Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Alone.
With a forceful shove of my mind, I snap myself back to the physical, and with an unmistakable flutter of relief in the core of my chest, I blink Micah into focus. “I’m the Aza,” I repeat. “What does that even mean?”
“Read,” Micah presses, “then we’ll talk. And I mean, read it all. Don’t make assumptions off one line or one chapter.”
“Do we really have time for that? It’s a big book.”
“Time feels the same here, but it is not. For every full day here it’s mere minutes on Earth. And how do I tell you what is in the book when none of us fully understand it ourselves? Read it, and then we’ll talk as much as you want, and I’ll answer every question you ask me to the best of my ability.”
I grit my teeth. “I don’t understand the time thing. At all. And please, just tell me what you know.”
“I’m not going to do that, not yet. I don’t want to influence your opinion. What I surmise from that book and what you surmise may be two different things. This is your life, Ember. You deserve to interpret it your own way. And more importantly, you deserve a chance to create your own destiny.” A book appears in front of him, and he opens it, making it clear he intends to do a little reading himself. “I’ll be right here.”
There’s no pushing him. On that point, I’m clear, and I sigh with the inevitable. There’s a whole lot of reading in my future. For now, though, I sip the coffee with sweet cream and a chocolatey taste, perhaps delaying the inevitable dive into the pages, into my life—the real life I didn’t know even existed. But I remind myself knowledge really is power, and thankfully that saying came from a professor, not one of the people I called my parents, which is a topic I need to discuss with Micah sooner than later. For now, I glance back down at the book with a new perspective. I’m reading about me.
It’s hours later, and I’ve found the library bathroom twice, drank a second coffee that Micah has graciously conjured for me, and found myself wading through volumes of history that read much like the Bible, with ancient text and evasive language referencing the Aza. It’s impossible to find any real meaning to any of it, and I’m in need of food for brainpower. When my stomach grumbles its loud objection to being ignored, my eyes go wide and I press my hand to my belly.
Micah laughs, grinning ear to ear, apparently amused by my discomfort. “See what happens when you mock my gift of food? You’re left to starve in a library in a strange land known to your kind but not to you.”
“You’re a very dramatic storyteller. I don’t suppose you have an Olive Garden here in Elysium so I can get my fettuccine alfredo fix?”
He waves a hand, and a table appears a foot away from us, complete with an Olive Garden feast and two seats. “Does that work?”
The scent of hot bread and scrumptious food is too much to resist. “Yes, it does. Let’s eat.”
We switch seats, and it’s not long before I’m biting into a hot breadstick. “How is this even possible? Magic can literally make Olive Garden?”
“No, but the chef at Olive Garden can, and I claimed someone else’s meal.”
My eyes widen incredulously. “No, you did not.”
He shrugs. “They’ll make another.” He grabs a breadstick, then chuckles. “Of course I didn’t grab someone’s meal. Magic can do about anything. But that said, I don’t encourage using your magic so readily on a day-to-day basis. It’s critical we blend in with the humans, and it’s easy to slip up and get caught. You need to get comfortable with your assets, and that requires practice. You can provide dessert.”
“We’ll see about that,” I say, unwrapping the napkin from around my silverware and on a mission to learn more about him and this place, rather than me. “Does Elysium have grocery stores?”
“The house will anticipate your needs.” He digs into a bite of his pasta.
“Why are there so many seats here in the library? Do you allow public visitations? And are Nephilim living here in Elysium?”
“Each Overseer is free to use their world as they wish. They are the king. They are the law maker. They are the visionary. In my case, I want my world in its truest form, sheltered from the corruption of other beings and worlds. I allow only a few select people to visit and an even more select group to have hall passes to get in. And those who do not, do not know it exists.”
“Do other Overseers approach their worlds differently?”
“I do not know what they do with their worlds. I don’t ask. They don’t ask. Do not speak of this place to anyone. We don’t want to lose it. Ever.”