Chapter Text
The sky was a sepia tone with white clouds, there were thousands of little houses carved into the solid rock and the wind blowing through them made a strange melody. The vegetation was low and green, that place seemed more like a dream.
Alexander was amazed at the sight. This was Abaton, one of the most famous cities in the peculiar world, the scene of the greatest battles in peculiar history. He couldn't wait to be able to go to the ruins of the famous library of souls, to be able to hear the echoes of the ancient inhabitants of that place. This was Alexander's peculiarity, he could hear the echoes of ghosts, his peculiarity did not allow him to see them, he only heard them, low words of weak and forgotten ghosts, Alec was not like other communicators from beyond, rarely were the ghosts willing to talk to him, especially ghosts as grand as the ones he wanted to hear in Abaton.
Alexander was ama zed by Abaton and lost in his thoughts, until he heard a finger snap and returned to reality, to see Ivana staring at him with that magnificent pair of green eyes.
“Are you hearing echoes?” She asked with genuine curiosity.
" No, and you? Have you ever had a vision of the past?”
“I didn’t even try, I’m going to prioritize the library and its mysteries, then I’ll worry about those little houses carved into the rock.” Ivana said, smiling and admiring the landscape. “This place is incredible!”
“I can’t believe we got a permit to come here… 17 years until the council approved our historic expedition.” Alexander said looking at Ivy.
“They must have finished the maze, that’s why they finally let us come here.”
“You don’t really believe that nonsense, do you?” Alexander laughed skeptically.
“Maybe yes, maybe no, in the peculiar world everything is possible Alec, from women turning into birds, to a loop similar to hell, you can't doubt anything when there are peculiars involved.”
“That's a good point... Do you know where the entrance to the library is?”
“I have everything written down... There is no longer a library, it is just rubble on top of the mountain, some corridors survived, but as you can imagine they are completely empty....”
“I don't understand this logic, why did they collect the remaining vases? Why didn't they just destroy everything and put an end to it once and for all? There is no point in hiding the vases, someday another crazy tyrant will try to get them and the nightmare will begin again.” Alexander said with genuine conviction.
“ Because it’s just not fair. The souls of those vases are not to blame for the greed of their fellow humans still alive, these people had a genuine faith in Abaton and that their souls would be kept safely, the peculiar culture was beautiful and extremely well disseminated, we were fair and the existence of abaton never it harmed no one... Until greed tempted the first thief of Abaton... And the war began... Destroying the vases would be like destroying years of culture, destroying the faith of good people, it would be like punishing the victim instead of the aggressor . That's why We're here, we're going to tell the right story, put the victims in their position as oppressed victims and the culprits in the position of greedy monsters, after all that's all they were. And that's why Alexander, I don't doubt that they created a new Abaton, a truly safe place for the remaining souls, and if a new tyrant tries to steal these souls again We will make sure to kill him like we did everyone else.” Ivana said with certainty on her face.
Alexander was embarrassed by her statement, he had never stopped to think from that angle, it really didn't seem fair. “You're right, Ivy... I had never stopped to think about it that way... Nothing is so simple in the peculiar world...”
“It's okay Alec, you didn't say that out of malice, you don't have bad intentions, and to a certain extent you're right, the vases will always be coveted as long as they exist... You just fear the existence of new tyrants... And you're not wrong to fear... Peculiar genocidaires are much worse than humans...” Ivana said sadly. “But let's change the subject, come on, let's go up the mountain and see the rubble, there's so much I want to see.” She smiled and held Alec's hand, making him follow her up the mountain.
Alec did his best not to look at her, he didn't want Ivana to notice he was blushing. During the climb he began to hear echoes. The problem was that there were several of them and they were saying several things at the same time, there was a lot of noise pollution, and it got so loud so suddenly that Alec let go of Ivana's hand and covered his ears trying to calm down.
Ivana stopped immediately and was startled to see her friend in that state, he was bent over with his hands covering his ears. "Alexander? Alec? What it was? What are you listening to...? Need help?".
Alexander tried to calm down and try to distinguish some specific voices to try to make it more bearable.
Go away
Get out of here
Flee, these lands have been corrupted
Go away, evil still inhabits these lands.
Thieves, get out of there
Alec understood some sentences, but his ears hurt so much that the sentences became confused and scrambled in his mind. “They're telling us to leave... They think we're thieves... And they think we're going to harm Abaton... I think, they're shouting... I don't quite understand....”
Ivana opened her bag, took out sound mufflers and placed them on Alexander, which seemed to ease the pain he felt. “Do you feel better ? Do you want to rest? Do you think you can continue?” she was clearly worried.
“Thank you... I'm great... I can continue... I wasn't prepared for this, ghosts have never screamed at me like that. Most ancient spirits don't even want to be heard... I didn't expect all this commotion...” he said guessing what she had said based on lip reading and her expression.
“They must think we came here to steal what little they have left... Desperation is such a sad thing... Even after they were dead they had no rest...” Ivana spoke more to herself than to Alec.
Alexander didn't understand very well what Ivana said, with the mufflers he just used his lip reading skills to understand what she was saying and she had spoken very quickly. “I didn’t understand what you said…”
She nodded that it was no big deal, took a deep breath to calm herself, decided what she should do and then Ivana extended her hand to him, and he accepted, standing up with help. She held his hand firmly and led him up the mountain to a cave, that was the old entrance to the Library of souls.
Alexander decided to take off the sound mufflers to see what the situation was like, if he could do his job. By some miracle the place was completely silent. There was no echo, the only sound that could be heard was the strange melody created by the wind passing through the little houses carved into the stone, the structures worked like giant flutes.
"Are you fine my darling? Are you hearing something?” Ivana asked with slight concern.
“No... Everything is silent... You can start your work... I'll try to contact someone... Everything will be fine.” He said smiling at her. And then he watched carefully as Ivana used her incredible power.
Ivana lowered herself to the ground, took off her gloves and placed her hands in the dirt. In the same second she fell to the ground with her hands still stuck in the ground and with her eyes open but with a lost expression, she was seeing the past of that place. She would see everything that happened in that place in a counterclockwise direction, she would see from today until the day that place was created, centuries of peculiar history. When she had seen everything, her brain would reorganize the information in chronological order and then she would regain consciousness and write down perfectly everything that happened, every forgotten historical fact, every important person who was erased from history will be rediscovered. But that would take hours and she was stuck in this trance, completely vulnerable and unable to wake up until someone took her hands off the floor.
Alexander now felt alone, Ivana would only return in several hours and would be busy writing the first draft of her new history book. He needed to find some ghost, he wanted any of the echoes outside to come forward now.
Do you hear me boy?
Alexander froze, as if he had heard his thoughts, a ghost was trying to communicate with him. It was too good to be true.
" Yes! I hear you"
Do you recognize me boy?
“Forgive me sir, I don't see you... My peculiar gift is just to hear the echoes of the ghosts of the past, those so old and weak that their souls can no longer communicate so easily, your voice is just an echo to me , but I understand you perfectly... Who are you?” Alexander was already holding the notebook and pencil to write down everything the ghost was going to tell him.
The ghost laughed and then said. My name is Balthazaar, I was one of the kings of Abaton, and I can answer all his questions.
