Bab 57: Intruders?
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
---
The first night after Master Onuris left was spent in relaxation. I just conjured a soft mattress for myself, and slept on it, after casting a few Wards around myself, and the Library doors.
But, the next morning, meaning now, I had realised something. I have no idea how long Master Onuris will be gone, and I cannot keep sleeping between book shelves. Master Onuris had a room in the wall for himself, at the far end of the Library. So.. why not carve a similar room for myself?
After drinking some warm milk, and freshening up in my small modest house, I return to the Magical Library, and immediately get to work.
The Library stood as tall as three floors stacked on top of each other, with shelves lining the walls. Which is really weird if you don't count Magic, since the Magical Library had only one floor to itself. Space expansion, baby.
There were ladders, as well as balconies to reach those upper books, along with a few tables and chairs on each floor. Length wise, the Library was as big as the Hogwarts Library, with almost thrice as many books.
But, considering that many of them were translations of the same books in Latin and Greek, one can say there were about as many books as the Hogwarts Library. Original language, Greek, and Latin, that's how the books are stored, since not many people other than actual Egyptians actually spoke, or read Egyptian.
The shelves were not always joined to each other, no. Since the shelves were divided by either subject or language, there were spaces of about two to three feet between some shelves. One such empty space contained the door to Master Onuris's room, which is warded beyond all belief.
The only way to enter his room without dying or being cursed, is to be him, or be with him. Egyptian curses are a dangerous subject, and in the hands of a Master, Deadly.
On the left wall, there was another such space, right between to the History and Healing shelves, on the ground floor itself.
Holding my hand up, I touch the wall, and cast a transfiguration spell to create an indent into the wall, just an inch deep. The spell made it so the rock wall was pushed inside an inch, in an area of 7x2.5 feet. Taking a deep breath, I focus within myself, and flex my palm once more, still touching the wall.
With a slam, as if space itself was being stretched, the wall indent gets flown backwards, going about a dozen meters, and then stops. Space expansion is easy, when it is temporary. Any Wizard can do it, if they have knowledge of the spells, and I learned the spells as light reading.
The indent that was just an inch deep, now goes a dozen meters deep, more than enough for me. Unfortunately, it is still just 2.5 feet wide, and 7 feet high. Well, lets expand the room some more.
--
Now standing in a small pseudo apartment, with the dimensions being 40x40x10 cubic feet, I smile. This is more than enough, this is wonderful. The room was made permanent, or at least permanent until I dispell all the invisible Runes carved on the wall.
The apartment had a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a toilet, with everything made out of transfigured stuff. Permanent enchantments could conjure water in a shower head, or even get rid of the water in the bathtub. They also helped in getting rid of whatever I drop in the toilet, disintegrating it into Nonexistence.
The Kitchen just had a Runic stove, a few water containers, and some of the spices that I had bought before. The rest, I can bring through short trips. I cannot leave the Library alone for a long time, since Master Onuris did leave me in-charge.
The room was also Enchanted to give me Temperature control, while an enchanted Lumos Orb stood high up, to provide light. Other needs were also similarly taken care of by my Magic, like oxygen, bed, etc.
There was a door now, where the wall once stood, leading outside to the Library. The door was enchanted to look and feel like normal stone, for anyone not me. From the inside, I could also use an Enchantment on the wall to see whatever is happening outside, by making the door transparent from my side.
All of this, took just a couple hours of my morning.
I hear the soft bell go off once more, telling me that the Royal Mages were here once again. Huh, wonder if its just Tatiana, or the entire party.
Exiting my small apartment, I lock the door, and cast the Ward to make it less noticeable. And then, I walk past three shelves standing in the middle of the room, and stand in the position Master Onuris has last taken, my hands held in front of me, completely visible, facing the door.
Within a minute, the door opens, letting in the 7 members of the Royal Mages. Tatiana stops, as the other members go towards the shelves, and asks, "Where is Priest Onuris?"
I keep my head down, and answer, "Master Onuris has gone to a summit at the Temple of Osiris, High Mage. He did not inform me as to when he will be back, but he left me in charge of the Library in the meanwhile."
Tatiana frowns, and asks, "How well can you translate Sanskrit?"
I smile, and say, "I am fluent, High Mage."
Tatiana nods, and waves her hand, conjuring three Sanskrit books on the table. She then says, "I will be back for the translations on the seventh day, keep them ready."
I nod, and keep smiling. Tatiana stares at me for a moment, and then has a noticeable twitch on her lips, her smile coming on her face. Turning away from me, she joins her fellow Mages at the shelves, as they copy a few books for their collection.
And then, barely 5 minutes after they came in, the Royal Mages leave, taking some books on Enchantments and Battle Magics with them. Of course, they just took copies of the books, the originals should always remain in the Library, that is the Law.
The next few days are spent in translating the Sanskrit books into Greek and Latin. I keep the original Sanskrit books in the shelves, while also keeping a set of copied translations with them. The books were interesting, the subject being Enchantment, Weapon Forging, and Kalaripayattu, a Martial Art from South India.
It'll surely be interesting to learn these subjects, implementing them to my already impressive list of talents. Modesty, a trait I also need to learn.
On the 6th night, however, something happens. Something.. mildly annoying, as well as interesting.
I was asleep, or my body was, inside my hidden room, while my Astral form was reading a journal of an old Alchemist, someone who died at the age of 220, just before he could succeed in the invention of the Philosopher's stone. The Rituals in this book are very interesting, well written.
There were Alchemical Rituals to merge two metals into a single metal, different Rituals depending on the Magical properties of the metals. And this man had invented them to create something more than a simple alloy.
The end result is more than the mixture, with magical properties that might, or might not belong to the parent metals. But, I still have two years before I can take part in any Ritual. I was keeping count.
While I was reading the book, leisurely laying down on empty air, the ghost of the book held in my hand, I see the door open. Since I didn't hear the Bell ringing, nor did I get any warning, I understood that someone had sneaked in using Magic.
As the door opens completely, 7 people enter, all with their wands and staffs extended. Two of them were Witches while five were Wizards. Three of them, including one of the Witches, were wielding Staffs, and were dark skinned. Africans.
The other four were all wielding Wands, two of them Greek, and two Romans, I could tell from their skin tones.
All of them, however, wore gold earrings, made in the same style that the Royal Mages wore, which prevented their Minds from being penetrated. While the enchantments were not uncommon, the shape of the Earrings was unique for the Royal Mages. Master Onuris's earrings were large, covering his entire ears.
Tatiana's were also big, but they dangled down her ear from her earlobe. The other Royal Mages however, had earrings that were small, and looked like thumbtack pins. These intruders wore earrings similar to that.
"Are you sure he's not here?" One of the Greek men asks, pointing his wand in every direction.
The Egyptian men grunt, as one of them answers in a low pitched voice, "The Temple of Osiris is holding a summit, and the old man is there."
"And what of the other Mage? The scholar?" The same Greek man asks, as they start casting detection spells. Thankfully, I'd made sure to protect my room for such spells using Hieroglyphs.
The other Egyptian man says, "Our Employer was very clear, Phormos. The other man is an untrained Mage, with no Magical focus. He is not a threat, so if you see him, feel free to kill away."
The Egyptian witch comes forward, and taps her staff on the ground a few times. As she does so, a few Egyptian symbols light up on the walls, showing the Enchantments that the Library was protected by.
The woman raises her staff, and fires a condensed ball of Magic out of the staff head. The ball of Magic flies towards a single Symbol, and causes it to light up in flames.
Shit! They just destroyed the Flame protection Enchantment.
The woman turns towards the others, and says, "Our job is clear, make sure all the books are burned completely."
"I don't need a woman to tell me what to do." One of the Romans says, as he starts walking towards the shelves in the back.
Okay, I've seen enough. With a snap, I fly back into my own body, and open my eyes. I apparate back into the library, right behind the Egyptian witch, and tap her head. Thanks to the Stupefy spell my hand was charged with, she immediately drops down, unconscious.
I apparate away as soon as she starts dropping down, and go behind the other Egyptians, the two Wizards who had stayed together. They had their staffs pointed towards the Witch, where I just was, with a spell on their tongues. I don't give them the opportunity, however, and stun them both with two taps.
I apparate away, and see two spells pass by my previous location, that splash harmlessly on the shelves, making me sigh a bit in relief. The only enchantment they had taken down was the Anti-Flames Enchantment. The Library was still protected from offensive spells that don't create Flames.
Within half a minute, I have all the 7 witches and wizards stunned unconscious, without too much of an effort on my side, or too much resistance from theirs. One by one, I take the earrings off of their ears, and store them in the Nowhere.
I'll study the enchantments later, to see if I can find out exactly how they work. But first, lets see who hired these bastards.. and bitches, lets not forget the two Witches.
"What the fuck happened in here?" I hear a familiar voice ask, as I come out of the mind of my last victim. I was sitting next to the man, with my hands touching his forehead for smoother experience.
I look up, at Tatiana, and see her observing the downed people, and me standing over them. I say, "These wonderful Mages here sneaked into the Library, using an enchanted artefact to stay undetected by the Library's Wards, in the hopes of burning the Library down."
Tatiana raises her eyebrow, and I feel her being impressed with me despite her still wearing the earrings. She then asks, "And.. how did one untrained Mage defeat.. seven, all of whom had Wands and Staffs?"
I smirk, thankful at not having to lie, and say, "I was awake, heard them walk in and talk, and I used the spell you taught me to sneak attack all of them. I appeared behind each person, stunned them with a simple spell, making it quick so they don't get the opportunity to defend themselves."
Tatiana blinks, and asks, "You.. defeated.. seven people.. by using just two spells?" She then looks me up and down, and nods to herself. She mumbles, "Zeus, I'm impressed even more."
Shaking her head, she waves her hand, lifting all the seven people up into the air. She says, "I will take them to the prisons. They dared to attack the property of the Pharoah, the punishment, obviously, is Public execution."
I point at their weapons, wands and staffs, that were still fallen on the ground, and ask, "What do I do with that?"
Tatiana smirks, and says, "You don't have a Focus, right? See if one of them suits you. Otherwise burn them, I don't care. When I come back, you can tell me what you found in their minds."
This causes me to wince visibly, because of course she realised what I was doing. I nod at her, and sigh, as I see her walk out without another word. The Magical focuses, meanwhile, I store in the Nowhere. I'm not going to use someone else's Staff, or a wand.
But, studying them will allow me to make my own staff and wand better.
Almost five minutes later, Tatiana returns to the Library, once again through the door.
While Apparition is possible inside, you can't do it from outside the Library. You also can't disapparate from the Library. Instead of preventing the process of Apparition completely, since the Spell isn't that famous yet, the Wards just prevent anyone from Magically appearing, or disappearing from the room. Even Portals cannot be formed from inside the Library to outside.
While Tatiana was gone, I had fixed the Wards in the Library, replacing the Hieroglyph that the Egyptian Witch had destroyed, and reconnecting the Symbols with each other.
As soon as she enters, seeing me at the desk, she plops down on a chair, and stares at me. For a minute, she just stares, all the while I stare back, her thoughts unavailable to me right now.
She then says, "So.. you're more trained than you like to show."
Her statement was factual, but I know that she was just guessing that. She knows I can apparate like her, just 10 days after she had taught it to me, that I can stun people into unconsciousness, and that I can get into people's minds.
Or at least, she knows I can get into the minds of unconscious people.
Nodding, I say, "I know a few tricks, I practice my Magic a lot, you know."
"Why did you lie then?" Tatiana asks, sounding a bit hurt, and angry, although she tried to hide it.
I sigh, and say, "I never lied." And that's a lie. "I don't actually have a wand, or a staff, but I learned during my travels, and my studies in the Library, to use my Magic without any focus."
Tatiana waves her hand, and says, "Most Mages learn to use Magic without a focus, what kind of Mage depends on wood to cast all their spells? No, you lied about your capabilities. You didn't tell me how good you were at using Magic. But, I suppose I should have realised it, your Magic was too strong to be untrained."
I nod, accepting that. But I wonder what she will say when she learns that most Wizards in the future depend on Wands to cast Magic.
She then asks, "Well, what else can you do? And are you a spy?"
I lean back, resting my back on the chair, and say, "I told you this when we first met, Tatiana. I am not a spy, my only goal is to learn. I don't like to seek attention, and so, I pretend to be weak, that is all. As for what I can do, there's a lot. Maybe some day, I will show you, when we get the time and opportunity."
If she wants to take me in, I'll have to disappear, flee after defeating her. She's a strong witch, probably just a bit weaker than Dumbledore or I. But I have a lot more tricks up my sleeve than her, and I know I can knock her out, erase her memories and escape within five minutes.
Tatiana sighs, rubbing her forehead. She says, "Zeus, you're lucky I like you." She then looks at me, and says, "Look me in the eyes, and tell me. Do you intend to harm the Pharaoh or his family?"
I stare at her beautiful brown eyes, and say, "No, I don't intend him any harm. I don't rightly care about the Pharaoh. He can do whatever he wants, I just want to learn Magic."
Nodding, Tatiana asks, "Do you intend to steal the knowledge from the Royal Mages' Library?"
Still staring straight, I say, "No, I don't. I have this impressive Library all to myself, why would I steal from 7 strong Mages?"
Well, that's definitely a lie. While I won't steal from them immediately, or as long as Tatiana is the High Mage, I will. Later.
Tatiana narrows her eyes, a bit suspicious. But I've mastered the art of lying completely. Controlling my heartbeat was easy thanks to the training of the Kuronin, which I've practiced a bit.
Two more years, before I can completely merge all those memories with my body, and my mind. Note to self, check the Ritual once again, see if I can find a way to negate the Emotional components from the memories.
I don't want to become loyal to the Hand, or turn into an experimental genius geneticist.
Tatiana says, "Fine, I believe you. But I will be keeping an eye on you. Now, what did you find in their minds?"
Sighing in relief, I say, "They were hired by someone, whose name they didn't know. His face was hidden by a cloak at all times, and I don't even know if it was a Mage or not. I just know that they were approached by him in the Vegetable market behind the Palace. They received 100 silver coins each, just to burn the Library down."
"So, they don't even know who it is, or why he did it. Great." Tatiana says, rubbing her forehead.
Nodding, I say, "We know it is someone rich, someone who knew Master Onuris would be gone. So, I'm guessing someone who has connections in the Palace."
Tatiana nods, and then shakes her head. She says, "Forget it, the Royal Mages will deal with it. On to a more serious matter.. us."
"Yes?" I ask, leaning forward with a smile.
"You're attractive, and you're strong too. That appeals to me. But.. anything we do has a risk of making an enemy out of the Pharaoh. And he might not be a Mage, but he is the most powerful person in the Realm." Tatiana says, looking away from me.
I slowly raise my hand, and caress her face. Turning her head gently, to have her look towards me once again, I softly ask, "And what do you want?"
Tatiana stares at me, for a minute. Both of us say nothing, as we keep staring. And then, she says, "Fuck it."
And with the wave of her hand, the table slides away, as she jumps on top of me, her lips meeting mine. For a minute, we keep kissing, our hands roaming each others bodies, as she grinds on top of me.
Separating for a bit, she says, "I am still pissed at your deceit, but you don't seem like the person to purposefully lie. Also, you're good looking. Now, take me."
I just nod, and lift her up. As I begin taking off her clothes, while walking towards my hidden Room, I say, "As you wish, my lady."
Nodding in satisfaction, Tatiana returns her lips to mine, and keeps kissing me.
---
The next morning, after Tatiana left for the Palace, I begin doing something that I believed was extremely necessary. Copying the Library down.
It won't be instantaneous, and it will take a whole lot of time. But, it is needed, to protect the Knowledge here.
The Library is protected from flames, lightning, as well as Magical attacks, usually. The Library also.. harshly discouraged prospective thieves, by way of illusions in the Dark Path, or by way of fear inducement. That is what is supposed to happen, yes.
These attacking Wizards had an artefact in their possession, that is now in the Nowhere, that allowed them to sneak in even through the Magical Protections. They knew exactly how to make the Magical Protections visible to the naked eye, and they knew how to destroy a single Protection Ward.
Which means, whoever hired them was once a student here, and not recently. He also knew a lot about the Library.
And this might not be the last time he tries something.
Taking a dagger out of Nowhere, I kneel down near the door, and get to work on carving Alchemical Symbols. Time to start copying the Library down.
--
"What.. do you think you're doing?" A menacing voice asks, as I feel something touching the back of my head.
Damn, I was so focused on carving the symbols on the Ground that I didn't even see him come in.
I slowly raise my hands, and say, "Check the enchantments on the Library, you'll see something you won't like."
"I'm already seeing something I don't like. You're desecrating the Library!" Master Onuris hisses out, his staff still held behind my head.
I immediately apparate from my position near the third or so shelf, appearing near the door, with my hands folded. Master Onuris walks from the middle of those shelves, and points his staff at me, but doesn't attack, seeing me not even try to fight.
I say, "I am trying to ensure the Knowledge remains protected. Now, check the Enchantments, Master Onuris."
Master Onuris keeps his Staff pointed at me for a while, and I just stare at him. If there is a battle, he will win, even if I use Sorcery or Telekinesis. He's just that strong, I know. Our battle will be long, drawn out, but he will win.
He's stayed in the Magical Library of Alexandria for centuries, and has read every book that came through here. He's probably the most knowledgeable Wizard currently around.
But, I have a lot more methods of escaping, not to forget my Island to hide out on.
It doesn't come to that, however, as Master Onuris slowly lowers his staff, and taps the floor with its butt. The ground ripples, as a wave of Magic is emitted out of the staff, and the wall Hieroglyphs become visible once again.
All of the Symbols on the wall glowed white in colour, many of them connected with a few lines or squiggles. One single Symbol, however, an Hieroglyph denoting a flaming torch was in another colour, yellow. When the witch had burnt the Symbol, it had turned black. And when I repaired it, I expected it to turn white once again. Unfortunately, while it did repair the ward, the Symbol was in a different colour to show that it had been repaired by someone not the Master of the Wards.
"What…? Who did that?" Master Onuris asks, as he looks at it, first whispering in horror, and then in anger.
I tell him about the attack yesterday, and about my suspicions, leaving out the fact that Tatiana and I.. fucked.
I say, "I understood that the person who hired them was knowledgeable about the Library, and so, I wanted to protect the knowledge." Pausing, I puff my chest up a bit, proud of my accomplishment, and explain, "The Alchemical Spell I'm carving on the ground will take all the knowledge within these four walls, and store it.. somewhere else, temporarily. Then, whenever I want to bring the knowledge out, I need to carve a second Spell wherever the destination is."
I really was proud of it. Instantaneously copy and paste knowledge from one location to another. Well, not entirely instantaneous. The Knowledge absorption will take around a month or so to completely store all knowledge.
The second Spell will take a decade to create all the necessary books out of nothing. Transmutation, on such a large scale, cannot happen immediately without some sort of Power Source, like the Philosopher's Stone which I most definitely don't have. It takes time. Time to Transmute books, fill them with knowledge in the correct spots, and doing it all in the right sequence.
Master Onuris sighs, as he sits down on his chair, tiredly. He says, "In the last century itself, there have been dozens of scholars that used the Library. Some are still here, some left for their countries, and most of them are dead. I can't think of anyone that would want to burn the library, that's still alive."
I nod, and say, "I know, it's a long shot. But I didn't want to take the risk that the person succeeds. If not now, then later, he might try again and again. And so.. this."
I point towards the symbols covering the ground all around us. I was around halfway done, 4 hours after I had begun, and the front part of the Library was completely covered in carved symbols. The part beyond the shelves, that were kept in the middle of the room, was still blank.
Nodding, Master Onuris says, "Yes.. I understand why you're doing it." Sighing, he points his staff at the burned out Hieroglyph, and shoots a blast of Magic at it. The Sun glows white once again, now fully repaired.
He then turns towards me, and says, "As much as it pains me to say this.. continue with your work. But do know this. If you try to harm the Library.. I am the Librarian who you will have to face."
I look at him incredulously, and say, "I would sooner die than harm the Library. I love knowledge too much to see it disappear."
Master Onuris nods, and starts walking towards his room. He then stops, and snaps his head towards the wall, staring right at the invisible, undetectable door that leads to my room.
He slowly turns his head towards me, scowling, and I immediately defend myself and say, "What was I even supposed to do? Sleep, eat and shit near the books?"
Master Onuris sniffs, and starts walking once again. His back turned towards me, he leaves a departing order, and says, "Document what you're doing, Athreos. Such intricate knowledge of Khema shouldn't disappear either."
I sigh, as he walks out. Thank God I got permission from him. I'm basically stealing all the knowledge here, but the difference is.. I'm not leaving the Library without the knowledge. I'm basically doing the same as the Royal Mages do, copy the books.
Only, I'm doing it on a larger scale.
Let's just hope the Library stays intact for at least one more month.
The next day, after the Alchemical Spell has begun its work, I leave for the Sanctuary. It'll take a month for the Spell to work completely, but I won't need to be there during that time. Besides, Master Onuris can protect the Library better than I can.
Meanwhile, I need to do something else. I need to build a Castle for myself.
I was actually going to just build a simple wooden house, but then I thought. Will the house stay intact for 2000 more years? Probably not, even with all the spells I'll cast. So, my plans were changed to a Stone House.
And I did plan to limit it to a house.
But then, I wanted to add a Library, then a Potions Lab, then an Alchemy Lab, then a Ritual Chamber, an isolated Practice room, a dungeon with prison cells, just in case, and of course, Greenhouses. One by one, rooms kept getting added to my plan of building a house, and now, it is a very small castle.
If I want the Castle to live through the 2000 years, and still stay completely intact when I go back to my time, then I need to build it to be as unexpanded as possible. Gods, if only I had the Resurrection Stone right now, I would have called the Dwarven ghosts or something.
And no way I'm bringing anyone I don't completely trust here. So, I'm doing it myself.
Thank God there are spells for that.
Holding the Elder Wand in my right hand, I raise both my hands into the air. I was standing a few meters away from the spot where the Basilisk Heartstone was buried. I was going to build the Castle right over the Central Heartstone, so that I can bind the Castle Wards to it.
Taking a deep breath, I twirl my wand in my hand, and begin. Slowly, Earth starts getting dug in, to give way to the foundation of the Castle. This.. is going to take a few hours, I think.
---
Two days later, as I was in the Library reading through the curses once again, the bell sounds once again, as a minute later Tatiana enters the library. Her face was grim, as she immediately appraches me to the curiousity of Master Onuris.
She stops before me, and says, "I need your help."
"What happened?" I ask, closing the book and placing it back in the shelf.
Tatiana says, "The people you caught.. they're dead, they died two days ago before they could even be presented to the Pharaoh. You were inside their minds, you've seen what the person who hired them looks like. I need you to guide me to him."
Sighing, I nod, and say, "Of course, High Mage."
I turn towards Master Onuris, and he just nods, saying nothing.
Well, time to track down a traitor to the Kingdom.
---
A/N: A relatively short chapter, and I did want to go further. But this place felt like the right time to stop.
I'd just like to remind you all that the MC's name is Mason, not Harry. And while he's currently known as Athreos, to the Alexandrians, he is still the same Mason.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone