Chrysalis
Book One: Trial by Fire
By: Jessica "Allronix" Krucek

Chapter Nine

  It was time to stop running.

  Upstairs and down, down hallways that felt like circles. Niko opened one door after another, to find them either sealed by magic, or holding nothing but stones, focuses, and other magical items. right now, she wasn't interested in anything but answers.

  Finally, she came to a door that had been sealed by a strong magical lock. Niko looked down on her piece of vellum and made a note of where it was. There. Everything connected. She now had a rough map of all the places she could go in the Palace. Niko walked back to D'Len's study, and opened the door, holding out the small lantern before her.

  Books. Volumes of books. D'Len was always writing. there must have been several centuries' worth of archives in this room alone!

  *Time for a little archeology...Start at the top layer, and excavate from there.*

  What was she writing now? The book on the desk. Niko turned to a printed page and read a random paragraph.

  **Niko's shields are holding, and will continue to hold until the threat has passed. She's still expressing a wish to return, though it would be suicide. I must make every effort to keep her restricted to the Old Palace if possible. Her mind will be tightly controlled, and her actions closely watched until she's unable to pose a danger to Xanadau. My goal at this moment is to render her powerless...**

  Niko looked up, and frowned. So D'Len had no intention of letting her restore her Gifts. But why? She couldn't be THAT much of a danger could she? She leafed back to the first entry in the book.

  **Jesset had the same drives. With Jesset, greed had been the motivator. In Niko's case, it is curiosity. Curiosity, however, could very likely bring about a repeat of the Scrounge, and the Great Battle. Xanadau cannot and will not weather this again. For the safety of all, I have decided to protect Niko from her own Gifts...**

  "Jesset?" Niko murmured. "Who's Jesset?" The name sounded remotely familiar, but Niko couldn't recall from where.

  Niko paged through more and more of the book. It kept making allusions that she was dangerous, and needed to be caged by either keeping her on Xanadau, putting her under tight shield or both. The reasons why were not stated, except as allusions to this "Jesset" person.

  *But who was she?*

  Grabbing a scroll from a dusty shelf, Niko walked to the door. She stopped and held her breath. Footsteps. Far away...no right above her.

  D'Len was awake. If that was the case, she'd be looking for anything disturbed on her desk. Niko arranged everything back the way it was carefully. She stole out of the room, clutching her lantern, map and the scroll, and running down the corridors with all the stealth as if she were dodging Crown Agents in Sorry End.

Memories flooded back, and it was overwhelming for a moment.

********
  *No, she couldn't stop...not now.*

  Niko came to the door near the staircase. A force field was up. Niko looked on the scroll, and read the arcane words. Nothing, and the footsteps were getting closer. She tried again, and the force field abated. Niko dashed up the staircase, and repeated the sibilant phrase, blocking the way behind her.

  It was a vast room - some sort of secret library. Niko concentrated, and tried to shield herself as best she could. The footsteps beneath her came and went, fading away. She was safe - for now.

  The library was large, filled with dusty treatises and books. Niko put down her lantern, and picked up a very large, dusty volume. She opened to a page.

  **Jesset's study of the Black Arts was chronicled in a leather and vellum book. This book, *The Treatise of Power,* outlined the three guiding principles of her philosophy...**

  Niko shuddered as she took in the overview of Jesset's twisted ideals. She always spoke of domination, of control, of taking power from others to feed one's self. She had heard someone say these words before, but when and where?

  *But how could she have been part of this world? Our strongest law is that one's mind belongs to one's self...* Then again, D'Len was skating the fine edge of THAT philosophy. Niko frowned and read on.

  **For her theft of lives, and violations of her home world's strongest law, Jesset was exiled from Xanadau, taking her followers with her. From that moment on, she was never to be spoken of.**

  All the references were cryptic. Jesset was a Death-Mage, feeing on pain and suffering to create magical energy. While it was a quicker path to great power, Life-Magic from the Circle proved itself stronger. Much of the book devoted itself to the varieties of Death-Magic rituals and artifacts. Jesset's sword had sacrificed the blood of enemies. Machines and Death-Magic worked well together, a systematic destruction of organic flesh...

  The anti-technology hatred in the book...Niko wrinkled her nose. By the standards in this book, her friends would have been condemned the instant they touched on Xanadau. Unconsciously, she felt behind her right ear. There was an almost undetectable lump where the implant rested.

  Almost every book here was some sort of writing about Death-Magic - including its history, its effects...

  *Small wonder it's locked up so tightly, and kept a secret!*

  Niko looked up. Out the corner of her eye, she saw...no, more *sensed* a red light. She put the book down, still open. Turning around, she could see that there was a small stone shelf, displaying several bright red, hexagonal crystals. All but one were dead and cold. The one that still did hold life was...was...

  She gasped as she touched it. The crystal itself was pure psychic energy, imprisoned by something so basely *evil,* that Niko was sickened to be in contact with it for very long.

  In the dim light, she could see a face trapped in the crystal like a fly in amber. Niko let out a startled gasp and would have dropped the crystal if she dared...

  *Goose!*

  She picked it up, and just held the crystal in her hands, her hands lit by the faint, red glow emanating from it. D'Len was lying to her. She'd been lying to her the *whole damn time!*

  It had something to do with Jesset and her Death-Magic, and Niko *had* to know what it was exactly. There was more at stake here than satiating her curiosity.

  If D'Len found her, though...

  Niko snatched the book, and the crystal. Saying the incantation to let down the force field, and raise it behind her, Niko consulted her map for a second, and bolted out of the Old Palace as fast as her legs could take her. She ran to where she instinctively felt safe - her old room in the Mages' Hall. Niko dashed up the stairs, and the chambers adjacent to Ariel's. Closing and locking the outer door, Niko sat on her old bed and tore through the book with a vengeance.

  The purple and gray streaks of dawn had flooded through the window when Niko finished the book. "It might not be true," she said. "But if it is...it makes sense...at the same time it doesn't. I only wish I had the missing pieces."

  She put the book aside and picked up the crystal. No matter what...she would leave Xanadau. She didn't care if she died in the attempt.

********
  The door bridging the two chambers creaked open, and Ariel gasped. Quickly recovering, she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Niko didn't seem to notice her. A red crystal pulsed in her hands, and she stared at it, lost in thought, tears running down her cheeks.

  She approached the bed, and sat next to Niko. The face on the crystal told Ariel all she needed to know. Niko wrote to her quite often, and she often talked about her teammates and friends. Ariel also was one of the few who knew about the love in her life...

  And it was his face that stared at them from the crystal.

  "It would appear that D'Len's been lying to us all."

  "Yes," she says, turning to look at Ariel, and brushing the tears off her cheeks. "I have to re-integrate myself and get off this planet, or at least try everything."

  "You'll die if you fight with your people."

  "You let me risk my life as a Ranger. I am a Ranger, and if I'm to die as one, I'll die as one. No matter what the council says, I'm going back. I have to. I have to at least make the attempt to rescue my friends. I just can't leave them to the 'tender mercies' of the Queen. She's a Death-Mage, Ariel. That's why she was able to do what she did."

  Ariel nodded. "I can tell you that Mistress D'Len is trying to keep you here. She even told me not to interfere with your rehabilitation." Ariel frowned. "It's no secret that there are a few people who fear you. You're quite formidable when you set your mind to it."

  Niko looked up. "I've been reading a few things. I think that the Forbidden Chambers may have the answers I'm looking for. There's just something about the Legend of Jesset that I can't stop thinking about. I think it's...connected to all this."

  "Child, if you go there, I cannot help you."

  Niko closed her eyes and nodded. "but it is the only way. I have to accept my new Gifts. I can't stay on Xanadau." Niko's voice dropped. "I have to do this...I *want* to do this."

  "I understand, Niko," said Ariel. "But I cannot help you if you want to explore the tower."

  Niko stood up. "I understand, Ariel. I wouldn't ask you to go with me."

  "In the meantime, Niko," said the elderly sorceress. "You need to get some rest. Not another word, now. Get under those covers and shut your eyes. Something like the Forbidden Chambers can exhaust me, so I know that you'll need every advantage you can get."

  "But what if D'Len comes asking for me?"

  "Then, my child, I will shield myself and I will lie."

  "Thank you, Ariel," said Niko, getting settled, and taking Ariel's advice. "For everything."

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