Tanya's Legacy
Rebecca didn't have much to look at as they descended the long staircase. It was completely straight, and the brick walls which were uncomfortably close to begin with, seemed to close in the further down they went. For nearly 10 minutes they walked down the seemingly endless stair, until at last they arrived at a small wooden door. Sirene opened it, revealing a small room lined with books, at the centre of which there were three green chairs around a table. It was at this point she realised the automaton was no longer with them.
"Sirene, what happened to the-"
"They don't come down here." Sirene answered, cutting her off. "Now then, a gift?"
Sirene started looking around. Natsuki's library was perfectly preserved and for a moment she remembered the last time she was in here with Natsuki and Julia, a thousand years ago. Simpler times, she thought to herself. It only took a couple minutes to look around the room, and she found nothing amiss.
"What did she leave?" Sirene asked out loud.
"Tell us more about Tanya." Sergei suggested. "Would she have encoded it in the books?"
"We'd easily spend a year here reading every book and the Duchess doesn't have that kind of time." Sirene pointed out.
"I don't think he meant like that." Rebecca said, looking at the bookshelves. "Books are out of place."
"How can you be so sure?" Sirene asked, looking at the books.
"Natsuki was a meticulous man, I can tell from this library. There's a dozen languages in here, and each language is arranged by subject. There's seventeen books in the wrong category sections, and three books in the wrong language section."
"We've been in here for less than 5 minutes how did you read all the book titles already?" Sirene demanded. Sirene glanced around at the books though, and the books in the wrong language sections stood out immediately. "Well that's odd..."
"Isn't it?" Rebecca asked, stepping over to one of the books. "Hmmm. Old Dwarven if I'm not mistaken. Secrets of the Eternal Library by Hathwick." Rebecca said, offering the book to Sirene.
"Interesting. That was one of the first places we journeyed." Sirene said, taking the book and tapping her chin. "We destroyed it entirely by accident, so don't get any ideas."
"Not so eternal now, is it?" Rebecca chuckled. "Think it's a hint?"
"Definitely. Where was that book?"
"In a section written in Middle Rozen. Second one is a bit more subtle. Only noticed because of the author name. The Divine Joke by Shandalar Valmaris. But it's written in Early Gilnan despite the title name being in Elven."
"How did you know that?" Sirene asked, grabbing the book out of Rebecca's hands.
"I own a copy, Sirene." Rebecca said icily. "Any significance to that book?"
"Bit of a secret, that. But if you've read the book, no harm in revealing it. Tanya Torvaris was a natural shapeshifter. But there was a... price if you will." Sirene said, looking a bit downcast. "She was a... well there's no good way to put it. A facestealer."
"A facestealer?" Rebecca asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do continue."
"She... Tanya could perfectly mimic anybody she killed." Sirene said, looking quite sad. "Not just their faces, she would steal their memories, their personalities."
"You befriended a monster like that and you have the gall to moralise at me?" Rebecca asked, clear anger in her voice. She was outraged by the very idea of what Sirene was describing, but purely from a security standpoint. Did people like that even still exist?
"You misunderstand." Sirene began to answer, before pausing to wipe away a tear. "She told me that on her deathbed. I never knew until that moment how she could shapeshift."
Rebecca was unconvinced, and seized on an earlier topic to continue this interrogation.
"She got you, didn't she? With that spell you mentioned, Enrapture." Rebecca said, prodding at Sirene. "Creation magic doesn't expire with the death of the caster, Sirene."
"No she didn't!" Sirene shouted. "Even if she did, I trusted her with my life! I loved her, dammit!"
"Sergei. Now." Rebecca said, snapping her fingers.
Sirene was restrained tightly in mere moments by both Sergei and Rebecca's vines as they shot out from the floorboards. She screamed in pain as Sergei broke the bones in her arms and legs, before roughly tossing her on a chair.
"I know for a fact it'll take you awhile to heal that many broken bones." Rebecca said, dusting her hands as she stood in front of Sirene, who struggled against the vines. "Now that this has been revealed, I finally understand what's always bothered me about you."
"What are you talking about you psycho? Let me go!" Sirene shouted as she struggled. Damn the court, why did she ever let Natsuki build his library so far outside of the systems?
"Hmmm. First thing's first." Rebecca said, crouching down to look Sirene in the face. Sirene stared back at her with a look of rage, but Rebecca was right. There was something wrong with her eyes. "Your eyes look unfocused. Strange. Like you're staring off into the distance. Let's start simply enough. Wiederherstellen!"
Sirene gasped as thousand year old chains were released from her mind. Just as Rebecca suspected, Enrapture had never been undone. She groaned as locked memories came flooding back. Tanya had tricked her! Eigengrau had tricked her! A thousand years!
"Duchess..." Sirene said groggily, as she tried to look up at Rebecca. "Tanya is lucky she's already dead." Sirene closed her eyes and shook her head again. "Why did my Master trick me like that?"
"Tricked by your own God. Fascinating. I'll ask you again. Did you love Tanya Torvaris?" Rebecca asked, standing up again.
"Hah!" Sirene spat, as the vines loosened just enough for her bones to begin healing. "My mind was tricked into loving her! Duchess, you have my thanks. You freed me from a curse I couldn't reveal I was still under. How did you tell?"
"Every time we ever met there was a very powerful aura of a creation spell surrounding you. Frankly I wasn't sure what it was until today when you mentioned Enrapture. I want something in return." Rebecca said, sitting down in the chair across from Sirene.
"You want to know how to cast it, don't you?" Sirene asked, sighing.
"What gave you that idea? I just want to know about it. It's no fun if you can simply control their mind like a puppet." Rebecca said dismissively. "However..."
"You have an idea, don't you? Let's hear it."
"A glance at the casting circle for it would tell me if I could modify it how I want." Rebecca said. She was so close. She could memorise the spell in an instant if she saw the circle it used. She'd never use it on Sirene, of course. But others? Extremely useful.
Sirene eyed Rebecca dubiously. Even without Enrapture in her mind telling her not to share the secrets of the spell, she wondered what kind of future Karand would see with the Ashen Empress in possession of such a spell. Rebecca for her part stared at Sirene completely expressionless and was completely unreadable as she waited for Sirene's answer. She glanced at Sergei, but he didn't seem to be paying attention and was busy reading a book.
"I won't show you the circle, Duchess Ashe." Sirene eventually said. Seeing Rebecca start to open her mouth to protest, she put up a hand. "However, I'll describe the effects. Surely a skilled mage such as yourself could recreate it, knowing those?" Sirene said with a smile, playing to Rebecca's ego.
"Marvellous. Back to the topic at hand though. The third book is a biography about you written in... well this is interesting. Imperial Orcish." Rebecca said, pointing at a book on the shelf.
Sirene reached over and plucked it off the shelf. Upon reading the author's name, her face sank. Emperor Lazarus. "Of course."
"Oh?" Rebecca asked. "Know the author?"
"It's Emperor Lazarus." Sirene said, shaking her head. "This could be about any point in history, Duchess."
At Rebecca's urging, Sirene opened the book and to her surprise a letter fell out. Scooping it up, on the outside it was addressed to... Rebecca?
"Duchess you aren't going to believe it." Sirene said, handing the letter to Rebecca. "It's addressed to you, in Tanya's writing."
Rebecca opened the letter and started reading.
Duchess Rebecca Ashe,
We will never meet, separated by the gulf of time we are. I know of you from the biography of Sirene written by the Mad Emperor this letter is enclosed in. Thank you for having the strength to free her from the curse I burdened her with. Judge me how you wish, but I knew I'd never have it in me to let my wife think freely. Ask her when you're done here about Baroness Barclay, there's some unfortunate parallels in your story with hers. For now though, take care of the court. If you ever break into Hell, come find me and I'll tell you my side of the story in person.
Tanya Torvaris
"Well?" Sirene asked. "What does it say?"
"I think I was the gift." Rebecca said with a sigh, handing the letter to Sirene. "Lazarus knew from the start. Tanya's final gift was bringing me to you in order to free your mind."
"Barclay, huh?" Sirene said, stroking her chin. "She has a point, in a way. Well I think we've spent enough time in here."
"Oh we're already done?" Sergei asked, looking up from the book.
"Just in here. Let's see if the Court's magic will accept you." Sirene said, already starting to climb the long staircase. "Come on."
Rebecca took one last look around the room before leaving. She liked it, it had a very cozy feeling to it. She'd definitely replace the staircase with a displacement rune, though.