Return to the Court
The three of them stood before a massive pile of rubble. Sirene insisted they were in the right place, so Rebecca began to clear it using her Irongrip vines, while Sergei and Sirene watched. They were deep into the ruins of Valenca, far deeper than Rebecca had even ventured over the years, and quite likely deeper than anyone had ventured since Valenca was abandoned. Rebecca casually cleared away entire buildings from what appeared to be a lot forgotten public square or courtyard, until they reached a layer of seemingly immaculate tiles.
"Here we are." Sirene said. "The roof of the court."
"The roof?" Sergei asked.
"Observe." Sirene stated. She walked around the cleared courtyard, tapping tiles with her foot seemingly at random. Just as Rebecca was about to ask what she was doing, the entire courtyard shook, and a hole opened in the ground. "Looks like the magic has run out. We'll have to jump down. Don't worry it's just a few feet."
Sirene walked over to the hole in the ground and jumped in without a moment's hesitation. Seeing her do it so readily gave Rebecca confidence and she did the same, motioning for Sergei to follow. The room they arrived in was small and dark, but Rebecca noticed a door at the end. Looking at Sirene expectantly, Sirene nodded and snapped her fingers. Some but not all of the lights flickered and turned on, bathing the room in a low glow.
"It saddens me to see it like this you know." Sirene said, gesturing at the state of disrepair of the magic.
"Where are we?" Rebecca asked. "For that matter, what kind of magic is this?"
"In the antechamber of the Court, and frankly I don't know. This magic predates me." Sirene replied, walking to the door to the rest of the Court. "Come on, follow me."
Rebecca audibly gasped when they stepped through the door into the library proper. She ran to the railing and looked down, and upon seeing it stretch down for nearly a dozen levels down, looked up and saw it stretch up equally high.
"Where are we?" Rebecca demanded.
"A pocket dimension. Welcome, Duchess Ashe, to the Umbra Curia!" Sirene exclaimed, clapping her hands, causing the ceiling to flicker to life with a soft glow. "You're in the largest repository of knowledge on Karand, and perhaps the entire universe! This is the true power of the Court!"
"This is... amazing." Rebecca said, a look of awe on her face. She had never seen anything even remotely like this in her life. Not in all her years of travels. "This is from all over Karand?"
"Not just Karand. Itari, the Gheddan Steppes, even Cleyix." Sirene said as they started to make their way down the stairs. "Even some places... beyond our universe."
"Beyond?" Sergei asked.
"Some of these books are older than I am. I'm not the only Conservator the library ever had, merely the longest serving."
"What's that whirring sound?" Rebecca asked as they descended yet another flight of stairs.
"You pay attention, that's good!" Sirene exclaimed with a laugh and stopping on a landing "Umbra Curia, affer mihi servum!"
A bookshelf on the landing whirred with a soft click, and a Dwarven automaton emerged from behind it. It had a gold and silver gleam and walked smoothly, far unlike the modern Dwarven golems which walked with a jerking motion.
"Greetings Conservator. Who is this you have brought?" The automaton said in its metallic voice. It turned to look at Rebecca and the white orbs placed on its head seemed to stare through Rebecca. "You smell of the Rus, but you are not one of them. You may speak."
"I am Duchess Rebecca Ashe, and the vampire with me is my servant Sergei Ivanov." Rebecca answered. She had the feeling she should be honest with this machine. "My husband is a Rusalki, he is the Moonfall Prince."
"Please wait, searching." The automaton said. They all stood quietly for several minutes, before it began to speak again. "Ancestors confirmed. You are a direct descendant of the last Consul."
"I’m a descendant of who?" Rebecca demanded, glaring at Sirene. "Did you set me up?"
Sirene had a shocked look on her face. She hadn't been expecting this. She looked at the automaton, then at Rebecca.
"For once, no. I genuinely had no idea you were related to him. Duchess, I think this makes my plans even more appropriate. But we need to make a detour first. Automaton, have there been any breaches of the Curia while I have been away?"
"When you sealed the Curia, we closed the dimensional portals behind you. The Curia has been inaccessible since you left, Conservator. We maintain it as we always did, albeit in some peace and quiet."
Sirene could swear the automaton would smile if it could at that last line, but moved right along.
"Good. We're heading to the private quarters of former Magus Natsuki first. Are they still intact?"
"Affirmative. The last people to visit Magus Natsuki's quarters were Tanya Torvaris and Conservator Ignitis in 8902." The automaton answered as Sirene began to walk again.
Sirene inhaled. Eigengrau was right, Tanya did have them return before she died. But what was the gift she left? As she weighed the options, Rebecca spoke up.
"Now this is interesting." Rebecca said with a venomous smile. "You're just addicted to working with villains, aren't you?"
"You don't know anything about her." Sirene snapped. "Tanya was a complicated person. I petitioned Lady Vordea to erase all knowledge of an entire subschool of Creation Magic from existence after Tanya died."
Rebecca smirked before continuing. "Did someone fall in love with a villain? A wicked witch?"
"Shut up!" Sirene yelled, whirling to stare at Rebecca, who was taken aback at the outburst from Sirene. "Tanya's evil was committed under a kind of magic no longer possible! Mind control!"