"They say a good love is one that sits you down, gives you a drink of water, and pats you on top of the head. But I say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that's a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it!" - C. Joybell C.

My eyes grow heavy as I gaze into the coals that are surrounded by a halo of orange flames. The fire crackles happily as the last flames leap into the air without motivation. I stretch my hands towards the fire, not because it is cold, but because the heat is pleasant and I want to absorb it all. I sigh contently.

The year has been interesting to say the least. Perhaps we would have been better off if I accepted Pa'drig's offer of letters demanding hospitality from his subjects. Nonetheless, the year has been good and we had seen much and visited many places. Yet we are no closer to finding what Mother tasked us with.

Pa'drig gave us two magnificent horses as a parting gift, extracting a vow to pass him on our way back to the forest. Initially he was very enthusiastic about helping us with research on the library, but his interested waned rather quickly, leaving Aedan to tease me in private that I was the only reason Pa'drig endured the tedious hours in Raven's Peak's library.

There is another thing that Aedan would have teased me ceaselessly for - had I told him. So I never told him about what happened between Khairrim Cadeyrn and myself that night at Raven's Peak. It is as if a strange burden of silence was necessary to preserve the forbidden but pleasurable memory.

A knock on my door. "Laelia, it is time for breakfast."

"Hold on, Aedan! Give me a few more minutes. I just woke up." The lie tastes fuzzy on my tongue as I pull my wet curls into a braid before opening the door.

Aedan looks at me with scrunched up eyebrows. "Shoes."

"Right." I rush back into the room and find my shoes.

"You didn't sleep at all."

I knew Aedan would spot the lie. "No, I didn't. I have been meaning to tell you, but I didn't have an opportunity yesterday. I found the entrance to a network of tunnels in my room. I have been exploring them."

When have I started to lie to Aedan?But more importantly, why?

His face lights up. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Just be safe when you wander."

I nod. "I still have a dagger."

Aedan and I join Faolan and Prince Pa'drig in an isolated courtyard. One of the servants lead us there. A table with a lavish breakfast is set under a tree. The scene seems familiar, but I shake the thought away.

The prince flies up from his chair. "Princess Laelia! You outshine the sun!"

"Prince Pa'Drig," I say with a curtsy.

"Where did you disappear to last night?"

I shrug his question away with a comment about the party, which luckily gives him the opportunity to launch into a detailed description of whatever I said.

Aedan and I join Faolan at the table.

Prince Pa'drig draws the chair out for me.

There is still one empty chair, probably for Elorhim who finally enters the courtyard just as a servant pours us tea. He mutters a greeting into the air and hands Faolan a piece of paper.

Faolan takes it and reads it. He strangles the snippet and buries it one of his pockets. "Thank you, Elorhim."

Aedan and I are both curious to know what the note said, but we refrain from asking in the prince's company.

"Faolan, will there be any events today," Aedan asks towards the end of the breakfast.

"Yes, there are numerous events, but they will not be as exciting as yesterday."

"Why?" I chirp curiously.

"Because for some reason our lord Cadeyrn decided to leave, even though we had arranged that he would be present the whole time."

"Is his presence necessary for the recruiting?" Aedan asks.

"Yes, it is, but he just gave Elorhim a note saying he had to leave. He will rejoin us when we leave Raven's Peak."

I frown, knowing that I am the reason he left. Am I conceited to think that? No, I feel that it is true.

The night is filled with the harmonious sounds of a symphony of crickets and owls. The sound of Aedan chopping the carrots paces the rhythm of the night orchestra. I can hear a stream cheering them on. The boiling water in the iron pot chatters with in excitement over the masterpiece.

Aedan leans over the fire. The light illuminates his sharp features and prominent cheekbones. His silver and black hair falls forward, blocking his view of the pot. He wipes his hair out of his eyes with the back of his hand in a smooth movement. The hair falls back immediately. He flicks his head. His hair parts long enough for me to see his feline, pale blue eyes - like the sky in the distance in the winter, but then his eyes are hidden again by the mist of his hair. He wiggles his long, sharp nose in annoyance at his hair.

His pale, slender fingers grip the hilt of his dagger tighter. He scrapes the carrots into the small iron pot, abandoning any attempt of unveiling his vision again.

He feels my eyes on him and looks up. His hair moves back and reveals his beautiful smile.

I return his smile and then break the silence.

"Aedan, I'm getting tired of this wandering around. It feels pointless to me. I am not tired of experiencing everything. It is a wondrous feeling, but I would like it all not to feel pointless. We have been searching for almost a year and we haven't even encountered one shred of proof of the true location of the Lost Library."

And we have exhausted ever single resource at our disposal trying to find it.

"The last report they have on anything concerning Raven's Peak or anything else, is dated about three hundred years after the Second War. It is useless." Aedan's voice is filled with frustration. Patience is not an Elderlight virtue - except Faolan who has been blessed with a whole forest full of it.

Knowing I will hear the same frustration in my voice, I reply to him. "It was then located at Catel Alesam, but the library here only consists of annals and tax reports, aside from a few lesser books."

"Raven's Peak's original library was destroyed." Aedan slams the book in front of him closed and then pushes it away. Dust clouds billow up from the sturdy table.

"What? I did not know that."

"I read it somewhere."

My curiosity us piqued. "What happened to the books?"

"I do not know." Aedan's face creases into a frown, as if he is concentrating very hard to remember something. "I remember reading in some book that it was rumoured that the library was even in ArBrae for a time, but it was never established as the truth.

"How does it work? How can the library move?" Somehow Aedan and I both know which library we are referring to, even when speaking abput multiple different ones.

"I am not exactly sure, but I guess it is not a real place. It must be a place in time, a pocket in space that only exists because of magic."

"It must be a very strong magic."

"That it is," Aedan concludes.

"But what kind of magic can be so powerful that it creates new places?"

"There is only one powerful form of magic. Remember it is named 'The Lost Library of the Council', so the Council must be responsible for its care and protection. So the best plan of action would be to follow the clues we do have: go to Alesam, Mana and Da-Nel and find out what we can. Fortunately, we have one less destination, since we are already at Ravens' Peak. Now we must ask the help of the prince."

"I will do that. You can see what else you can find out." I hesitate before I exit the room: "You know, it is possible that all the books from Raven's Peak ended up in the Lost Library. It is a place where books are stored. Do you remember the stories Faolan told us about 'Lobby, The Book'?" Lobby's travels were my favourite stories as a child.

"Yes, but I do not see how that would help us." His eyes look at me intently, hoping that somehow I could offer him an answer which he didn't already have.

"At the end of Lobby's journey he arrived at the Lost Library. Faolan told us that story for two reasons: the first is to teach us to always respect books - they have a life-force of their own and secondly, to never lose our books. They would end up in the Library, where it would be quite impossible for us to retrieve them."

"You might have a point."

I nod absentmindedly.

We have been travelling back in the direction of the forest for a few weeks. Father told us that we had to be back in the forest for our next birthday, which is in four weeks time. We never travelled the main roads as we reckoned that it was safer for us to avoid humans as much as possible. They haven't been very receptive of our presence. We have also found out that we are an unmistakable target for human thieves, who seem to think that we have unending wealth.

Aedan and I are also happier by ourselves.

He sits down opposite me, knees apart. He puts his elbows on his knees, with his chin resting on his arms. "I know. I feel like we are failing Mother." He sees the look on my face. "Don't worry, Sunshine. I'll tell her."

"'I'll just have to be there?'"

"'Of course, and then we can beg her to allow us to come again, and maybe spend longer outside. It's not as if we have anything pressing to do."

"'It has been a good year."

"It's been a great year," he echoes me.

"But we still failed."

We were tasked to find The Lost Library, and we have searched through the loyal library at Raven's Peak and visited the human wise men and their universities, but we are still as far away from succeeding as we were the day we left the forest.

"Not in everything. We succeeded in making Prince Pa'Drig our friend and ally, and we built a relationship with his important nobles."

Sometimes Aedan's eager optimism fails to soak through to me, yet this time I'll have to admit that he is right. The month we spent in Raven's Peak was very pleasant. Prince Pa'Drig went out of his way to welcome and entertain us. We succeeded in building a friendship with our human counterpart.

"It is still depressing to think that they will all die in the next sixty years and we will outlive them," I say with a heavy weight in my heart at this unexpected realisation.

"Everyone dies at some point, but their names will live on in history and -," Aedan stops midsentence; the whites of Aedan's eyes replaced with charcoal storm clouds. His gaze is directed at me, but I know that he isn't seeing anything in the present.

The first time Aedan ever got a vision scared me witless. I had no idea what was happening to him. Now I have gotten used to him having visions. Sometimes they still make a shiver run down my spine, because it seems that Aedan's prophecies' favourite subject is me. Luckily, the future is fluid and nothing that he has predicted has yet come to pass.

The storm clouds in his eyes are dispelled, replaced by a frantic look. He immediately jumps up and starts gathering our things by throwing them haphazardly into his bag. "Laelia, we have to go immediately."

Without question, I blindly follow his lead. The air grows stale and starts assuming a grey hue. Without Aedan voicing it, I know that something really bad is heading towards us.

"We will leave the horses. They will give us a few seconds." He grabs my hand and tugs on it vehemently. "Laelia, we have to run now."

The forest rumbles behind us; the trees shaking from the reverberating growls. My blood curdles in my veins. Whatever we are running from, is bad. Really bad.

"Aedan, what are we running from?'

"I don't know, but it wants to kill us."

The trees fly past us as we dodge them in our flight. The horses' muffled neighs are swallowed up by growls and crunches, ending in a silent choke stretching on into the night.

"Aedan, I am slowing you down," I pant ruggedly.

"I'm not letting go of your hand." As if to prove his point, his grip on my hand tightens.

"I'm not offering to die for you, Rabbit, but maybe we should split up." I spew my words out in rugged pants. "Split up. You go around. I distract."

Aedan nods. I know it means that he understood my plan. He lets go of my hand. "Hurry!"

Aedan veers off to the side and disappears into the night.

I shout at the top of my voice, hoping it is enough to focus the creatures' attention on me.

Good, I can hear the creatures just behind me after I screamed a second time. It doesn't sound as if they have split up. I shout for the third time, because shouting is a good way to ensure that whatever is chasing you, kills you.

Twigs continue to slap and sting my face as I flee. The unfamiliar terrain and my poor vision at night ensure that whatever pursues me, gains on me as my feet fail to dodge every rock and log.

The creatures' stinking breath grows warmer on the nape of my neck. Knowing when to call a fail, I stop in my tracks, turn around and slowly walk backwards until my back hits a tree.

Barely a breath later the trees part, allowing the three predators to step into the moonlight. Each monster's millions of small eyes in their two pairs of big ones lighten up as they narrow in on their prey.

The creatures, bigger than ArBrae elephants, shift their enormous black paws, readying to pounce. A suffocating lump forms in my throat as I study their vicious purple claws emerging from bear-like fur. The biggest of the three lets out a howl that echoes through the noiseless night.

I only have faint memories of my grandfather Faelan Darkwood, but I remember that he used to tell us magnificent and chilling stories about his youth and the retellings of our ancestors the great Faolan and Aedan's conquests, as carried through oral tradition through the generations. Ligtland wasn't always as tame and civilised as it is now. Before the Council it consisted of wildlands with a kill or be killed rule. The Council had to defeat various races of monsters in order to establish their supremacy.

I remember tales of wolf-like creatures, bigger than trees, who used to tear apart villages in a single night. The hellhounds were some of the most vicious terrors of the pre-Council era until Aydiss Astarr tamed them. Her purity and innocence caused them to obey her like little puppies. When she was killed, they vanished just like the Innocents.

As I see sticky saliva spilling from mouths with yellow, almost wooden teeth, the word gets stuck in my mind: hellhounds. I am about to be killed by not one, nor two, but three of them, unless Aedan shows up very soon, yet somewhere in the back of my mind I hope he gets lost and survives this. Yet Aedan has a better sense of direction that a pigeon amd he would never leave me behind.

My hand slowly grapples my hilt as the two on the sides flank me off. Their leader takes a step closer, only to stop and stare at me. As I wonder why they don't attack, but rather tilt their heads, Aedan's bursts through the trees in front of me.

In response, the two hellhounds on the side turn their heads toward the back. The third one doesn't flinch, but keeps my gaze. Its intelligent eyes seem to mock me: We weren't fooled by your ploy. We only wanted you to think we were.

The other hounds turn around and cut him off, preventing him from reaching me. He retreats a few steps until he backs up against a tree. Aedan's thoughts are reflected on his face. I can see his shock as he takes in every detail of the creatures. Then I see the moment he realises that he is confronted by two hellhounds. I can see the same disbelief that I experienced a few moments before.

The leading hound gives a low growl, and all hell breaks loose as they start to attack us simultaneously. Aedan barely has time to withdraw his sword before jaws snap in front of him.

I duck as the hellhound crashes into the tree behind me, barely missing me before I roll out of its way. Its bulky body hinders it only for a second before it pounces towards me. I desperately swing my sword towards one of the heavy limbs directing claws at me. As it connects with my steel, the impact paralyses my arm by almost knocking my shoulder from its socket. My defeat is imminent when my sword flies from my grasp and lands somewhere behind me.

A bright red flash and then a constant red glow. I quickly look toward the light. My bracelet. The moment's distraction is all the monstrous dog needed. Pain tears into my arm as it is coenched between teeth. It pulls me closer, causing my field of vision to go black from the excruciating pressure on my arm. It lets go to suddenly and I fall to the ground. As the jaws snap for my waist, I use my last energy to roll under its heavy belly.

The world pounds black as an optimistic thought jumps into my brain: at least I will die with all my limbs. My eyes widen as I unexpectedly see the hilt of my sword peeking from the foliage. As I crawl towards it, claws dig into my back. The heavy pressure forces my lungs to collapse. Instinctively I gasp, yet the crushing weight prevents my pungs from adequately filling up.

A blob of warm, wet saliva splatters on my face. The hellhound's breath grows warmer as it comes closer for the final blow.

A surprised yelp deafens me before the pressure on my back gives way to numbing pain. Not waiting for another second, I close the gap to my sword. As my hand grasps it, I turn around barely in time to see the hound storming me. As it lunges, I plunge my sword into one of its all-seeing eyes.

It yelps again before turning away from and crashing into the forest - disappearing from my view.

The world takes on purple and green hues, morphing in and out of my focus.

Aedan's hair takes on a golden hue as he rushes to my side. "Laelia, you were bitten." Aedan's voice is different - warmer, huskier and strained.

The world tilts and the trees elongate - growing limbs that reach for me. Sad faces stare at me from the canopy. The stars grow brighter until I am standing on them, dancing. I fall back into the night and realise that there is only one dog left in my view, and it is lying on its side at Aedan's feet.

But if Aedan is at my side and standing there, then did Aedan become two? That seems impossible. My eyelids are heavy as I blink and look again.

Aedan is definitely standing at the head of the hound lying on the ground.

Muscular arms engulf me and I realise that there must be a third person with us.

“The hellhound's teeth and claws are laced with a deadly poison,” the warm and friendly voice says. I realise that the voice was also the one that told me I was bitten.

Laelia, voices don't live on their own. Voices have bodies attached to them. No, bodies have voices. Yet incorrect again, people have voices.