Gloom Rising (The Book Wielder Saga 1) (12 page)

“Pardon me for asking, but are you here for the Trinity Meet perchance?” the Vampire named Simon asked straight afterwards.

Lucius stepped forward to address them. “Yes we are. We need to use your entrance to the Catacombs. Oh, and here’s a little something for your cause. The Shadow Circle continues to respect your work.” He reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a massive wad of money held together by a thick paper band, holding it out to the Archivists.

Ralph took the money with a big smile. “Your donation has been noted and is greatly appreciated. Follow me to the entrance.”

The inside of the Library was amazing. The first floor had books that were for sale, a help desk and reception, staff office, canteen and coffee shop, gift shop, toilets, and two escalators to the second floor. Underneath the dome it was visible that the three floors above were comprised primarily of row after row of dark wooden bookshelves filled to the brim with books of every kind. More Archivists scurried about here and there conducting their business, reorganising displays, reading, writing, and chatting. Some were wearing the same as Simon and Ralph, and some wore unflattering cardigans and woolly jumpers.

They were brought to the staff office and escorted to a large back room filled with boxes and junk.

Simon waved his hand slowly across the room and spoke. “Knowledge is power.”

The contents of the room distorted heavily and then vanished completely. With the illusion dispelled, it now contained a big red carpeted spiral staircase that lead down into the ground.

They followed Ralph and Simon down to the basement floor and out into an almost mirrored version of the library above. Winston now looked out over a banister onto a massive rectangular basement filled with bookshelves of Supernatural knowledge. There were four basement floors of occult knowledge ranging from history to alchemy, spell tomes to biology. The middle of the lowest floor was a large square court that slopped downwards into a large stone archway that pulsed with misty blue energy. It was a Catacomb gateway.

They passed by countless bookshelves, made their way down old staircases, passed many more Archivists busy with their tasks and studies, and eventually reached the slope down to the gateway.

It looked much bigger and more imposing now that Winston was only a few feet away from it; the portal could easily accommodate for two jeeps driving side by side, maybe even two buses at a pinch. The way the strange blue energy pulsed, rippled, and distorted the world around it was mesmerising.

“Don’t worry,” Veronica said quietly, “you won’t even have time to register it.”

They all stepped through the portal and were instantly teleported to the Trinity’s Catacombs. The powerful relocation magic had teleported them unknown miles in an instant, a testament to the Trinity’s power as reality bending magic was some of the oldest and most difficult to master. Veronica had been right, Winston barely noticed the transition.

They were standing in a short stone corridor lit by blue magefire lamps. Two Trinity guards were standing to attention in silvery grey armour marked with light blue runes, and sleek helmets with long purple, yellow, and red plumes. They were armed with assault rifles and had sheathed swords on their hips.

“Shadow Circle, here for the meet,” Lucius said casually.

“Watch yourselves,” one of the guards said sternly as they walked away.

They exited the corridor and arrived in a large multi-floored atrium. There were lots of other corridors that Winston assumed would lead to more portals. All of the world was accessible from here, but the Trinity of Old only allowed unrestricted travel to its members, a punishment for all those who had defected. Armed guards stood motionlessly at regular intervals and the Trinity’s triangular symbol was displayed often on the bare stone slab walls. The bottom of the atrium was filled with market stalls and a couple of well-guarded stone shops with iron bar windows. This was the Shadow Market.

The gang took a square magical elevator down to the bottom floor, which was quite busy due to the impending meeting, and they shuffled past customers and other gang and order members from all over the world to another portal with ‘conference hall’ engraved above it on solid stone archway.

Lucius turned to Winston and Veronica. “We’re still a little early if you want to shop first?”

“Sure, that would be great,” Winston replied happily.

Veronica took him past the stalls of ingredients, potions, and trinkets to the stone shops. “These are where you get the best stuff. You can afford the best so you might as well get the best, and they take card payments too.”

He approached one of the iron bar windows, which had a small gap at the bottom for passing goods and money, and waited to be served.

An uptight, young looking but white haired mage in an old grey robe acknowledged him rudely. “Yes, what is it?”

“I’m looking to kit out a new alchemy lab. I have the basics so I just need the crystal ware mainly; beakers, flasks, vials, alembics, retort, you know, the lot. Oh, and if you have a bunch of base reagents I’ll take those too. I’ll need the whole lot delivered to my place.”

The mage looked at him, disgusted. “Are you sure you can afford all that? Maybe you’d be better off searching amongst the stalls.”

Winston smirked, opened his light collection kit and passed it under the bars, and then he got his wallet out and flicked his bank card through too. “Whatever the Deathroot and Crimson Blightmoth wing doesn’t cover, my account will. And like I said, I’ll need it delivered to my luxury suite in the Hotel Noir. Tell reception it’s for Winston Reynolds and they’ll take care of the rest,” he said smugly.

The mage just nodded in shock, looking like he had been slapped in the face. He carefully took the rare ingredients and card payment and told Winston that it all would be delivered to him tomorrow.

Veronica laughed and kissed him on the cheek. “I love the attitude, honey.”

Winston smiled. “Just didn’t like the way he spoke down to me, that’s all.”

“It doesn’t hurt to put people in their place every now and then, especially as you’re a VIP now, to the gang and to me.” She grabbed his ass and kissed him. “Now let’s go get the boring stuff out of the way!”

They went through the portal to the conference hall. They entered into a gigantic high ceilinged room, which kept to the Catacombs ongoing theme of bare stone slab and blue magefire. It has at its far end a small portal that exited onto a raised walkway and ended onto a tall stone stage with four braziers of blue magefire in each corner.

Veronica led Winston by the hand past the groups of gangs and orders, all standing together in their own groups. Some gave welcoming smiles and others gave snarls. They met up with the rest of the Shadow Circle and awaited an appearance from the Trinity of Old.

The hall echoed with the sounds of mixed conversations and whispers, until a figure appeared out of the portal and walked slowly across the walkway to the stage. The hall went deathly silent.

It was Silvario, the Desem-born mage representative of the Trinity. He had long waist length silvery white hair, combed and kept so well it shone, with greyish white skin, bland facial features, and extremely tired eyes. He looked middle-aged but was in fact one of the oldest people in existence. He wore an extravagant purple, silver, and gold robe marked in several places with the Trinity’s thrice divided triangle.

The Trinity had three leaders, one representative of each Supernatural race from one of the three continents; Svorn the gruff old Werewolf from Rura, Cherriesa the dark skinned Vampire warrior goddess from Tropica, and of course Silvario, the silver haired and silver-tongued mage from Desem.

“I speak to you tonight about matters of the utmost importance and urgency,” Silvario began. “The actions of Edgar Aurelius the second have gravely threatened the survival of our races. We have heard from inside sources that the storming of the World Government buildings is only the beginning of his ambitious intentions. He does in fact mean to wage a war against all Supernaturals in the same fashion as the witch hunting Inquisition of old!”

“He wouldn’t even know about us if you hadn’t murdered his mother!” a muscular Werewolf with wild grey hair in shabby clothes growled. “If the boy wants to avenge his mother, I say let him. We can point him the right direction.”

A murmur carried through the hall, and Veronica whispered in Winston’s ear, “That’s Kaine, the leader of the Dogs of War.”

A female Vampire with a snooty demeanour snorted rudely. “I’m sure your actions during the Great War didn’t advertise our kind to the humans a single bit, Kaine.”

“That stuck up Vampire is Charlene,” Veronica explained. “The Werewolf bitch by her side is Lorena and the dopey looking Mage dude is Richard. They’re our good friends that run the Triumvirate of Sorrow,” she added sarcastically.

Silvario scowled at Kaine and then carried on. “Regardless of what may have happened, the only logical course of action for our races is to once again unite and live in safety here in the Catacombs.”

“If I may interject,” a smart looking Vampire raised his hand before making his point. “The last Autocrat, who I, Albert Tiberius, served proudly as chief economic advisor, was a passionate yet reasonable leader. He won the war with help from our races,” he gestured politely to the Dogs of War, “so I think the best course of action would be to strike a deal with his son Edgar II. I’m sure both sides have a lot to offer each other if we could come to a compromise.”

“Speak for yourself you Imperian warmonger,” a cyberpunk Mage said in disgust. “Fuck dealing with another tyrant.”

“We agree,” a lithe dark skinned Vampire lady said in a highly accented tone.

“No deals with the Imperian oppressor,” an equally dark and beautiful Werewolf woman by her side said.

“The techno Mage chick is Zero. She’s the leader of the Clockwork Angels gang in Industria,” Veronica once again divulged. “The exotic ladies are the leaders of the Tropican Furies; the Vampire is called Estaveina and the Werewolf is Nebilia. Both gangs aided their nation’s resistance movements, so they don’t think too highly of us lot from Imperia.”

Silvario called for silence and the room became deathly silent once again. “The Trinity has already made its decision. All Supernaturals
must
come back into the fold and join us in the Catacombs. Any who do not heed our advice and continue to threaten the secrecy that has kept our society alive for hundreds of years will be persecuted harshly.”

Charlene spoke up again. “Thank you, Silvario. The Triumvirate will take your kind offer into consideration, unlike some gangs.” She pointed at Lucius. “We do not flaunt our Supernatural heritage in senseless displays of recklessness and violence.”

Lucius continued looking at Silvario and didn’t say a word, and the rest of the gang followed head and allowed the Triumvir’s accusations to pass over them like water off a ducks back. Being ignored seemed to infuriate Charlene to boiling point, but Silvario was already walking away from the stage and back to the portal.

The gangs walked towards the portal back to the atrium. Most stayed with their comrades, but some likeminded groups mingled and talked together in hushed tones.

Lucius neared the Dogs of War and walked along side Kaine. “Well that was a waste of time as expected. We should have talk some time, my old friend.”

Kaine’s ears prickled. “Got something good up your sleeve, Lucius?”

“Don’t want to say here. Any chance of a private meeting some time?”

Kaine slapped him on the back playfully. “Of course lad! Swing by Industria City some time, you’ll be our honoured guests.”

They shook hands and went their separate ways. The gang left the Catacombs and made their way back to the Hotel Noir. No one said much to each other until they reached their vehicles just in case anyone else was listening in.

“Was that as lame and pointless as you expected?” Veronica asked him when they were driving along in her car.

“Yeah. Except for the Shadow Market, that was a complete waste of time. Do they actually have the power to punish the gangs and orders that don’t go back underground?” Winston asked.

“Not even close. They may have some Sanctium on their side but not enough to take us all down. The biggest advantage they have is the defensive magic in the Catacombs, so it would be a nightmare to fight them on their turf. They could even shut down the portals in theory, trapping entire sections indefinitely.

“All they really do now is mouth off like they did tonight, put down the few unbalanced Supernaturals that go psycho and terrorise the humans, and pretend to be in charge. But it seems that their time is almost up, and I think they can sense it.”

They got to the underground garage and filtered off. Lucius told Winston that he’d get in touch with the details about the trade with the Gloom in the morning, and Veronica kissed him and told him to ‘have fun’ with her trademark cheeky wink.

He made his way to reception thinking that he’d go straight to bed, but Mary was still at the front desk with another young girl. She looked so bored that he was surprised she was till awake. “Still here?” Winston asked. He realised it was a very obvious question as soon the words left his mouth.

“Hmm?” She jolted upright. “Oh, Winston, hi! Yeah, my shift doesn’t finish for a few more hours. It’s been a quiet night.”

“Well, do you fancy checking out my room – might be a bit more interesting?”

“Now? Really?” Mary looked at the other Girl who looked a bit jealous. “But what about my shift?”

“Just come up. I’ll speak to Lucius tomorrow and sort it out.”

Mary made a giddy gesture to the other girl who sighed and shrugged, saying, “Go on then, go and have a
good time.”

“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” Mary said, practically jumping on the spot.
      

Winston put his arm around Mary's waist and took her up to his room.