by S. Y. Lee
By all appearances, Thelmont was the equivalent of New York City in this world and it was even evident in the diversity of the people. Humans and elves mingled in the streets, dwarves and orcs tended to storefronts, and there were numerous creatures everywhere that stood on hindlegs which Eva didn’t know existed or could have imagined.
Their first stop was a quaint inn called the Red Pine, where Elin greeted the innkeeper warmly and they were brought upstairs to a spacious room. There was only one bed, and the innkeeper said he would have another one brought up while they were gone, before leaving them alone. The room looked like it belonged to an occupant, Eva thought, when she saw various trappings that decorated it in a random manner. There was the vase that looked out of place, a plant by the window, and piles of books and papers all over a desk and two bookshelves. It was only when Elin opened a large wooden closet that contained clothes similar to what she was wearing, that Eva realized who this room belonged to. There was even an identical red cloak in the closet, which Elin tossed to Eva, along with some clean garments.
“You live here?” Eva asked while getting changed behind a screen in the corner of the room.
“I have an arrangement with the innkeeper. He maintains this room for me as needed.”
“Must cost a lot of money for a room this size. Do you spend a lot of time here?”
“The last time I was here, Cohl’s hair was red.” Elin smiled as the memories kindled in her head. “I get to stay here whenever I want. In return, the innkeeper has the safest inn in the whole city. No other place can boast of being home to a wizard. Come, we must go to the library. It’s almost midday, and the library is on the other side of the city.”
*
Elin wasn’t exaggerating. It had been a long walk and while Eva had enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of the big city, her feet were tired and sore by the time they reached the grand library. Like the castle and the city walls, the library shimmered in the light with its white marble exterior that was adorned with gold statues. The two of them seemed to be the only people interested in the library, as many people walked by without even glancing at the opulent structure.
There was a long flight of steps that led up to the front doors of the library, and a solitary guard sat at the top. He was leaning against a pillar and staring up at the sky, only looking down when Elin and Eva were before him.
“Library’s closed,” the guard said flatly.
Elin reached into her pocket and pulled out a large iron key. The end of it was shaped like a crescent. Eva hadn't seen the object before and wondered if the wizard had just retrieved it from the inn while they were getting changed.
The guard was unimpressed, though he nodded. “Go ahead,” he grumbled, as the two women ascended the last steps.
“What’s that? The key to the library?” Eva inquired when they stood before the doors. Elin just chuckled as she put the key away and pushed on the doors. It wasn’t locked.
They came to the main section of the library after a long hallway and Eva wasn’t prepared for what she saw. It was the largest library she had ever seen and the Library of Congress, which she had visited on a field trip to Washington, D.C. a few years ago, was nothing compared to what they were standing in. Books of all colors and sizes lined the walls and the shelves were so tall that ladders were needed to get to the top.
There was not a single soul in the library and when Eva picked up a book on the first table she came by, she had to blow a thick layer of dust off it. “A history of Elves” the title read, although it wasn’t written in English. It was in the common tongue that Eva somehow knew because of her alternate life here.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Elin said.
“I see why they call it the grand library.”
“Indeed. There was a time when I was a young wizard and I spent many days here, studying about lands far away and magics unseen in these regions.” Elin picked up a book and smiled as she flipped through it, like she was seeing an old friend for the first time after many years apart. “This won’t be easy. It might take a while to find what we need.”
“And what exactly do we need? I know you’re concerned about this Gormore situation, but we need to get home to our world. Maybe there’s some reference to a Pandora’s box somewhere. There must be something that connects the two worlds.”
“I won’t force you to help me. Do as you see fit. I know nothing that can aid you in your quest to this other world you speak of, but I must focus on the urgent challenge at hand. If you want to help save Thelmont and the rest of this land from the scourge of Gormore, keep an eye out for books on Gormore, Jaxon, Thurmill Furngood, or the battle of Quilen, there must be something that can help us,” Elin said. Her voice was already waning in the distance as she walked down the aisles of the library and studied the cracked spines of old, leather-bound books.
*
It had been six days since they had arrived in Thelmont, and each day they went about the same routine. They would wake up in the inn, have breakfast, then make the long trek over to the library. Apparently, the guard had no other duties and he was the only person assigned to watch over the library. By the third day, he no longer asked to see Elin’s key before letting them proceed, even though it was more of a formality. He was out of shape, and when he wasn’t taking a nap on the steps, he was eating, though Eva never saw him leave his post.
She also learned that the crescent key Elin had shown the guard to gain entry to the library was the equivalent of a library card, given to the wizard a long time ago when the library was under better stewardship. Evidently, there were no more librarians to keep watch over the old tomes, although Elin had no idea why.
Between the travel back and forth, the rest of the day was spent pouring over books in the library and they each took up separate desks on opposite ends of the library’s reading room. Eva would occasionally find an old tome with some mention of Gormore and bring it over to show Elin, but so far, they had found nothing of use that would either help them enter the tainted land safely, or enable Eva to go home.
When it became too dark to make out the ink on the ancient pages, they would make their way back to the inn for dinner. There was only natural light in the library and Elin was strongly against lighting any of the lamps that hung on the pillars of the library, worried that a moment of carelessness would result in a massive fire. After flipping through hundreds of dry pages and cracked spines, Eva understood her concern. A small spark would ignite the entire building in an instant. After dinner each day, their magic lessons resumed. Elin had taught Eva all the basics of magic and was no longer instructing her on anything specific, except to offer suggestions and anecdotes on her own journey to becoming a wizard.
It was the middle of the day when Eva found herself walking about the outdoor market while eating cooked meat off a stick. She had gotten bored of reading about the battle of Quilen and was now comfortable enough to wander around and explore the city on her own, which Elin didn’t object to. Eva suspected the wizard encouraged it, to let her see and experience the vibrant city and its citizens, in hopes that she would want to help save it all.
She was actually enjoying her time in Thelmont and it almost felt like she was spending a summer abroad in Europe, exploring old, medieval cities that had seen better times, while taking in the local fare. There was a certain romanticism of exploring a city she had never even heard of before. She liked getting to know the city that was brimming with culture and activity, and for the past few days, she was able to forget about the harshness of reality. The attack on Silverbrick was so long ago that Eva began to wonder if the paralyzing fear that had gripped her at the time with a vice hold had been real. She had been surrounded by death and destruction, and she had ran from apocalyptic horsemen for days after, until her path crossed with Elin.
She was making her way back to the library when she heard a cry for help coming from an alley. She looked around at the other people in her vicinity who must have heard
it as well, but they all went about their own businesses, not even looking in the direction of the scream. The alley was a narrow sliver between two tall buildings, and Eva had to strain her eyes to see what was going on. She could make out several masculine figures that had cornered a woman against the wall and they were pulling at her clothes as she tried to fend them off.
Eva started to jog over, although she was still undecided on whether she should intervene. She knew that if she didn’t do anything, the woman would be doomed, but at the same time, she wasn’t sure if she could take on the hooligans, which she could now see numbered at six. When she reached the alley, she looked over her shoulder one last time, hoping that a passerby had come to their senses, but there was nobody behind her. She was on her own and there was no time to go get Elin.
“Hey!” she shouted at the men. They stopped harassing the woman and turned their attention to Eva. It took a few seconds for them to shake off the confusion at being interrupted. Eva started to regret her moment of heroism when she saw yellow-teethed grins on their faces. It wasn’t too late for her to turn back and leave the woman to their dirty, calloused hands and ugly mugs. She could still run away, back to the busy street she had come from, and to the library where the fearsome wizard probably had her nose buried in a book.
“Please, help me!” the woman cried out.
“Hold on,” Eva shouted back. Her mind was made. She held out a hand as two of the men approached her and she panicked as she pondered her next move. Her first thought had been to shoot a ball of fire at the men, since it was the first piece of magic that Elin had taught her to perform, but she realized it was too dangerous in the alley since she didn’t have a firm grasp of her abilities. If she wasn’t careful, she could wind up burning the woman she meant to save, and that was an irony she wanted to avoid.
“What are you going to do little lady?” one of the men laughed. The two men advancing on her were steps away and she shrieked as one of them pounced forward. Whether it was the adrenaline or her survival instinct kicking in, in that thug’s brief moment of being airborne, Eva made a motion with her hands as she thought of something Elin had shown her a while back. There was a loud eruption from the ground as thick roots sprung up from the ground, breaking through the dirt and gravel under the man, and he screamed in horror as the roots enveloped around him while he was mid-leap. His partner quickly backed away, afraid that he would face the same fate. Soon, the roots had wrapped around him until Eva could see more plant than human.
She was equally surprised. She had only intended to bind his feet and when she was too slow to do that, she must have unwittingly improvised. Whatever the intent, the result was a startling display of her magical abilities.
“She’s a wizard!” one of the men shouted and they fled in the opposite direction.
“What about him?” another asked.
“Leave him! She’s turned him into a tree!”
Eva stood there as she watched the men disappear down the other side of the alley. Once she was sure they were gone, she started towards the woman who had cried for help to check on her. The face of the man she had trapped in the roots was visible as she passed him, and he begged her for mercy, “Please, wizard. Let me out! I don’t want to become a tree!”
She stopped to study her handiwork. It didn’t appear that the man was physically hurt and the roots had congealed around him. She certainly hadn’t turned him into a tree, but she wasn’t going to afford him the courtesy of letting him know that.
“This is what you deserve, you pig. Go ahead, scream and yell all you want. See if anyone comes to your aid. Then you’ll know how it feels to be as helpless as that woman you just tried to assault,” Eva said, and she continued to make her way over to the woman.
She was older than Eva, but only by a few years, and her clothes were partially torn at the sleeves where the thugs had been pulling at. She threw her arms around Eva when she was close enough, and the two women held their embrace for a while, drawing comfort from each other.
When she finally let go, Eva did a quick visual examination of the woman and apart from a couple of light bruises on her arms, she was unharmed.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get cornered in a dark alley but I was so careless. This confounded city is so big and unorganized, I’ve gotten lost so many times since getting here,” the woman said as she smoothed out her long, brown hair. Under the fog of war and from afar, Eva hadn’t noticed how stunningly beautiful the woman was. Her arms were toned and she looked rather fit and strong, and it was no wonder that she had been able to fight off the men for so long.
“I know, tell me about it. And people walking by and not helping when they heard your calls of distress? It’s like New Yo—” Eva stopped herself at the last moment from finishing the sentence.
“New York,” the woman said. Eva’s eyes lit up and they shared a knowing look as both women realized at the same time that the other wasn’t from around here.
“I’m Eva.”
“Jessica.”
*
They sat at the foot of the steps leading up to the library. The guard was still there atop the flight of stairs, though he paid no attention to the two young women who had just met. There was so much to discuss and Eva wanted to make sure she had some time alone with Jessica before introducing her to Elin. Eva wasn’t sure how the wizard would react to the sudden appearance of another person who claimed to be from her world.
They had taken a brief respite to get Jessica some water, then strolled casually to the library that hadn’t been far away from the marketplace. It was a conversation that Eva was both looking forward to and dreading. What if she learned nothing new from Jessica? After pouring over dozens of books about the history of this land, Eva was starting to doubt if Chicago existed. There was just too much documented history here that she couldn’t deny that this place was real.
Now, seated on the marble steps of the library, Eva exhaled and waited for Jessica to speak. She didn’t want to rush the woman who had nearly been assaulted.
“Where are you from?” Jessica asked. It was a straightforward question, yet Eva found herself hesitating to answer.
“Uh, Chicago. You?”
“I live in San Francisco, but I’m from New York.” Those were two cities that Eva knew didn't exist here. In just a few words, she felt the weight on her shoulders lifted. Jessica seemed to be a very intelligent woman who had fared well enough by herself here, while Eva was lucky to have Leo, then to later come under Elin’s umbrella of protection.
“How did you get here?” Jessica asked.
“We have an idea—”
“We?”
“Oh, yes. I came here with my friend, Leo. Hopefully he’s on his way here as we speak. We got separated a while back, but before that, we were discussing how we could have gotten here.”
“And?” Jessica pressed.
“And we concluded that it was this box I bought at the mall—”
“A wooden box?”
“Yes.”
“With Greek symbols and pictures carved into it.”
Eva nodded eagerly. “Yes! We also met this girl from London who said her brother was touching a similar box and holding on to her, then a red light washed over them. The same thing happened to me. Then before I knew it, I woke up here. Leo was the one holding the box, and I guess I had grabbed his hand when it started to glow. He showed up not far from where I did, and we reconnected a day later. I thought I was going crazy before I saw him again. Is that what happened to you?”
Jessica was thinking hard as she ran her fingers through her hair. Her mane was luscious and wavy, even though she couldn’t possibly have used any hair products or even had a hot shower since coming here.
“Yes. And no. That girl from London. She had blonde hair, didn’t she?” Jessica asked.
“She did.”
“I was there. We were in Greece and I was part of an excavation team. I think she
and her brother were just lost tourists, when the box we found started to glow. I was… I was reaching out to stop them when the red light blanketed me too. I think I grabbed onto her hand, then I woke up in a rural village some distance from here. It took a while of asking around and adventuring for me to get here.”
“You found the box in an excavation? Does this mean the boxes are ancient and magical? Please tell me you know how to get home,” Eva’s mood had drastically lightened. Not only had she found someone who had the same experience getting here, but it appeared that Jessica might even be familiar with how the boxes worked.
“Ancient? Yes. Magical? No, I’d describe them as cursed, not magical.”
“So, you do know about the boxes? What are they? How do we get back?”
“Yes. They’re…” Jessica paused and bit her lip, as if she wasn’t sure if she should say the words in her head out loud. “They each contain a piece of an object from a long time ago. When the object was shattered, the ancient Greeks locked them away in wooden boxes that couldn’t be opened until the time came for another test of humanity.”
“What was the object?”
“Pandora’s box.”
Eva blinked and stared at Jessica. She had suspected the box contained something mythical, but hearing the words from Jessica for the first time numbed her senses.
“What’s Pandora’s box?” a voice asked from the top of the steps.
Jessica and Eva both looked up, but the latter already knew who it was. It was Elin with a giant tome tucked under her arm.
*
They were seated around a round table in the library, where Elin had set down the tome she was carrying when they saw her. Elin listened without comment as Eva told her how she had encountered Jessica, including the magic she had wrought onto the man who had pounced at her.
“So, what’s Pandora’s box?” Elin asked again when Eva was finished.
Eva looked to Jessica to see if she wanted to explain, but her new friend was still trying to figure out if she could trust the wizard.
