Chapter 36 – Scripture

Grace stood outside the Archives, staring up at the massive double doors. They were easily three times her height and carved with weird symbols she didn’t understand.

[Great. Even the entrance is intimidating.]

She pushed one door open with both hands. It swung surprisingly easily, like it weighed nothing.

The Archives were huge. Bookshelves stretched up so high that Grace had to crane her neck to see the top. Little floating lights drifted around like fireflies, illuminating the endless rows of books, scrolls, and tablets.

“Hello?” Grace called out. Her voice echoed.

“Back here!” someone shouted from somewhere deep in the stacks.

Grace walked toward the voice, passing shelves labeled with names she couldn’t pronounce. After a minute of walking (seriously, how big was this place?), she found a desk piled high with books.

Behind it sat an angel with blue wings and black hair tied in a messy bun. She wore wire-rimmed glasses and had ink stains on her fingers.

“Uh, hi,” Grace said. “I’m looking for the Eternal Codex.”

The angel looked up and blinked.

“Oh! You’re the new one everyone’s talking about. The demon-killer.”

“That’s me,” Grace sighed. “So about that Codex…”

“Right, right.” The angel stood up. “I’m Mina, by the way. Archivist.”

Grace nodded and then looked at her blue wings.

“Wait… You’re with the Ascended Choir?”

“Was,” Mina corrected. “Left them to work here. The Choir is all about knowledge, but terrible at organizing it.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you know, before I came, they just threw new books anywhere they wanted? No system at all!”

“That’s… bad?”

“It’s CHAOS!” Mina looked personally offended. “The Dominion’s been around for millennia, and no one thought to alphabetize anything until I showed up!”

“That’s awful,” Grace said, having no idea if it actually was.

“Anyway,” Mina sighed, “you want the Eternal Codex. Any specific part? It’s not exactly a quick read.”

“Um, I’m not sure. What parts are there?”

Mina led her deeper into the Archives.

“Well, there’s the Creation Cantos—how Eternia made everything. The Laws of Light—the rules we’re supposed to follow. The Prophecies—mostly vague stuff no one understands. And the Chronicles—all the stuff Eternia did while she was here.”

“Uh… maybe the Chronicles?” Grace guessed.

“Good choice for a beginner,” Mina nodded. She stopped at a shelf and pulled out a thick book bound in white leather. “Start with this one. Volume 1.”

Grace took it. It was heavier than it looked.

“How many volumes are there?”

Mina gestured to an entire shelf.

“Eighty-seven, give or take. Thousands of pages each. Eternia was… busy.”

[Eighty-seven books?! THOUSANDS OF PAGES!?!? I’ll be reading forever!]

“There’s a table over there,” Mina pointed. “Holler if you need anything.”

Grace sat down and opened the book. The first page had fancy writing that hurt her eyes.

“In the beginning, Eternia emerged from the cosmos, a being of pure light and love,” Grace read aloud. “Blah blah blah… seeking to bring order to chaos… blah blah… created the mortal realm as a garden of delights.”

She flipped ahead a few pages. This was going to be boring if it was all this formal stuff.

Page 50 was more interesting.

“And so Eternia descended to the mortal realm in physical form, where she encountered the dragon Malathrix. The dragon demanded tribute, but Eternia instead offered a wager: if she could make the beast laugh, it would leave the village in peace.”

[Really?]

Grace kept reading, curious now.

“Eternia proceeded to tell jokes of such ribald nature that the dragon not only laughed but fell madly in love with her. For seven days and seven nights, Eternia and Malathrix engaged in passionate—”

Grace choked on air. She re-read the passage.

[Wait, what?! Eternia had s-sex with a DRAGON?!]

She flipped ahead more, stopping at random pages.

“…the band of warrior women pledged their loyalty to Eternia, who rewarded each with a night of pleasure so intense the stars themselves dimmed in envy…”

Flip.

“…fourteen maidens, seven shepherds, and a particularly flexible court jester all joined Eternia in her chambers for what would later be known as ‘The Night of a Thousand Sighs’…”

FLIP.

“…her loyal steed which she’d discovered from the western plains bowed before Eternia’s beauty, hungry for his reward…”

“…”

Grace stared at the page.

[WHAT AM I READING?! ETERNIA!? HELLO??? COULD YOU OFFER SOME COMMENTARY AT LEAST!?]

The System was noticeably silent.

Grace slammed it shut, her face burning. She grabbed another volume from the shelf labeled “Chronicles: Volume 17” and opened to a random page.

“…and thus Eternia smote the demon lord with her blade, banishing it to the void between realms.”

Alright, that sounded more like what she expected.

She read a few more pages. This volume seemed to focus on Eternia’s battles against early demons, how she created the first angels, and established the Dominion.

After an hour of reading, Grace’s eyes were tired. The Chronicles jumped around in time, sometimes focusing on big events, sometimes on random details of Eternia’s daily life. Like her preference for peaches over apples, or how she liked to bathe in mountain springs under the full moon.

And, yes, there was a LOT about Eternia’s love life. Apparently the goddess had been… enthusiastic about physical pleasure.

[No wonder Venus acts like that if this is what they teach people to worship.]

Grace closed the book and rubbed her eyes. She’d barely scratched the surface of Eternia’s story, but two things were clear: Eternia had been powerful beyond imagination, and she’d lived life to the fullest.

The question was, what did any of this have to do with Grace’s quest? Or the relics that kept disappearing?

—

{Seraph}

Seraph sat at her desk, glaring at the report in front of her. One of the Bravery Sisters had just flown in from the mortal realm with news about demon sightings near a small village called Oakridge.

“How many did you see?” Seraph asked the messenger.

“At least five,” the angel replied. “Small ones. But they looked organized.”

“Organized?” That was unusual. Lesser demons usually just wandered around causing random trouble. “How so?”

“They were hunting together. Working as a pack.”

Seraph tapped her fingers on the desk. Demons working together meant one of two things: either they’d gotten smarter (bad), or something stronger was controlling them (worse).

“Any sign of a bigger one? A leader?”

The messenger shook her head. “Not that I saw. But the villagers said people have been going missing for weeks.”

“Missing, not dead?” That was another weird detail. Demons usually just killed on the spot.

“Yes, ma’am. Taken in the night.”

Seraph leaned back in her chair, thinking. This wasn’t a normal demon infestation. It needed investigating. And it needed a permanent solution, not just a temporary banishment.

A smile spread across her face as an idea formed.

“Get me everything we have on Oakridge,” she ordered. “Maps, local legends, everything.”

“Yes, ma’am. Are you going yourself?”

Seraph’s grin widened.

“No. I think it’s time our newest recruit got her first real mission.”

The messenger looked uncertain.

“You mean the little one? The demon-killer?”

“Exactly.” Seraph stood up, already planning. “Grace needs to prove herself, and this is the perfect opportunity.”

“Alone?”

“Of course not. She’s not ready for that.” Seraph paused, considering who to send with Grace. It needed to be someone strong enough to help if things went bad, but who wouldn’t just take over.

“Get me Diana,” she decided. “They worked well together at the banquet. And Diana needs to get back in the field anyway.”

As the messenger hurried off, Seraph looked out her window at the training grounds below. This mission would be good for both of them. Grace needed experience, and Diana needed to face her fears.

Plus, it would be hilarious to watch them try not to kill each other along the way.

“This is going to be fun,” Seraph muttered to herself, already imagining Diana’s face when she got the assignment.

Poor Grace had no idea what was coming.

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