What I decided I needed to do before sailing to the Holy Land was try to level up my class and gain more Faction points, if I could. Strangely enough, I hadn’t gained a single Faction point my entire time at Saint Caradan’s, despite praying to each of the Gods of Light upon several occasions. That, and Ord still remained silent.

  I had four more days before I was to meet Brother Bernabo and the other novices at the Ordheim docks. I wasn’t sure if the other novices had been allowed to spend time with their families, but I hoped so. It wouldn’t have been fair if because of my position that I had been given special privileges.

  I also needed to research as much about the Prophet class as I could find in the hopes it might lead to answers about how I should proceed with what I should focus on as far as skills and spells. I was likely the only Prophet in existence and couldn’t necessarily ask anyone. I was dreading the surprise my announcement might bring to the Church of Light. With the announcement of the new Crusade, I didn’t think Aramyr could handle any more chaos at the moment. The only question was, where should I start?

  Lore Sight was where I determined I would begin. I had finally managed to figure out that Lore Sight leveled quicker when I discovered something poignant or new about a person or object. What really earned me skill experience was seeing something I had never before seen or new knowledge altogether.

  I also tried using it on objects too, but I ran into a similar problem almost right away. Mundane objects, like my own personal possessions or the food I ate or even the cats around the citadel that Tanis loved to play with offered nothing in the way of experience when I used Lore Sight upon them. Well, that’s not entirely true as there was one exception. I happened to see the old, fat Tom who liked to slink around the kitchens and northwestern tower one day and on a whim used it upon him.

  Name: Boris Grimpaw

  Lore: The dreaded Grimpaw, Scourge of Rats and Beetles, cares little for the affairs of men. However, the smiling boy who feeds him the stinky cheese is an acceptable servant and has been allowed to get close.

  5 XP to Lore Sight awarded!

  I snorted as he glared at me and slunk off. Oh well. 5 points of experience was better than nothing. Apparently he was one of Tanis’ favorites.

  I also was inspired to use Lore Sight upon myself from time to time just in case anything changed. One morning I happened to look in the mirror as I tied my hair back. It was getting long and was nearly down to between my shoulder blades. I wondered if the monks would make me cut it and adopt the tonsured look as many of them did?

  Name: Kenric Ordheim

  Alias: 4th son of the Duke of Ordheim; Squire of Eastcheap Manor

  Class: Prophet

  Level: 5

  Professions: Scholar-26, Treasurer-15, Alchemist-2

  Attributes

  Strength 15

  Dexterity 15

  Constitution 30

  Intelligence 18

  Wisdom 43

  Perception 21

  Charisma 16

  Skills:

  Lore Sight-Tier I

  Lore: A translocated soul from another reality has been born again in the form of Kenric Ordheim, 4th son of the Duke of Ordheim. While yet young, his spirit favors the Fate affinity. The attention of many great powers are upon him.

  I swallowed and deactivated the skill as I buttoned my shirt. It was hard not to feel self-conscious after reading that last line. I resolved not to use Lore Sight upon myself again if I could help it. I really didn’t want to think about the Gods watching and judging me, likely feeling disappointed that I had accomplished so little the past few months save leveling up Scholar. I aimed to change that.

  I exited my room and hurried down the hall towards the Citadel Library. As I entered the large chamber filled with books I reflected upon the same feelings I always had whenever I came here. It was where I had always felt the most comfortable. I think I must have had something to do with libraries in my past life, or so I surmise. Books lined the shelves from corner to corner and upon each of the three levels of the chamber. My grandfather had once employed a Librarian to organize everything according to a system, but that system was frustratingly difficult. The books were not arranged by subject, but rather by the dates they had been written with the oldest books starting on the top floor, East shelf and on down. One could spend a great deal of time trying to find books about skills and end up running all over the library depending upon how long ago the author had written them and no, not every book was well written or even as accurate as one hoped.

  Now I would try something new. Books on skills all agreed that the most assured way to making a skill stronger was to use it, but Lore Sight would only level up a little from using it upon new subjects or unique items and, I supposed, interesting creatures like Boris Grimpaw. Looking around the library at the massive amount of books my family had acquired over the years, I felt that surely there must be a few books on magic or enchantment mixed in somewhere and would not those grant me the experience I needed?

  I walked up the curved stone steps to the top level of the library and found the shelves where the oldest books could be found. Many of these were massive tomes I doubted I would be able to move on my own and I secretly hoped I wouldn’t need to either, but I was resolved to check everything I could. I activated Lore Sight and…nothing.

  I slowly walked up and down the shelves until I had covered the entirety of the top floor then continued onto the second floor. Not a single soul window displayed. At one point, I even moved closer and read a few of the titles hoping Lore Sight might have something for me, but all I received were dust covered hands. Before I started on the final, ground floor I decided to take a break. I had been at it for the entire morning and was growing a bit hungry. The kitchens didn’t normally serve a midday meal. My father was somewhere in the city and my mother was hosting a tea party with a bunch of noblewomen who were undoubtedly trying to sell their daughters to her for Alaric. Since his tantrum over not being allowed to go to the Holy Land, my mother had suddenly taken an interest in who would become the next Duchess of Ordheim. Ord’s Mercy, I was glad to not be firstborn.

  I walked to the kitchens and I grabbed a bit of cheese wrapped in wax paper and some rye bread along with a flagon of small ale and returned to the Library. Normally, one wasn’t allowed to eat in there, but I was alone except for Boris Grimpaw who had decided to fall asleep in one of the chairs near a large window where he could bask in the sunlight. I ate all the bread and most of the cheese, which I wrapped back up in its wax paper and sipped the ale while I once again started searching the shelves with Lore Sight.

  Stolen story; please report.

  After an hour, I gave up. There was nothing. Not a single book in the library was enchanted, nor was there anything about the Prophet class. I did find something interesting about Ara written in the aftermath of his destruction in the North. I perused it briefly and did learn a thing or two.

  Apparently, after Ara’s Fall everything in the North started dying and icing over. It had always been cold there, as one might assume with a northern climate, but it wasn’t until after Ara’s death that the weather turned treacherous with dangerous ice storms that could rend skin off the bone and mountains of ice so high they became impossible to traverse on foot. Then the undead came, spawned from the armies who had been destroyed there, cursed by eldritch powers none could explain.

  It was shortly after the Year of Endless Rain that the fortress of Shadowguard was founded on the southern coast of the northern continent. It was built and outfitted with a rotating host of soldiers, priests and mages that kept the Undead trapped in the North. I shuddered. I certainly hoped that I never had to go there. Something bumped against my leg. I looked down startled.

  “What do you want?” I asked Boris Grimpaw, who looked up at me with wide eyes.

  “MeeaarOWWW!”

  “You smell the leftover cheese in my pocket, don’t you?” I snorted. Seeing that fuzzy round face stare up at me so earnestly was rather endearing. “Doesn’t Tanis give you enough? You are a greedy thing!” He gave another long, plaintive cry and I sighed. “Okay, fine. Mir bestows a blessing upon allsmall, harmless animals. I choose the word small with abundant sarcasm when addressing you, however.” I reached into my pocket and unwrapped the last bit of cheese and set it down before him. Boris gobbled it up enthusiastically. I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

  “Well, this was a bust. I guess I need to think up some other way to level up Lore Sight, Boris. Hey, what are you doing now?”

  Boris had trotted over to one of the bookshelves and was patting at a small carving in the wood near the bottom. I narrowed my eyes and leaned closer. I had never really taken a good look at the shelves before, but I could see now that the carpenter had carved little Cherubs with harps into the wood.

  “Hm, now there’s a memory,” I murmured as I recalled the Cherubs who had distracted the Hellblade long enough for Amara to strike him down. Then Boris stepped on one of the carved harps and the shelf swung outward to reveal a hidden passage!

  I gaped in astonishment. I leapt from my seat after the initial shock and looked into the passage. The bookshelf/door revealed another simple wooden door at the end of a short hallway. I turned to look at Boris who was already trotting away, his tail in the air.

  “Boris, I am cutting you in on all my cheese from now on!” I entered the passage and pulled the shelf/door behind me until it was nearly closed. I didn’t want to get locked in, after all. Then, I walked swiftly to the other door and sighed in relief to find it wasn’t locked. I pulled the latch and entered into another library.

  This new library I discovered was much smaller and had clearly not been visited in a long time. The air was musty and cobwebs were everywhere covering old, half melted candles. Books were stacked upon a round table set at the center of a circular room with four distinct bookshelves spaced evenly from one another along the wall. There were no windows and I was loathe to light any of the candles for what if a flame caught the cobwebs? That could lead to a serious situation, but I was too excited to go back and find a lantern or another candle. Instead, I went ahead and activated Lore Sight as I examined some of the dust covered books on the table.

  Immediately a handful of notification windows flashed open before my eyes. Fortunately, I could read them even in the low light.

  Purgatorium: The Gateway to Heaven and Hell

  Lore: Written by Loras Endaku in 855 OA detailing the myths and legends of the Purgatorium Mystics. Reading this book will grant INT +2.

  Skills of the Purgatorium Mystics-An Observation

  Lore: Written by Loras Endaku in 862 OA detailing the known skills and powers of the Purgatorium Priests. Reading this book will grant WIS +2.

  Strategic Domination: How the Elves took Nephilim

  Lore: Written by General Orvis von Korbanburg in 1066 OA detailing how the Elvish Confederacy of Clans through luck, strategic ingenuity and deceit were able to overcome the Empire’s defense of Nephilim and dominate the armies of the Second Crusade. Reading this book will permanently reveal the LUCK Stat upon one’s STATUS and raise it by +1.

  Dungeon Delver’s Compendium

  Lore: Written by Varek “Icewalker” Ordheim in 1407 OA detailing the Do’s and Don’ts of preparing for Dungeon delving and surviving when everything goes wrong. Reading this book will grant PER +1 and update your STATUS MAP with all Dungeon locations listed herein.

  The books all seemed interesting and I was especially interested in seeing how reading a book could reveal a hidden stat and update a map I didn’t even know I had!

  Status Map. By focusing my will and concentrating upon the word ‘map’ a notification screen opened to show me a rather disappointing map screen. Ordheim was there, at least the parts I had been to. Much of it was fuzzy and dark, like the southern part of Ordheim where the main gates that led out onto the Trade Way were located. I had never had any cause to explore that part of the city and had never before even left the city of my birth. As such, most of my map was blacked out and useless.

  “If I read this book about Dungeons, my personal map will update with Dungeon locations, even beyond where I have been? That’s all well and good, but I’m never going into a Dungeon again, if I can help it!” Still, knowledge was knowledge and the best part of the books were the Attribute bonuses by far. They alone made it worth it and I was excited to find out if there were any other books I could find that would grant me more.

  I searched the room, which didn’t take long due to its small size, but didn’t find any other books that triggered Lore Sight. Most of the other books in the room were tax documents for old businesses in Ordheim from nearly a century ago and correspondences sent to Duke Tolstig Ordheim.

  “So, this was my great-grandfather’s secret office? I wonder why he felt the need to hide a few old books and some tax documents?” I didn’t know much about the man. I know his Aunt had been Empress and that he hadn’t lived long, as my grandfather had become Duke at a young age. I did however find his journal, set aside by itself on the table. I picked it up and read a little.

  …I don’t see why the tax on Nobles should be increased? Nephilim is lost for good and I don’t see the Council of Cardinals offering to put forth the gold to retake it. It’s hard enough as it is just keeping the fortresses stocked and manned. I asked Aunty to tell that old despot that if he keeps throwing money and lives away then he can put on armor and ride to Nephilim’s Gates and ask the Elves to leave himself. If he wants those relics back he can damn well go get them himself too. Ord, but I would pay real gold to see old Lucavarius III do that!

  There were other observations, gripes and personal reminders that I mostly skimmed over. My take away from the journal was that Tolstig Ordheim had been a bit of a skinflint who thought local business owners were always withholding tax revenue and was largely apathetic towards the trials and tribulations of others. There were also a few notes about a persistent stomach pain the priests couldn’t cure. He believed that someone was poisoning him, but it was far too late to investigate such a claim. I wondered if my father knew anything?

  I turned the page until I was nearly to the final entry and what I read made me sit up in surprise.

  A group of adventurers have located and cleared a blue dungeon portal up north they called Ara’s Gauntlet. They brought back several interesting enchanted items (all taxable!) and claim that the dungeon itself was populated by Infernals. Troubling, but their leader says that the Dungeon entrance disappeared after they left. (Make a note to discuss this phenomenon with Father Garic. If this wasn’t a persistent dungeon then why do they appear when and where they do before disappearing? Has anyone ever thought of purposely not completing such a dungeon and farming it up until the point it’s about to break? Has nobody ever thought of such a money making opportunity before?)

  Regardless, what is troubling is that they say they learned of a prophecy while in the dungeon and it involves my family of all things! How convenient that the dungeon can no longer be accessed to confirm this, but I made certain to copy it word for word.

  Mir’s tears heal the land

  But demon’s poison persists

  Ord’s fist will strike the Holy City

  The lost Gate will open

  Ordheim’s twice-born son absolves the Dead

  Ara’s Light rebirths Hope.

  (As I did not post a Quest at the Adventurer’s Guild for this Dungeon there will be no additional monies awarded to the party.)

  “Is this about me? I was born twice, but how would I absolve the dead?” My heart started beating faster. It was eerie to read something from over a century ago about yourself, but the line I focused on was the last. ‘Ara’s Light rebirths Hope.’ Did this refer to the Shards of Ara?

  Or maybe it’s nothing at all, Kenric.

  “I’ll give the journal to Father. I wonder if there is any record of what items were brought out of that dungeon?” I looked at the scattered documents on the table. My great-grandfather had apparently never bothered to clean things up in here last time he visited. Yet, it might be worth checking to see if those long ago adventurers had found anything else pertaining to a prophecy or Ara’s priesthood.

  “The Eyes of the Gods are upon me,” I whispered. Yet, what was expected of me? I was being pushed towards something and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It is a difficult thing to put so much faith in the intangible and the unknown. The living want certainty and consistency and I was no different. Who did they think I was? Who did they want me to be?

  I left the secret study deep in thought and allowed the hidden door to shut behind me. Finding it again would be no issue. I placed the special books into my Inventory as I planned to read them later when I could and I carried my great-grandfather’s journal in my hands. I would show it to my father and then I would turn my mind to preparing for my journey.