My thanks to everyone who has kept reading. My apologies on delays. Besides real life, I needed to make adjustments to my notes. In any case, I've decided to make some content changes. As for the story itself, not a whole lot has changed, but things should be picking up now as far as story pace goes. I feel like a good foundation has been set for the rest of the story I've planned out through the first book. So without further ado, and with much appreciation for all those who have given me their input, I present chapter 21

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  Mother looked at me strangely as the guild card started going on about the library. Clearing my throat, I smiled. “Um...Apparently my blood had interesting effects in the guild card creation processes, and thus we have Alfred.” I said. Glancing back down at my pocket and pulled out the decorated silver card from my pocket. It looked to have taken on the white veins of stone in the area, and I could see the glimmer of golds and blues. “Whom I thought I told to speak with me telepathically...what's going on with your material...is the magic here affecting you?” I asked a bit concerned.

  “Oh, mistress, I apologize profusely. In my excitement and the plethora of knowledge around me, I lost momentary control over my faculties.” Alfred said apologetically. “As for the...modifications, seem to be benign, and the magics are tied directly to you. Otherwise it would be impossible to affect me. At a guess it would seem to be an upgrade attached to the well of divine magics buried beneath this place.” Alfred said thoughtfully.

  “I see...” Mother said curiously, moving in to look at the card. The 'veins' of power on the card's surface seemed to be spreading along the spiral designs that decorated it. “He seems...pleasant.” she said, glancing toward the staircase.

  “Oh, sorry mother. Um, if you head down the stairs to the bottom, the hallway empties out near the lake entrance. I'll be right with you.” I said causing her to raise an eyebrow.

  “...Alright baby, don't be long.” Mother said leaning in to give me a hug, and then walking off down the stairs. As I watched her walk I mused over how regal she appeared, especially with the crown on. It made me smile.

  “Now what was this about divine magics buried here?” I asked taking a seat at a long wooden table that looks to have been for people to study at. I placed the card on the tabletop, and watched a glimmer of magic light ripple out from it across the table.

  “Well, I am of course able to tell the difference between divine magics, and mortal magics.” Alfred said defensively.

  “...And how do you know about a buried magic here?” I asked with an intonation of annoyance.

  “Well, Mistress's magics resonate with the powers beneath this place. It calls to me, as a construct of her everlasting glory and divine perfection.” Alfred said happily. “I believe she calls herself Sharada.” Alfred added.

  “The magic is a she? What?” I asked confused.

  “Um...I suppose, mistress. All I can say for sure is that she is a divine construct herself, with a nature reflecting some of your aspects, especially knowledge. I think that's why the library has gone unmolested until your arrival, mistress. It was sealed by a divine source.” Alfred thought at me, as the colorful energies settled across his surface. The lines of light finished spreading and then settled beneath the surface of the metal once more, as the card returned to 'normal'. “Ahh...I see. Sharada's 'body' was used to create the core of this place. This place was the tree of knowledge and life. She says that she has been sealed in the depths since áine gifted it to her children. Your power broke the seals and restored her, and she once more is growing a divine corpus, though it will take time.” Alfred thought to me.

  Pinching the bridge of my nose I tried to clear my confusion at the implications. “Mistress, I know it is not for a humble servant, such as I, question the motives of his master...but what are your intentions? I have watched your actions for a while now, and must admit to being thoroughly confused.” Alfred said, hesitating to 'insult' me.

  “My intentions?” I asked, curiously. “Ahh...You mean what are my goals?” I asked with a weary smile.

  “Yes mistress. I am your eternal servant, but I find myself at a loss in how to assist you with your goals if I don't know what those goals are.” Alfred said hesitantly. “As a divine construct, I carry within myself a small spark of your essence...but without purpose, I can only watch in confusion.” he finished.

  “...Alfred.” I said as I suddenly realized that I had effectively created a life, a life whose 'purpose' depended on my will. “My goal, I suppose, is to create a better world for others. But if you mean specifically, at the moment I'm not sure. I have been under...time pressure lately. I have a territory to see to, but accepting it was more or less a means to and ends, to secure safety for my Mother and the others. I wouldn't mind attempting to end slavery, as well as the war ravaging the lands and destroying lives.” I said as I took a seat.

  I scanned my view of the library, looking up the spiral shelves which wound along the walls, and considered. “But I lack information right now, and honestly I lack power.” I said frowning, placing my chin in my hand as I leaned over the table.

  “...if I might interject, mistress. You're a goddess whose domains include knowledge, and magic...in a library filled with books...many of them on spells...” Alfred said as I became lost in thought.

  “...Yes, Alfred...Yes I am.” I said as I looked up at the floor containing the magic tomes. “Illusions and Nature.” I said thoughtfully, “I should be able to absorb the information in the textbooks, but when I did so earlier it caused massive headaches.” I said as I stood up again.

  “Ahh, yes mistress. I am happy to say that I can assist with that. Absorbing and sorting information is a specialty of mine, you see. If mistress desires, I could act as a buffer for the information, sort it, and then transmit the 'processed' knowledge directly into your hippocampus. It would be a bit...slower than your direct absorption, but It would prevent unnecessary loss of study time due to psychic recovery.” Alfred said causing me to blink.

  “Well, while mother is getting settled into the throne room, why don't we go see about absorbing some knowledge.” I said with a smile.

  The process of filtering the texts through Alfred required me to place the card against the covers of the spellbooks, and activate absorption. Instead of being hit by a massive explosion of information burning through my brain, I felt a slow trickle of insights, like one epiphany after another. While still dizzying at first, I wasn't on the floor ready to retch.

  I had actually expected far more spells given the amount of texts I was pouring through, but I slowly came to realize the sheer quantity of information involved in creating the spell structures. The spells I had learned previously were relatively simple compared to even a 4th tier spell. What's more I had previously assumed a similarity in the different paths that just didn't exist. Each of the major spell paths involved comprehension and alignment with a major aspect of the world. Nature, for instance, was more than simply the memorization of biology texts, though there were no few books on 'genetics' involved in just the natural adaptation spell. A poorly conceived or executed adaptation could be fatal to the target of such a spell, and it didn't take much in the way of medical knowledge to get an idea of 'why'.

  With a wave of my hand a cloud of light wrapped around Alfred and began taking him from book to book while I moved from the stacks. The world around me seemed different with every passing step, as I could feel myself coming to grips with not just the physical structure of the things around me, but with the underlying energies. My vision shifted with new understanding, and what were simply fluttering lights within the inner walls of the building took on new meaning.

  “I see...” I said, the sudden shock of my world changing again becoming dizzying. I felt my senses expanding through the ether as I started to recognize the patterns of life underneath everything around me. I had to sit down by the time I reached the lower floor, the influx of information growing faster with every passing minute. I felt like my mind was trapped within an epiphany, one that brought an endless string of new revelations. I stared into the spaces between the world, seeing through the spirit energies that were woven together to create everything.

  I suddenly understood something else...the walls, the tree, even the tables and shelves in this library. They were all alive. The elves had spent countless generations attuning themselves to the natural world, perhaps spurred along by their gods. The cracks I had seen spreading upward from the tree weren't just roots, they were new life, absorbing and converting the lifeless stone built atop it. The shape was there, and the life of this place would use the structure above like stem cells growing into the shape of what surrounds it.

  My mind drifted as I tried to bring my conscience back into the present, feeling that I was forgetting something important, but unable to break free.

  “Faith...I thought you were coming.” a voice called distantly, causing my gaze to shift from the swirl of spirit energy, to the form approaching me. There was flesh draped upon a simple form, housing something I couldn't quite make out. It was separate from spirit energies that fed it...or perhaps it was feeding the spirits. The focus of my vision shifted again, and I could begin to make out the ephemeral housed within.

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  “Faith? Are you all right, baby?” the approaching soul asked, its glow bathing the world around it. I could see the spiritual energies housed in this place responding to her movement. It was as if it was responding to the caress of a lover. The physical world seemed so ephemeral...so illusionary.

  The soul wrapped in the worn trappings of reality came to sit beside me, a look of concern etched deep in its face. My hand reached out to brush her hair, and watch as the golden strands swirled like streaks of sunlight. “Faith...” the woman's voice echoed, but my mind wanted to block it all out. I was enraptured by the soul in front of me. I could see the weak strands that connected the woman's soul to her physical body...so many things binding a soul in place...but if you could only peal back the strands...

  “I see so much.” I said in a whisper as light swirled around me. The physical world only needed to provide the right structure, and the spirit would fill in the rest...but if one understood the nature of the spiritual, and the needs of the physical, then it was possible to forge physical forms from spiritual structures. There was just so much...

  “Faith, baby, snap out of it!” the voice was yelling now. I felt like my mind was grasping at the very fabric of reality around us now. My body seemed to be nothing more than a dream, housing the soul of the dreamer. With every twisting turn of my conscious mind, I could see the illusions taring away. I felt ready to break free.

  As I forced my will against the fabric of the world my dream scape spread outward farther and farther. I could feel reality bending its shape to my will, as the spell structures I was absorbing wove themselves into my memory. A child's fairytale hovered around me, her wildest dreams reflected upon the veil. As my inner world was impressed upon the outer world, it seemed so simple to tumble into the abyss of dreaming. Something at the back of my mind was trying to warn me, calling out to me...but I was already lost. The illusions had taken the shape of the spiritual world, using their reflections to grow...what was once a simple day dream was taking on a life of its own...

  The illusions were spreading faster...or was it my sense of the world beyond. I could see an endless stream of people, reflections of reflections, wandering these great halls. My senses fluttered from person to person..

  Those eyes were hovering at the edge of my world staring in. The green eyes in the abyss glaring as the words it repeated tumbled through the abyss, a dead space where nothing escaped, but those words...'BETRAYAL'. I could feel it pressing down upon my soul with its gaze. There was something wrong, so very terribly wrong, and my mind was struggling to break free of it. My own reality was taring at the seems with every breath. Faith was screaming as a form awoke in the dark depths.

  “MOMMY!” Faith's voice erupted from my mouth in pure abject terror. It threatened to overwhelm my sanity, as I tried to hide. I tried to lie to the world.. “HELP ME MOMMY!” I screamed again as the abyss crashed around me.

  A sudden explosion of light slammed into me, shocking my mind with power. The world suddenly went white, and then disappeared.