Aeternitas by M Mixson (free ereaders txt) 📖

hand side of the door was the oldest and it seemed to be slowly crumbling. Zese thought it was such a shame that it was starting to fade, it would have been beautiful in its prime.

As he looked further to the right he could see the style changing, the son adding onto the father’s work. From there he could see the grandson and then the grandson’s son and so on. There almost to the end of the wall were his grandfather’s and his father’s paintings.

There next to the altarpiece was a container of paints and brushes. It was as if his body knew what to do. It headed to the paints and picked them up carefully. He turned them over in his hands trying to get the feel for them.

He returned to the wall to study his grandfather’s. At the bottom in the right hand corner was his signature, probably an earlier version of his later one. The name read quite gracefully

Diar

He smiled as he traced the signature with his fingers. He’d loved his grandfather for the small amount of time he’d known him. But now was not the time to dwell in the past so he moved onto his father’s. His father’s was much less boldly painted that his grandfather’s but it could still be considered a triumph. Slowly and painstakingly over the next few hours he completed the story: the story of Aniatea. He smiled as he painted the Princess glowing and smiling as she watched over the world.

As if his thoughts had called her he heard a melodic ringing in his ears and he travelled over to the altar where he sank down onto the pillow.

He sat there for what must have been hours but when he rose it felt like he’d just woken from a long restful nap.

But now he’d learned who his family truly were, they were oracles, the voices of the Gods.

Chapter 7: Initiation

Zese stepped out the underground chamber and stretched. He covered his mouth as he let out a gigantic yawn. His whole body shook with that yawn. He been in the chamber eating nothing and drinking only water from the well that was in the chamber for three days. He had been going through a purification ceremony to become a true oracle of the Princess. She talked to him often now that she could communicate with him. The Princess often told him of different futures, of war, of famine, of plague and secrets of the world. She even told him her name – a name that had been lost for many centuries. Her name was Lysaes. Now that he was thirteen she had decided it was time for him to become a fully-fledged oracle. Once he followed the ceremony she would inform the two other oracles and the three priestesses that still served her.

He had asked her when she had mentioned them if, “Did you tell them your name?”

“No, you’re the only one who knows my name. You’re special, far more special than you think you are. You are destined for something great.”

He cocked his head to the side. “When you say something great, what do you mean? Do you mean that I’m going to get glory, power, love?”

Lysaes smiled mysteriously and replied, “Not necessarily, being destined for something great is not always a good thing, yes, some of your heroes are always told they’re destined for something great, but being destined for something great – that is up to you. Only you can make this greatness happen, by your actions, by your words. I can only tell you a possibility – something that may come to pass.”

“Then why do you say it?”

“So many questions!” she laughed. “It is not that I mean to tell you these things. When you are in multiple worlds at once sometimes they overlap and you don’t realize that you’re speaking to a different…you. It’s very complicated and you’ll understand when you’re fully initiated.”

The conversation had sparked Zese’s interest and passion and he’d gone looking for answers. He’d pulled out the tomes of history from where his father kept them in their library. They were massive, heavy things, he could barely lift them from their spot on the top shelf. Once he had all three tomes on the table he had to find a washing cloth to wipe them down. They were covered in heavy grit, dust and deteriorating slightly of old age.

Gently he moved the dry cloth over the first cover, revealing slim paths of the actual cover. He carefully dunked a second cloth in warm water and wrung it out so it was only slightly dampened and rubbed it on the cover. As if by some magic the dust and dirt came off more easily. With each broad stroke of the steadily dirtying cloth more and more of the cover was being revealed.

At last, he thought to himself as the cover was completely revealed. The cover was gorgeous. It was made out of some type of leather and around the edges it was studded with little gems. In interesting patterns gold lines crisscrossed the cover creating a dynamic look and feel to the book. He ran his hands gently over it and down to the side where there was a lock. As he prodded his fingers against the inside of it he realized it needed a key to open.

Why do you lock a book up? He wondered to himself. But he didn’t have time to fool around; he had to get these books open so he could figure out what was going on.

For a few minutes he sat in the library thinking; trying to decide where he might find a key that would fit this book. He tapped his fingers a few more times on the book cover before going in search of his mother. He located his mother in her parlor sipping some sort of drink and reading a book. She looked up when he entered and motioned him to the chair opposite of her.

“What is it?” she asked a bit bluntly.

“Do you know where Father keeps his library keys? There’s something I want to look at but can’t unless I have the keys.”

His mother tipped her head to the side. “There’s nothing in there that’s locked that I know of. If you’re thinking those extra keys on the library ring go to something in there you’re wrong. They don’t.”

“Actually,” he began but was cut off by his mother.

“If you did find something I don’t want to hear about it. I have an extra ring of keys you can have; I don’t particularly like his library anyways.”

“I can keep them then?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?” his mother asked with some irritation as she rose from the loveseat she’d been sitting in.

“I’ll be back in a moment, don’t touch anything.”

With her sweeping skirts she left the room at a swift pace. Not more than five minutes later she returned to the room and disinterestedly handed him the keys. “Go have fun, but don’t make a mess of your father’s books. He dislikes it when his library is disorganized.”

Zese turned to leave but his mother added one last thing, “Oh, I forgot to mention, there’s going to be a ball tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Yes, yes, it’s for your sister, she’s finally engaged. I’ll have your father help you dress tomorrow night, I’ll be far too busy with other things to truly worry about what you’re doing with your time.”

When Zese turned away he rolled his eyes; his mother seemed to adopt a whole different personality when left alone in her private rooms; in fact she often acted like she was the ruler of them all.

He opened the door quietly and left his mother to her alone time, eagerly awaiting the surprise he hoped to find in the tomes he’d left back in the library.

He found however, when he returned to the library, his father putting the tomes back onto the shelves.

“Father!” he cried out in dismay.

“Zese!” his father looked surprised. “Did you take these down?”

“Yes…I was hoping to read them.”

“Read them? Zese, there are no keys to them.”

Zese frowned. “Mother has keys that match on her library key ring…” he trailed off a little uncertainly.

Ricr held out his hand and wriggled his fingers. “Let me see, perhaps I gave them to her without thinking…”

Zese handed the keys over to his father who scrutinized them.

“Definitely the keys to these tomes. I wonder what your mother was doing with them…?”

Zese waited patiently for a few more minutes and then his father turned to him and said, “Here, just put them back where you found them when you’re done, but if you can’t reach I’ll put them back myself later.”

Zese agreed and his father left him alone in the library.

Now that he was back, Zese was slightly nervous about opening the book – what if he found some horrible unnamed evil within the book? What if it took his soul? What then?

However he knew he needed to conquer these fears and open the book –it could hold some very important information.

He wedged the key into the lock and the book snapped open, rust falling from hinges and inside the lock.

Carefully he peeled the cover back to reveal the first page. His first thought was of reverence. The inside pages were made from illuminated manuscripts and they were beautiful. They had curving lines of purples, blue, reds, greens, yellows and golds. It had to be one of the prettiest things he’d ever seen.

Then he got down to reading about the world. He made it through the first book, a history of the world’s creation and the god and goddesses. The second book was a history of the rulers and the main wars and tragic events of their country, and the last volume was a record of all the noble families since the time of their creation.

Zese felt curiosity for his own family tree and flipped through the book searching for their title: Lachance. The more he flipped through it, the more interesting it became. Their coat of arms was underneath the name Lacroix – the family of the kings of Aniatea. Lacroix was the family names for the royal family; supposedly very few in number. But the royal coat of arms was different…and why was Lachance missing? Why was the Lachance coat of arms under the name Lacroix when it was seemingly impossible?

Zese didn’t know what to feel; on one hand he had a mystery and on the other he feared what could happen if he uncovered the truth.

He thought back to Lysaes words, “You are destined for greatness” and wondered…does that greatness have to do with this mystery? Is my family somehow related to the royal family? Did we get kicked out or did we leave? Was there a fight?

If I ask father will he know the truth? Does mother? Perhaps granddaddy knew…if any of them knew why don’t they talk about it? People generally don’t talk about bad things, do they though?

Zese felt his mind turning over and over and over again.

What was he going to do?

How was he going to find the truth?

What was his destiny?

And what truly, was greatness?

As he closed the book and headed down to the chamber