Gilded Ashes Chapter 44: Tiring Books

The Hall of Petals was bright enough to make Raizen squint.

Morning light poured through the high windows and hit the chandeliers. It bounced off the glass and fell in pale shapes on the floor. A wide mosaic spiral filled the center of the hall, curling around the lotus crest like soone had planned the whole room around that one design.

The Academy had shelves here, too. As if the massive library wasn’t enough.

They lined the walls in long rows - tall wooden fras with brass rails, little steps, and neat lables clipped to the sides. So shelves were neat. So lower ones were already ssy, like students had picked whatever book they needed and forgot to put it back in order.

The air slled like old paper and wood. It was clean and neat, feeling like a place that had been used for a long ti but never neglected.

The seven Royal Scholars stood near the center of the room.

Raizen still wasn’t fully used to the title. Royal Scholar... Nothing about him ant scholar. And he couldn’t even think about the Royal part. Kori looked around and made a show of checking her wrist watch, then looked around dramatically.

"HMM, I wonder where Lynea is!" she asked loudly. "And she was talking about us being "late" yesterday!"

The doors suddenly opened.

Lynea walked in like she hadn’t been rushed at all. Her hair was braided tight and shiny. Her badge sat perfectly centered on her elegant collar. She didn’t look worried or guilty. She looked like she wanted to arrive right then.

Kori put both hands on her chest and bowed like a perforr greeting a queen.

"Your Lateness. The Academy thanks you for blessing us with your presence and the missing eight minutes."

Lynea didn’t even look at the bow. "The bell schedule is... Poorly designed" she said.

"Absolutely" Kori replied, delighted. "Fight the bell. You’ll lose, but I love the attitude."

Arashi’s mouth curved into a half smile. Esen made a face like he was saving the mont for later, so he could mock Lynea when it mattered. Hikari stood near the new shelves, hands busy. She had been lining up a few books by height without thinking. When Kori started talking again, she stopped and slowly shifted back towards Raizen and the group.

Kori clapped once.

"Alright, you little dramas. Change of plans. I am not leaving you alone on your very first day to do mysterious, responsible things that definitely don’t involve threatening a councilman into making better financial decisions."

She paused, then dramatically gasped.

"Whaaat? I’d never."

No one believed her.

Kori reached into her coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper. It was old, very thick, wrinkled, and covered in rushed notes. It looked like it had been folded too many tis. She flicked it open with a flourish.

It didn’t stop unfolding.

It dropped past her waist. Then past her knees. Then it brushed the floor tile.

Hikari’s eyes widened. "That’s the list?"

Kori cleared her throat and read like she was announcing sothing important.

"Principles of Luminite Conduction, third edition if it’s available, the gray cover. Field Repairs for Broken Blades, first version. Ethics Under Pressure, the old blue one, NOT the new one. Letters from the Front - Excerpts for Students who Think They’re Immortal. Basic Nyx Theory. The shorter, dustier version, not the new one with pictures. Aaaand... And so on."

She flipped the paper again.

There were even more pages.

Esen leaned closer and started counting on his fingers. "That’s... What, fifty?"

Arashi looked at the list with a serious expression. "Fifty-seven..."

Ichiro glanced once and said, "Sixty-one..."

Keahi gently pulled the end of the list farther down the floor, like she needed to see if it ended at all. The paper just... kept going.

"Kori" she said slowly, "there are like another hundred lines on here."

"Numbers are ant to steal your focus" Kori said. "Trust , you’ll be just fine. Obviously."

Raizen stared at the shelves around them, then back at the list. "We’re fetching books" he said, because his brain wanted to hear it out loud.

"Books" Kori confird. "The boring kind. The heavy kind. The kind nobody touches because the new versions are shiny, or because everyone uses their slates."

She pointed at a long table under the lotus crest.

"Stack what you find here. See which one you still didn’t find every hour so you don’t lose track. Let’s see, what I needed to tell you... Don’t die under a dictionary, don’t start fights over cover art, if a book makes noise when you pull it, put it back and choose a different one. Rumors say so are haunted. If a staircase moves - yes, that happens here - don’t panic. Ride it or step off. If you see a professor nad Osamu - big guy, tough-face - look humble. Any questions?"

Feris raised her hand like she was in class already.

"Do we get a prize?"

"Obviously!" Kori exclaid. "The prize of knowledge and a stronger spine. Also possibly a pastry. We’ll see how annoying you are."

Hikari blinked. "Why do you sound almost... serious?"

Kori smiled. It wasn’t her usual grin. It was still playful, but there was sothing heavier under it.

"Because this matters more than you think" she explained.

"Letters from the front? Really?" Lunes rolled her eyes.

Kori ignored her question completely.

"I’d recomnd going to the Hall of Petals shelves first. Grand Library and tree room after. Split up. Move. Don’t get lost. And if you do get lost, follow Raizen’s hair. When it catches a ray of light, it’s basically a lighthouse."

Raizen sighed like he’d suffered.

Kori tossed the list to him. Raizen caught it with one hand, trying not to drop or unfold it by accident.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" Kori announced. "I’ll be back before the evening bell rings. Maybe. I hope."

Then she shoved her hands into her pockets, whistled sothing, and simply walked away, doors closed behind her.

For a mont, no one said anything. Everyone was just trying to process the bomb Kori dropped onto their heads.Arashi snatched the list from Raizen and unfolded it again. Only the top part this ti.

"WH- THE HEART OF DEMOCRACY-!? WHAT DO WE EVEN NEED THAT FOR-"

After a quick second trying to pull himself back together, he sighed. "We should split up"

"Ichiro and I" Lynea said imdiately. "We... Don’t want noise.

Ichiro nodded once, in agreent.

"I want to go in the Tree Library" Hikari said. Her voice was small, but she didn’t back down.

"I’ll go with Hikari" Keahi offered quickly. "We can stack books there and carry them here in turns."

Arashi looked up. "Grand Library needs charm."

Esen raised an eyebrow. "You an you."

"I an " Arashi confird, completely serious. "Esen, or Raizen, you carry charm. Raizen usually ruins the mont though..."

"Thrilled" Esen said.

"Rude..." Raizen mumbled.

Feris smiled brightly. "Destiny says I go where soone will fall off a ladder."

Esen stared. "Why does your destiny involve soone falling off a ladder?"

"So, I’d prefer to go with Arashi" Feris finished, like she hadn’t heard him. Arashi didn’t look pleased. But he also didn’t argue. He just accepted it, then rolled his eyes when Feria wasn’t looking.

Raizen looked at the shelves around the hall. They were packed into every spare space - under the balcony, beside doors, under stairs.

None of it was pretty. It was practical.

"I could start here" Raizen said. "We’ll change places later."

Esen grinned. "Don’t die under a dictionary, just like that woman said."

They split and moved out quickly. Raizen started with the nearest shelf: The labels were old. So had been rewritten by hand. So were crooked. He pulled out a title and blew dust off the cover.

Manual of Form - Footwork Through Geotry. He opened it and read the first line. "If you can’t do it slow, you can’t do it fast." Soone had written a note beneath it in faded ink. The handwriting was rushed, and ssy. Raizen stared at that for a second, then let out a sigh. He couldn’t even decipher the note.

He closed the book and placed it on the table under the lotus crest. He checked the list Arashi had left pinned under a paperweight. Manual of Form was on it.

"What even is that?" He thought as he went back for more.

The Hall of Petals had more books than it looked like it should.

They were everywhere. So were carefully slotted behind decorative panels. So were hidden behind larger volus. So even slipped between shelves, without anyone noticing. Old conduction guides. Old combat theory. Old field manuals.

After ten minutes, Raizen’s stack was already tall enough to block part of his view. His arms didn’t like it. His back liked it even less.

Students moved through the hall in steady flows. So carried slates and practice weapons wrapped in cloth. They whispered in small groups, glancing at Raizen and his badge.

He caught the looks. Curious, jealous, nervous. He didn’t want to invite conversation, so he tried not to react in any way.

That plan failed quickly.

Two second-year students approached a staircase near him, then stopped. They looked at him, then at each other, like they weren’t sure how to pass without making it weird.

Raizen shifted his stack to one side and stepped back, giving them space.

They walked past.

"Th- Thanks" one muttered.

The other whispered a bit too loud, "He’s the flashy one."

"Don’t call him that!" the first hissed. "He might hear you!"

Raizen did hear it. Anyways, he chose not to respond. Both of them grinned and hurried off.

After twenty minutes, the table under the lotus crest had turned into a small mountain of books.

Raizen’s arms were burning. His hands felt stiff. His back complained every ti he bent, like he was 70 or sothing.

He glanced at the list again. They weren’t even close to finished.

A few minutes later, the doors opened and Hikari and Keahi entered, both carrying huge piles.

Their cheeks were red from moving.

Hikari’s hair was slightly ssy. Keahi’s grip was firm, but her shoulders looked tense.

"Tree Library is..." Hikari started, then stopped and searched for the right word.

"Scary" Keahi finished, as set her pile down. "It creaks when you take heavy books" she said quietly.

"That’s comforting" Esen said, walking in behind them with Arashi and Feris, dropping a thick book on the table. Basic Nyx Theory - Pre-Velarion. A puff of dust hit him in the face. He coughed once and his eyes started watering. Arashi fanned himself with the long list. He looked annoyed, but his eyes were sharp.

"Grand Library has ladders with rails" he said. "So of them move if you step a bit wrong."

"I almost fell, buut... Fate wasn’t dramatic enough for my taste." Feris concluded.

"So we’re changing places? Yes, please!" Raizen said relieved, handing Arashi the list so he could check progress for the fifth ti.

Arashi glanced at the marked lines. "Grand Library next, then."

Speaking of the Grand Library... It was way bigger than Raizen expected. It wasn’t just one room. It was a huge open space with layers. There were balconies, galleries, and walkways up high. Brass rails ran along all of the edges. Ladders sat on tracks. So shelves reached up so far Raizen couldn’t see the top without tilting your head back.

The place was quiet on purpose. The floor was dark wood. But this one was especially mantained, well-oiled. And the thing that made Raizen sigh again with relief, it didn’t creak. There was a desk near the entrance. It was wide, heavy, and clean. A librarian stood behind it. He looked old, calm, and completely unbothered by anything.

Arashi walked up like he belonged there.

"We need Ethics Under Pressure" Arashi whispered. "The... Uh... Old... Blue version?"

The librarian lifted an eyebrow. Just one. It was sohow intimidating.

"Why the old one?" he asked.

Arashi didn’t hesitate to roast history. "Because the new one is written for people who think war is just a discussion topic. The old one was written by soone who actually lived through it."

The librarian stared for a second, then let out a faint smile.

"Gallery three" he said. "Column one hundred fifty-eight, row eighty-six. It’s behind Warti Logistics, I think."

"Thank you" Arashi nodded politely.

They split out in the Grand Library, too. Esen climbed one of the brass ladders with too much confidence. Feris walked in circles near the bottom, as if ready to catch him or laugh, depending on what happened first.

Hikari moved quickly, scanning labels and checking titles like she’d been trained for this. Raizen went to a lower shelf and started checking for Field Repairs for Broken Blades - First edition. He found it under several newer editions.

The first pressing looked old, thick, and stubborn. It had a cracked spine and a hand-written label taped to the front.

Raizen opened it. Inside were sketches. Pins. Screws. Detailed repair guides made with whatever you had. Notes in the margins. So were neat. So were rushed.

One line was underlined three tis, in three different types of pens.

"If it breaks again, you did it wrong. ~Kenzo."

Raizen closed it and added it to their growing pile. Hikari returned with another book. She didn’t speak right away. She just held it with both hands like it was heavy. Raizen caught her expression.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

Hikari blinked. Then she nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "It’s just... Amazing. Seeing all these books..."

Esen ca down from his ladder with a grin.

"I found a book that genuinely hard-roasts the reader. I absolutely love it!" he announced.

Feris turned her head. "That’s what most guides do around here, I guess..."

"Nah" Esen said proudly. "This one does it on page one."

He showed the cover. "Worst Mistakes That WILL Unalive You"

Arashi stared. "Why is that abomination of a title even on our list?"

Feris picked up a thin atlas and frowned. "This map is literally missing north! This is unbelievable!"

"Put it in the pile" Arashi said, already scanning shelves for the next title. "If it’s on the list, it’s in the pile."

They kept searching, filling a small cart with books, then filled another. Esen got shushed twice by librarians, and he didn’t even apologize. They carried their stacks back to the Hall of Petals and dumped them on the table, then went out again.

By the ti they reached the Tree Library, Raizen’s fingers were sore enough that he could feel the ache in his shoulders.

The Tree Library felt different right away. It had more natural light. There were plants inside, not just decorative ones. So shelves were built into wooden supports. A large tree stood in the center like a king. Crystal chandeliers hung around it, redirecting the light in colorful waves. A few ladders ran along curved tracks, and comparing them to the ones in the Grand Library, they looked like jokes. So moved when people climbed them. But not entirely, like the others. Just enough to shift their position by a ter or two.

Hikari watched one ladder drift a bit when a student stepped off it while Raizen found Principles of Luminite Conduction - Second Edition.

It was gray and worn. It looked like it had been borrowed and returned a thousand tis.

The tenth edition sat beside it. It was thinner. That alone made Raizen suspicious.

He pulled the second edition and opened it.

A pressed flower sat between pages twelve and thirteen. The pages were slightly stained around it. Soone had left it there a long ti ago.

Raizen didn’t remove it. He closed the book and put it on their cart.

Keahi was staring at a shelf titled Heat Ethics - Guides.

Her fingers hovered over a thin booklet.

Heat Ethics - A Small Guide for Large Fires.

She opened it. The first line read: "If you’re reading this after you made a big mistake, start on page fifty."

Keahi went straight to page fifty. She stared at the text for a few seconds, then let out a small gasp. She kept reading like the book contained things she fundantally disagreed with. Ichiro didn’t climb ladders. He simply appeared at the end of rows with books already in his hands, then placed them on the cart with care.

A boy slept under a low shelf in the corner. He had a few sticky notes on his forehead. One note read: SLEEPY JOE.

Hikari glanced at it, then at Raizen. Her mouth twitched like she wanted to laugh but also didn’t want to make noise.

---

They worked all afternoon.

They used three carts to the Hall of Petals back and forth. They stopped joking as much. Not because they were upset, but because they were tired. Not Esen, though. That guy threw bad jokes around like his life depended on it.

When the warm lights in the Tree Library shifted toward sunset, Arashi checked the list again.

"A few more" he said. His voice was almost serious. "Then we’re done."

They returned to the Hall of Petals with another loaded cart.

The hall looked different now. Not because the building changed, but because the stacks on the table had grown so tall they changed the room. Now, the table looked like it might collapse any mont. So shelves looked a tiny bit emptier.

Raizen moved slower now, but he still pulled the books they needed carefully. So students stepped around the Royal Scholars without getting too close. Their voices drifted in and out.

A girl holding three textbooks approached Hikari, then blurted, "Is it true you can wear whatever you want?"

Hikari blinked like she hadn’t expected anyone to talk to her. "Well... Um.. Apparently, yes"

The girl’s face lit up like that was the best news she’d heard all week. She hurried off.

Esen marched past hugging Letters From the Front like it might bite him. "Half the letters and files are redacted!" he complained. "Who even crosses out letters?"

Lynea took the book from him and placed it carefully on top of the pile, like she was placing sothing important. "People who don’t want to horrify their students before they can carry anything" she said.

Esen stared at her, then looked at the book again. And for the first ti, he didn’t try to make fun of her in any way.

They gathered around the table as the last piles ca in. Hikari had dust on her cheek. Keahi had a smudge of graphite on her wrist. Arashi’s hair had finally stopped being perfect, which sohow made him look even better. Esen looked tired in a way he didn’t want to admit.

Feris had a pleased face, like she’d found at least five MORE reasons to believe in destiny today. Lynea stood straight, calm, and Ichiro was nowhere in sight

Raizen looked at the list again, then at the stacks. "That’s not all" he said quietly. "There’s one more."

Then, so footsteps approached.

Not Kori’s. Kori walked like she was always in a hurry and didn’t care who stood in her way. These steps were light. Controlled. Almost silent. It was Ichiro. He carried a book. It was large. Not ridiculous, but big enough to look serious. The cover was dark leather, the spine had once been stamped in silver, but the letters had faded.

And the worst part...

Chains were wrapped around it. Not decorative ones. Real ones. A small lock sat on the front like a warning.

Ichiro set it on the table very carefully.

No one spoke for a mont.

"What" Esen said finally, softer than his usual, loud voice "...is that!?"

Ichiro rotated the book slightly so they could read the spine.

THE ORIGIN OF NYXES