Chapter Text
A knock can be heard from outside the king's door. “Pure Vanilla. Could you help me in the library later?” The vanilla king rubs his eyes before responding “Yes, I will be right there, White Lily, go ahead and get breakfast while you wait.”
White Lily walks away from the door, told by the footsteps echoing through the corridor. Pure Vanilla gives out a sigh, “that was really weird. I should really stop thinking about him…” The vanilla king rises from his comfortable bed reluctantly.
Pure Vanilla changes out of his nightgown and into a common robe, more his style than the original robes he was wearing yesterday. The vanilla King straightened up his bed and his hair before meeting White Lily in the kitchen. It seems she’s making breakfast for both of them.
The aroma of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, fill his senses. “ I never knew you knew how to cook,” the vanilla King continues, “It’s a nice change of heart from you.” The white haired cookie turns around “I’m still learning, but I’m doing better than how I used to. Plus, I thought it would be nice for us to share a meal.”
Both cookies sit down at the table before discussing the topics they needed to research on. “I believe you have some books relating to the dark flower war, Pure Vanilla.” The vanilla king takes a while to respond, trying to remember if he does. “I believe I have a few journal entries and a few articles relating to the matter.”
“Let’s go to the library after this, I need to remember a few things.” White Lily says, playing with the fabric on her hands. “White Lily, there is no need to rush this early, I understand this is an important topic for you, but you also need to know that people here do care about you. You don’t have to worry about something all the time.”
The white haired cookie stays quiet. “Pure Vanilla, you don’t understand. Dark Enchanchress Cookie is plotting something! I need to know her goals, her plans, I need to make sure we don’t lose anyone like…like last time. It was my fault that happened, and now I want to be the one to prevent it.”
Pure Vanilla looks at White Lily in a melancholy manner, earning a reluctant glance from White Lily. “I’m sorry, but I need to do this, for the better of Earth Bread.” “Then let us help you too, the rest of the ancients would love to help you, your past actions don’t matter anymore. This is the present and future at hand.”
White Lily sighs, she knows Pure Vanilla better than anyone, he won’t let anyone do anything alone. “Fine…but don’t make it happen only out of pity for me.” Pure Vanilla nods his head. They start to wrap up their breakfast and head to the Library.
“If I can’t find any new information here, I’ll be heading towards the Blueberry Yogurt Academy. I believe there will be something there I may have missed back in my younger years.” This statement earns a surprised expression from Pure Vanilla. “Are you sure there won’t be anything there? I heard from GingerBrave there were some monsters there, even if they did already deal with them.”
“Yes I’m sure Pure Vanilla, I’ll be taking the airship back to Crispia to find it.” White Lily starts to open the library’s doors, a loud creaky noise coming from the large wooden doors. Cough cough! “Pure Vanilla…when was the last time this library was cleaned and maintained?” This made the vanilla king scratch the back of his neck in nervousness.
“Yeah it’s been a while since this part of the castle has been watched by someone. Some places are still missing some of its architecture.” White Lily gives him a fretful stare before walking into the dusty library. It smells of old books, and a little rusty metal too. Pure Vanilla hurries over to the light switches and powers on the large chandelier in the center of the room.
“These were just recently installed into the castle's lights. Pretty useful right?” A nod from White Lily as she continues to walk through the cramped walls stacked to the brim with books. Pure Vanilla decides to let her be and to help look in other sections for some of the Dark Flower War’s books.
A couple hours pass before a gasp can be heard from White Lily. “Pure Vanilla! Come here, I think I found something useful for my research!” At this, the vanilla king hurries over, dust all over his robes. “What did you find?” White Lily shows Pure Vanilla a map of Earth Bread, dating back centuries.
“Woah…when did that get in here?” Pure Vanilla gives the map a look through before handing it back to White Lily. “I’m not sure how, but I feel like it was calling to me. Like it wanted me to use it.” “That’s a bit weird, but then again you’ve always been able to find what you want wherever you go.”
White Lily chuckles at that, she knows that she’s very well established with finding things. “I think this could help me find the BlueBerry Yogurt Academy, and maybe even help me find something else.” “And what's that something else?” Pure Vanilla asks.
“A tower, I believe it was owned by the previous owner of the Academy, and at the top of the tower there was a library filled to the brim with Earth Bread’s history dating back centuries before we were even born!” A glimmer of excitement makes its way to White Lily’s eyes. This makes Pure Vanilla smile, she’s usually so focused on what she’s researching to care about showing her real emotions.
“I’m glad you can tell me all of this White Lily, and I’m happy you were able to find what you needed here.” “No, thank you Pure Vanilla, for giving me a chance and letting me into your library. But I must get on my way immediately.” White Lily hurries to grab her things from the spare guest room.
“Wait where are you heading?” Pure Vanilla calls out. “Crispia! Where the Blueberry Yogurt Academy is!” “At least have lunch first before you go. You’re been at this for hours on end, you might need it for the journey.” White Lily pauses her hurried packing, then sighs. “Fine, but I must hurry.”
Once they finished their lunch, Pure Vanilla waved to White Lily as she left to go to the other continent. The white haired cookie got onto the airship without another word and left for Crispia. She knew this trip would take a few days, but she didn’t mind the wait. “I need to know just what Dark Enchantress Cookie is plotting now…this could very well be the end of Earth Bread if she gets any more powerful…”
White Lily curses herself for letting any of this happen. Not only does she have to worry about Dark Enchantress Cookie, but also Silent Salt, her beast counterpart. She knew she would have to face him sooner or later, and she was dreading it.
The past few days in the airship were rough, a thunderstorm struck and almost made the airship crash, but it was able to dodge every attack that was brought upon it. White Lily soon arrived at her destination, a determined fire in her eyes.
The white haired cookie removed the map from her dress’s pocket along with a compass. Like this, she would be able to travel the continent of Crispia without getting lost.
It took around 2 days and 3 nights of traveling for White Lily to find the Blueberry Yogurt Academy. The outside of the academy was protected by vines and various species of berries, most likely left behind from the last garden club center in the back. White Lily uses her powers to move the plants out of the front door so she can go in. The vast and empty hallways give her a sense of bittersweetness. Afterall, she spent most of her time studying and researching; she never had time for fun or friends.
The white haired cookie hurriedly made her way through the empty halls of the academy and went straight to the library, sometimes stopping to look at the paintings on the walls, overgrown by vines and plants. Outside the library doors, stood two Nightmare-ridden Librarians. White Lily really didn’t want to fight them, but she knew she had to.
Swiftly, but surly, she grabs them by the vines under their feet then lets a large flower swallow them and let them dissipate by the surge of gas on them by the large plant. “Phew” She knows she's lucky, she would have had a lot more problems if GingerBrave and his friends hadn't come here first. To them, she is forever thankful to them for their help.
White Lily didn’t know where to start looking for books on Dark Enchantress, but she knows from memory she has been here recently. They're most likely to be books missing from the history and science sections for sure, but she just needed to figure out which ones she took.
Several hours go by, hundreds of books are searched, and it’s already almost nightfall once more. The moon light starts to shine through the stained glass at the top of the roof, White Lily now knows which books Dark Enchantress Cookie has taken. A book on the Witches magic, anatomy of cookies, and dark moon magic. But why would she need one of the past virtues that ruled the 5 separate kingdoms? That she might find out sooner or later.
She soon made her way to the owner’s tower, a 10 minute walk away from the academy. The more she walked, the more thrilled she felt and the answers that awaited her. White Lily soon made it to the top of the tower. The Library seemed untouched by anything and anyone for a very long time. Layers upon layers of dust were on everything, the books, the hairs, the windows, and the left over documents on the desk.
The papers scattered throughout the floor seem to be just student records and everyone's academic levels. White Lily picks up one of the old grade papers. “Woah! This is from 1000 years ago! I guess it really closed down when the Dark Flower War started…At least those students are safe now, I can only hope though.” White Lily starts to scan the books, some interest her enough to where she does grab them, but only to put them back after reading a little.
She soon spots a book that was lit by the moon's light in the bookshelf behind the main desk. “I think I just found what I’m looking for.” Her fingers caress the books she goes by before grazing the book. The book she pulls out was nothing like what she thought it would be, it was a book with a waning crescent moon on it. Gold accents with blue and covered with textured stars.
It seems to be a book on the old virtues, The Virtue of Knowledge to be specific. White Lily stands there for a while with the book in her hands, this has to be the book. This has everything she could ever want and need. It’s so big and the writing is so small it must have all the knowledge she needs to stop Dark Enchantress Cookie! There is still hope afterall!
White Lily started to skim through the pages until she found “How Cookies Came Into Existence” This, the white haired cookie already knew about. “To be eaten.” She continued to flip through the pages, each getting darker and darker themes. Old blood seems to have been spilled on the pages, centuries old for sure. Most of them are on the pages about the bitter truth about cookies and their real reason for being alive.
White Lily pauses, the last 5 chapters are personal journal entries. She felt a bit uneasy, “Could this be written by The Virtue of Knowledge..?” She wondered. She didn’t want to intrude but her curiosity got the better of her. “Today, my disciples got to form their very own academy! I might visit soon, I wish to see their students and how well they are doing. I hope the knowledge they spread will help Cookie kind with everything they need to know for adulthood.”
What? Disciples of The Virtue of Knowledge? THE virtues took in disciples? Maybe it was because they needed more help for sharing what they knew and other types of ways to help with the cookies of Earth Bread. That means the founders of Blueberry Yogurt Academy were under The Virtue of Knowledge to spread everything they knew. This makes White Lily ponder, “Just who was The Virtue of Knowledge? Maybe if I found them, they would tell me what to do. They could help with Dark Enchantress Cookie, but then again, the Virtues haven’t been seen since the rise of the Beasts.
She continues to read, “Today, Sugar Syrup Cookie, my top disciple, asked me if cookies could become Witches after reading a tale about witches becoming cookies. I know it’s possible because I am the Fount of Knowledge, but I…I lied to her. I told her no such things could happen. I feel disgusted with myself for deceiving her.” “WHAT?! C-cookies can’t…NO they shouldn’t be able to!” White Lily slammed the book on the desk.
“But this is the personal book of The Virtue of Knowledge…so it must be true…” The white haired cookie paused, “wait, the fount of knowledge? Was that their name? But they were only known for their virtuous titles…That’s a little sad now that I think about it. Only being known as a title and to never be given a name… I guess I could pity them in a way…” White Lily began to become puzzled, “Just how can a cookie become a Witch?”
The gears in her head started to turn, fixing and finding any reason why this could be important. White Lily freezes, hearing something creak from pressure on the floor, she turns quickly to find someone there, staring at her with such intensity. "Just what are you doing here?"