. After what felt like at least a dozen turns, and no longer sure whether she was still under the academy or under the lake, Licia stopped in front of a wooden door. One that was clearly added after-the-fact.

Licia gently pulled the door open and found herself looking upon multiple snake-like creatures. Some were holding daggers, others clutching what bowls and jars. One of them was wearing a sort of headpiece and wielding a staff. Licia knew they were chanting something but had never heard this language before. Before she could form another thought the wooden door behind Licia fell over with a loud clatter. Two of the creatures turned to look at her.

“Uro!”

Licia shouted without a second though, throwing her hands forward. A crescent flashed in the gap between her palms as a roaring jet of flame spewed forth, consuming the creatures. The chanting abruptly stopped, and she could feel multiple eyes staring her down.

"Run, girl!" A voice shouted from above, "To your left, we'll be right there!"