The City of Wind and Ice

Chapter 5: Tales of the Untold

{Chapter 5: Tales of the Untold 1}
As Philomel fell asleep, her mind wandered off to memories of the last 10 years, warm and friendly memories, starting with  the first few months of her life spent in the library  during the  training the 2 had underwent,


Philomel would be writing down a journal with new spells and interesting things she had found out, of course in the time spent she ahd seen very interesting things that had happened, such as a very tall woman with a hourglass figure, Cosmic star eyes and white like heavens hair that looked as delicate as silk, that woman only ever stared at Philomel from afar  but never approached or spoke, whenever Philomel tried to approach the woman the library itself shifted, rearranging its spatial coordinates in a way that never let Philomel reach the woman


During the second week of  their stay Bylur  stepped outside through a door that lead to some kind of abandoned world, upon leaving the library he was met with the beautiful  sight of a forever in  season forest of blooming cherryblossoms and a endless valley that stretched on forever, with a breahtaking  river running across it, its water crystal clear with  massive fish jumping out and above the river, the sun seemingly locked in set position far above in the sky


during the third week Philomel found out that time  could create  a infinite variety of clothes that she wore in the  library, one of the many outfits she had asked time to prepare was a Long dress of very light pink  color, with Pink opal earrings to fit and a necklace of a crescent moon, Eventually as she spent time in the library she learned how to create custom forms of magic, as such she became capable of creating a magic that allows her to switch outfits at will, this while initally useless holds incredible value with the quick enough reaction time, for in the 4th week she had spent in the library she spared with Bylur, and caught him off guard by changing from  a elegant dress into heavy plated armor made of condensed bars of raw mana solidifed, this of course  meant temporar immobility  in exchange for  night invulnerability against bylur's attacks


at the end of the first month, Philomel  began to pick up on  cooking books from.. very possibly the future, she did not know of that as of then but the library essentially granted her access to knowledge that would be essential in the future.

[On that Afternoon]

Philomel ran into Brylur who had been training tirelessly, his dragon scales having become tougher and his ice magic having grown exponentially, the 2 finally sat down  by the river Brylur had earlier found.

Bylur: "I'm sorry that you must wait so long here for me to be done with my training"


Philomel: "Its fine, i myself am learning new fascinating things day by day, soaking in magical knowledge i didn't know of before hand.. I'm actually working on something i want to show you when its finished, its going to really  suprise you"

Bylur: "Really? could you give me a hint?"


Philomel: "Hmm.. Fine! but don't expect to see it anytime soon, its a long time project, its related to the soul"

Bylur: "the soul? which soul? the standard one responsible for magic and mana or the lesser soul that  gives us  all the abstract concepts like emotions and such?"


Philomel: "lesser soul..? hold on just how much more do  you know about stuff than me"


Bylur: "probably a lot, i'm  probably dozens times older than you"

Philomel: *Sigh* "Well.. i hope you  tell me all about those things then!"


Bylur: "i will, later if that's fine"


Philomel leaned on Brylur's shoulder, watching the beautiful sun finally set as the time changed to night, beautiful stars hung high in the sky, brightening it up


Philomel: "how much longer do you think  it will take for us to go back?"

Bylur: "i hope the upwards of months.. but it might take a few years depending on how much time wants to train me."


Philomel: "I see.."


Philomel  looked ahead, at the  beautiful river that  glisters with the light of the stars  on the night sky


Philomel: "You know.. i don't necessarily hate the north.. but.. don't you think it'd be nice to live in a valley like this? you know.. back in the normal world?"

Bylur. "it'd be nice.. i suppose we can settle down  somewhere in the middle of the continent or somewhere east instead once we go back."

Philomel: "That's great, i love that idea.. maybe we can even help the local tribes there, what  do you think about that?"

Bylur: "It'd be best to leave them alone.. For now at least."

Philomel: "Mhm.. i see"

Philomel nuzzled herself against his chest, smiling


[several weeks later.]


Philomel could be spotted  in a lone part of the library, attempting to cast a large scale spell, she knows the spell is complete but it fails, she's unaware as to why, but she simply continues to polish it, masters it, and even improves it while at it, her soul resonates with the mana in the air around her during the spell, shaking the mana in a delicate way


Later that day bylur and time would be sparing, byrul enjoying the thrill of battle while Time was evidently bored, he was  emotionless even, his expression unchanging like a stone mask, the winner of course, Time, with one swift spell  Brylur was out cold and only woke up days later,his head  resting on Philomel's lap

Philomel: "Wakey wakey, Sleeping Dragon."

Bylur: "Hey..! that's not fair.. He looks like a twink but hits  with the force of a mountain."

Philomel: "That's why i let you rest for so long."

Bylur: "Thanks you.."

Philomel: "Hey, Next time don't lose so hard, otherwise i'll be worried again."

Bylur: "i'll try to alright?"

Philomel: "You better try your best."

Bylur: "i will, i'll win next time"


. . .


Bylur didn't win the next time they sparred, Time won flawlessly again.


Philomel would be testing out a spell outside by the river, a spell that casted a expanding field of beautiful flowers that have a incredible variety of  colors, eventually the flower petals raise into the air and dance around her in the air, suddenly the petals are thrusted forward to the left by a gust of wind, the petals solidify  through mana and  shreed through a boulder, the petals raise back into the air and  begin to gracefully  rain and land on the surface of the river.


Bylur peaking from afar, the light of the moon gently reflecting off of the surface of the river and the petals, shining onto Philomel from all angles as she steps onto the surface of the river, standing on it without breaking surface tension, it was a miracle.. it was beautiful.. and done with such elegancy and grace.


 As more months passed, Bylur's feelings for Philomel grew more, his  heart becoming dependant on her  as she shines in his life in replacement of the sun that never reached the far north,she became the  warm life to his cold death, the warm to his cold.


Eventually, Something changed, Philomel disappeared for a period of a year, Time told him she's safe but Bylur felt uneasy, he has been seeing many beings throughout the library that he could never fully distinguish  nor could he identify, the thought of Philomel's disapperance freaked him out after all what could have those creatures done to her? to his precious love, his precious sun, this only caused him to become more determined, to become stronger, strong enough to topple the heavens so that whatever lurks here stands no chance.



Bylur  trained day by day, Cultivating his mana and soul, forming rings of circulating mana around his heart and soul, with each day adding more rings untill eventually he couldn't add more, So then he began to cultivate his martial arts, while he couldn't necessarily bring more strength from them, he could  gain a better grasp on combat.


But, what he didn't know was that Philomel in the mean time met the same lady she had been spotting all over the library, a avatar made to appeal not merely to  readers, but meant to appeal to The Readers, what happened to philomel was that she  had  a long conversation with said woman, the woman called herself "Mother Swirl" and she answered Philomel's  questions, every single one that she asked, however many of the answers were misleading, the mother could not tell Philomel the future, she could not tell her things beyond mortal knowledge, she could not tell her instructions for important things, but she could provide her knowledge beyond what one should logically be aware of, she described the world as a pit  with many flowers, Flowers that represents constructs, the pit  spirals outwards, it spirals out further and further from the center.. like a tornado raising to the sky, Each construct holding additional axis or concepts that pile onto it, it all holds a rhythm, its like a algorithm, a single repeated property from the constructs. the closer to the center the less complex it is, One flower may hold Dimensions, another may hold narratives, and yet another may consist of something yet more abstract, Philomel of course did not understand what this meant, for of course in her era there was no concept such as a narrative, the only literature that existed was in this very library  or in the form of ancient Grimoires, which held no narrative, merely essence of remaining magic from the past.



Philomel however in that moment understood, the person she has been speaking with was not merely a lady, it was  someone far beyond her understanding, and that person showed her a gift, a miracle, she showed her the purity of  magic straight from its source, of course Philomel expected magic to possess a source but what she misunderstood was that she thought that magic came from the soul, in reality the soul was more so a medium for magic to flow,this mere hint on its own didn't  tell Philomel anything, but, it helped her understand something very important for what she has been seeking to create, a new form of magic one not from the exertion of magic from the soul, but instead one from the manifestation of the soul through magic and after what felt to philomel like mere days, she had returned after 5 years worth of time within the library.

{Author's Note: While the library itself exists outside of the concept of space and time, the librarian, Time, has created a suplementary concept of it, a temporary form of time that only exists for living being in order to not  cause complications with biological processes}


After the mother of the swirl flickered philomel's forehead gently, Philomel lost conciousness and unexpectedly woke up being hugged by Bylur, in a warm and reassuring embrace.

{Chapter 5:Tales of the Untold 1, End}