Chương 136: Parallels

The cover had just one word on it, painted in flaky golden letters. Bies. Above it was that same crescent moon I'd seen at the entrance of her cathedral—my cathedral now. The bottom half of the cover was filled with what appeared to be spirals and plants painted in the same color. I stared at the book for a few moments. I realized I was shaking.

"Vasil?" I whispered. He didn't respond. He must not have heard me with all the activity going on. I walked up to him and nudged him with my foot.

"Come. Now." He followed me to the corner of the hall. I sat down and put him on my lap.

"Vasil. You need to see this. I'm scared to open it." I held the book in front of him.

"Interesting," he said.

"Interesting? That's all you have to say? This could be huge!"

"It could be, but we do not know yet, and I am not one to count my chickens before they hatch."

"It's a book, Vasil, not an egg! A book with probably super illegal and juicy information. What does that have to do with chickens? I'm telling you, this book will change everything. I can't believe we found this here! Maybe it will tell us how to open the vault. Or those weird doors." Kasia came up to us and squatted down.

"What are we whispering about?"

"I'm trying to show Vasil this book, but he's talking about chickens for some reason." Kasia turned to Vasil, eyebrows raised.

"I was not—never mind," he said.

"If you would open the book, we can see what is inside."

"What about the chickens?" Kasia asked.

"There are no chickens. It was a proverb, meaning you should not celebrate your success based on things that have not happened yet."

"I knew that," I scoffed.

"Don't see what that has to do with this book, though." Vasil sighed.

"Could you please open the book?"

"I've been trying to, but you keep talking about chickens." He stared at me flatly. I waited for him to say something, but he just kept staring at me. If he wasn't going to say anything, I was.

"I think—""Open the damn book," he interrupted.

"Sheesh. Alright. I'll open the book. No need to be rude, Vasil. Wow." I turned to Kasia, grimaced, and nodded subtly to Vasil.

"The book, Hecate!"

"Yikes, man. What is your problem?"

"Book. Now." Vasil clearly had gotten out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. Come to think of it, he didn't even have a bed, because he was a frog. Maybe that was why he was acting like this. Maybe he missed sleeping in a bed. As a good leader I should have taken that into consideration. Just because he looked like a frog, didn't mean he was a frog. I mean, he was a frog, but he was also a person, kind of. Inside. A person at heart. And persons like to sleep in beds, even when they are frogs. I think.

I patted him on the back.

"Sorry, Vasil, I've been inconsiderate."

"That is alright, Hecate," he said.

"I should not have lost my temper."

"Don't worry, I'll get you that bed." He frowned, confused.

"What? Bed?" I nodded sagely.

"I got you. That's what leaders do." Vasil closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After about ten seconds he opened his eyes again.

"Very well. Thank you, I think. Now can we open the book?"

"Oh yeah, of course," I said, flipping it open. The first page was empty, but that was normal. The first page of many books was empty. That's just how they did it for some reason. If you ask me that's a waste of paper. It's not like paper grows on trees, you know. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! I flipped to the next page. That was also empty. Alright. Someone was a little more than wasteful. I flipped another page. Empty.

I chuckled nervously and snuck a glance at Vasil. I was afraid he was going to either get mad at me or start talking about chickens again. Thankfully, the next page wasn't empty. The lines were written in neat, elegant script. Bies arrived from the south. The exact date of her arrival is unknown, though records suggest that it was during the reign of King Vladiswav III. She is thought to be far older than her youthful appearance might suggest, especially considering her power and knowledge.

Not much is known about her past, as she kept such matters private. Some say she fled persecution in distant lands. Some say she came to Silesia to heal and protect its people. Others claim she simply wandered until she found a place that suited her. She was described by those who knew her as having long, flowing black hair, olive skin, and eyes of silver-white that seemed to glow with an inner light.

She generally favored simple dress—a loose white gown, unadorned, as one who had no need for material display or status. At some point she was venerated as a goddess of nature, witchcraft, and healing. Her followers were many, and she was known to shelter the sick and outcast. My heart was pounding. I closed the book and squinted at the crescent moon on the cover. I knew someone else who arrived from the south, had long black hair, olive skin, and silver-white eyes. Someone who also escaped persecution. Sort of.

That someone was me. Maybe Bies and I were a little bit more alike than I had initially assumed. Did she also start like a normal (but beautiful) girl who accidentally stumbled into godhood by being awesome? Did she also have a frog telling her what to do?

"Vasil?" I asked.

"No, I was not alive during Bies's time," he said.

"How did you know what I was going to ask?"

"The parallels between you and her are obvious. And because I know you are going to ask again, no, I did not advise Bies. She died before I was born. As far as I know she did not have a frog advisor either. Or any advisor, really. Or at least, I have never heard of anyone mentioned."

"Why would I ask again? You already told me you were not alive during her time. Do you think I'm some kind of idiot?"

"No, I do not think you are an idiot. I do think you are stubborn and have selective hearing. You are also easily distracted."

"Huh? What?" I asked. Vasil gave me another flat stare.

"You are messing with me." I mock-gasped.

"I never mess." He rolled his eyes, tension leaving his body.

"I see. You were also messing with me earlier. You are in one of your playful moods. You think it is funny when old Vasil gets flustered."

"I mean." I shrugged innocently.

"It is kind of funny. Especially when you're being all serious." He sighed.

"Yes. I understand now. But we were having a serious conversation. Not to mention, this book is serious as well and relevant to you and your current situation."

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I reopened the book and continued to read. Her worship has been all but eradicated by the Church of Stvora. What remains is practiced in secret, hidden from the King's men and the Church's inquisitors. There may still be hidden enclaves deep in the forests and mountains where the faithful gather—places where the King's authority cannot easily reach and the old ways persist in whispered prayer. Most of her temples were destroyed, her texts burned, her name struck from the official records.

The Church has been thorough in their erasure. This author has spent the better part of two decades tracking down what fragments remain. This includes hidden tomes secreted away by her followers, scrolls copied in haste before the burnings, oral histories passed down through families who refused to forget. What little we know of her comes from these scattered sources. I must note that there may be some merit to the claims that she was indeed divine, and not merely a powerful practitioner of the arcane arts.

Among the recovered texts are several runewords said to have been created by Bies herself, gifted personally to her most devoted followers as rewards for their service. The complexity and power of these combinations suggest knowledge far beyond what any mortal could achieve. Runewords! I started flipping through the pages.

"Hey," Vasil said.

"I was reading that." I feverishly flipped through more pages.

"Runewords! Runewords!" I skipped past pages and pages of text, but saw no runestone combinations. I noted some suspiciously empty pages, but who knew why the author did that. Maybe it was a stylistic choice. Maybe he just likes a nice empty page here and there for no reason. You could never guess what people were into. It was also possible that the author meant to put something there and was saving the space for later. Maybe he forgot. People get distracted all the time. It happens.

After checking out the entire book I had not found any runewords. It didn't look like any pages had been torn out either, so maybe the author had just forgotten to write them down. Perhaps he was simply a big old liar who loved wasting people's time. Especially my time. He probably knew I'd find this book somehow and did it to mess with me, knowing how much I loved runewords. Typical Silesian dick behavior. I closed the book.

"Well that was disappointing. The guy lied about it having runewords. The book is basically useless now." Vasil frowned.

"Useless? This is an entire book written by someone who has studied Bies for twenty years. This may very well be the most comprehensive source of information on her that exists in the world."

"That may be, but I don't see how that's going to help me shoot things better."

"Hecate, you do realize the similarities between you and Bies, don't you? You are walking the same path. You can learn from her and from her mistakes. Reading this book might allow you to grow your believers. It might teach how to move as a goddess. It might expose pitfalls to avoid. It might even save your life. That is far more valuable than any runestone combination." I tapped my temple.

"Unless it's a super good combination." Vasil shook his head. Hubert stopped in front of me.

"Excuse me, Lady Aurelia. I do not mean to interrupt, but all goods are accounted for. How do you wish to proceed?"