A glare of intense sunlight roused the Buhund from her dream as she found herself standing on a familiar dirt road, the distant hills illuminated by the vibrant daylight. Houses built of white birch speckled the far-off bluffs, spanning further across the horizon than she could see. As she stood taking in the image of what was before her, she could once again hear footsteps approaching from behind—three sets of feet.

Lola turned her head to catch sight of the same young man from before, as well as the same yellow hen walking beside him. Another figure had added themselves to their company—a middle-aged woman.

She stood shorter than the young man, her skin the rich tan typical of a western Prithvian and her long hair flowing like black silk. Her eyes were an uncommon shade of jade green—a trait Lola had rarely seen in humans she’d encountered.

"Welcome back," the young man greeted.

"Why do I keep coming here?" Lola inquired. "What is this place?"

"You’re in a part of the realm of sleep that few ever reach," the woman replied. "To be able to come here requires a heart of great fortitude. Few humans ever make it here." She moved forward, kneeling to bring herself to the same eye level as the dog. "Do you know who we are, dog-child?"

The Buhund carefully examined the woman’s face before shifting her glance to the young man and the hen, then back again. She racked her mind for a clue, although the three seemed utterly unconnected to anything in her waking life. No answer to the woman’s question came to mind. It was then that Lola realized she had only ever met one other Prithvian with jade green eyes. She jumped back from the woman in shock.

"Sitara Song?" the Buhund queried.

The woman smiled warmly, giving a slight nod.

"You’re supposed to be dead," Lola exclaimed.

The Buhund’s gaze wandered past the woman to rest on the young man and the yellow hen standing not far behind her. "You two, you’re T—"

A shockwave washed over her in mid-sentence. The scenery around her began to fade away slowly. "Not again!" the Buhund protested.

Sounds of children laughing playfully echoed from the meadow in the distance beyond where she stood. She turned to catch a glimpse of two little boys playing with a black Buhund as the world around her continued to dissolve to white. A woman—who she could only assume to be the boys’ mother—stood aside from them as they persisted in their merriment.

The black Buhund sat contently while the two children tugged whimsically at its ears, offering a warm grin to them in return. Calmly, the dog turned its head to meet Lola’s gaze.

Completely jet black apart from a white crest on its chest the sunlight cast highlights of golden red across its form. The dog’s brown eyes carried a sense of uncomfortable familiarity as they peered into hers.

#

"Rise and shine, kids!" Doug’s voice bellowed throughout the center car.

Lola jolted upright in agitation. As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, she could sense everyone else in the car was as vexed by the old man’s behavior as she was. Venice sat up on their cot. "Blast it all … What time is it?" he growled.

"Half past six," Doug replied. "We crossed over into Terra not too long ago. It’d be best if we get a start on our day and start looking about. So, up with the lot of you!"

"I’m making a mental note to reschedule sunrise to ten when I finish living out my punishment," Amah grumbled from the bunk above.

"Do you ever sleep?" Lola questioned huffily as the old Sage continued walking past them.

"Normally," he replied. "I’ve been treating myself with insomne blossom since we left Chikyuu to eliminate my need to. Sadly, I will have to sleep tonight. Ruddy plant causes heart damage if you keep using it for more than two days in a row."

Everyone stared blankly at the grey-haired man. "What? How else did you think I managed to pilot this machine non-stop to get us halfway across the world?" he defended.

"You didn’t have to put yourself through that!" the Buhund protested.

"I didn’t," the old Sage responded as he trotted to the center of the car. "However, given how dire the situation at hand is I was willing to make a personal sacrifice. Now perhaps you lot can make some sacrifices of your own and stomach getting out of bed early?"

Lola hopped off of the cot, her nails clipping against the car’s hardwood floor. "Meh, fine," she grumbled.

A loud knock came from the car’s side door. "Customs and Immigration! Open up!" a voice called from outside.

Everyone present in the car bolted to their feet. "Customs?" Carter protested loudly as he hurriedly attempted to pull his shirt over his head. "You didn’t mention anything about Customs!"

Wesley dove off of the top bunk cot he’d been sleeping on, landing feet-first with a loud thud. "How come we didn’t have to do this for all the other places we’ve been?" he groaned.

Doug shook his head as he made his way over to the side door. "Terra’s a little more selective about who they let cross their borders," the grey-haired man informed. "Don’t get too worried though. They’re mostly looking for invasive plant species, things of that sort. I doubt we have any of that."

He pushed down the handle, carefully swinging the door outward and poking his head out. "A few folks in here are a little indisposed," Doug implored. "Do you think you could give us a moment?"

"You do realize if you’re trying to hide anything at the last moment, we’ll probably find it, right?" the voice from before spoke.

Lola scurried over to the open doorway, peeking through the space between the old Sage’s legs to see who was standing on the other side. At the foot of the step into the car stood a young man with a pale complexion and orange hair. He was dressed in a long, grey coat; a dark red fez seated atop his head. Under one of his arms, he appeared to be carrying a large stack of documents. Nothing was visible behind him, save for a thick blanket of mist.

As she continued examining him, she noticed a very large spider sitting on his shoulder. The creature was dark grey, with iridescent blue legs. A much smaller dark red fez was affixed to a part of its body that she could only infer was its head. "I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s an enormous spider on you," the Buhund remarked.

The man looked down at her, unamused by her observation. "She’s a Tarantula," he replied. "And she also happens to be my partner."

He reached into his coat and relinquished a small copper badge. "Agent Antonio Biancardi, Terran Customs and Immigration, Zaffiro Divison," he dictated.

The tarantula had also produced a smaller, yet almost identical badge and was presenting it in a posture mimicking the young man. "And this is my partner, Agent Khram Mali," he added.

The customs agent cleared his throat, catching her attention. "Please have everyone exit your vehicle while Agent Mali does her inspection," he demanded.

The Buhund made her way out of the car with a huff, taking a seat adjacent to the door. "All right, kids, everyone out. They need to look through the caravan," Doug called into the car’s interior.

One by one, everyone followed him out of the car, lining up alongside the caravan. "Is that everyone?" the agent asked.

"Should be," Doug replied.

"All right, Mali. Time to go to work," the young man instructed.

The tarantula leapt from his shoulder with a loud whooping sound, landing unseen inside the center car. The rapid scurrying of her legs echoed boisterously as they waited outside.

Lola glanced absent-mindedly at the group. "Wait. Did we wake up Jakea and Betty?"

Doug’s eyes widened. "Bloody hell," he grumbled.

The old Sage looked to the Customs agent. "You may need to stop her for a moment," he advised. "We forgot something."

A shriek thundered from inside the rear car. "Too late," Lola sang out.

The door to the rear car flew open, both Jakea and Betty rushing out face-first onto the ground. Emma followed behind at her typical, oblivious pace. "There’s a poisonous spider in the rear car!" Jakea quivered.

"It’s just a customs agent," Doug reassured her. "She’ll be done in a moment."

The young woman appeared dumbfounded. "What?"

With another loud whoop, the arachnid flew from inside the rear car and back to the young man’s shoulder. She proceeded to scoot up near his ear and began motioning as if she were whispering to him. "One second, let me get out the forms," he insisted.

He retrieved a set of papers from his bundle of documents and fastened them into a wooden board that had been seated underneath the stack. With a sigh, he reached into his coat and retrieved an old fountain pen. "All right, so no invasive species?"

The tarantula continued whispering. "Ah, I see," he replied, making several marks on his forms. "It looks as if everything is in order, then. All I need are the names of everyone in your party for our records."

"Douglas Rose," Doug answered. "The two Parkahunds are Hartstein Sammelle and Danniverd, the orange cat is Argos Santana, and the long-haired cat is Samara Talikha."

Sam growled angrily. "Got it," the agent responded. "I’ll make sure your names are correct on here."

The portly Parkahund gave a loud bark in response. "No problem," the agent replied again.

"You speak dog?" Venice inquired.

The young customs agent looked up from his documents. "No, I’m just trained to understand it," he explained. "Zaffiro’s the type of city where you’ll get little done if you don’t at least know how to interpret a few non-human languages."

He pointed the back end of his fountain pen at the carpenter. "We’ll continue with you, sir," he instructed.

"Venice D’Fiamma," the carpenter answered.

"Ah, D’Fiamma," the young agent remarked. "You must be of West Terran descent. That’s a somewhat common family name there. Anyone else?"

Venice shrugged at his comment.

Aurora raised her hand. "Aurora Song," she answered.

"Corvido Rook," Rook responded from atop the musician’s shoulder.

Lola huffed. "Hikaru Lola," the Buhund added.

Wesley grimaced. "Marion Wesley," he confirmed.

Carter crossed his arms and leaned back against the caravan. "Robert Carter," he divulged with a sharp yawn.

The Agent’s eyes drifted over to Amah and Uzhu. The powerless Sun Spirit stuttered as she caught his glance. "Onika Sol?" she offered.

"Aidy Merryweather," Uzhu rejoined with little thought.

Jakea and Betty were still in the process of dusting the dirt off of their housecoats, paying little mind to the customs agent. "Names, please," he insisted.

"Jakea Laveau," Jakea replied.

Betty sighed in annoyance as she continued trying to dust herself off. "Betty Ann Souci," she responded. "And the mutt is Kerberos Emma."

The agent continued writing down what he’d been told. "And the names of the two pyrepies in the front car?" he prodded.

"Caw and Gug," Rook groaned.

Doug chuckled uneasily. "I almost forgot about them."

With one final pen stroke, the agent finished his paperwork. "Looks like everything’s in order," he muttered.

As he tucked the paperwork back under his arm and put away his pen, he retrieved a set of tiny, flat, red medals from inside his coat. "Everyone in your party needs to keep one of these on them at all times," the agent explained. "These indicate that you’re in Terra legally and will prevent any misunderstandings. The latches on the back are designed to make them easy to attach to a collar or belt."

He tossed the set of medals to Venice, the carpenter catching the bundle with a bright jingle. "You’re from around here, lad. I’ll count on you to show them how things are supposed to be."

Venice glanced down at the trinkets in his hands, then at Lola. He appeared utterly befuddled. The Buhund sighed. "I think he just wants you to hand them out," she reassured him.

He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips tautly. "It’s not about the ruddy badges," Venice murmured.

The Agent waved half-heartedly as he turned to walk away. "You lot enjoy your time in Zaffiro," he imparted.

"That might be a bit difficult with all this mist," Betty complained. "I can’t see a yard ahead in any direction."

The tarantula began eagerly pointing away from the caravan, producing a soft hissing sound. "Mali wants to note that the mist is to be expected since we’re so near the coast," Agent Biancardi remarked. "It comes in every night. Luckily, a tropical wind comes in every morning to clear it. Usually right about—"

A harsh gust of warm wind blew past the entire group, pushing away the lingering mist from the early morning. As the fog cleared, the light of the rising sun glimmered down, illuminating a structure not far off in the distance.

A roaring river echoed, cascading down an adjacent cliffside. Numerous stone buildings and bridges intertwined over the sides of the estuary, standing firm and stable in spite of the waterfall they surrounded. Squinting, Lola noticed the riversides were lousy waterwheels spinning aimlessly with the current.

Along the countless bridges extended from building to building, humans could be seen going about their daily business. Several dogs could be seen in their company, while the higher structures were traversed by an abounding number of cats and birds.

"In Zaffiran society, animals are considered ’non-human’ persons," the Agent explained. "They share the city with humans as equals. Most outsiders take some time to get accustomed to such an idea, but I think your group will cope well."

He turned and walked away. As he departed, Lola shifted her gaze back to the overwhelming sight of the waterfall city before her and friends.

#

Shortly after breakfast, the group departed from the caravan and made their way into the city. On the far end of the settlement along the tallest towers, Doug and Betty directed them to a white brick building with a long set of stone stairs spanning out in front of it. The words "Grande Library" were carved into the arch above the front entrance. Lola tilted her head curiously as she stopped on the top step to observe it. "Why are we stopping at a library?" she whined.

Doug halted behind her, leaning on his cane. "It’s one of the finest collections of information in all of the planet. That and we don’t exactly know where Luce Vera’s ruins are."

Venice walked up beside the old sage. "So you’re hoping there’s some kind of record here that’ll lead us there?" he queried.

"If any," Doug replied. "I’m not exactly an expert in Terran history and archeology. Likewise, Prithvian history tends to limit details of the Witching Wars to the migration of refugees from Terra, An Domhan, and numerous other regions. So I can’t say I rightfully know where to start."

"That might be why most libraries have catalogs to help ya look such things up, cher," Betty remarked as she strode past him.

She continued walking, taking hold of a handle on one of the lacquered wooden doors at the entrance. A low creak softly echoed in the entryway as the door swung open on its hinges. The old woman motioned through the door with her cane. "In with the lot of ya," she insisted. "C’mon."

Jakea uneasily made her way to the top of the stairs, Sants riding aloft her hair. "I still don’t feel right about leaving Emma back at the caravan," she protested.

"She’s got Danny and Talikha to keep her company … not that neither of ’em are much company," Betty countered. "In with ya."

Lola carelessly walked past her and through the open doorway, her comrades’ footsteps echoing behind her. The library’s interior was dimly lit, a few fairy fire lanterns illuminating random sections throughout it. Daylight weakly filtered down through windows framed high above the tallest shelves, the soft cooing of numerous pigeons echoing from their sills. In the low light, fields of bookshelves could be seen spanning throughout the building.

A large mahogany desk stood a short distance from the entryway, illuminated by a lantern hanging from a post adjacent to it. On the other end of it, a large set of small cabinets was set up, facing away from the desk’s edge. Lola paused at the sight of it and turned back to the group. "I’ve never been in a library before," she admitted. "Where do we start looking for stuff about the ruins?"

A pair of wings flapped loudly behind her. The Buhund turned back to see a large, grey parrot perched atop the desk. It turned its head toward her, its dark grey eyes examining her intently. "Please keep your voice down, madame dog," the bird spoke soft but firmly. "Others here are trying to read."

Lola’s ears folded back as she backed away from the desk. "Sorry," the dog apologized.

Rook trotted up beside her, his focus set on the parrot. "I’m afraid for most of us this is our first time in a library. Would you mind helping us look up some information?" the Rooster inquired.

The parrot scoffed at the question. "Our catalogs are in those drawers," it replied as it pointed with its wing to the cabinets on side of the desk. "I wasn’t aware dogs and jungle fowl had mastered human-tongue."

"It’s from a spell," Lola grumbled.

"I wasn’t asking why," the parrot retorted. "Nor do I particularly care."

It fluttered over to the cabinets, landing atop them softly. "Every book here is sorted by type——philosophy, history, geography, sciences, and such—then by the first syllable in the subject name," the bird explained. "For example, if you wanted to know the history of Zaffiro, that would be under history, then the syllable ’Za.’"

Venice approached the cabinet, hunching down to bring himself to eye level with the parrot. "And what about the location of the ruins of Luce Vera?" he queried. "Is there any specific section, or even book that we might find that in?"

"Likely under either history or geography, syllable ’Lu’ for either," it replied. "You’re aware that the ruins are somewhat taboo, correct? I certainly hope your little group isn’t thinking about doing any archeological work there."

"Why in Lumea would they be taboo?" Lola questioned.

The parrot shot her an unenthusiastic glance. "You’re obviously not from around here," it sighed. "The Witching Wars decimated most of Terra, acclimating with a battle where the City of Luce Vera was buried beneath the ground. It’s not a portion of the country’s history anyone’s very proud of, particularly Terran humans."

"Funny that they can be so preoccupied with warfare and ashamed of it at the same time," Rook snarked.

Both Lola and the parrot snickered loudly at his comment. Aurora nudged the rooster with the side of her foot. "Don’t be a jerk," she scolded.

Venice had busied himself looking through the cabinets and had retrieved several cards from them in spite of the rooster’s comment.

"Find anything?" Doug inquired.

The carpenter looked up from the cabinets. "Most of the records seem to be in three of the library’s sections: historical records, archeological surveys, and atlases."

"It’ll probably be wise to split up to look through all of them," the Sage suggested. "Venice, why don’t you take Lola, Jakea, Sants, and Amah to archeology? Betty can take Aurora, Rook, Welsey, and Uzhu to historical records. Meanwhile, I’ll take Samelle and Carter to atlases."

"Who in tarnation put you in charge?" Betty protested.

The parrot put its talon to its beak as it loudly shushed the old woman. "Butt out, bird," she snarled.

"My name isn’t ’bird,’" it protested. "My name is Youla Olivier, and I am the Head Librarian of this establishment. If you can’t be respectful, then I’ll have to ask you to leave."

Betty rolled her eyes and turned to Venice. "Give me those cards," she demanded.

She snatched them from his grip as he reached to hand them to her. With the catalog cards in hand, she stormed off with her group reluctantly following behind her.

Venice handed off a remaining portion of the cards in his hand to Doug. "See you lot in a bit," the old Sage remarked before departing with his group.

#

When they arrived at the archeology section, the cards that Venice had retrieved from the catalog had referred them to well over twenty different tomes—most of them thicker than a loaf of bread. They spread out the number of tomes across each of them, reading them by lantern light from the floor by the shelves they’d taken them from.

"Are any of these even about the city’s whereabouts?" Venice questioned out loud. "The past three I skimmed through were more about the folklore surrounding the city."

Amah lifted her gaze from the book she was reviewing. "This one seems to be more about the dietary habits of Luce Verans," she remarked as she tossed it aside.

"Has anyone else noticed their book pile getting bigger?" Jakea pointed out. "I started out with five, but it seems like I have six now."

"Rao," Sants yowled in agreement.

Venice examined his pile. "Now that you mention it, I have seven. I started out with five as well."

He glanced over to Lola, who had only one book in front of her. The Buhund was intently reading over its contents. She noticed his sudden focus on her and looked up at him. "What’s wrong?" she asked.

"Let me see that," the carpenter insisted as he snatched the book from under her.

His eyes briefly scanned through the contents of the page the tome was open to. "Run, hedgehog, run," he read aloud. "You dumped your tomes on everyone else to read a children’s book?"

"It seemed like a better use of my time?" the Buhund offered. “I’m a dog: it’s a miracle I can even read in the first place.

Jakea huffed. "You’re probably making more progress than any of us," the girl groaned as she continued skimming through the book in front of her. "Who or what are the Da’i Kii, and why does this book keep eluding to them?"

"They were a group of human magic-users and the primary instigators of the Witching Wars," Amah elaborated. "Obviously, they’re extinct now."

The glances of everyone present shot over to the now-human sun spirit. Her eyes widened. "I had nothing to do with it if that’s what you’re thinking!" she defended before quickly hiding her face behind the tome she was holding.

Lola turned back to Venice. "So, can I have my book back?"

The carpenter raised the tome above his head, and out of her reach. "Not a chance," he growled. "We have a lot of work to do here and you need to carry your own weight."

"Nuts to that!" the Buhund bellowed. "You can’t leave me in suspense about the ending!"

"We have more important things to worry about at the moment than that," Venice countered.

Lola arched back and lunged at him. "Give me the book," she snarled.

The canine landed squarely on his chest, knocking him onto his back as she landed. Digging her nails into his shoulders, she locked her teeth around a loose section of his shirt’s collar.

"You’re not getting it back, now get off of me!" Venice demanded as he attempted to push her away.

Lola refused to release her grip as the carpenter thrashed across the library floor trying to remove her. In their struggle the pair rolled into the group’s collective stacks of tomes, knocking them across the aisle in a clutter. "Consarnit! I just lost three hours of work," Jakea groaned.

"Can you two stop, please?" Amah pleaded. "You’re going to get us thrown out of the library with the racket you’re making."

Shaking her head and momentarily attempting to ignore the continuing altercation between the Buhund and the carpenter, Jakea reached down in front of where she was sitting and began recollecting the books that had been in her pile. As she set her glance upon the tome that had been knocked closest within her arm span, she noticed that it had fallen open. The pages visible were entirely blank, but a small paper pocket had been glued to one of them. Peeking out from the top of the pocket was what appeared to be a crystal.

Perplexed by the sight of it, she carefully pulled the item from inside the book. Upon examining it closer it looked as if it was simply common rose quartz, barely the length of the palm of her hand. Curiously, the stone was cut like a precious jewel; a diamond shape with a flat backing and the shape of an eight-pointed star somehow carved into its interior. Unlike a typical rock or mineral, it was noticeably warm to the touch.

Entranced by its appearance, Jakea ran her fingers across the top of it. Almost as if it was responding to her touch, the crystal began emitting a soft, yet growing glow. Amah and Sants took immediate notice of the light. "A memory crystal?" the Sun Spirit uttered.

In a vibrant flash, the crystal lit up brightly enough to illuminate the entire aisle. Jakea squinted painfully as she tried to keep her gaze focused on the stone. The light emanating from the crystal died down slightly and reshaped into a projection that hovered above it as the fledgling Sage still held it in her hand. A shade of gold swept over the library aisle as various moving images flashed by in the stone’s vision, a detailed map displayed alongside them. Jakea traced the ancient Terran text along the bottom of the projection with her finger. "Built atop the Valles de Oro, the city of Luce Vera now rests beneath them," she read. "It looks like we have a lead!"

Lola and Venice could still be heard squabbling. "It must be modified to project the memories," Amah commented as she moved closer to the projection. "We’re going to need to transcribe the map somehow."

"Can’t we just take the crystal with us?" Jakea asked.

The Sun Spirit shook her head. "It belongs to the library," she replied. "They’re dedicated to cataloging all of these records for use by everyone; it wouldn’t be right to take it. The more pressing question is how are we going get a copy of this map drawn up?"

Jakea looked over at the clashing carpenter and Buhund momentarily, her gaze then drifting to Sants. The cat appeared to be observing the fight, unamused by the whole spectacle. "If you’re going to do something, do it already," she chided him.

In a blur, the tabby vanished from where he was sitting. A set of yelps sounded down the aisle, Venice and Lola each suddenly hunched up on opposite sides of it. A set of four claw marks were visible on both of their faces. "That bloody stings!" the carpenter exclaimed.

Lola whined softly as she pawed at the wound on her face. "Lola, stop picking at it," Venice scolded. "You’re just going to irritate it more."

Sants reappeared with a blur in the same spot he’d been standing in, a satisfied grin plastered across his face. "Remind me to teach you a healing charm when we get back to the caravan," Jakea uttered.

She fished a quill and a sheet of paper out of her pile of books. "We need you to copy this map," she instructed, pointing to the crystal’s projection.

Venice examined the image of the map. "It’s a bit much for me to draw up," he responded.

The fledgling Sage urged the paper and quill into his hands. "You’re hyper-dexterous, right? You’ll be fine," she reassured him.

He rolled his eyes as he positioned the parchment atop a nearby book and began copying down the map.

Next Chapter: (Book 2) Chapter 08 - The Chakram and the Glass Coffin