Chapter 19

     Markus leads Mim into his grandparents' manor. Mim cranes her head to look at the marble pillars and old paintings on the walls. He opens a door for her and she gasps in amazement.

     “I have never seen so many books in one place,” she says softly as she looks around the main room of his families library. It is a huge room, as big as the ballroom. Bookshelves cover the walls floor to ceiling and the room itself is made into a maze by the bookshelves in the rest of the room. “This is so damn cool. I could never read this many books in my life!”

     “There are also a dozen or so rooms off this one full of books and comfortable places to read them.” Markus smiled. “Light Users have an obsession with knowledge. We like to know just about everything.”

     Mim laughs. “That doesn't surprise me.”

     A tall, thin man in a brown monk robe strides up to them, smiling. His hair is white with age and so short he probably didn't need to comb it. His face is wrinkled and his light blue eyes are filled with good humor. He is like a grandfather or great uncle that everyone loves to be around.

     “Your mate is as pretty as you said she was,” the old man says while taking my hands. “I'm Greg, the head librarian.”

     Markus smiled at Mim. “I'm going to get my things together. Greg wanted to meet you and I thought you would like a tour of our library.”

     Mim kisses Markus's cheek. “I'd love a tour. Go get your stuff while I ogle at this lovely library.”

     Markus watches Greg lead his mate off and he feels a pang of guilt. He leaves the room and goes to his own. Sitting at his desk waiting for him is Tim, Greg's younger brother.

     “Hello, Master Markus,” the thin, middle aged, balding man says as he stands. “I've been over all the information in our library about the Adepts.”

     “Good job, Tim,” Markus says over his shoulder as he starts putting clothes in a small suitcase. “What have you found?”

     “Well, the Council was founded according to the will of Malin Fisher, as you know. Every five years Adepts gather in the Heart Mountains for competitions to see who the strongest Adepts are. One Adept from each of the four sections of the race are crowned Lords. The Lords then have another competition and an election is held. The winner of the competition is almost always the winner of the election. That Lord is the new Council Leader.”

     Markus stops packing and studies the older man. “What about Vikirnoff Greapson?”

     “Lord Greapson has been on the council since he was sixteen. Normally so young an Adept isn't even allowed to take part in the competitions, but Vikirnoff made a deal with the old Council. If he could win the Earth Competition then Mimerain would not be taken from him and out into foster care.”

     “That must have been soon after their parents died,” Markus said softly. “Vik went through a lot to keep his sister with him.”

     “Yes. At the next Council Competitions he won the Lords' Fight and the election. Last year he did the same.”

     “At sixteen he made it onto the Council,” Markus says, thinking aloud, “and at twenty-one he became Council Leader and he still is Council Leader.”

     Tim nods. “Lord Greapson is a powerful Adept. Like his father before him.”

     “I spoke with Vik yesturday and he told me he didn't dare go against Mim's wishes,” Markus told his old friend. “When I said he was the strongest Adept alive he asked me if he really was. Who could be stronger than him and why does Mim have such power over him.”

     “He probably doesn't want to deny Mim anything. Losing her parents at such a young age and then having only her teenage brother to care for her must have been rough.” Tim scratches his head. “Considering how powerful Lord Greapson is, I'd say only the Balance of Power herself could be stronger. There are myths and old stories telling of the Balance's absolute power. It is said she could level the Heart Mountains with a wavy of her hand, freeze the blood in your veins with a look, make storms that could kill millions by clapping her hands.”

     “If the Balance is so power then why did she let us kill her?” Markus asks.

     “Your great-grandmother wondered the same thing,” Tim tells him. “She wondered why the heartless killer she had been told about willingly gave her life and left her people behind. She decided that the Balance must be a pure, kind soul, like the Unicorns. That realization made Balance Malin's murder even more horrible to her.”

     “But the Balance is dead, isn't she?” Markus presses. “Malin Fisher had no children to pass her powers onto.”

     “It is true that Balance Malin had no children. It is also true that no evidence saying the Balance still lives.” Tim sits back down and rubs his face with his hands. “But Light Users never truly learned how the Balance was chosen. We only thought that it was genetic, passed down from mother to daughter. We don't understand the Balance of Powers as well as we thought. Everything we know about her could be nothing more than a misunderstanding, like the Adepts have been claiming since the oldest Light User's records.”

     Markus stares out the window, deep in thought. “Mim is hiding something from me. I know she'll tell me sooner or later, but it makes me wonder what the big secret could be.”

     Tim crosses the room and pats Markus on the shoulder. “I'm sure you're right. You have excellent perceptions.”

     Markus smiles. “Mim would say the same.”

     Tim leaves soon after that when he realizes that Markus was done talking. After finishing his packing, Markus spends the rest of the afternoon wondering the library with Mim, forgetting for a time the puzzle of her secret.

Author's Note

Yea, took a while, but here it is!
^_^

Reviews

[A.r. Bazian]

no comment!
a great raise of climax!
i loved it!
honestly, i did!
i cant wait!

[l0urEn]

it still amazes me how you get away with a present-tensed story. it's so natural!
well, Markus' thinking... it won't be long 'til he finds out the secret...
please, do continue ^^

[Brie]

took you long enough. no i'm kidding. have i told you that i just love the way you tell a story? the way you create a whole new world and tell about it as if it were real? pretty amazing, my friend.
-Brie