Forsaken Fields: Godspawn Part 1

(Prompt 3)

Keys rubbed his good eye before trying to focus on the words on the pages of the book in front of him. He and Thomas had been in the old library since noon and it was well past sunset. When the sun had reached the horizon, Keys had asked when they would be getting back to town to see what Lock had been able to learn from her own exploration of another collection of knowledge only accessible by nature spirits and druids. Thomas’s only response had been, “When we get kicked out.”

So far, the knobbly old lady hadn’t made a move from her own stack of books and note taking to usher them out of the creaking building. In fact, she hadn’t even looked up at them, but Keys inherently understood she was the keeper of this place and not just another guest. 

Keys was sure he’d have to find a table to nap under. He only had the one eye and it was just about ready to fall out of his face from the amount of reading he’d been doing. He didn’t even know what he was looking for. Thomas had hovered about the library in a near frantic state, bringing him books and telling him what keywords to look for in each one. 

“Thomas,” Keys said, trying to keep the exhaustion and annoyance out of his voice. “We should go meet with Lock. We’re not going to find anything tonight.”

Thomas frowned, finger on the spine of another heavy tome. “Keys, the longer we look in here the quicker we’ll figure out what happened to us. I’m not leaving until I’ve at least skimmed over every book of note in here.”

Keys looked over the lines of shelves, lit by candles on tables and some sort of greenish glow from lights that bumbled through the shelves, something getting caught up on creepy bookends, too worn to make out. The lighting was certainly not helping the eyestrain. 

Keys stood up with a sigh, straightening out his back brace as he went to stand by Thomas. 

He put a hand on the dark skinned man’s shoulder and said, “Then we’re going to need to trade places. I can’t read anymore.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Thomas asked, a little distractedly. 

Keys gestured at his scarred face with a raised eyebrow and Thomas nodded a little sheepishly. “Ah, right. Okay. I was skimming this section for higher beings. After what I’ve learned, whatever did this to us could have been anything from a demon lord, higher fae, or even a god of some kind. Most of these books should have a tables of contents.”

“Search for memory related shenanigans. I know,” Keys said, blinking a couple of times before pulling a tome down, running a hand over the dusty cover and opening it to look at the table of contents. 

“Ahhhhhhhh.”

The sound sent shivers down both of their battered spines as they looked over to the librarian. She raised her head, her knotted silver hair falling back to reveal a face that was…. Beautiful. But putrid at the same time. A beautiful statue made of solidified pus from infected wounds, perfect in every way that shouldn’t be on a living creature’s face. 

It didn’t seem to be a face revealing the inner depths of the librarian. Instead, it seemed to be a reflection of utter corruptions she had been present for, unshielded. 

“Memories,” she whispered, her voice like the threat of nails on slate. “Tricky things they are, aren’t they? Did you lose your poor, poor memories, ducklings?”

Keys and Thomas shared a look. Thomas took point as he said, “You could say that. You wouldn’t happen know anything about creatures that would do such a thing, would you?”

The woman threw back her head, cackling in a voice that forced the two of them to take a step back, afraid that blood would begin spouting from her throat. 

She looked at them again, amused. “Oh, there are many such creatures, of course. But, you may be in luck, my little ducklings.”

She stood up and shuffled to a shelf, her movement making Keys glad that she was wearing enough shawls that he couldn’t actually tell how she was doing so. She grabbed a book bound in black leather with green and gold detailing, coming near and offering the book. Keys reached out and took it, his fingertips burning with the magic coming off of the small book. It couldn’t have been more than 20 pages thick, but it felt more dangerous than anything he had ever touched before. 

“The Godspawn,” the librarian whispered, eyes sparkling. “They are not all that far away, ducklings. They have grown in power over the years. Meddling more and more in the affairs of the creatures of these realms. They are quite known for their cruelty.”

Keys shuddered as she suddenly reached up, running a thumb down one of his scars before he could stop her. 

Thomas grabbed her wrist, gently but firmly pushing her hand down and said, “Where can we find out more about these… godspawn?”

“It’s in the book, duckling,” she said, now moving to shoo them from the library. “Take it, take it! A gift. Yes, a very good gift.”

She giggled to herself as Keys opened the door, ready to be out of there. 

“Goodbye, then,” she said as they stepped out onto the front steps. “And be wary. The godspawn love tasty treats such as yourself. I myself do enjoy shredded duckling flesh in my own soups.”

She slammed the door closed and Key’s shivered, shoving the book into his bag. “Let’s go find Lock,” he said darkly, feeling rather sick. The scar the woman had touched seemed to freeze in his face as they took to the path that would take them back to the town they’d been staging in.