And the Show Goes On (Library of Ruina/Worm)

Roland

“And I thought the City had the market cornered on cheap tragedies.” I set the book down on the small table in front of me, rubbing my eyes in a vain attempt to calm myself down.

It was rare for me to actually read over any of the books left behind by our guests, always giving the excuse that it felt too much like peeping on someone without consent. However, with more time under my belt, I could recognize that had been an excuse for my cowardice, wanting to turn my back on the horrible things I had done in order to see my revenge through.

The very least I could do was try to understand the people who came to the Library, form some meager connection to those whose lives we had to end. Most of them were what could be expected by those who were willing to sacrifice their lives for the chance to gain power or money, the same story I had seen a thousand times in the City.

Maybe it was foolishly sentimental. I had warned the other librarians countless times to just accept the way things were and move forward. But after all that I had experienced, that reaction no longer felt like it was enough to shield me from my mistakes as it once had.

“It’s rare to find you with such a concerned expression on your face, Roland.”

The smell of coffee heralded the arrival of one of my fellow librarians, the blue-haired Chesed. He was carrying two cups with him, placing one in front of my spot at the table before taking his own seat opposite of mine. “It seems for the moment we have time to spare, so I wouldn’t be opposed to listening to your thoughts over a cup. I think this particular blend might agree with you~”

Coffee had always seemed like too bitter a drink to have in a City where life was already hard to handle, but after multiple talks and shared cups I had to admit the person who had the greatest chance of actually getting me to enjoy the fragrant drink was probably him.

With a sigh I put down the book far away from the cup and picked it up, slowly taking in the first sip and finding the flavor to be far more complex than the usually simple brew that he offered during our talks. I couldn’t quite call it bad, but it was far more bitter than I would have liked. “I think I’ll just take the cheap stuff the next time we talk, if it's all the same.”

That got a small laugh out of Chesed, who leaned forward to pick up the book I had set down, looking at its cover. “The Book of Skitter… Ah yes. We recently received a group, didn’t we?”

I wasn’t surprised that he had been unaware of the details of the latest reception, the damage done to the Library was quite extensive, and adding to that the force that had struck us was causing the normally instant process of restoration to slow down to a crawl. A number of other librarians and assistants were currently being healed by means that I couldn’t quite understand, but I was looking forward to their recovery.

A fact that I would have to carefully guard, lest a few choice elements use it to mercilessly tease me for becoming sentimental.

“It was quite the read, a life of misfortune capped off by a final battle here,” I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the scent of coffee and not the horror of the eyes of the young men and women whose lives I had cut short. "Compared to the life of a human in the City, theirs was far better than average though. Well. That's--"

I trailed off. It was empty rationalization, and nothing more. The likes of which I'd uttered dozens of times, cursing my own fate.

"-this, and this is that. Still, when we'd decided on how to proceed in this place, I thought that our methods would be a bit more clean.”

Chesed only gave a soft hum in response, flipping through a few pages of the book, eyes lazily scanning the pages. Unlike me, Chesed had been a member of the upper crust within the City, living in the vastly more wealthy, protected, and well-educated Wings. It took him mere moments to devour the book, whereas it had taken me the better part of a day to get through it. “There is no methodology so perfect that it can avoid every tragedy,” he eventually replied in his usual dulcet tone. “But I do agree with you, we were perhaps ignorant moving forward as we did with what information we had.”

I silently agreed with him and focused on my coffee.

When we had first arrived in this place, the Library had been hanging on by a thread, forced to reduce its power in order to maintain the space which allowed us to exist. In order to gain enough power to continue existing, a decision had to be made: whether it was worth abandoning ourselves to nothingness or to try desperately to survive.

Eventually a compromise had been made between the remaining active Librarians, using the Library’s ability to find targets for invitations, we would carefully cultivate the ideal guests to be received, targeting only those absorbed by negative emotions, the kind of monsters that could be found anywhere in the City.

The first operation had been a complete success, drawing in a number of guests whose books spoke to their more negative qualities, Neo-Nazis, as they called themselves. With their books taken into the Library, a new source of power had been discovered from within the books of two particular guests, Night and Fog. While the exact mechanics weren’t even understood by Angela, once they’d been added to the Library, a significant amount of power had been fueled back through them. Not understanding the mechanics behind it was putting a significant amount of stress on her shoulders from what I could tell, but with how things currently were we had to accept any silver lining we could find.

If only our targets had been petty hate-fueled monsters such as that, or even just people consumed by simple greed, it would have been easier to stomach. But it was apparent that, despite some negative history clinging to our latest guests, they weren’t the kind of targets we had agreed upon, a case I would bring to Angela once I figured out how to do it properly.

“I don’t think any of us were prepared for people so young to be caught by the Library,” Chesed put down his now empty cup and focused on the book in front of him. “In the City, the ones we would turn our focus on had at least some form of strength about them, things that normally came from advanced weapons, body modifications, or even the Distortion Phenomenon. The former of which require funds outside of the hands of children, and the latter being exceptionally rare. The idea that one might randomly awaken as a parahuman due to a single moment of trauma, gaining great power from tragedy is disturbing.”

I couldn’t help but find something odd in his words. “Is it that different then what you were seeking to do during the White Nights and Dark Days, awakening the true natures within the people of the City?”

I saw a rare flash of annoyance across the man's eyes as he narrowed his gaze at me. “EGO is the power of the self, awakened using the strength of one's will and acting as a natural extension of one’s body. The powers that people of this world manifest have more in common with the Distortion Phenomenon.”

There was no argument I could make against him in that situation, as one who had experienced both the trauma and overwhelming power that a Distortion could force one to undertake. I had thrown myself toward my sorrow for an ounce more power during my rampage, only pulled out at the last minute by Angela’s act of mercy and sacrifice. Seeing her willingness to give up on her dream to do what was right had been the ignition toward my own change.

But somehow I had managed to once again do something that filled me with regret in order to survive, because without the Library all of the hopes that we librarians had would turn to so much dust. At first it had been an act of survival to send out invitations once more, but after reading the books left behind from their defeat I saw something a bit further than I normally looked. As an outside force the Library was in a unique position to make a difference in this world, one that might set the stage for our eventual return to the City in order to fulfill Angela’s goal of taking the fight to the very heart of the City’s suffering, A-Corp. Or rather, the Head.

“I could be wrong, but it seems like there is something else on your mind that you haven’t brought forward yet,” Chesed’s voice cut like a knife through my thoughts, bringing me back to reality.

“Oh, have you developed some special ability to read other’s minds?” I tried for humor to deflect from his observation, but the quirked eyebrow on the other man’s face gave no relief. “Fine, hiding something from an observant guy like you would be too much trouble for a straightforward guy like me,” I took a moment to compose my thoughts. “I see a lot of myself in the girl,” I glanced toward the book between us. “So I can’t help but think that it's not that I am morally opposed to what we’ve done, but rather just selfishly reaching out because of personal bias.”

Chesed humed for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. “The City is not a place that breeds sentimentality very often, I suppose. If you are worried about the situation, a good first step you can do is make any selfish thoughts into genuine good for others.”

I let out a small laugh, putting down my cup and picking up the book from the table. “I suppose a washed up guy like me can still manage something like that. Thanks for the good advice.”

“Anytime, Roland~”

I gave my farewells to Chesed and made my way through the Library’s twisting halls, taking a stop by the room that Angela had converted into a makeshift hospital, lines of assistant librarians laid out in deep trances, an odd black glow in the shape of a lock hanging above their bodies.

Separated from the assistants were the Patron Librarians that had been injured in the attack, the same locks hanging above them in an almost death-like state. Other than myself, Chesed, Hod, and Binah, all of the others had been injured to the point that they had required an emergency use of J-Corp’s Singularity in order to ensure their survival, as administered by Binah. They were currently ‘locked’ in their current states, hanging between life and death until the Library was able to regain enough power to properly heal their injuries.

“There haven’t been any changes, but I imagined you knew that before coming here.” Binah appeared behind me in that same mysterious way that she seemed to have mastered long before becoming a librarian. “Even after our most recent reception, it seems that the vast majority of power obtained from our guests has been transmuted into defenses against this world's more esoteric threats.”

“That makes sense, it's just strange seeming them like this,” the sight of fallen comrades was about as common to me as the sky given the life I had led, but I had grown close with everyone that was currently laid out in that room in one way or another over the course of our time in the City, and even more so during our time on the Outskirts once I had let go of the anger that had clouded my mind for so long.

It was strange to see them like this, after all they had at the time wielded the power of some of the strongest members of the City that we had encountered. But nothing was more disquieting than seeing Gebura laid out, the Color Fixer that even I had looked up to once upon a time.

I managed to push past my worries for a moment and put on a forced smile. “Maybe we will be able to convince Angela to throw a party once everyone has awakened.”

Binah let out a small chuckle before turning to me. “You are overestimating the sentimental nature of our Director if you believe that to be a possibility,” her eyes turned to the book in my hands for a moment before looking at me. “Ah, mayhaps vastly overestimating?”

I simply shrugged my shoulders at that. “If I go with a reasonable argument, I don’t think she will ignore a suggestion that might be helpful in both the short and long term.”

“I suppose I can’t blame you, and if there was any person within this place who might be able to make such a request I think you would have the highest likelihood of reaching a positive outcome.” Binah’s face wore the same unreadable smile that she always wore when she was holding something back.

“So I take it you don’t have any objections to what I’m planning?” At this point, I was under no illusion that Binah couldn’t read my intentions like an open book. I cut straight to the point rather than dance around it.

Binah for her part gave a hum with no clear meaning. “I can’t say that I mind one way or the other on this matter. However, should your plan go through, I would request a certain favor be fulfilled. With so many of our assistants locked in slumber, I’ve found it rather quiet on my floor. This world’s unfamiliar night sky may be fascinating, but it will not remain either forever.”

Something told me that there was more to that request than was being shown on the surface, but I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Her being for or against could be problematic either way given her… extremely dubious history. It would have been much better if Binah had been neutral towards the idea. “I somehow doubt that will be an issue, especially if we continue to receive Guests.”

“Of that, I have no doubt. I do admit to finding the prospect of using the Library as a tool for positive change an interesting one. Even if it all ends in ruin, I will enjoy getting to experience whatever happens next.”

She turned her attention to the beds. “If there is any change, I will make sure you are one of the first to know, so don’t feel the need to come here and unnecessarily bother yourself with their sleeping forms.”

“Right, I’ll keep that in mind.” Receiving such kind words from Binah was certainly a rare enough experience, and one I wouldn’t wish to sour with any real reply. Thus I made my way to Angela’s office, rapping my knuckles against the door. Within a moment the door opened itself, revealing the Library’s director writing while sitting behind her desk.

“Ah, Roland, I’m actually quite happy to see you,” she put down her pen and stood up, walking around the desk to stand in front of me. “I believe I’ve made a breakthrough on the mystery behind the guests and the mysterious energy source they have been able to provide to the Library.”

My own query was put to the back for the moment, instead focused on what she had found. It was difficult to tell, but given the time we’ve spent together I was able to make out when Angela was excited about something. And if my insight was right, if she was anyone else (say, Malkuth), she would practically be jumping up and down with excitement. “So long as you can sum it down to a level that I can understand, I am more than willing to listen.”

A slight roll of the eyes was the most that my comment got from Angela, holding out her hands and summoning forth two books.

Book of the Pure

Book of Fog

“These are two of the books that we received from our first batch of invitations, one being rather uninteresting beyond some surface-level information about the world we’re in. But very specifically,” she tapped her finger on the Book of Fog. “The one containing the essence of the ‘parahuman’ that we received is a touch more interesting,” she placed a hand over the cover, a soft glow coming off of the binding of the book.

“It…lights up?” I knew that likely wasn’t the main draw, but I couldn’t resist lightly needling her when the opportunity arose.

An unimpressed look was all that resulted from my labors as she continued her explanation while skipping over my attempt at comedy. “It produces energy by itself. Whatever effect grants people of this world their ‘powers’ seems to come from another source that I can’t quite make sense of yet. I believe that once we gather more books, we might be able to illuminate the origin of abilities from this world. However, until that point, we can use the connection to produce energy for the Library by creating false signals with the books to mimic them using their abilities.”

A bit of that went over my head, but I was used to things to a certain degree by this point to be able to at least pick up the basics. “So it's a bit like using one battery to jumpstart another?”

“To simplify it past the point of all reason, yes, I suppose you can look at it that way.” with her explanation finished she turned her attention toward the book in my hand. “It's unusual for you to partake in the use of the books outside of combat. Did you finally accept Hod’s offer to join her little book club?”

I gripped the book tight for a moment before nodding. “I had a particular interest in this one due to the experience I had during the reception,” I took a deep breath, allowing myself to focus on the words I planned to speak and how exactly I would say them. “I believe we made a mistake on our most recent guests.”

Angela didn’t respond right away, simply staying silent and allowing me to give an explanation behind my thoughts. I appreciated it.

“When we came to this place we needed information and a way to restore the Library’s power. The decision to send out Invitations again, despite how things went last time, was based on the idea that we would only target those who would actively harm others.” I tried to maintain a professional air about me, like I had back in the old days while explaining things to my fellow Fixers after a rough mission.

“But the ideas and values we used were ones that we experienced from the City and the lives that we led in our own world. We weren’t careful enough and ended up catching much smaller fish than we meant to with our net.”

Angela was silent for a moment, seemingly sorting her own thoughts before finally speaking. “I’m prone to agree with you,” I was a bit shocked at how easily she had agreed to my thoughts. “When we obtained the books from our recent guests, I had expected to find more of the same personality types of the previous parahuman guests we received. And while I would hardly call them innocent, I find it difficult to put them on the same level as the first group. Trying to control the Library without the Light we had gathered is much more difficult, so it's possible that our current route may run into such errors, it's certainly something to be wary of going forward.”

It seemed for a moment that things would go off without a hitch, yet I couldn’t help but feel a ‘but’ coming at the end of it.

“However, while I would agree their crimes belong on a lesser tier, they are neither innocent nor were they ignorant of the consequences for signing the Invitation. For a chance at a reward, they entered and were defeated. So I hope that you won’t suggest we simply free them and turn the other way. Especially when we still require their books to repair the Library and awaken the other Librarians.” Angela leveled me with a gaze. “I understand they are young, but even so that doesn’t discount the harm they have caused.” her voice was a bit softer here, showing me that regardless of her words she was also dealing with the situation.

I waved my hand at the suggestion. “No, I feel bad for them but it’s not like any of them are saints, you know?” While I felt bad for the ‘Undersiders’, they had used their powers for their own benefits and hurt other people along the way. They had still used their power like any other denizen of the City and Library, trying to gain their own benefits and hurting people along the way. “But at the same time we are low on manpower: rather than just keeping them as books, why not put them to use filing our ranks?”

“I suppose that could be practical, and I believe that I should be able to keep their powers trapped within a ‘Page’ while allowing the greater portion of their being to act freely within the Library,” Angela considered it for a moment. “You do realize however I would expect them to pull their weight, and they might not thank you for putting them through whatever trials we might face later.”

“True, but the worst case scenario is that we place them back into their books and allow them to aid us in that way. And in the best case we gain a number of… decently battle-tested agents to fill our currently deplenished ranks,” Everything hinged on Angela’s agreement. If she flatly said no, I wouldn’t argue against her any further. As she had said, my personal feelings on the matter aside, they weren’t innocent by any stretch of the imagination despite the tragedies they had encountered.

I knew there was one final thing I had to say. “And all practicality aside…” I took a breath and simply looked at her, letting the walls between us down for a moment and speaking to her as someone who had stood by her side and grown alongside her. “I think it would be the right thing to do. Or at least maybe a step in the direction that we wanted to go once we were ejected from the City.

There was silence between us for a moment, before finally she put aside the books in her hands and reached out. “I will be too busy with further research of this world to worry myself with integrating any of them into how things work, so the responsibility over them will fall squarely on the shoulders of you and the other librarians.”

I felt a relieved smile come over my face as I handed the Book of Skitter over to her. It was probably the first time I had felt genuinely happy to make more work for myself. “I think that is something I am willing to put up with.” I knew that Angela wasn’t the type to be overly emotional when it came down to it, thus I could accept that this was her own way of saying that she was okay with things.

Angela closed her eyes and hovered a hand over the book, with it flipping open suddenly as if a massive wind had flowed over it. Light gathered over the area to the point where I had to cover my eyes until finally the room dimmed again.

Sitting between the two of us was a young woman with long hair and a confused expression on her face, the black and gray bodysuit she had worn during her reception replaced by a black suit not unlike the one I wore myself, expertly fitted over her body as if touched by the hands of a master tailor.

“Welcome once again to my Library, Taylor Hebert. I believe we have an offer for you.”

 

Taylor

I had never thought too much about death, at least outside of moments when my brain went into a dead panic like it had during Leviathan’s rampage. Even less than my thoughts about death were my thoughts about what comes after. Sure I had been to church when I was younger and told that good people go to heaven and bad go to hell, but it was never exactly something I put much stock in or worried about.

However the moment the man's blade pierced into my chest my last moments had been consumed by thoughts of what would happen next. According to the Invitation I would become a ‘book’ within the Library. I hadn’t put much thought into what that actually meant, but the actual experience wasn’t exactly…unpleasant.

It had been like being in a dream that you knew was a dream but couldn’t interact with. Not really aware in a true sense, I couldn’t count the seconds or anything like that, but what I could do was remember. I could with a thought recall any moment of my life, good or bad and play it out like a movie told from first person, watching the events happen just as my eyes had taken them in, hearing my thoughts echoing like voice over.

At first I hadn’t quite realized what was happening, I would think about someone and suddenly a random flash of some event would appear before me. But with enough attempts I got the hang of it, able to summon up a memory by focusing on it. Once I realized what was happening I went back in my memory to when my mom was alive and Emma was still my best friend and not someone seeking to ruin my life. The memories felt safe and warm, like a blanket in an otherwise empty and cold environment.

I went back through my memories, picking out the best moments I could remember and reliving them, even the bittersweet ones from my time with the Undersiders. Part of me ached to see them again, to apologize for not being strong enough to help them, for lying to them for so long despite them accepting me as part of their group, because at the end of the day they had been there for me more than anyone had since my mother passed away.

But all at once the dreamlike state ended, I felt myself pulled back into the world like a sleeper being violently shaken awake. I drew in a deep breath as if I had just emerged from water, my eyes scanning the room in front of me and taking in the two people in front of me.

The Librarian, Angela, who had greeted my group when we first came in, and the man who had single handedly killed each and every one of us in a matter of moments. Panic exploded across my body as I tried to step back, however my body didn’t quite react the way I thought it would.

It felt like I was lighter, but also stronger then I had been before. If my body had been a beat up truck beforehand it had been upgraded to one of those fancy French cars that millionaires kept in the garage. However due to it being so unfamiliar to me I ended up falling on my ass with all the grace of a kid belly flopping into a pool.
Angela turned her head and raised an eyebrow at the man, who could only give a helpless shrug. “Most first timers who receive body mods need at least a few hours before being able to properly move everything. I knew a guy who got his legs replaced by tank treads and he was always always worried if his shoelaces were untied.”

Angela let out a small noise of frustration before turning to focus on me once again. “I’m sure you have questions regarding your current state.”

That was the understatement of the century. “Why…how am I alive?” of all the millions of questions running through my mind at the moment, that was the one that took priority over all else. Because there was a chance that if I were alive then the rest of the Undersiders might be as well.

“Simple, you were never ‘killed’ in the first place. Your existence was turned into energy and then reformed into the shape of a book,” she explained my situation in the manner that a bored teacher might go over a particularly boring subject. “Right now your current body is a separate one from your old form, created using the Library’s resources and implanted with your full personality.”

“Honestly it's not a bad upgrade, if we were still in the City and you were suddenly dragged into a situation like this you would be lucky to have organs and human limbs by the end of it,” Roland wore a rather amused expression. “Granted when I got my new suite of limbs from our dear director I was worried about becoming a living popcorn machine.”

“The offer for that is still on the table, you spoke so fondly of the idea that I would hate to steal the opportunity from you.” Angela replied to the man with a cold tone, a bit of annoyance from his interruption clear despite her monotone voice.

“Ah, no I am very pleased with your work ma’am.” Roland replied, doing his best not to look at Angela.

Their discussion was nothing but white noise to me as I tried to put together the meaning of what she had said. I had known that my body had felt wrong from the moment I opened my eyes in this room, but hearing that my mind had been placed in what was essentially a copy of my body was too much. “Why?”

Angela snapped her focus back onto me. “Why?” she parroted the question back.

Something in me snapped, pushing myself to my unsteady feet as I leveled my own gaze toward her. “Why would you do this? Invite us here just to kill us?” my voice was nowhere near calm, and I could see the suitable movement of Roland positioning himself to interrupt any attempt I made on Angela.

I couldn’t say how I knew that, while my skills had improved since I had joined the Undersiders my current senses were even sharper then when I was at my best. I could tell just from how he stood that Roland was relaxed despite the situation, he didn’t see me as a threat. I could tell that Angela wasn’t breathing, she spoke and blinked but the normal patterns one would use when breathing weren’t there.

All of this information flooded my mind, not completely dissimilar to how my power would feed me information from my swarms. Regardless of how I knew, however, the simple fact was that neither of the two people in front of me seemed worried in the least by my outburst. I was outclassed but too angry to use that information for anything but fuel for my anger.

“Ah, yes I suppose you deserve to know that much at least,” Angela placed a book on the table and turned it around to face me. On the cover the name ‘The Book of Skitter’ was written in some kind of odd print that I couldn’t recognize but my mind instantly translated for me. “The people that you call ‘parahumans’ possess a unique energy signature that can be used to empower my Library. We need such power to return a number of our…friends to peak condition.”

Roland put a hand on her shoulder for a moment. “As for the specifics of why you and your group were caught up in the Library, that is simply bad luck,” he winced a bit at that but before he could say anything else I shouted out.

“Bad luck!? You turned my friends and I into fucking batteries and you’re just saying its bad luck?” different patterns of attack ran through my head, techniques I had never seen flooded into my mind as if begging to be used as my anger built.

Angela didn’t seem to bat an eye at my raised voice however. “Indeed, all of you were put into this position due to a number of factors. But at the end of the day you feel like your current state is unfairly using you despite your own desires, is that right?”

I couldn’t summon words, her calm tone only managing to piss me off more, but it seemed my answer was easy enough to surmise.

“Then I suppose from this side you might understand a bit more of what that girl felt. What was her name again…oh yes, Dinah wasn’t it?” her tone cut straight through my anger like a cold bucket of water being dropped on my head. “For the safety and convenience of your own group didn’t you allow that girl to go through hell?”

There was no reply I could make to that, indignation mixed with shame in my chest, leaving me without anything to say. Of all of the things that I had come to regret during my time as a villain Dinah sat at the top of the list, a sacrifice for the safety of the Undersiders and the people within our territories.

A loud clap pulled me from my thoughts as Roland stepped out from his position behind Angela’s desk. “Okay I think that's enough now, neither side here is going to win any big rewards for morality, so no point arguing about it right?”

I couldn’t exactly deny that I had no room to stand when it came to an argument, and even if I did it wouldn’t matter. From the position I was standing in even if I argued until I was blue in the face it wouldn’t do me any good. For now all I could do was try and work within the situation presented to me.

“What about the rest of my team?” I focused on Angela and Roland. “Are you going to release them as well?”

Angela looked at me for a moment, an unreadable expression clouding her face before returning to a passive mask. “That will fully depend on you. At the moment the Library is not running to its full ability, as such every extra pair of hands would be useful to us, however I am still dubious on whether you can be of any help to begin with. Should you prove useful I will create the same projection that you currently occupy for the rest of your group.”

“Will you let us go, after we’ve helped you?” It was a long shot, but I needed some hint of hope.

Angela thought for a moment before answering. “I won’t say that it is impossible in the future. If you have any further questions, direct them to Roland.”

Roland himself seemed to take the dismissal in stride, walking over and putting a hand on my shoulder. “Pretty sure the boss needs some time to relax, and I should show you the ropes around here while we have time.”

With a casual air he guided me away from the room, but before we could step outside of the door to the ‘office’ Angela’s voice stopped us once more. “You heard a voice before the end of your reception didn’t you?”

I froze at those words, the memories of the comforting voice that had appeared in my mind moments before my ‘death’ playing fresh in my mind. Apparently my silence was enough of an answer for Angela however.

“Should you hear it again, push past it. If I believe for a moment you will falter to her words I will not hesitate to bind you to a book for the rest of your existence.” with those parting words the door closed behind us.

Roland whistled and turned toward me. “Our director is under a bit of stress, try not to take everything she says personally and you’ll be fine.” with those less than comforting words he directed me along the hallways of the Library.

Every so often he would point out a specific staircase or room and point out its purpose. Apparently even as a ‘projection’ I still had basic wants and desires. I technically didn’t need to eat but my mind would tell me that I should, and I could ‘will’ food into existence with a thought. Or at least Roland said I would eventually be able to do so, as he had admitted to still being quite confused beyond creating some basics for himself. Unlike me he was a flesh and blood human, but was from the same place that the Library had arrived from.

Despite my anger and fear at the situation I couldn’t really find it in myself to hate Roland, he was a rather genuine person and didn’t speak down to me despite our position. Some part of me figured that I should hate him for what he had done, for ‘killing’ my friends and putting us in the current position we were in.

But at the same time I recognized we would have done the same to him if not for the difference in strength. Maybe that was why I was able to follow after him as he explained bits and pieces about the Library. However one question stood above all others at the moment.

“So what will I need to do exactly?” I understood that I would have to work for the Library in order to have even a chance at getting my friends freed and one day being set loose from this place. Escaping or trying to fight back entered my mind, but between the abilities Roland had shown and the casual air that Angela had shown when threatening me I couldn’t imagine winning against either of them.

Roland considered for a moment before replying. “Well, to start helping to sort the various books we gain about your world will be your main day to day task, essentially we take the accumulated knowledge of the various people who become books and sift through the various books created from said knowledge. From there we take the books to the correct departments so that the head librarians of each floor can research them along with their teams. Of course your tasks for other librarians could range from studying a particular subject or debating anything from philosophy to religion with them.”

That sounded…honestly it didn’t sound like the worst job when put like that. Working in a library or bookstore had been my idea of a dream job when I was younger. “What about fighting people?”

Roland looked at me. “Do you want to fight?” The question was straightforward enough, but there was some hidden meaning behind his words I felt was being missed. “Having another hand when dealing with receptions is always useful, but I won’t force you to do so.”

His kind words were touching, but I shook my head. “I need to prove I’m useful, that's the only way the others will ever get to be free from the ‘books’, isn’t that right?” I met Roland’s gaze for a moment, and he simply shrugged in response. Not that I knew how I was supposed to fight without my power and not a single bug in sight, but that was beyond the point at the moment.

“If that's what you want I’m not going to stop you, but we are going to need to actually test out if the Page system works with you, though I’m sure Angela would have said something if there was an issue on that front.” Roland seemed to consider for a moment before walking over to a pile of books and going through them, pulling out a rather thin and plain looking black book, only about as thin as a notebook. “But I think that if you can deal with this one, you should be able to handle things.”

I looked at the book for a moment before finally asking. “How is a book going to show that I can fight?”

Roland simply gave a wry grin in response and opened the book, a vast light shining from the center of its pages and engulfing the two of us.

Suppression of Standard Training-Dummy Rabbit (0-00-00)

The light faded and suddenly the two of us were no longer standing in a messy room surrounded by books, but within the center of a massive cage with bars stretching high above like pillars.

A sudden weight appeared in my hand, and when I looked down I found a cross between a sword and a riot stick in my grip. There was an odd sort of comfort, and a sense that I had perfect mastery over the weapon. Beside me Roland stood with an air of casual grace, his hands resting in his pockets as if he were waiting for a bus.

Before I could ask what had happened a number of pure white pages burst forth from the metal floor of the cage, fluttering together to take shape. As the light faded away what was left had me…mildly confused. I had expected a person, or some terrifying monster, but instead what I was faced with was definitely not a person, and if this was what monsters looked like in the Library I would have to rethink a few things in the future.

The creature appeared four feet and change in terms of height with a body of pure white, looking like a cross between a limbless rabbit and a crash test dummy. Its pure yellow eyes seemed to look straight ahead at the two of us, the straight lined mouth that had to have been drawn on absolutely unreadable.

“Seriously?” I asked, turning my attention toward Roland. Rather than answer he simply made a ‘get on with it’ motion with his hand. Feeling that things had already gone past the point where I could actually question things I simply walked forward, lifting the riot stick in the air before bringing it down in a lazy arc. However to my surprise the creature simply rocked back, the stick hitting nothing but the floor. In the blink of an eye the creature's whole body rocked forward and slammed into my chest, throwing me off my feet and back in the air.

Rather than collapse on my ass like I had only a short while ago however some ‘instinct’ took over and I landed on my feet, limbs placed apart to diffuse the impact on the short flight. I had gotten a bit better at close quarters combat as an act of necessity during my time with the Undersiders, but the sort of reaction I had displayed was beyond my own abilities.

“Not bad,” Roland watched me land before focusing back on the rabbit-like creature. “What you're experiencing right now is your connection to the Page currently equipped to you. Each page contains a number of skills and abilities connected to the person that it was taken from. You will be able to make use of the instincts, modifications, and tools of the person connected to the page as if they were your own.”

That sounded like a trump ability, instantly downloading skills into someone's head. But I would have all the time in the world to be concerned about after-effects later, right now if I lost focus and ended up screwing this up then the rest of the Undersiders would never escape being trapped into their book forms. I focused on the thing in front of me and simply gave myself over to the instincts I had gained.

I crossed the distance between myself and the rabbit at a speed that would have put Sophia’s top times in track to shame, feinting a thrust with the baton and watching as the thing moved itself back in order to avoid the hit like it had last time. However I wasn’t ready to fall for the same trick twice, instead stepping further into the strike and swinging the weapon down onto the soft body of the rabbit.

A scream that was a mix of machine and animal came out of the rabbit as I struck it, the batton cutting a deep gash into the creature and sending forth a stream of pure white pages into the air.

We were extracted and deemed useless, meant only to test their knowledge.

We desired to be close to them in fear of being relegated to the dark once more.

And in the end our fears were manifested, trapped with no company but our own.

A chorus of voices sprang from both everywhere and nowhere at the same time, the sorrowful tone echoed tens of times. More and more bursts of white pages exploded out from the metal ground, and from them came more and more of the round rabbit-like creatures.

“What was that?” I could feel pain building in my head from the voices, making my vision blurry for a moment. Despite that, however , when my body screamed at me to move, I leapt back, narrowly avoiding one of the rabbits as it zoomed across the floor, stopping exactly where I had been standing a moment before.

“The voice of the abnormality, all of the feelings they’ve experienced,” Roland let out a small sigh. “It's never a happy experience, but all you can do is suppress it and force it to acknowledge you.”

I took his words to heart, gripping tightly to the baton in my hand and focusing on the crowd of rabbits, seeing the once static expression on their faces turn to frowns as they each moved toward me in a rush of white and yellow.

Rather than fall back I rushed forward to meet them, if I let myself fall on the backfoot with a larger group against me then I would be giving over the advantage to the enemy. The first rush had been a straight line between the rabbit and myself, and it seemed that the rest were following the same methodology. There was no follow through to the attack from earlier, but that was only one example, I would need to test it out before I could call it a true advantage.

I leapt over the charging rabbits, landing with borrowed grace behind them and watching as they continued to move forward, only coming to a stop a few moments after they had already passed me. That made my theory a bit more plausible, the rabbits could only move in a set path, plotting a perfect course between A and B and following through even after I had moved.

Even as my mind solidified that answer, the instincts of the Page began to turn it into usable data, feeding me a plan to use their basic movements to my advantage. “You want company?” I lifted the batton toward the group of rabbits. “I’m right here.”

The rabbits quickly turned in place, zooming forward to meet me. But rather than staying in place I moved at the last moment, my batton hitting their forms and causing them to vere off slightly from their original course. While my body was certainly stronger then it had been before the amount of momentum behind them meant that while I might be able to stop one of them there was much less of a chance to hold back the entire group of ten.

But now that they were scattered all I needed to do was get them to charge one more time, so I lowered my weapon and relaxed my body, forcing myself into a state of calm. Noticing my seeming lack of defense the rabbits charged again, but before they could meet me I leapt up, pushing off the ground and taking to the air as the group of rabbits struck each other like a pileup in the middle of a busy intersection.

Noises of confusion rang out from the group of rabbits, but a descending strike silenced a good number of them, and another tight series of blows brought an end to all but one.

The last remaining rabbit's yellow eye was cracked and its body ripped in places, revealing a horrible mix of gears and meat under its ‘skin’. But despite its horrifying appearance I couldn’t detect a hint of malice from it, instead there was just a sense of loneliness that hung heavily about its form.

Once more, used for our purpose and tossed aside.

I couldn’t really respond to that, I didn’t even know if it would matter if I somehow could. All I could do was raise my weapon and strike down, causing the rabbit to explode as its compatriots had into more blinding white pages.

As the last of those pages descended a vast light swallowed the entire area.

Suppression of Standard Training-Dummy Rabbit Completed

Both Roland and I were back in the book-filled room that we had been in before our sudden transport into the massive cage, the baton now missing from my hands but the exhaustion from the combat still clinging to me. I collapsed to a knee and drew in a few heavy breaths, the words of the rabbits still clinging in my mind.

“Not bad, at the very least it seems like you can make use of the Page system,” he looked over me for a moment before making a small noise of concern. “But we’ll have to be careful, if a low ranking Page like that left you this exhausted you probably wouldn’t be able to handle the more powerful ones.”

I didn’t really know what he was talking about, but I also couldn’t bring myself to care, there was only one concern for me at the moment. “This proves it right, that we can be useful?” There was a bit of hope in my voice.

But that was quickly crushed by a small shake of Roland’s head. “It's going to take more than that to convince our dear director, for now follow me.” he waved and I shakily rose to my feet to follow after him. The two of us exited the main room and entered into a drab hallway filled with various doors, each with a name plate printed next to it. After passing the rooms with names Roland pushed open the door to reveal a rather spartan looking living space, a plain spring bed with plain white sheets and a wood desk. “Once you’re settled in we can work on furnishing things, but for now get some sleep. I’ll get you later if something comes up.”

I just gave a wordless nod and entered the room, collapsing on the bed as the door shut behind me. There were so many thoughts running through my head, worry for the Undersiders, fear that I would be stuck here forever.

But then a thought came to me that left everything else in the dust. My dad would have no idea where I was, and trying to ask for them to send a message to him was probably pointless. I didn’t know what would happen to him without me around, losing my Mom had destroyed him.

I curled into myself on the bed and tucked my head into myself, however I felt a sudden pressure on my chest, and when I opened my eyes I saw that in my arms I was holding a much smaller version of the training rabbits that I had faced earlier. It was soft to the touch, and even felt slightly warm. For some reason just holding it made me feel slightly better, not enough to forget everything.

But just enough to collapse into a dreamless sleep.