Chapter 49: The Great Library of Togk

The well was deep and foreboding. Strangely Linri felt like he was looking at the abyss, it was deep, endless and dark. Almost as if you could get swallowed by it. He felt uncomfortable and averted his eyes from it.

He examined the room the stairs led to, it was small. In the middle, there was only the well and a corridor leading somewhere. Just what was the purpose of this well? There wasn't any kind of bucket for water or any rope for the matter. This was a temple, nothing here could be meaningless. Even though the well in front of him carried some sort of significance to the people who lived here was it important for his quest? He did not know but he was not going to waste his time trying to answer this question.

Linri and Jaime made their way into the corridor, both of them were tenser than before. They could be considered to be in the deeper parts of the temple, somewhere normal people can not access. It wouldn't be weird if they encountered some kind of trap. Actually, it would be weird if they did not.

At the end of the corridor, there was another giant hall before them. If he was not wrong this place should be right below where they prayed. He scanned the hall with his the headlight and saw the bookshelves in both sides of the room. That was not all as he could see some of the equipment the expedition team carried here.

He quickly rushed to the pieces of equipment lying on the ground, owner-less. They were mangled and damaged beyond use, carrying the signs of some sort of struggles.

"What do you think happened?" Linri asked Jaime but it was a rhetorical question. He was clueless much less Jaime so how could she know something he did not. This was the arrogance coming from being the creator of this civilization.

"I don't know, maybe they activated some kind of defence mechanism?"

"That's what I thought as well but the question is how?" Then he put down the broken equipment and looked at the room again. Aside from the bookshelves, there was not anything else in here so he made his way to the one closest to him. On the shelf there were countless scrolls, he touched one of them. The material seemed to be some kind of animal skin, it was cold and felt unpleasant to touch. He handed the torch in his hands to Jaime and picked up the scroll to unfurl it.

In the scroll, there were weird symbols and some weird images. He could not read it but he could guess where they were now. They were in a Library of some sorts or someplace they stored important documents. This should have been a great discovery for mankind because they could use the great number of texts here to analyse and decipher their language. Till now aside from ruins, they could not find any sort of written text that belonged to the Togks that was the reason why their language was still a mystery. Because they did not have enough data to learn it.

He put back the scroll and took back his torch from Jaime.

"So what did it say?" There was curiosity in her eyes. He wondered to himself how was this girl in front of him could stay so calm in this suffocating environment. There was definitely something wrong with her.

"How am I supposed to know? It's not like I studied Togk in college. Anyway, search the room we can cover more ground that way."

They searched the room carefully aside from the shelves there wasn't anything but Linri was able to find a clue that might lead to his parents. The ground in front of one the shelves showed that it could open like a door. Because the whole ground was dusty when it was opened, it left a trail.

Linri tried to pick up the scrolls from the shelf thinking that it may open it but there wasn't any reaction. It made sense in a way considering it was supposed to be a trap against intruders not some kind of secret passage. That was when he formulated a risky plan but he could not carry it out yet. First, he needed to 'negotiate'.

"Jaime come over, I think I found something" She hurried to his side from the other end of the hall.

"What is it?" She sounded eager to know it. Did she think this was some kind of game? Well, it kinda was but that was a dangerous attitude to have so he re-evaluated her in his mind. He pointed out the trail in the ground and started to speak.

"This shelf leads to somewhere before you say anything I tried to pick up the scrolls and there was not any kind of button to press. I have a plan but you might not like it so, for now, stay silent and stick close to me. I need to speak to 'them'."

"And what that might be, I am curious. Care to fill me in?" Solas' voice sounded in his mind just like he expected.

"I would love to but this time the one I want to speak is Lozna, not you." It didn't even take a second before Lozna's voice boomed in his mind overbearingly.

"Speak Harclaw! You know the consequences of making me displeased."

"Of course I know oh Great God of War. The reason I wanted to speak to you was your compassion. You see I can kind of imagine what happened here, this place is where the knowledge of Togks was stored and my parents must have taken or damaged the scrolls in here triggering some kind of trap. I could have also done the same but my methods would be much more destructive. I do not know how to trigger the trap so what I would do is to burn every scroll in here but I honestly don't want to destroy the hard work of a civilization, culminated over a long period of time. If I did that Solas would probably not care as she wants to see me suffer to some extent. But you, on the other hand, would not want that. That's why I have a proposition, treat me like a criminal and trigger the trap yourself so that I do not damage anything in here protecting the legacy of your civilization."

There was not an immediate reply. Linri was telling the truth in what he said. He honestly did not want to burn the scrolls as that might result in him suffocating down here due to lack of oxygen. Solas would not trigger the trap as that would be wrongly accusing him and she would not break any rules. Lozna was the only one who could do this.

Suddenly a bright blue magic circle appeared under their feet. The circle disappeared as soon as it appeared taking Jaime and Linri along with it.

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