'he who enters this passage shall learn the secrets of his world. A world that is held together by 6 primal elements.' Moving to another plaque Hiccup continued. 'he who enters this passage shall learn of true combat. Combat in all its glory and all its horror.' And the third plaque. 'he who enters this passage shall learn of knowledge. True unrestrained knowledge.' Hiccup turned and look at Rowena who only smiled. "I cannot help you Hiccup. This is as much a challenge as was combating rage. Only you can choose." Hiccup nodded and slowly turned back to the passages.

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CHAPTER 10

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Looking at each passage Hiccup made his choice. Stepping forward Hiccup entered the passage for elements. He had gone maybe 10 feet inside when the ground shook again. Spinning around Hiccup watched slightly fearful as the entrance to the passage became blocked by another bookcase. Turning back around Hiccup watched as along the bookcases small torches began to flicker into existence as though being lit by some invisible flame. Moving forward Hiccup heard Rowena speak behind him. "be weary. Ignorance is well known for his tricks and traps." Nodding Hiccup gripped his shield a bit tighter as he began to make his was down the long passageway. The passage wasn't too dark but it was difficult to see. Several times Hiccup had to stop and blink away the dust that his breath seemed to blow off the old tomes. As they walked Hiccup couldn't help but find himself glancing at some of the books that lined the shelves. While most of them were in strange loopy writing but a few of them he was able to read. 'a history of thought, a compendium of ideas, the wonders of the spleen.' Hiccup could only read on and on as he made his way down the passageways. That was until he found the passageway widening and soon found himself standing in a large room. Like before the walls were made of hundreds of bookcases but unlike before these books seemed too lack the dust that others had. In fact it looked as though they books had just been placed on the shelves by someone. On the far side of the wall another passage moved deeper into the ancient library. Stepping forward Hiccup had been about to cross the room when a blast of wind sprung up all around him. shielding his eyes Hiccup felt the wind intensify and become so strong that it tore several books off their shelves and ripped open the covers exposing the pages to the high winds.

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Hiccup was forced to cover himself with his shield as several books just above him feel from their shelves. But as they feel Hiccup realized something. No matter where in the room they fell the winds always carried them into a large growing pile of books in the center of the room. Slowly hiccup felt the wind begin to die down. In the center of the room the large pile of books sat. dozens of books had been torn from their shelves and now littered the middle of the room. Hiccup had been about to take a step forward when Rowena spoke. "careful I can feel magic in the air." No sooner had Rowena said that when another blast of wind hit the room. But unlike the first blast this blast did not tear past Hiccup. No this blast of wind stayed in the center of the room and caused the books to whip around violently. Even as he watched pages from the books were torn from their binding and began whipping around in the wind. Hiccup took a step backwards as the pages began flying around but even as he watched the pages seemed to be moving as if being controlled by some mysterious force. Hiccup watched as the pages began swirling in a large vortex. He watched stunned and amazed as the pages began to take on a form. As the pages whirled around they would fold themselves and begin to work together like a giant puzzle. Before his eyes Hiccup watched the pages begin to take the shape of a very large man. As the winds began to die down for the second time Hiccup raised his shield uncertain. In the center of the room now stood a large human form. But it was far larger than any human Hiccup had ever seen. No this 'being' towered above him. and looked more like a monster than anything else. Behind him Hiccup heard Rowena speak. "hmmm a tome-golem. Not many of them are left."

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Hiccup had been about to speak when the golem lumbered towards him swinging its massive arms like clubs and forcing him to duck or risk being crushed. Rolling to his right Hiccup dodged another blow by the golem and lunged forward burying his sword in the creature's chest. He might as well had kicked it. The sword just passed harmlessly through the pages that made up the golem's skin. The golem however did not seem to like being stabbed because it grabbed Hiccup and with one arm hurled him across the room and slammed him into a large bookshelf. As he fell to the floor Hiccup felt the ground begin to shake. Looking up he cursed his luck. The golem was charging him and he barely had to get away before the golem would crush him. rolling to the right Hiccup watched as the golem slammed head first into the wall of bookcases. in response the golem let out a loud roar and swung it's arms tearing even more books from their shelves. Turning towards Hiccup the golem lumbered towards him it's arms out stretched ready to grab him. running backwards Hiccup did he best to avoid the golem. A feat made easy by the fact that he was small and the golem was large. As he ran Hiccup could hear the golem crashing into the walls of books. Hiccup groaned as he knelt down trying to regain his breath. Across the room the golem had crashed into another bookshelf and had actually gotten it's head stuck in the ancient wood. Even as Hiccup knelt there he watched as the golem struggled to pull its head out. Hiccup gasped deep breaths as he watched the golem struggle. The air felt good. His sides felt like they were on fire. but he watched as the golem gave 1 large pull and came free of the shelf.

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As Hiccup stood up he readied himself to begin running again. But as the golem took a step forward something changed. Hiccup watched as the golem staggered back and began rapidly trying to get something off its foot. Narrowing his eyes Hiccup felt something click in his mind. When the golem had pulled its head out of the bookshelf it had torn several shelves from their places. And with those shelves had come one of the torches had had been anchored by shelf. When the touch had hit the ground it had landed near the golem's foot, and had caused several pages to begin to smoke. Hiccup felt his eyes widen. Of course the golem was still made of paper and there for flammable. Running forward Hiccup dropped down and slid along his legs as above him the golem swung its massive arms like clubs. Passing under the arm Hiccup pushed himself back up to his feet and took a running leap against one of the nearby shelves. Using the shelves like steps Hiccup clambered up 5 shelves before reaching out and grabbing a nearby torch. At first he was afraid it wouldn't come free. But his fear quickly vanished as he twisted the torch and pulled it free from its holder. Dropping back down hiccup landed and spun around only to duck again as the golem swung it's arms mere inches above his face. As the arm swung over him Hiccup reached up with the torch and watched as the flames lapped at the dry and dusty parchment that composed the golem's body.

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The effect was instant. The golem lumbered back, franticly trying to slap the flames away with its other hand. but the flames just moved from the golem's arm to the hand and began to spread. Hiccup almost felt sorry for the golem as he watched it slowly be consumed by the flames all the while still trying to extinguish them. He watched as the golem's movements slowly and became less and less frantic as it's paper form burned away, each page becoming a charred pile of ash on the floor. Slowly the golem began to fall apart it's skin turning to ash. Hiccup watched as the last of the golem vanished and fall to the floor. Slowly Hiccup set the torch he was holding down. Turning he spoke. "what now?" Rowena smiled, and pointed. "now you get your first Tier." Turning back around Hiccup felt another wind kick up around him. Hiccup readied himself for another attack, an attack that never came. Instead he watched as the winds swept up the ash that was covering the floor and pulled it up into the air, and into a large spiral ash cloud that began to shrink inwards as in continuously spun. Hiccup watched as the cloud compressed and shrunk until it was no longer a cloud but a large rock that stuck up from the ground. Even as he stood there unsure of what to do or even what was happening, the winds died down leaving only the large ash stone in the middle of the room. Unsure of what to do, Hiccup looked at Rowena who smiled. "it's an attenuator." Hiccup shook his head. "what's that?" Rowena chuckled. "it's an ancient magical devise that tunes the user's spiritual energy to a specific frequency. Basically it alters your spiritual frequency so you're are more in tune with a specific energy. In this case that energy would appear to be wind." Hiccup nodded slowly. "Soooooo what do I do with it?" again Rowena chuckled.

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"you touch it. Go on boy. It won't bite. They don't usually." Hiccup nodded and hesitantly took a step towards the attenuator. Slowly Hiccup reached up and touched the cold grey surface of the devise. No sooner had he touched the surface then he felt a shock pass though his body. Instantly his mind's eye saw a man with his hands outspread summoning a large blast of wind. Then all at once reality slammed back to him. staggering backwards Hiccup was forced to drop down to the ground to stop himself from falling. Behind him Rowena spoke. "what did you see?" Hiccup took several shuddering breaths before speaking. "a man, summoning a wave of wind." Rowena nodded. "now you must do as the man did. Hold out your arms and call forth the wind." Hiccup unsureidly held his arms out like he'd seen the man. Nothing happened. Behind him he heard Rowena sigh. "you really do need help don't you? Your human not a spirit you can't just call the wind and expect it to come to you. You have to will it, to want the wind to come. To want to control it. Try again." Mentally hiccup rolled his as he dropped his arms back to his sides. Closing his eyes Hiccup began to focus. A moment later his eye snapped open and his arms snapped up, while he shouted. "wind!" at once he felt the wind explode around him every book in the room was torn from its place on the shelf, a a blast of wind tore through the room. But the wind only lasted for a second before it vanished leaving the air filled with fluttering tomes and pages. Behind him Rowena chuckled again. Perhaps you're not as hopeless as I'd thought. But come. We must keep moving." Hiccup nodded and soon found himself following the dusty passage, that led deeper into the maze of shelves and tomes. As he walked he spoke. "the plaque at the beginning of the passage mentioned 6 elements. I thought there were only 4." Behind him Rowena nodded. "yes. There are. 4 main elements. Fire, wind, water, and earth. The last 2 are composite elements. And can only be made by combining 2 elements together. Those elements are lightning, and metal."

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Hiccup nodded and had been about to speak when he rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks. He and Rowena were no longer alone in the passage. In front of them along the walls of the dozens of short clocked figures buzzed around the bookshelves. Some stood on the floor, while others scrambled up the shelves like shrouded spiders and dropped books down to the lower figures. And still others tossed books over their shoulders and allowed them to collect in the middle of the passage. Behind him Hiccup heard Rowena inhale sharply. "don't move." Hiccup leaned back slowly and began to whisper. "what…what are they?" "ignorance's librarians. Beings who are some consumed by their desire to learn that even in death they maintain this library. We should try to find a way around them." "why?" "they are very…possessive of their knowledge. If they discover you're here they'll assume you're here to steal their knowledge. I've seen what they're capable of. We don't want to be caught. "ok… let's back up and try to find a way around them." "ok." But this turned out to be useless. Even after walking back to the last room 3 times Hiccup could find no other path around the librarians. And now he stood just behind the corner that led to the librarian filled passage. Looking to Rowena Hiccup spoke. "we'll have to go through their passage. Any advice?" Rowena was silent for a moment, then; "don't make physical contact. They SHOULD ignore you so long as you don't touch them, or any of the books." Hiccup nodded and turned to move into the passage…. Only to run into one of the figures as it rounded the corner.

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It happened in a flash. Hiccup stumbled backwards off balance. At the same time the cloaked figured, let out an ear splitting scream and tore something out from under it's cloak and hurled itself at Hiccup who could barely bring his shield up in time. The figure hit his shield dead center only it's head and arms visible around the shield face. In 1 of it's hands it clutched a nasty looking curved dagger. But it's scream must have alerted the others because even as Hiccup threw it off of his shield dozens more figured rounded the corner each with their own dagger and each one moving to swarm him. Hiccup feel to the ground as he tried to ward off the incoming figures. His arm shook with the force of holding his shield up as dozens of figures stabbed and tore at it. With his sword Hiccup did his best to fight off the few figures that managed to get past his shield. But this proved useless and more and more of the creatures slammed against his shield making his arm buckle, causing him to drop the shield. Instantly they were on him, Hiccup franticly whipped his sword through the air hopping to fend off the small figures. But they ignored it. Even the one he managed to clip in the shoulder; seemed to shrug the damage off and continue clawing its way up his shirt heading for Hiccup's face. The all at once Hiccup screamed, as he felt cold metal plunge into the soft flesh of his thigh. He could feel it, the dagger, cutting his skin, his muscle. He could feel his blood dripping out of the wound; leaving him weak and unable to think clearly. But now the other figures began stabbing him. white hot explosions of pain covered his body as dozens of daggers cut through his clothes, skin and muscle. His vision swam in front of his eyes and he was half tempted to ignore the figures stabbing him and just close his eyes.

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But as his eyes drifted closed he heard someone shout. "BACK! BACK YOU ABONIATIONS! BACK!" his whole body ached but he managed to lift his head up an inch or so to see who was shouting. A man stood in front of him. the man wore a set of what looked like heavy battle plate armor, with a large cross carved into the back. His head was covered in a helmet, and in his hands he clutched a shield that had been fashioned to look like a cross, while in the other hand he clutched a large broad sword. Hiccup watched as the stranger took a step forward and swung his sword at the librarians who scurried away. But his vision was fading now, even as he fought for consciousness he watched as the stranger turned and looked at him. as he blacked out he heard Rowena speak. "faith…..what are you doing here?"

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AN: WELL FOLKS CHAPTER 10 IS UP AND DONE.

WHAT DID EVERYONE THINK?

SO AGAIN HERE'S THE TALLY FOR THE VOTES. O GOT MOST OF THESE THROUGH MESSAGING.

ELEMENTS: 17

KNOWLEDGE: 15

COMBAT: 9

HOPE EVERYONE LIKED THE TOME-GOLEM. IT WAS REALLY FUN TO WRITE.

SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW? WILL HICCUP LIVE? WILL HE DIE?

AND WHO IS FAITH? AND WHY DID HE SAVE HICCUP?

READ THE NEXT CHAPTER TO FIND OUT.

OH ALSO WANNA SEND OUT A SHOUT OUT TO (DRAGONHWAKE186).

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT!