A Hand-Woven Universe 39 39. What was that?

In the city, the night passed with a blanket of anxiety on the hearts of many. Many friends spent their time in each-others company. They found comfort having others to talk to through the night. Very few managed to sleep, and those that did tossed as the hours ticked by.

Outside of the warehouses the elders mingled with those that decided to stay back and wait. They all kept an eye on the warehouse, waiting for anything to change. In the minds of the people, they expected something to occur and for the sick to be healed quickly. The elders were not so hopeful.

Inside the warehouses it was a sleepless night, however no one disturbed each other. Inside people were focused on feeling the energy in the air, trying to heal up from whatever was afflicting them.

Many of the sick had never put a tremendous amount of effort into their own affinities. Within Tapestry some were born with naturally weaker attunements than others. It was not impossible to break through these shackles and gain enlightenment, putting their attunement on a higher level. But the skill and time required was immense.

As such they simply accepted their lot and put in no more effort than the minimum practice required. After all, in Tapestry what real use was there to be stronger or more attuned than anyone else? It did not affect their lifespans or their social positions, so they just let it be.

Now though, they each put more effort into their attunements than they ever had before. If it was because of their weak attunements that they were afflicted, then getting stronger should reverse it, right?

They hoped.

The many volunteers too took the chance to work on their own attunements. The environment in the warehouse was too good to let the opportunity go to waste. However, they maintained some of their awareness on the sick. They would not be so caught up in the atmosphere as to forget why they were there.

This was especially true for Pride. He stood by the doors watching over the entire warehouse quietly. No one bothered him, and he didn't bother anyone else. He simply stood there sipping from the flask that Elder Azelle had given to him.

Not only was the alcohol some of the finest he had ever tasted, it was also infused with a massive amount of elemental energy.

He thought back to the elder, who had so readily handed the bottle over to him. This was obviously a treasure, there was enough elemental energy inside that Pride could barely take more than one sip at a time. After which he would spend a few hours processing the energy throughout his body.

He knew what the possibilities were better than anyone else in the warehouse, so he just quietly watched. If anything occurred, he would be ready.

…

Elder Azelle walked into the library shutting the door tightly behind him. Slowly he took the time to walk through the entire space, not leaving a single corner unchecked. The longer he looked the more his frown deepened.

Eventually he came to Liter's private office, opening the door. The room itself was perfectly lit, with not a shadow in any corner. This was where Liter and all the librarians would do their work. Quietly compiling and comparing records in the annals of time.

He stepped in and gently closed the door behind him. The room was not too big and not too small. There was a meager amount of furniture, consisting entirely of a beautifully intricate desk, a chair, and a few shelves of materials for inscribing.

On the floor in front of the desk Elder Azelle could see a depression that had been worn into stone. Over the past eternity there have been countless Librarians who would pace in this exact spot. Liter was no exception.
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The depression reflected the light which pervaded through the chamber. The constant wear had left the stone being extremely polished. Elder Azelle stepped around the depression and looked behind Liter's desk. There was no sign Liter had been here for a few days. With his energy he could even tell that there was a thin layer of dust that was beginning to build up.

In the end all he could do was sigh and leave the room as he had found it. Elder Azelle had felt an odd sensation when he entered the room. Without his attunement being as strong as it was, there was no way he would have sensed it. However, no matter how hard he looked he was not able to firmly grasp onto the feeling.

It was fleeting and only left him more confused.

After firmly closing the door to Liters office he walked towards the secret room, he could tell that Adria was still inside and had not left yet. He could also tell that Liter had not been inside since the last time he was there. All he could do was put the matter with Liter out of mind for the moment.

Right now, he had to figure out how he was going to handle Adria.

After passing through the barrier set by The Ancestor, he walked through the door. The inside of the room was flushed with light the same way Liter's office had been. Adria was sat inside at the desk. In front of her five books were open, and she was completely absorbed by them.

In her hands was a smaller book, which she would constantly refer back to when she came anything she did not understand. This smaller reference guide had ended up being invaluable, and eventually she had turned to relying on it for everything.

"Adria," The elder broke her out of the trance she had been drawn into. Finally, she looked up to see Elder Azelle standing in the doorway. Elder Azelle was still wearing the robe he had donned when he spoke outside of the warehouse, lined with intricate gold designs. Adria was instantly mesmerized by it.

She was stunned not just by the physical detail that was in the robe, but even with her own exceptional affinity the robe overwhelmed her senses. The elder could see her shock and merely chuckled. She was not the only one who reacted in such a way seeing the robe for the first time.

Adria was powerful, she could begin to see some of the hidden manifestations that were a part of the tapestry of the robe. Others who were weaker than her would merely be able to tell that it was strong.

Adria could feel that the robes were a spring awash with potential enlightenment.

"Elder, how come you are wearing the Ancestral Robe?" Finally, Adria broke free from her reverie and stared at Elder Azelle. He smiled at her but waved off the question.

"Even these old things need to be aired out occasionally, no? It would be such a waste if they sat unused for all time, would it not?" He smiled at Adria, but behind his smile there was sadness.

In that instant, he had decided to keep the happenings of the rest of Tapestry a secret from Adria for now. Nothing good would come from worrying her needlessly. It was safer for her to remain here, studying and preparing. If the worst were to happen… The elder shook his head.

"Adria, come here." He motioned for her to stand. "Quickly, turn around, face away from me."

Adria listened obediently, unsure what the elder was going to do.

Before she could ask, there was a rustling from behind her and suddenly her shoulders were draped in the weight of the ancestral robes.

The robes flashed, and the cloth which had been blue shifted into a fiery red. All the micro-fibers reacted violently forcing the robe to billow out like it was being lifted by wind. Elder Azelle held the robe firmly on her shoulders, allowing it to fuse with her aura.

The gold lining remained the same color, however if you looked very closely you would see the millions of threads in the robe shifting and changing. Their configuration became completely different to what it had been a second before. When the robe finally settled onto her shoulders - fusing with Adria's aura - her eyes grew wide, and her pupils expanded to an insane degree.

Her normal looking eyes were now all a deep fiery red, even the whites of her eyes. They no longer looked like the eyes of a human being but more like fire-stones that were carved to mimic the shape. They radiated energy and light, sending Adria's mind into a frenzy.

Suddenly she was looking at herself. She was looking at Elder Azelle. She was looking at the table which was in front of her. The books and the writings on them she could see and comprehend clear as day. Not just one book, but all of them, at the same time. She could also see underneath the table, all the books which lined the shelves and their titles. Everything was suddenly crammed into her mind.

When she looked at herself, she could see that her eyes had turned entirely red. It was almost like an out of body experience. She tried to rationalize what she was feeling, but she couldn't come up with the words to explain it.

She was not "seeing" anything, she just knew. She knew what she looked like, what Elder Azelle looked like despite being behind her. The table and the books and the words written on the books were all just things she knew.

Suddenly, her vision shrunk and returned to her body. In front of her was the table as it had been moments before. Behind her was Elder Azelle who was putting the robe back on. He reached out his palm and slapped Adria's back, forcing her to gasp in a breath. She realized then that she had not taken a single breath since the coat was put on her shoulders. She took a moment to make sure her breathing was back to normal. She wasn't sure if she had forgotten to breath, or simply had not needed to.

"Elder…" She spun on her heels and looked right into his eyes. Unlike her eyes, his were completely normal. "What was that?"

Elder Azelle smiled enjoying the shocked look on her face. He too had been incredibly shocked the first time he put it on. He remembered it fondly and knew what Adria must be experiencing.

"That is the gift of The Ancestor. It is said that was how he saw the world. And when he passed on his powers to us, he gifted the elders with this precious cloak." He thought for a moment, adding in a bit more, "It is said that it's possible to reach that level of awareness without the robe, however no one in Tapestry has done it before, so we are unsure if that's just a rumor… or simply impossible for us."

Adria stared at Elder Azelle… To achieve that level of existence… was it really possible?

Chapter end