The Forgotten Catacombs
Decius I
The last rays of the sun faded over the rooftops of the Imperial City as the sorcerer passed through the wrought iron gates of the Collegium Veneficium. From atop its arched gateway, a great brass sphinx stared down at him, the waning sunlight dancing it its topaz eyes. Down the white brick path went the sorcerer, shaded by tall cypress trees on either side. The walk was lit by glowing white crystals set in tall lampposts that flickered to light as the sun dipped below the western horizon. All around him, students and instructors of the Collegium quit their offices and study halls to return to their residences for the night.
Moving in tight knots, the students ignored the stranger as they hurried down the paths to their residence halls. Quiet, excited chatter floated to his ears with the breeze and he smiled wistfully to himself, old memories returning to his mind.
His face concealed by a cloak, the sorcerer crossed the main square and climbed the steps of the tall, white marble edifice of the Library of the Arcane. A cool autumn breeze whipped his cloak, carrying with it distant music and the strong smell of indigo spice. The aroma of spice was everywhere in the Collegium, but this breeze carried with it the signs of a distant ritual in the works. However, the sorcerer paid it no mind.
He pushed aside the tall, bronze-fronted doors of elden oak and entered the foyer. The boom of the closing doors echoed about the hall, climbing past the crystal chandelier into the high, vaulted ceiling to the skylight which glowed dark orange in the fading daylight. He strode across the marble floor, decorated with a scene of spell-scribes hard at work, the steps of his fine leather boots quietly echoing around the empty chamber. At the far end of the foyer, he pushed open another set of double doors and entered the library's main hall.
High above him loomed the tops of the bookshelves, accessible by ladders mounted on rails that slid along the front of the shelves. The shelves were arranged in rows that ran down the length of the long hall, each one laden with countless books and scrolls of origins both ancient and new. A thousand king's ransoms could not have equaled the worth of this hall's books. Between the shelves were reading desks and benches, which earlier in the day would have been crowded with students busily searching for the answers to the mysteries of magic. Tonight, they were empty but for a bare handful of students still studying by the white light of glowing crystals.
One student, having apparently just realized the time, clutched an armload of papers to his chest as he hurriedly rushed out the main door to the foyer, leaving the sorcerer standing in a whirl of disturbed air and scattered notes. He caught one such scrap of paper as it floated gently down and gave it a quick glance before tossing it aside. His eyes scanned up and down the hall, taking in the quiet scene of the nighttime library.
Just in front of him, sat two students, each wearing green dress with the pin of an adeptus, the last step before graduating from the collegium. The two of them were seated behind a long, semi-circular desk of ancient oak, their heads buried in books. Behind them was a large cabinet containing the indices for the entire library. The desk had space to seat eight attendants, but at this late hour these two were the only ones present. Over their heads loomed an enormous ivory idol of Felitharna, Goddess of Secrets and Lady of Magic, garbed in raiment of the finest silk and crowned in gold.
The first student to look up was a blonde woman with green eyes and a mouth that crooked up at the corners. She smiled politely at the sorcerer's approach. Her companion, a dark-haired young man with a thin beard, looked up briefly before returning to his book with an annoyed scowl.
"Hello there, magus," the woman said cheerfully, leaning forward against the desk. "may I see your ring?"
The sorcerer held up his hand, showing her the signet ring on it. The face of it was ivory, carved to show a sphinx holding a staff in one hand and a sword in the other. Around it was engraved "Decius Sallax Capricius."
Her eyes widened in surprise. "You're you!" she gasped.
"So I am," he replied easily.
"Salvius!" she exclaimed to her companion at the desk, "It's Decius Sallax Capricius!"
"So it is," the other student replied, hardly looking up from his book.
"You know him," the woman continued, "He was at the Battle of Aebla! He recovered the Stone of Orrino and wrote the
Life of
---"
"I've read the history," Salvius cut in. She opened her mouth to elaborate further and then thought the better of it. She turned back to Decius.
"My name is Ephia," she said, extending a delicate hand to him in greeting. He took it in his own and kissed it.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ephia," he said, and he saw her eyes flutter at the sound of her name on his lips. "I would introduce myself, but it would seem unnecessary."
"What can I help you with today, Magus?" she asked, visibly trying to control her excitement.
"I am looking for an old scroll," Decius answered, leaning on the desk and looking down at Ephia, whose bodice was hanging open affording him a look at the tops of her small, white breasts. "the Fifth Scroll of Master Pertinus the Elder, to be precise." He gave her a
"I don't remember the name," Ephia said, blushing despite her effort. "I will check the index." She rose from her seat, keeping her eyes downcast, and moved hurriedly to the cabinet behind the desk. She opened one drawer after another, flustered, until at last she found the one she wanted.
"Here it is!" she proclaimed, then her face scrunched up in confusion. "I... I'm afraid I don't know where this is," she said slowly.
"What does it say?" Decius asked, noticing that Salvius was studiously trying not to get involved.
"Cellar Annex, Seventh Cell," she read out loud. "Where is the Cellar Annex?"
"Good question," Decius wondered. There were two levels known as cellars, the Upper Cellar and the Lower Cellar, but whether the Cellar Annex was an annex of either of those or a different level entirely was unclear. When he was in attendance, he and his cohorts had crawled every passage they could find, but both the index and the library's lower levels were full of old, forgotten names. Possibly the Cellar Annex was a place he knew well by an entirely different name.
Ephia went to another drawer and produced a small map of the library's lower levels. She spread it across the desk and traced her finger along the labyrinthine passages shown.
"Presuming the Annex is actually an annex, there are only a few candidates," she reasoned aloud.
"That would make sense," Decius agreed, "however, no one has ever been able to make these passages obey reason. Give me the map, I will find the place myself."
"You might get lost down there," Ephia exclaimed, "I will go with you."
"Very well," Decius said, standing up. "Thank you for your help," he said to Salvius as Ephia led him away. The dark-haired youth made no reply except to deepen his scowl.
"Your companion could use lessons in how to greet guests at the library," Decius remarked as they departed the hall.
"That's just Salvius being bitter," Ephia laughed, "he has been sulking ever since he failed his first exam. Then the girl he was chasing turned him down, too."
They entered a side corridor and Ephia took a glowstone lantern from its hook. Taking a key from her belt, she unlocked the heavy iron door to a stairwell. She lit the lantern with a whispered incantation and held it before her as she descended the stairs into the darkened lower levels of the library.
Decius followed her, treading carefully on the old and dust-covered stairs that wound down through a narrow shaft in the earth. They reached the first level of the cellars and Ephia held up the map in front of her. Decius leaned in over her shoulder to inspect it. She tightened in excitement as his breath hit her shoulder.
"I think it's up here," she stammered, pointing down the passage to their right.
Here, in the old archives, the ever-present smell of spice gave way to a musty aroma of centuries old tomes and long-dried ink. The hall was deathly quiet, and the lantern's light caught on floating motes of dust in the air. The corridor walls were stone, pierced by doorways that opened into chambers of widely varying size, jammed with bookshelves and in some cases loose piles of scrolls or books on the floor. The ceiling was low, and the bookshelves were simple. Instead of being arranged neatly as above, here they were piled on shelves in a haphazard order, covered in layers of dust and spiderwebs. Some rooms had desks covered in books, opened and closed. At pointed place in the corridor, it became partially blocked by a scroll rack left in the hall.
Despite the barriers, they soon reached the suspected location of the annex, only to find that their map was out of date. Instead of a small annex crammed with books, they found only a stone wall blocking their progress.
"Damn," Decius growled. "What's next on the list?"
Ephia frowned and looked down at the map.
"There are two more on this level, but we can't reach them easily from here. It would be fastest to take those stairs," she pointed down yet another corridor, "to the lower cellar and check those rooms, then check the far side of this level on the way back up."
Again, they descended the stairs into the cellar. This level was even dustier and darker than the one above. It consisted of a single vast chamber, studded with stone support pillars, and several small side chambers adjoining it. Ephia led him to a door faintly marked with the number seven and pushed open the ancient portal. It creaked loudly and scraped the floor beneath it.
Inside, they found the room in a familiar state; scrolls and books were piled along the walls and on the table in the center of the room. A single rusty, unlit light fixture hung above the table.
"These rooms are in a far worse state than I remembered," Decius grumbled to himself, "I now wonder if the index is even remotely correct."
Ephia stood by the door, holding up the lantern so that it cast its light over the myriad tomes and librams around the room. She was quietly reading the titles to herself. Decius wished he knew what the scroll he was looking for even looked like.
He leafed through the scrolls, finding ancient poetry, chronicles, tax records, private correspondences... everything but what he was looking for.
Several times, he spied Ephia looking his way, clearly trying to summon the courage to ask him something.
"You might as well ask the things you wish of me. It will be more productive than standing there with your mouth open."
"Tell me," Ephia said, hoisting the glowstone above her so that it cast its light on her pretty young face, "Is it true you went before the Oracle of Ishar? What did it tell you?"
Decius smiled, holding a scroll of old imperial census information in his hands.
