"Okay, okay, I'm going. Thanks again."
"Anytime," Hawthorne said.
Micah left the house and jogged to the transport tunnel. He jumped down to Level One and headed straight to the Royal Garden. When he asked Kendrick if they could speak alone, Kendrick arranged for them to meet here to avoid being interrupted.
Kendrick was waiting for him by the door. "Right on time," he said and placed his hand on the door.
"You have access?" Micah asked.
"I pretty much have access everywhere except the vaults." He motioned with his hand. "After you."
Micah entered the garden and smiled. He always loved plants, a byproduct of being raised by an earth witch. They walked over and sat at the picnic benches the twins installed.
Kendrick folded his hands in front of him. "So, what did you want to see me about?"
Micah closed his eyes and cast the strongest soundproofing spell he could. Kendrick's eyes widened. "Micah is everything okay?" he looked around as if assessing any potential danger.
Micah took a deep breath. "After mating with Serenity, I told her some things about my family. She pretty much begged me to come to you for your help."
Kendrick's eyebrows snapped together as he frowned his concern. "I know I tease Serenity terribly, but there isn't much I wouldn't do for her. She's the bratty kid sister I never had."
Micah hesitated. The next question would determine a lot. "What do you know about the massacre that happened five thousand years ago?"
Kendrick blinked. "What do you need to know?"
Micah stared. "You know of it?"
Kendrick slowly nodded. "Yes, but how do you?"
Micah shook his head. "Please, it's important. How do you know?"
Kendrick watched him for a moment before he answered. "My father told me about it. I was out of the country at the time."
"And how did he know?"
"He was there that night."
Micah exhaled. "So few remember the actual events of that night. I was fully expecting to have to peel back centuries of false memories before I could ask for your help." He wanted to lay his head on the table. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're one of the very few who know."
"Micah, how do you know? You're not that old and you were raised in Storm Keep," Kendrick asked.
"You know about the mental manipulation."
Kendrick nodded. "But not exactly how it works."
"The most accurate theory I've read is that whatever magic was used that night permeated the stone of the Stormhart castle turning it into a broadcast tower constantly sending out the false narrative."
Kendrick leaned forward looking excited. "I never even thought about the castle itself, I thought it might be a powerful stone housed in one of the towers."
Micah shook his head. "One eye witness account reported that, for just a moment, the entire castle seemed to glow a faint red color, as if stained by the blood spilt that night."
"I have a copy of just about every book written about magic and the history of Storm Keep, I have never read any theories about the massacre or eye witness accounts." He eyed Micah closely. "Where are you getting your information."
Micah met his eyes, he didn't know if it was Serenity's influence, but he trusted Kendrick. "I am the bearer of the Veritas Book. It is a compilation of testimonies from different witches before their memories faded. We even have some accounts where the witch agreed to a type of regression therapy. They remembered long enough to tell us what they knew then they'd forget again."
Kendrick's hands started to visibly shake. "I need to read that book."
Micah shook his head. "I'm the only one allowed to read its pages. I have to read the entire thing at least once every other day or so, or even I start to forget some of the stories."