DON'T PRAY TO ME

04 - Drazeydan

In the evening, after the classes are over, Rachel has an early dinner and packs her backpack to visit her school's library. Now that she has some basic information on Slade, she can research more. Rachel doesn't know why, but she wants to learn more about her savior. It's exciting. The school's library is only mostly used by the educators and is not visited by the students often. However, it's one of the most important buildings in the school, since it's the second largest library in the country next to the High Council's. The library is built not only in service to the school, but also as an archive, which is what it's widely used as. Scholars across the country can send in their requests to the library for a rare book that they couldn't find anywhere else.

When Rachel enters the library, just as she expected, there's no other visitor but her. She heads straight to the Dhamenci section of the library. She has only visited this section during her fourth year. That's when she had a curriculum that had subjects on Dhamenci, and it was also the first time she got to learn anything about the other kind. As Rachel browses through the first few shelves, she realizes she won't be able to find what she's looking for easily. The books in the Dhamenci section are arranged chronologically, and not subject wise like in the Deirci section. So Rachel heads to the center of the library, towards the librarian's desk. Erno Schola's librarian is a short, stubby and bespectacled woman named Holly Willy. When Rachel first met Ms. Willy, it was the first time she saw a Dhamen up close. Rachel had always found it odd that even though she had never seen any of the Dhamen students even accidentally step inside the library, that it's managed by a Dhamen. However, even though Ms. Willy is a Rank-B Dhamen, Rachel had found it somewhat in her ability to communicate with the librarian.

Rachel looks over the desk and sees Ms. Willy stamping and recording the new books to be added to the collection. The books are stacked around her in neat rows. "Ms. Willy," Rachel says, "Where can I find books on the Drazeydan clan?" Rachel is not at all hesitant to ask Ms. Willy about it, because Ms. Willy never cares or asks why? "MN 4036," Ms. Willy says without pausing her work to even look at Rachel. MN 4036? Rachel thinks. MN means Dhamenci section. But 4036 is a shelf that must be in the far end of that side. Rachel turns to her right and glances at the Dhamenci section. The lights are on above only the first twenty or so rows. Whatever book Rachel had needed in the past from this section she was able to retrieve it from within those first few rows. Rachel now looks beyond those illuminated shelves, at the seemingly infinite ones at the back, engulfed in darkness. She turns to Ms. Willy. Ms. Willy grabs a rusted lantern from her side and places it on the desk and snaps her fingers. The small wick at the center is lit with a white flame. "No need to turn all the lights for one student," Ms. Willy says, "and I also forgot where the switches are."

Rachel silently takes the lantern that's deceptively lightweight, and starts walking towards the abyss behind the Dhamenci section of the library. The row numbers are written in bold black against white wooden planks that are hanging at the sides of the shelves. It takes a moment for Rachel to reach the one she was looking for. She lifts the lantern and enters the row. She doesn't understand most of the text written on the spines of some of the books, but she knows they are ancient Dhamenci languages. There are also books on Dark Magic and Curses. Rachel feels extremely out of place and nervous, something she had never felt among a pile of books before. And then she starts to see books that seem to be clan records. Rachel expectantly runs the light over each spine, until she sees the name Drazeydan written in gold against a dark red velvet one. It's a few rows down from the top. Rachel steps back and moves the light around until she finds the ladder. She rushes over and drags the ladder to in front of the book and climbs. She takes out the book and climbs back down. Although she would usually take the books to the desks at the front to read them, that's a long way back for her now, so she sits down on the floor and opens the book and starts reading it under the light of the lantern.