Chapter 1

The light of the day-moon was bright over Theophanies, rays bouncing off of the many ornate marble-covered surfaces of Anduruna's most historically religious district. The blinding reflections did little to dissuade commerce, as hundreds of dreamkeepers went about their business, selling their faith to anyone they could get to listen. Amid the crowd of the faithful, there was a young man, a rattlesnake with red scales and above average height, dressed in casual clothing with the exception of a gray coat that seemed far too thick for the warm area he found himself in. His long tail had a line of white hexagonal diamonds running down its back, leading to the tip which had maroon and white bands before the rattle at the very end. He moved through the crowd quickly, slipping between vendors and passersby alike, headed in the direction of an older-looking building with much less of a crowd in front. Stopping before the structure's facade, he looked up at the engraved letters on the arch above the doorway: "Sacrare Hall of Records." After collecting his thoughts, he made his way inside.

The hall's interior was considerably less lavish than the outside had suggested. Where the facade carried the same energy of the rest of the district's architecture, the lack of daylight seemed to drain the life from the inside of the building. Just across from the entrance doors was a simple desk, staffed by a single, somewhat bored-looking eagle girl with brown feathers clad in a modest uniform scrolling idly on a data-scroll affixed to the desk. The snake-man slowly approached the desk, hoping the girl would be alerted to his presence before he said anything. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to notice him at all. Coughing a little to get her attention, he spoke up with a slightly raspy voice, "Um, excuse me, I'm here for an appointment."

The girl almost leaped out of her seat at the sudden voice. "Oh! Sorry, didn't notice you there. It's been a pretty dull day. Anyway, you said you have an appointment?" She tapped on the data-scroll with her taloned hand a few times, apparently looking for the appointment schedule. "Okay, so the only appointment today is for a Hazel Atrox to look at some of the old scrolls, is that yours?"

The snake-man hit his face with an open hand and groaned to himself before answering. "My name is Azel, the same name with no 'H' actually, but that's my appointment. Can't believe they got my name wrong again, if it's just the one appointment they could've at least tried to get it right…" he grumbled.

"Sorry about that, if it's a problem you've been having with our system, I could issue a complaint for you," the girl offered earnestly.

Azel visibly recoiled at the offer. The eagle girl noticed his tail beginning to shake, causing the rattle at its tip to start making noise. "No, ah, that's fine. Just a problem I run into too much just because my name's a little different. No one has to get involved, it's not important," he practically blurted, catching his tail in his hands to silence the rattle.

"O-kay, would you like me to take you to the reading room for your appointment then? I'm Lucia by the way," questioned the girl, now slightly perturbed by her guest's awkwardness.

"Oh, sure," replied Azel, who seemed to still be shaken up, though at least his tail had stopped rattling. "And, um, I'm sorry about the outburst, miss Lucia…"

"It's not not a problem, and you don't have to be so formal. Just Lucia is fine." Lucia stated, glad some semblance of calm had returned. After confirming a few details on the data-scroll, she stood up from the desk, and walked over to a door on the left side of the lobby, gesturing for Azel to follow. "The reading room is just this way."

Azel was stewing in his thoughts as Lucia led him through the corridor to the reading room. His outburst probably didn't leave a positive impression and he knew it. Staring at the red and gold tipped wings on her back as she kept moving, he could just imagine the worst sort of conclusions this girl he just met had likely already come to about his character. Being so immersed in thought, he only just noticed the two of them had stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall. As she reached for a key-ring on her belt, Lucia asked him, "So, are you a scholar interested in Sacrare's history? We don't get many requests to see the older scrolls from anyone else."

As if broken from a trance, Azel took a moment to reply. "Oh, I'm not a scholar or anything, just interested in the importance of powers in ancient Sacrare parables."

Lucia nearly dropped the key-ring when she heard this. "Powers? Why powers? Haven't they been illegal for years now?" Azel tensed up. Without realizing it, he'd said something that made him look worse than awkward. What was he thinking? Casually talking about powers was one of the easiest ways to get labeled as a radical thinker, or worse, an outright criminal. He had to redirect the conversation quickly.

"I-it's not like that! I'm just interested is all!"

"Is that why your tail is rattling again?" Lucia inquired. Nothing gets past her, does it? Azel thought to himself. Before he could come up with anything else to say, or even reach around to silence his tail again, Lucia started speaking again. "Hey, relax. I'm not going to report you for taking an interest in powers. If anything, it's more interesting to me than what most people come here for."

"You're interested?" Azel relaxed a little, his tail shaking slightly less.

"I got a job at the Hall of Records to get closer to history, but no one these days seems to care. You're the first in a while to take an interest in what I always hoped this job would be."

"And you don't mind that I'm looking into something that's illegal now?"

"Even if it's illegal nowadays, there's no real harm in learning about what things used to be like. And if there is, I promise I'm not going to turn you in or anything." Lucia pulled the key to the door out and inserted it into the lock. "Now, shall we look at those scrolls you came here for?"

"S-sure," replied Azel, now much less stressed than he had been moments ago. That's a relief, he thought to himself. The two of them walked through the door into the reading room. Bookshelves lined the walls of the room, loaded with scrolls and books no doubt documenting centuries of Sacrare's extensive history. In the center of the room, already laid out for the appointment, a pile of dusty scrolls lay ready to be unfurled. Azel immediately set to work looking through the scrolls for stories and mentions of powers. He felt relaxed, almost calm, seeing Lucia was looking over his shoulder, taking in the same ancient letters he was. For some reason, he felt comfortable enough to have a proper conversation with her.

"You know, I always found it strange that powers have been completely outlawed. It's not as though every time someone gets a halo over their head they're about to blast through an entire crowd," he noted. "In fact, with powers being as varied as the dreamkeepers that use them, I'd imagine that a lot of them aren't even lethal."

"I guess it's just easier for the government to have a total ban on powers than to pick and choose who's allowed to use them and who's not," Lucia suggested.

"I suppose you're right, but it still bothers me," responded Azel, as he moved on to looking through another scroll. "Long before we were born, powers were already considered to be unnecessary for daily life, and exile was only reserved for power uses that crossed the line into violence. Then, just twenty years ago, someone went crazy and used their power in a fallguard stadium, and public outrage led straight to an outright ban on powers. It just feels needlessly excessive."

"I think I see where you're coming from. Even with a moral outcry, it does seem a little much with how, like you said, some powers don't even have that kind of potential for damage." Lucia provided. The conversation went on as Azel continued to pore over the scrolls, occasionally scanning interesting parts of the texts with his own data-scroll. Lucia continued watching, giving her own input on Azel's musings on powers and pointing out entries in the scrolls she thought Azel would find to be of use.

Hours later, Azel stretched with a yawn. "Alright, I think that's about all I can get from these," he said. "You've been a great help, ah, Lucia, was it?"

"That's right. It's been a pleasure talking with you, Azel. Always nice to talk history with someone." Lucia responded with a smile.

Azel paused for a moment, considering something. After a moment, he spoke up. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, are you free tonight?"

"Asking me out? We only just met."

"N-no, I meant," Azel started, then sighed. "I'm going to be honest with you. You seem like someone who really understands how I feel about powers. The reason I came here to research stories was to get material for some… performances I had in mind, and I'd like it if you came to watch one of them."

"Performances? You're an actor?" Lucia questioned, leaning closer to Azel.

"I've been trying to get a start in something like that, yes. The thing is, with the sort of material I'm working with, I can't really go around performing in public circles."

"You mean you have to perform in secret. Away from the CCA's eyes." Lucia pulled back a little. Azel tensed, feeling that he was botching the entire conversation.

"I wouldn't have asked earlier, but our talk made me think you'd be interested. You don't seem to be as averse to powers as most people, and I promise you don't have to get involved in anything shady. Just one performance. Please. I think you'd like it."

"It's just a performance, right? If you're so sure about it, I guess it wouldn't hurt…"

"You'll come? Thank you! You don't know how much this means to me." Azel beamed. He started moving a mile a minute looking around the reading room. "Is there something to write on in here? I'll have to write you the directions."

"Okay, settle down, I'll get you a pen and paper." Lucia smiled faintly at her guest's sudden burst of energy. She wasn't sure just what kind of performance she'd agreed to watch, but it would be better than the dull evening back home she'd been expecting.