An Ancient Truth
Copyright© 2026 by Asa Strong
Chapter 1
The light was fading fast, so I returned the scroll to its place in the crystal chamber. My back was sore from sitting on the rough chair for most of the day, and my eyes were weary from the strain of the intense blue light. I was also quite hungry. As usual, I’d skipped my mid-day meal.
I made my way back to what Dan’ar called the ‘Living Chamber’. It was only a short walk, which was nowhere long enough to let me work the kinks out of my joints.
Saraid looked up as I entered the room. “You look tired, Donta,” she said, as I sat down on one of the rough chairs that Gait and Dan’ar had made.
I nodded my head, and she made her way from the firepit, with a cup of tea in her hand.
“Here,” she said, handing me the cup, “this will help you relax.”
I smiled and took the cup from her hand.
Saraid returned to working on our evening meal, and I sat there thinking back over the past five months while I sipped from the cup.
For the first few days after finding the crystal room, we had been in a daze. The impact of the visual beauty of the place was totally overwhelming. Eventually, I was able to pull myself back to the purpose of our trip, and started to look at the scrolls in the room. I was devastated! All of them were written in a language I couldn’t read. Later, Jarraid said that it was the ancient language of the elves, and he was not aware of anyone who was proficient in its use.
I sat in the room, by myself after my discussion with Jarraid, wondering why I’d been sent here—only to find myself at a dead end.
While I sat there, Alma paid me another visit. With a simple touch of his hand to my head and a smile from his lips, he faded from view. At first, I wondered at the purpose of his visit. When next I picked up a scroll, I knew! I could now read what was written on the scrolls. Well, to be honest, I could read some of the writing. Many words I could not translate in my mind. It was by trial and error that I slowly assembled a working vocabulary of the ancient language.
For many months now, we had taken up residence in the cave. The winter was in full rage; snow was heavy upon the ground, and the winter wind roared across the face of the mountain with its icy breath.
Gait, Jarraid, and Dan’ar would hunt during the brief lapses in the storms. There was a lot of game in the area, and hunting was good.
Torg and Saraid had built an enclosure for the livestock in the aspen glen. For some reason, little snow would fall within the circle of trees, and the horses and mules grazed on the bountiful grass. Hopefully, there would be a sufficient amount; enough to last the winter, as we had little grain left in our store.
Inside of the cave, it was relatively warm—feeling only cool to the skin; while outside, the cold was bitter, requiring us to bundle up in our warmest clothes. With a warm fire in the ‘Living Chamber’, it was quite comfortable. At first, I was concerned about the ventilation in the chamber. But after taking a close look at the room and indeed the rest of the cave, I’d found that the Ancients had cleverly cut channels in the rock that allowed the free movement of air.
I had spent all of my time trying to understand what was written on the scrolls. Gait and Dan’ar had built a crude chair and table for my use, and I normally spent my days working on the scrolls. Sometimes I would work for days on a single scroll, trying to understand the words in front of me. As time progressed, my vocabulary grew, and I was able to move more quickly through their content.
Many of them were of rather routine and mundane matters. Others were priceless. Fortunately, one of the first I was able to decipher was a true map of the cave. There were many hidden doorways that led to different parts of the cave. Our trip to the crystal grotto proved to be only a small portion of the cave area. Dan’ar, Gait, and Jarraid spent many days finding the hidden doorways and exploring the different rooms. I do think that they were somewhat disappointed that they found no great treasure.
We had learned how to make the torches from one of the documents. It led us to a pool of thick black liquid, found behind one of the hidden doorways. Sticks were repeatedly dunked into the pool, much like you would make candles. They were then put aside to harden before use.
A little over a month ago, I’d found a series of very detailed maps. At first, I could not put them into perspective. Fortunately, one of them showed the location of the Three Sisters in great detail. This gave me a starting point to develop a larger map that was a compilation of most of the other maps I’d found.
I had not told any of the others of the extent of the maps’ coverage. At first, I was unsure of my interpretation. Later, as I became more confident with my translation, I was astounded with what they showed. The maps were very, very old. Coupled with the descriptions of other scrolls, they told a compelling history—a history that would be far different than what was known by the different races.
I had finished with the last of the maps, and tonight I would reveal the results I had learned to the rest of the troop. I only hoped they could see the impact that this knowledge would have—not only upon our troop, but the rest of the races as well.
Saraid broke through my thoughts, “Donta, are you feeling well?”
I shook my head, clearing the thoughts from my mind, and then answered, “Yes, I’m fine. I was just going over some of the things I’ve learned in the past months.”
Saraid laughed, and then said, “I thought you were not feeling well. Your face looked like you were in pain, and there was a strange look in your eyes.”
“No doubt,” I answered, “there is much I’ve been thinking about. I want to talk to all of you this evening about what I’ve found, and I’m having some difficulty in forming what I want to say.”