Library System Reset: Overdue: A Magical Library LitRPG Adventure, page 33
Quinn looked up and realized that, instead of the large door that led to her chambers atop the Library, there was a massive arch in front of her. The darkness from beyond it encroached into her space. She glared at it for a moment, before pulling the blankets even tighter and listening for the sounds of the dripping and the slithering, like a snake careening across the floor.
And then she heard a voice that she’d never thought to hear again. Not since two days ago, not since they killed Kajaro and took the book back from him to refuel the Library. There was a sibilant hiss, the echo on the S sounds that made her unequivocally understand who it was.
Despite the fact that it was impossible.
The timbre and tone exactly the same as it had been when he spoke to her, full of venom, full of hatred, and a strange sense of being better than everybody else around him.
Ego incarnate.
"You don't know what you've done." The words echoed through the completely black space, all the way to her ears. There was no Aradie to go and attack him, so obviously this wasn't real. Although, she wasn’t sure why the owl would be an attack bird anyway.
Right? Wasn’t that telling?
"Everything is real. You have yet to comprehend that," the voice said, echoing inside her head this time, and not just the space around her.
She'd been through so much in the last week, had to accept a lot of stuff that she never would have accepted before, because she was thrust into it. This was no different. She just needed to calm down and think.
"You took what was mine," began the Kajaro voice, again.
"The book didn't belong to you," she spoke very clearly, confident in her conviction. "That book belongs to everyone as a part of the Library. It’s a part of its integral systems; you know that, and I know that." She marveled at how confident she managed to sound in what apparently was her subconsciousness.
In a dream that didn’t feel like a dream.
The snake-man chuckled. The serpent’s surreal flares around his head bled bright for just a moment, and then it was gone again, sinking her in inky darkness, leaving only the shape directly in front of her eyes as she blinked.
Quinn heard more slithering approaching the first figure, more than just one serpensiril. It wasn’t just Kajaro in this space, this was some bloody vivid dream, or projection, or whatever this was.
"This isn't a dream." Another sibilant whisper hit her ears, one that she'd never heard before, one that was not Kajaro. "This, this is a vision, a warning. Perhaps one we should have sent sooner. The Library cannot exist anymore, and we will find ways to make sure it’s destroyed."
Laughter mixed with hissing played along Quinn’s spine like a piece of barbed wire.
"You want to plunge the world into chaotic magic, all of the worlds. You want to destroy people with magic that will burn them from the inside out," Quinn said, her statement flat, and her dislike for whatever this was growing by the second. And still, she refused to examine this strange calm that had come over her.
"Magic is meant to be wild," another of the voices said, this one higher pitched, with venom tinting every single syllable. "Magic is meant to be wild, and those that cannot harness it deserve to be swallowed up by it, deserve to fuel the chaos farther. The Library stands in magic's way. Everything that cannot handle the chaos should be consumed, devoured, destroyed."
Kajaro’s next whisper punctuated the former. “Only those powerful enough should wield magic, the rest are merely fodder to increase the chaos.”
The hairs on Quinn's arms stood on end as each word absorbed into her skin. Still, there was no scent, no smell and she knew, without a doubt, that Kajaro’d had one when she previously encountered him.
This had to all be in her head. Perhaps a remnant from when his magic made contact with her? Was that even a thing? Had he somehow left a piece of consciousness behind? That sounded like something out of a fantasy book, which was precisely where she found herself. So, surely, surely that was possible.
"Everything is possible with magic." Kajaro's voice leaked in through her ears. "Everything is possible, but only if you're willing to sacrifice everything to achieve it."
"And by 'sacrifice everything,’ I take it you mean to say you will sacrifice everybody else and not make any sacrifices yourself?" She couldn’t keep the derision out of her tone. These voices, the content of their words… it made her feel sick to her stomach.
Kajaro laughed at her comment, and it was a cruel sound. It bit down her spine, making her shudder all over. He practically spat out the next words. "You think I haven't sacrificed? What do you call what you did to me in that cave?"
"Just desserts," Quinn said, suddenly confident at a level she didn't think she should be able to reach, but found herself there regardless. This was maybe not a dream, but it wasn't real because there was no scent. Scent permeated everything, and that meant that whatever this was should be able to keep her safe.
"You can't touch me here, can you? Not in the Library, and not in whatever this thing that you've conjured is." The blankets still felt real. Grounding.
There was a harrowing, bitter laugh that echoed around the chamber, multiple from Kajaro and whomever else had somehow infiltrated this mind space of hers. She couldn't help thinking that maybe this was a portion of the Library or perhaps there was a booby trap built into the book they took from his corpse.
Nothing made complete sense, but there were so many different theories she could come up with. In magical worlds, wasn't anything possible?
Hand-wavy stuff and all…
But she didn’t have time to figure it out quite yet. Something told her that at least.
"You'd like to think we can't touch you, and I might not be able to in a physical sense… ," Kajaro said, his voice that sibilant, slimy sound. "But there are others who work with me. Not only of my species, but of others too. You'd be surprised if you knew just how many people want chaos to reign."
And with that, a thunderous crash echoed throughout her head and she sat bolt upright in her bed, for real.
It took her several seconds to realize that the sound was actually a very loud and panicked hooting coming from Aradie, who still clung to the top of the bed, her claws shredding the ancient wood.
Finally, words and images projected to her through her connection to the bird reached her mind, of freeing her, of getting her out of that dark area, squawking and warning of the danger and that she needed to come back.
Quinn reached up and scritched the bird behind its head. "Thanks, girl," she said out loud.
Safe now, promised safe, were the images and words that echoed through her mind. And suddenly, Lynx was in the room too, a panicked expression on his face.
"What happened?" he asked. "There were so many fluctuations just now. I couldn't reach you. None of the notifications went through. And why do you have a night owl on your bed stand?"
Lynx was actually flickering in and out. It meant his concentration was spread thin, as far as Quinn had been able to gather so far.
"It was nothing. It was just a dream remnant or something.” Now that she was legitimately back in her room, the previous interaction seemed distant and smokey.
“Who of? Who contacted you? How did they contact you?" Lynx was still grasping at straws and it seemed desperately trying to sort through images and files and words, whatever he could.
Quinn could tell that now. When had she gotten that portion of the connection to integrate into her mind? Maybe she really had needed the sleep on all different levels.
She glanced at Aradie, who gave a tiny hoot, looking very pointedly at her. As if telling her to go ahead and inform Lynx of what went down.
"It was Kajaro," Quinn said, hesitant to say so because hadn't they killed him? Wasn't he dead? How the hell had he infiltrated her dreams? "I could have just been having a really overactive imagination, you know, because the encounter with him was pretty bloody traumatic. And I haven't really slept since then. It's been playing on my mind a lot."
But Lynx walked up to her and looked her dead in the eyes, leaning over. If it had been anybody else, that might have been intimidating or scary even. But Lynx was full of concern, a concern that radiated out toward her.
"Kajaro? Was it just him?" he asked, his voice gentle while his eyes flickered in their multitasking.
"No, there were others there. The serpensirils?"
"Yes, serpensirils. How many others were with him?" Lynx asked, and there was an air of desperation in his voice.
"I think two or maybe even three others. I think there were three different voices, other than his.” While Lynx’s tone was off-putting, with all its worry, Quinn wanted to recall as much as she could while it was still vivid.
"Did you see them?"
"No," Quinn said. "I only heard them, all of them, since I couldn't see them. It was so dark, at most there were silhouettes. And I couldn't smell them. He had a very distinct smell when I met him. I would have thought that if he was really there, I would have smelled him. Or even remembered the smell, but that didn't come to me."
She pushed on, figuring she should tell him about what they had to say. “They really don’t like the Library. They said that chaos should reign and that the weak should perish before it or something equally as fanatical. Basically, they want magic to run unchecked.” Quinn watched Lynx for any sign of surprise, and surmised that he knew what their faction thought.
“I’m aware. I just didn’t realize it had spread this far. I’ve been gone too long.” Lynx had a hint of melancholy in his tone.
“Should I be worried?” she asked.
Lynx’s eyes began working overtime, as if he was calculating a million different things at once. When he spoke, he had barely enough attention to direct it her way. "You were in a projection, probably a failsafe, from when he attacked you originally. I'm unsure why. He couldn't have known that we had a new Librarian, or perhaps… damn it. The alarm would have gone out to him too.”
“But Tillip had no idea we were coming.” Quinn pointed out.
Lynx shook his head. “Tillip isn’t a mage.” The manifestation paused for a moment. Finally he began speaking again. “Kajaro would have known the Library was back in a functioning capacity, and that it required that specific book. He knew and he had time to make a plan for if something happened to him. Although I am surprised he wasn’t so arrogant that he didn’t. Quinn, I'll make sure that someone is here to guard you," he started.
But Aradie interrupted him with a loud squawk. Lynx finally turned his attention to the owl.
"Well, that's odd," he said thoughtfully. "Aradie hasn't bonded with anyone for millennia. Like, hundreds of thousands of years. I guess I don't need someone else to watch over your sleep. You have yourself a companion."
"A companion?” Quinn glanced up at the bird. “Like attached to me?”
“Sort of. It’s a willing thing. Like a familiar. Except she’s related to the Library," Lynx tried to explain. It was obvious that the thought of this gave the manifestation some sort of ease of mind.
"So it's a good thing that I now have an owl-familiar." Quinn wondered what the connection meant.
Yes, echoed Aradie's voice in her head, as well as Lynx's words outside of it.
"Very well, I guess I have an owl-familiar. Speaking of which, I need some padding made to protect my shoulder from vicious claws." She loved how silky Aradie’s feathers were, but those claws were lethal.
“Yes. I’ll see to that.” Lynx paused. “You’ll be able to access Aradie’s information through the interface. Check up on it when you have time. Keep the bond strong. Follow the advice.”
“Okay.” Quinn adjusted herself in the bed and then threw herself back against the pillows. "How long did I sleep for?" she asked, staring up at the intricately carved ceiling. She only just realized that there was actually a scene carved into it, of books flying to shelves, of golems making their merry way around.
She squinted and gasped. It wasn't a carving, it was moving, like the golems were literally doing the actions down in the Library.
Wow, that was almost as good as television. Probably better once they started having Library patrons. Oh, that could get fun.
"Quinn!"
She blinked back at Lynx. "Sorry, I got distracted by the ceiling."
He smirked right back at her. "You only just noticed what it does?"
"Yeah, that's really cool."
"It is, and that's great, but we need to discuss you absorbing some books about mental fortitude." His tone had turned stern.
Quinn blinked at him. "What do you mean, mental fortitude?"
"Look, the serpensiril are a reptilian species. They have the ability to worm into your mind, to get under your skin, as it were. I don't want you to risk believing anything they say, or perhaps not understanding what it is they're trying to get you to do at certain stages, if they have any plans like that." He sighed.
Quinn blinked at him. "You mean you think they could, I don't know, hypnotize me or influence me?"
Lynx shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. I haven't had this problem with a Librarian before. I also have never had an Earth human Librarian or assistant, and am thus not up to date on how good your innate mental protections are. Considering how often you broadcast your inner thoughts to the Library, I’m betting on not very good."
"You've never had a human Librarian?" Quinn asked, curious, and chalking the rest of what he said up to observation and not to an insult.
He shook his head. "Nope, never. Not a one. Not ever in millions of years."
"You're telling me the Library is millions of years old?"
Lynx sort of half shook his head, but then nodded. "The library is older than you can imagine. In this specific format, it's almost a million years old. There have been other types of appearance, making it easier to move with the times. It morphs to what is needed, to what best serves its patrons. But magic and knowledge have always existed. And thus, the Library has always been here."
"Okay," Quinn said squinting her eyes at him as if it would wring more of an explanation out, "I can get that. Anyway, back to protecting my mind, you need me to get some mental fortification, is that right?"
"Yeah, mental fortification. You need to make sure that your mind is your own and cannot be infiltrated by anybody else. And doing that, I will come up with a list of books that you will need to absorb. And in the meantime, I'm going to entrust you to Aradie's care."
"Okay," Quinn said. "Is this something I should be worried about?"
Lynx cocked his head to one side. "Not necessarily, as long as you realize that it was a dream and not real, that they were trying to worm into your mind, separating reality and I guess dream or thought walking is very, very important. Even once you've absorbed the abilities."
Quinn nodded. "It's dangerous, right?"
"Let's just say having you as the Librarian is fantastic. But having you with your mind under the control of a serpensiril is something we cannot afford."
38
MENTOR
As much as Quinn enjoyed that her chambers were larger than almost every house she'd lived in, she took only a quick shower, pulled on fresh jeans and a T-shirt, tugged on her combat boots, and headed downstairs with Aradie in close proximity. She stood and surveyed the Library from the top of the spiral staircase.
It was only just hitting her that Lynx had somehow managed to get her favorite jeans, and T-shirts. She'd have to thank him later, and then look into just how he’d even managed that feat. As the Library spread out beneath her, she realized it had truly come together in such a short time. It was such a vast difference to the dilapidated wreck of a place she’d first encountered.
The news Lynx had imparted to her still played over in her mind.
Quinn had to get stronger. They couldn’t risk her being compromised by a faction who wanted the Library gone. She still had one more book to help her increase her energy regeneration that she needed to absorb next time she slept. But right now, she had a task.
Getting stronger meant more combat lessons from Malakai, and grabbing whatever volumes Lynx suggested to strengthen her mind. While she was getting used to communicating with the Library with only her thoughts, she was going to have to make sure that she had complete and utter control over them. This would probably keep her innermost thoughts safe from the Library, too. Her own thoughts gave her privacy and while she was getting used to the idea of being part of the vast knowledge entity, a bit of “me time” didn’t hurt.
Thus, making sure she knew how to compartmentalize her thoughts was paramount.
It was a win-win situation, really.
So many thoughts ran through her head. From how they could use the serpensirils’ contact with her to perhaps find out more about this conglomerate, alliance, or league of supervillains, or whatever they were. These people who had decided chaotic magic needed to rule the universe and that the Library was outdated and was no longer required made her stomach churn. Those thoughts plagued her.
She didn't understand why anybody would want chaotic magic to reign if the destruction she'd heard described was even slightly true. It would seem they wanted chaotic magic to perform a natural selection type of deal. One they seemed absolutely certain they'd survive through.
How ironic.
Which made her wonder just how the serpensiril could be so sure they were strong enough to withstand the onslaught of the raw magic to begin with. What else did they have up their sleeves?
"You're deep in thought," Milaro said, suddenly standing in front of her at the bottom of the staircase.
The taller elf, or perhaps she should inspect him and figure out what they called high elves here.
Milaro Seveshall
Species: Areiltháhnish
Yeah. She was sticking with high elf, in her head at least. He’d always struck Quinn as kindly. His robes flowed in a way that she'd always imagined a wizard's would. He reminded her of the magic users she'd read about in books, from wizened wizards, to teachers, to the old ones who hid in the woods and didn't really want to share their abilities with anybody, but begrudgingly would then teach some new little whippersnapper.
