When Unda was younger, he had always feared the stairs that descended into the library. Long and winding, with steep slippery steps, they were blatantly treacherous. Only a few sconces lit the way down, casting a warm glow across the face of the gray stone. He had always pictured himself taking the wrong step somewhere and tumbling all the way to the bottom where he would lie in a bloodied heap until someone came to find him.

But that was then. He lifted his chin, tightening his grip on the lantern in his hand. He couldn't show his usefulness to the goddess if he was afraid of some measly stairs.

What use could you possibly be to her? the nagging voice of his thoughts inquired. You're not like the others. She's right to assume that your only worthwhile skill is your sight.

Pulling magic to his fingertips, he imagined himself freezing the voice in his mind. It fell silent, leaving the crackling of fire from the candles to take its place. Aurum always said control over one's self was control over magic; to master the ice, he had to master his heart. There was no room for such constant fear in the mind of a dragonborn.

He sucked in a deep breath and began his descent. The tap of his boots against the stone echoed hollowly, bouncing around the walls. As he traipsed silently down into the yawning depths, the candles lining the path lit with the barest crackle of magic. A smile pulled at the corners of his lips. He had been the one that asked for the enchantment when Stellae had played a cruel trick and left him stranded in the dark.

Aurum had come to fetch him, and he had lit the candles with his magic.

They only come on for you now, he had said with a gleam in his golden eyes, scales still glowing with magic. His strong hand was warm and comforting when it had closed tightly around Unda's little one, and he could almost feel the ghost of it now. Just to let you know that I'll always be here for you, and that my magic can solve any problem you have. You can depend on me, tenirel.

The memory dissolved as soon as he reached the bottom of the steps, and the torches in the library lit on cue to bring the huge stone room to light. The pale orange light revealed rows upon rows of shelves, packed full of worn, leather-bound books and old scrolls, yellowed with age. Relieved that the light spell still lingered, he hung his lantern on the stand near the entryway. He wouldn't be needing it after all.

He inhaled the musty smell of paper and ink. Truthfully, the library was his home. Its crowded shelves wrapped him in a comforting embrace that no white wall of the temple could ever replace. Down in the depths, no one came to stare at his unusually elf-like ears or to whisper about him when they thought he couldn't hear. No one came to pester him, to question him. He didn't have to be a Head Dragonborn, high and mighty and perfect.

His magic felt it, too. It stirred in his chest, writhing and squirming, begging to be released. He pressed it back down, though the air around him grew colder even as he did. Even if the library was his home, his magic didn't belong. The ice that haunted him could so easily destroy the delicate old records.

"Let's just focus on being useful, shall we?" he murmured half to himself and half to the ice that never left him. He smoothed the front of his sash, still swiping dust from the delicate blue, and stepped out from the entryway. The others wouldn't be too far behind, but he knew from experience that they had little knowledge of the library. He was the one that organized it, being dubbed the record keeper from a young age, and his siblings hardly ever visited the depths to feast their eyes upon any part of the vast sea of words.

He pushed his worries about the rest to the side and let his steps guide him deeper into the maze. Among the shelves, ghostly tongues of flames floated, cold in spite of their pale orange light. They sparked with Aurum's power when Unda drew near, and their light illuminated a small section marked off for literature on magical creatures. Unda frowned, skimming the spines of dusty leather-bound books. He slid a small wooden box of scrolls from the shelf, but its side was pressed with the image of a fiery bird. Defeated, he slipped it back into place.

Behind him, four sets of footsteps clamored down the stairs—Aurum's heavier footfalls must have been at the front as they hit the final step first. Ignis shrieked, followed by a crash and the sound of Stellae's scoff. Finally, Foliis's feather-light steps alighted gracefully upon the stone. She immediately began to scold her sister. Unda sighed as their argument began anew. So much for the quiet atmosphere.

"Alright," Aurum cut off the girls' bickering. His voice boomed in the still room, and the touch of his magic in the air quivered. "Knock it off. Split up and find something useful. We have to be out of here before dark."

Their chatter broke off instantly. Ignis raced past Unda without so much as a glance his way. Once the stairwell had turned silent again, he let out a breath. His lip twitched. They didn't even think to ask where to start looking. If they tore the library apart needlessly, he was going to have his word cut out when he returned. His heart sank a little, but he set his jaw and pushed the feeling down. You were the one that led them here, he reminded himself. It didn't help; then there was no one to blame but him.

Shoulders heavy, he sifted through the shelves until he had examined every document that had been marked. None bore the symbol of the unicorn, and a quick read through of the largest books hadn't proved useful either. Unda stepped away from the shelves, brow scrunched in thought. It seemed impossible that the temple wouldn't have any records on the unicorn, but the increasing lack of information twisted his insides into tight knots. He could recall faint memories of sketches of the creatures—stunning white horses who boasted a pointed horn that jutted out from their foreheads. They had become increasingly rare, and no recent sightings had been reported, as was evidenced by the lack of records.

"Maybe the documents are older...?" he muttered with a glance at the wall. Draconic script had been carved into the smooth stone by magic, an ancient text that trailed all the way back to the abyssal darkness out of sight. Standing at the front of the grand library, he was still within a few hundred years of the present day.

A shiver trailed his spine. It had been a long time since he got a chance to visit the old scrolls. Even the thrum of magic in his veins swirled in excitement. Abandoning the small collection of shelves, he followed the carefully carved Draconic symbols on the far wall, his fingers brushing across the smooth stone as he walked. The goddess Selini never came down to the library anymore, but the blue head told him she had carved those symbols herself. They had been the first record she had made of a time long forgotten.

He stared up at the letters. Despite that they were Draconic—a language he knew like the back of his hand—he couldn't decipher anything. Perhaps the language had changed too much over the centuries, and the letters he wrote with were no longer the same.

Time was a funny thing. It pushed him farther away from the unicorns, away from the time of the goddess's beginning, and yet it stretched on before him almost eternally. Not even war could stop time, but it could change the course of history.

The air grew cold and damp. Less of Aurum's flames lurked in the forgotten sections, bathing the back of the room in darkness. It took a moment for Unda's eyes to adjust to the dimness, but there wasn't much to see besides the stone walls around him and the continued endless rows of shelves. He sifted through his memory, combing through for some glimpse of where he might have stashed a book or scroll on unicorns, something older than he was.

Finally, he came to a little study tucked into an alcove in the rock. He peered into the little room, greeted by a flickering candle atop a desk against the wall. A carpet had been thrown across the stone floor, and a chair sat at the desk. Only a single bookcase lined one wall, packed with boxes of scrolls and stacks of parchment. Coae's writing on the wall ended before he reached the study.

Unda furrowed his brow as he stepped into the room. The air was stale, permeated with the lingering smell of strong ink and animal skins. He studied the bookcase. Cracks splintered the wood, and one shelf had fallen from the left side, leaving it crooked, barely suspended on the right. He cringed at the crushed rolls of parchment beneath the plank.

Maybe there would be some mention of unicorns tucked away in the study—it certainly seemed old and forgotten just as they were.

As he surveyed the bookcase, his gaze landed on a little wooden chest tucked safely on the highest shelf, far above his head and way out of his reach. He squinted at the chest. Aurum or Foliis would have been able to grab it easily. In fact, any one of his siblings could have reached it without a struggle. Another sigh escaped him. It almost seemed like it was taunting his height.

He almost turned away to focus on what was in reach, but the ornate carvings in the wood and the gold embellishments along the edges and corners screamed important. There didn't appear to be any of his organizational markings on the box, and the mystery was tantalizing. He spared a quick glance around the alcove to make sure no one was watching—not even the shadows Stellae liked to lurk in. Excitement sparked anew with no one to bury it this time.

Grabbing one of the shelves, he pulled himself up and began to climb the bookcase. The old boards creaked under his weight, and he carefully avoided the broken shelf. His fingers curled around the edges of the wood. Splinters snagged the front of his sash with a rough scrape that made his ears flatten down. Ice coated the shelves in a thin layer. Foliis certainly wouldn't be happy with the state of his clothes.

Once he climbed high enough, he reached for the chest, straining his arm to get within reach. He raised himself up on his toes to better close the gap between himself and the chest. Smooth wood brushed the tips of his fingers. With a triumphant smile, he grabbed the side of the chest and pulled it down. He pushed off the shelf, miscalculating the distance between himself and the ground. His foot hit the stone awkwardly, throwing him into the nearby desk. The corner stabbed his hip, and a faint stab of pain shot up his side.

He hissed through clenched teeth, but the sensation was already fading by the time he pulled away. Numbing cold lingered around the impacted spot. It wouldn't even leave a bruise. There were some things he thanked the unruly ice inside him for.

The heavy box pinned against his chest drew his attention away. He set it on the table as gently as possible. Its contents didn't rattle when he had fallen off the bookcase; in fact, it was completely silent. Despite its weight, he couldn't help but wonder if it was empty. But there was only one way to find out, and his fingers had already found their way to the small gold clasp that held the lid shut. It came open with a simple flick. Unda's heart skipped.

The chest creaked on its tiny hinges as it opened. Light from the candle fell upon the contents of the box, revealing only a small section of a scroll no bigger than the palm of Unda's hand.

"Unda!" Aurum's voice bounced along the stone walls. "Where are you? We should get going."

Unda snapped the box shut and latched it, tucking it against his chest again as he ran out of the alcove. "I'm in the back, ahkirel!" he called out. "I'll come to you."

His steps clipped the smooth ground as he traced his way back to the front of the library. This time, he couldn't bear to spare a glance at the writing on the wall. His shoulders slumped beneath a weight. Their time in the library was too short to find anything. The thought of facing Aurum with nothing to show for his plan itched like a thorn in his side.

No. He clutched the box tighter and pressed his lips into a thin line. There was no reason to get discouraged before Aurum even had a chance to examine what he had found.

Already, frost was beginning to crystalize on the sides of the box, frigid beneath his pale fingers. There was still time to prove he could be useful to the group.

When he emerged from the rows of books near the entrance, he spotted Aurum leaning against the wall by the stairs, his arms crossed and his brow furrowed deep in thought. At the sound of Unda's footsteps, he raised his head, and the light danced across his golden scales. He pushed away from the wall. "Come on," he said, arm extended to take Unda's. "The others have already gone up. It's getting late and you still need to change out of those clothes."

"I think I found something." Unda thrust the box at Aurum. At his brother's look of surprise, pride fluttered behind his ribs.

Aurum's expression flattened into one of skepticism as he took the little box. "What is this?"

"Just open it. Please."

Aurum glanced at him, his golden eyes piercing in the torchlight, but he didn't argue as he pushed open the lid. Reaching inside, he pulled out the tiny slip of worn paper between two of his fingers and held it up to the light. Its edges were jagged and uneven, discolored with age, but the fragments of script scrawled across the front were still clear.

"This is ancient Draconic," Aurum murmured. "Very old, but I think you may be onto something. Do you see this?" He bent to allow Unda a clear view of the scrap beneath the light. Bathed in flame, the letters shimmered with flecks of silver mixed into the black ink. With one finger, he underlined a certain word near the torn edge. "This means unicorn. I can't make out much, but I think this is a piece of a larger document, one that may help us locate our prey."

Unda's heart soared. He met his brother's eye with a grin. "We just need to find the rest of it!"

Aurum's lips curled in a smile, one Unda had seen a million times but never ceased to warm the constant chill in his bones. "You're a lifesaver, Unda. Good work." Chuckling, he ruffled Unda's hair again, tangling his sandy curls. "Go on up to your room and get ready. I'm going to look for a spell, then I'll gather the others and meet you in the courtyard."

Unda frowned as Aurum pocketed the torn piece of paper. "A spell? What for?" he asked.

Aurum grinned back at him, his golden eyes shining in the candlelight. "I'm going to follow the goddess's advice."

~<>~