Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
“The label on the exemplar wasn’t in the same tongue, but in one a little in between. Andromeda is cleverer than me at such work.” A proud smile. “She’s the one who managed to bridge the gap and translate the meaning. But she took me through her method and I agree with her that it says Old Angelic.”
Raphael tightened his wings to his back, while Elena said, “A language older than the one taught to all angelkind—and that I’m studying right now? Isn’t that meant to be the oldest tongue in angelic history?”
“It’s been a shock, believe me.” Jessamy’s eyes were as bright as a child’s, her historian’s heart awash in excitement. “The other odd thing is that we only found this record because we were actively hunting. It wasn’t in the same place as the rest of the language records. If I were the type of person to create theories of conspiracy, I would say it had been hidden on purpose.”
Sparks in Raphael’s Legion mark, energy he could now feel . . . like a limb stretching awake with pinpricks of pain and pleasure entwined. “Was anything else hidden with it?”
But Jessamy shook her head. “The only reason the record survived is that it was cut into near-impermeable stone. I’m assuming by archangelic power. But even that stone has worn down, the writing faded.”
“That kind of time . . .” Elena blew out a breath. “I wonder if Cassandra could’ve read it? The language? She’s the oldest angel we’ve ever spoken to, right?”
“Cassandra’s age is unknown,” Raphael murmured, “but yes, she comes from another time. The sole occasion on which Qin actually spoke to me about her—in the direct aftermath of the war—he said that she had spent millennia of her life alone, and did not deserve to stay that way for all eternity. He said he wished he’d been born when she had, so they could’ve had those millennia together.”
Unspoken had been the reason why: Cassandra’s catastrophic gift. A gift so cruel that it made her claw her eyes out over and over again, only for them to grow back in a curse of immortality.
“She’s not all the way asleep yet. If we need to ask her to rise, it’s possible.” Raphael rubbed at his forehead. “Can you translate the book now that you have the exemplar?”
Jessamy frowned. “Usually, we could. It’s passed down from Librarian to Librarian that when we make an exemplar of a dying language, we’re to leave a translation guide with that exemplar. Most Librarians leave many, many such guides. That’s why the languages archive sits far from the Library on the very edge of the Refuge—because it’s so large.”
“But not this time?” Elena said.
“No. The single stone tablet is the only evidence—aside from the book—that this language ever existed.” A twist of her face that was naked distress. “I can’t make myself believe it, but it’s almost as if a Librarian went to great lengths not to carry this language forward in any meaningful way.”
“Could there have been a disaster that affected the records?” Raphael frowned.
“The Refuge has stood as long as angelkind has existed,” Jessamy said. “No disaster that could’ve affected the archives has ever been noted in the records—as I have already noted our current disaster.”
“What if it was on purpose?” Elena said, two furrowed lines in her brow. “What if the reason it’s called Old Angelic is that it was the precursor to what we now call Old Angelic, but the angels of the time decided to wipe it out of existence in favor of the new version? Could that be done in a world of immortals?”
Jessamy’s face fell at the idea of the purposeful destruction of knowledge.
Raphael, however, nodded slowly. “Yes,” he said. “If the decision was made at the level of the Cadre, the order pronounced as law. It wouldn’t take that long—it could be effected by no longer speaking it, and not teaching the next generation of children the language.
“Some slippage is inevitable, but fluency would fade generation after generation. And at some point, all the old ones who knew it as their main tongue would Sleep.” He considered his own words, added, “Our current Cadre is top-heavy with Ancients, and a number of non-archangelic Ancients also walk the world—this is a rare situation brought about by the Cascade. Many angels decide on a permanent Sleep after a certain span of time.”
“Taking their language with them.” Dropping a knife into her palm, Elena played the blade through her fingers. “Why erase a language, though? Did angelkind decide to simplify their language?” She made a face. “This student says it’s not simple at all.” She pointed at herself. “But, jeez, maybe the older version was even worse.”
“Old Angelic is a clunky tongue,” Jessamy agreed, her expression still aghast. “That’s why it’s only used for basic communications with the newly awake.” She made a pained face. “Much as it hurts me to say this, it makes sense that a Cadre long past decided to phase out a previous tongue that was even more ornate and difficult.”