Galad was comfortable with the spells protecting the books in the glass chamber for a reason. My plan was well thought out, but not complex by any means. The spells I tried to use were very common and it made sense they would have cast an enchantment to defend against them. Every one of the books in that room was probably protected against being copied.

I was so naive. But I would not give up. Not getting the book was not an option anymore. I would need to cast the inverted mana reflecting bubble and teleport the book out of there. I would get it, no matter the cost.

I felt sweat running down my forehead as I started weaving the reflecting walls, a sign that even bending them proved to be tough for my level of spellcasting. I could only imagine how stitching all of these bent walls together would be, though I was sure it would not be easy at all.

I cast one spell after the other, remembering to skip the last sixteen words of the incantation so that the walls would not be activated immediately. I would need to create all of the reversed walls, stitch them together in a sphere, and then attempt to cast a dual spell.

The spell of teleportation would need to finish right before the last word of the spell which would activate the spherical reflective cage. That way, my first spell would bring the book to me, while the second one would keep any alarm that would otherwise be sent to Galad bouncing endlessly around the bubble.

Dual-casting was a tricky business, but I had had plenty of time to practice over the past months. However, I had never tried to dual-cast spells of different lengths, much less use material components at the same time. At this point, however, I had no other choice.

I— No. The world would not wait for fourteen years before we attempted to restore The Divine.

I cast what I thought would be the last stitch on the bent reflective walls that now formed a bubble of sorts, took the last quartz crystal I had out of my pocket, and placed it on the table.

It’s now or never.

I began chanting the 32-word incantation of the teleportation spell and once I was halfway to completing it, I started mentally chanting the remaining sixteen words of the reflective wall spell in order to activate it. Keeping an eye on the book while holding the quartz, chanting one spell out loud and another in my head was much harder than I thought it would be, even if it lasted for just sixteen words.

But once I finished reciting the enchantment, I felt the familiar surface of a book under my hand less than a heartbeat before I finished the spell in my head. The image of a large golden globe briefly appeared around the glass chamber, enveloping many of the surrounding chairs and tables. The frame of the sphere appeared only for a moment but from what I was able to see, the spell had been successful and I couldn’t see any holes in its design.

There was nothing left to do but wait and see if my stone suddenly became hot, which would mean the alert had triggered once I removed the book and had reached Galad.

I waited for a few moments.

I waited some more.

Nothing happened. The stone was just sitting in my left hand, as cold as ever. The book was in my right hand and I knew my plan had worked. I finally had the book we were looking for—the book which would potentially solve all of our problems. I quickly camouflaged the golden sphere of reflective walls.

Just as I finished the spell, I heard footsteps. I rushed to put the book in my bag and opened the first book I found in front of me to look as though I had been reading.

Did Kai fail to notify me? Did his stone malfunction?

To my relief, the footsteps were none other than Kai himself.

“Kai, you scared me out of my soul,” I said, and let out a deep sigh.

“Did you get it?” he asked, without a clear expression on his face.

“Yes, I did,” I replied, puzzled about why he’d come back even though I hadn’t activated my stone. “Where is Galad? Why did you come?”

“He was kind of tired, so he had a quick dinner and then we walked up to his room,” Kai replied. “I saw him enter his chambers and then I came straight here. Did your plan work?”

“Yes and no,” I replied. “I was planning to simply copy the book, but it didn’t work so I actually had to steal the original. We need to leave, Kai. Galad will no doubt realize quickly that the book is missing.”

“Yes, let’s go then,” Kai replied hastily.

“I’ll bring our chest,” I said, and turned around to leave the library. “Wait for me here and act like you’re still studying, just in case someone comes down here.”

“Okay,” Kai said. “Should you run around the monastery with that stolen book in your hands though?”

“You’re right,” I said, and placed the book carefully under a pile of open books in front of Kai. “The chances of someone looking here and finding it, especially at this time, are next to nothing. I’ll be right back. Keep calm.”

“I am,” Kai said coldly. “You keep calm.”

I didn’t run, but neither did I walk slowly, while climbing up to the floor where our room was. The time was past midnight and most of the monk-priests would be sleeping. Regardless, I tried to be as silent as possible while opening our door, strapping the chest on my back and making my way back down to the library again. Kai was still waiting exactly where I left him, reading one of the books in front of him.

“Is everything alright?” I asked, as I got close to him. “Nobody came?”

“Myriam,” he sighed, “it’s only been seven minutes. Nothing moved. I did find something interesting in the book though.”

“Are you crazy?” I said in a harsh whisper. “You were reading the book in the open?”

“Nobody’s here!” Kai protested. “And nobody ever looks at what we’re reading anyway. But you really need to see this.”

“I’ll see it once we’re on our way back north again,” I said, as I unstrapped the chest and opened it in front of Kai. “Throw the book in and let’s go.”

“No, Myriam,” he said. “You need to look at the book now. There’s no point in going north.”

“What do you mean?” I said, and hastily flipped the book round to face me.

The book was open on an empty page. I skimmed through it and for a moment it seemed like the whole book was empty. Empty, save for two pages in its middle. There was a single spell transcribed there, called ‘Restoring God’.

“So, it’s just these two pages then. I guess I can just cut them out and put the book back in its place,” I said and tried ripping the pages, but the book was indestructible. “This isn’t working.”

“I know,” Kai replied, “I tried it already.”

“Then why are we wasting more time?” I said in the same quiet-shouting tone.

“Read this,” he said, and pointed at a specific line of the spell.

Name : Restoring God

School of Magic : Divination

Verbal Components : 2048 words

Somatic Components : Complex

Material Component : Great Mana Tree Essense

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 1,200,000,000

Range : -

Casting Time : 7,200 seconds

Precondition : None.

Description : Reviving a dead deity can only be achieved by a spellcaster that carries some of the the deity’s magic.

“’In order to restore the deity, the spellcaster should cast the following 2048-word incantation while a second individual plunges a dagger or sword in the great Mana Tree’,” I recited the spell’s preparation. “The Mana Tree…”

“Yes,” Kai said hastily. “You remember the monks telling us there’s a stairway connecting the crypts with the Mana Tree?”

“I do remember,” I replied, “but the crypts are locked, Kai.”

“Does it really matter anymore?” Kai asked, and I agreed he had a point.

“You’re right,” I said, a newfound determination growing in me. “Throw the book in the chest and let’s go.”

Kai threw the book down the stairs of our chest and jumped off the chair he was sitting on. I strapped the chest on my back once more and we silently made our way out of the library and past the large dining hall, which was now empty.

We were aware of the staircase leading down to the crypts but had never used it intentionally. I remembered, on the first week of our arrival, that I ended up going down the stairs by accident and had found a large double door made of stone, securely barred.

Later I found out that the door led to the crypts, which in turn led to another long stairway, carved through the bowels of the mountain that served as the End of the World. This stairway ended at the Mana Tree according to the monk-priests, but I never imagined we would actually go there.

Yet now we were standing in front of the stone doors of the crypt. There was no easy or beautiful way to open them, so I started off by casting a sound prison around us.

Name : Sound Prison

School of Magic : Illusion

Verbal Components : 32 words

Somatic Components : Moderate

Material Component : None

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 4,400

Range : 700 inches

Casting Time : Instant

Precondition : None.

Description : This spell will keep sounds trapped in a five feet radius around the caster. The silencing spell will lasts for 60 seconds.

The spell was relatively simple and would allow us to keep sounds limited to the small room we were standing in, as opposed to waking up the whole monastery.

Once I’d chanted the 32-word spell and the sound prison was raised, I put my hand on the cold stone doors that served as the entrance to the final resting place of the monk-priests and executed one of the few explosive spells I knew.

Name : Mana Explosion

School of Magic : Evocation

Verbal Components : 64 words

Somatic Components : Moderate

Material Component : 2oz of Efreetium

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 4,800

Range : Touch

Casting Time : Instant

Precondition : None.

Description : The surface that the caster is touching ignites and explodes with the end of the spell.

At the end of the sixty-fourth word of my incantation, the door was blasted forward, having dissolved into small chunks of rock. I felt bad for desecrating such a holy place, but our ends more than justified our means.

“Come on, Kai,” I said, and offered my hand to him. “We might be only hours away from releasing you of your burden and restoring The Divine.”