Chapter 221: Library of Alexandria

Chapter 221: Library of Alexandria

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them.

I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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21st March 2012, Avalon

(Rose Potter POV)

There seemed to be a lot of complications to make sure that the ecosystem is stable, and there are a lot of factors and projections whenever she adds in a new species from Earth.

As they walked through the keep, the thing that took her breath away, wasn't the absurdly powerful artifacts, or the priceless pieces of art, or even the precious stones that were used to decorate pretty much everything in the castle. It was a single room, the grandest room.

Rose gaped at the entrance of the room in question. Unable to contain her curiosity, she pushed the door open and gasped in amazement. The room was as large as a small city. The power of the spacial extension charms must be absurd.

As Rose stood in disbelief at the sight before her, Jasmine chuckled behind the young witch, "I see you've found the library."

It was strange, in a way, to call this room a library. It was without a doubt a library, the endless books and shelves were proof of this. But the word was too small, too modest for such a structure.

It was by far the largest room she has seen in the keep. It was a circular one, with the walls being the shelves for the books. You could fit a small city inside, but the most impressive thing was the height of the room. It seemed like the majority of the keep was hollowed out to make room for the library. Rose looked up and couldn't even see the roof, just an endless amount of bookshelves.

Wait, what? Treasury? Why would she need a treasury at all; the floor was made of gold for fuck's sake. A square meter of the current floor alone would be worth a fortune on Earth.

Rose just followed her sister in curiosity and took another flight of stairs. They ended up in front of a large room, with a weird steel door. Jasmine pressed her palm and the door started to move away into an arch. It reminded her of the entrance to Diagon Alley a bit.

The room itself was large, and magic immediately assaulted her senses. There was no sea of gold, no precious jewels, just some sort of exhibit with artifacts left and right, in transparent boxes with small plaques beneath the displays that had the descriptions for each artifact.

"What is this place?" Rose questioned.

"This is the vault, the treasury. This the place where I put all dangerous magical artifacts, or just precious ones really. Things like the Staff of Solomon, the Chains of Gilgamesh, Achilles' shield, Harpe and Siegfried's Balmung. And I'm not just talking about weapons, but also certain grimoires, cursed items and so on. I keep them here to protect them from the world, but I also protect the world from them. This is where I put the troublesome artifacts that would cause more harm than good if they were found."

Rose chuckled in response. Jasmine gave her a questioning look, "what's so funny?"

"It's just that you're acting like the entire magical world is made up of a bunch of children and you're the only adult around. You've even confiscated the dangerous toys, to make sure that they don't hurt themselves in their curiosity. You're like the magical world's super mum"

Jasmine burst into laughter, "In a way, that's true. Even if they try to deny it, mortals are always children at heart. In a way, that's beautiful. They're constantly curious, trying to play with anything around them to see what happens. They're always fighting and throwing tantrums at the slightest provocation. You have a point in the fact that I make sure that they don't constantly hurt themselves, but that's not me being their mother, that's me being their Queen, even if they don't know it themselves. That will also be the role you will take when you take up the mantle of Queen of Avalon. This entire kingdom might be your domain, but you'll rarely have issues in here. Your people will be the entirety of the magical population. Your main goal is to make sure that they're safe, and that as a race, they will live on. Anything else will be your choice. You could remove the library, spread out the artifacts in this room, it'll be your choice. But that also means that dealing with the consequences will be your responsibility. You don't have to be like me; you're not me and you'll never be. Be yourself, make your own choices, and live with them. But that's far in the future. You're still learning, and you'll make mistakes. That's the point of this trial period I'm considering. This way, I could still help you out when you make mistakes."

Rose looked thoughtful at her answer. The role offered to her is still intimidating. But it's good to know that Jasmine isn't just going to push her down the rabbit hole. But there was something that's been bugging her, "Why now?"

Jasmine gave her a questioning hum, and Rose clarified her question, "Why did you bring me here now? I know you're not as well as you pretend to be. I can see you wincing every now and then, especially near magical creatures and items, and yet, you're bringing me here, right before you perform the ritual that's supposed to help you further. It's not like you to do something without a specific reason. So, tell me, why are you showing me this now?"

The elder witch smiled sadly at her sister, "You are a very perceptive witch, Rose. The answer is complicated, in a way. The ritual that I will perform in the next few days might save my life, it might stop me from being overwhelmed by Death's taint on my soul, on my magic, but it will change me in a very fundamental way. I will become different, more, and I don't know what might happen to my magic. The truth is, that I'm terrified of losing the little humanity I have left. No one has ever attempted something like this before, and I'm not sure about the possible side effects, or even the main effects of the ritual. It's why I agreed to meet your parents, it's why I'm showing you, my sister, the world I have created, the beauty I created in this chapter of my life. You're right, I've been downplaying my pain, my fear. It's agonizing watching everything around me and only seeing how to burn it to the ground. I see this beautiful realm, and all I can see, is how to collapse it into nothing, taking everything with it. It's horrible, but I have been pushing myself, because these are the last days I could have as a human and I do not want to waste them."

Before Rose could respond, something emerged from the shadows. It was a bird that reminded her eerily of Fawkes the phoenix, but instead of the heartwarming light that the phoenix emanated, this one had a distinct feeling of cold darkness. It was the complete opposite of the immortal bird that had mysteriously vanished alongside Dumbledore.

Jasmine, though, seemed to recognize the bird, "It's been a while old friend."