The predator is suspiciously quiet and cooperative the rest of the night. By the time Zyneth wakes, I’m up to 30 mana—not quite as high as it should be without the predator’s interference, but better than before. I make the quick decision not to tell Zyneth about the little armistice the predator and I worked out—especially when I was supposed to be figuring out a way to get rid of it. He’d probably be even more bothered to learn I need its cooperation to get the Emrox plan to work. I might have to wait until he’s in an exceptionally good mood to break that news to him.
Rolling out of bed, Zyneth combs a hand through his hair as he stifles a yawn, somehow managing to make the act look graceful and alluring. Is that a cambion thing? Are they just naturally sexy, or is this something Zyneth has practiced to perfection? I don’t really have a lot to compare against. I mean, Attiru was good looking in their own way, but Zyneth seems to have embraced “devilishly good looks” quite literally.
Zyneth glances my way, and I jump, having been caught staring.
“Morning,” he says, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I’m not used to not being the first one up.”
At least he can’t tell I was staring. Saved from social embarrassment by my shitty anatomy.
“For what it is worth, I am not used to being the first one up,” I reply. “Although back before all this, my schedule could get pretty haphazard.”
“Oh?” Zyneth begins readying himself for the day, organizing his bag and making his bed. Who does that? Who makes their bed? “You know, you never said—what was your profession back on your world?”
“I am an actor,” I say.
“An actor?” Zyneth chuckles. “You performed in plays?”
“Gods no,” I say. “I have not done theater since I was in school. The kind of actor I am… it is a bit different on our world. I am not sure how to explain it, really.” But I guess the difference between TV shows and theater would be lost on Zyneth; it’s all acting to entertain the masses, when you get right down to it.
“I never would have guessed that profession for you,” Zyneth says. He begins to change his shirt, and it takes me a few seconds to realize I should probably give him some privacy. Unable to really look away, I shut my vision off. “And yet, that does seem very you.”
“What does that mean?” I demand.
There’s a smile in his voice. “Well I wouldn’t say you’re dramatic, but…”
“But? That means you would say that!”
“And then there’s the ego thing.”
“Ego!” I cry.
He laughs. “Well, maybe it’s not ego precisely, but… You know. The way you act as though you’re made of steel instead of glass. How you keep throwing yourself into compromising situations. How you make unilateral decisions for others as though the world revolves around you.”
I bite back a retort—that last one stings a little. “You are talking about the deal I made with Gillow.”
Zyneth sighs. “I just wish we could have had the chance to talk it over together first.”
“I am sorry,” I say, and I mean it. “You are right. I did not mean to take that choice away from you.”
“Then what did you mean?” he asks.
“I have to get to Emrox.” I gesture to the bottled void, which I can sense sitting nearby almost as clearly as I can see it. “I needed them to agree to take me there. And for that I need their sub to work. Them offering to wipe your debts was a bonus.”
“I see,” Zyneth says. “That makes sense. You merely accepted because the deal was in your favor.”
He doesn’t say that with any bitterness, but it leaves me feeling sour anyway. “It was not selfishness.” Or maybe, not just selfishness. “I wanted to help you, too.”
“There’s no way they intend to make good on that promise, you realize.”
I make an affronted sign. “Of course I realize that. But the less Gillow suspects I am onto them, the better. You know, I may not be cunning, but that does not make me stupid.”
Zyneth chuckles. “Well your acting certainly had me fooled.”
“Wow, ouch.” I can’t tell if that was supposed to be an insult or a compliment.
Zyneth does laugh then. “Kanin?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you still sitting there?”
“Oh.” The world flickers back into existence as my sight resumes. Zyneth is standing before me, his items packed, ready to leave. “Sorry. I turned my vision off when you were changing.”
He arches an amused eyebrow. “What a gentleman.”
“Do not get used to it.”
He offers me a hand up, and I take it. I gather up my belongings as well, floating most of them, including the predator, to my satchel. I slip on my boots, then Zyneth helps me put my cloak back on, for whatever little good it does to act as clothes. I stand there awkwardly as he makes adjustments around my arms.
“I could go for an upgraded cloak,” I tell Zyneth while he’s at it. “This one is a little singed now.”
“What’s this, you expect me to buy everything for you now?” Zyneth teases. “In that case I’d strongly suggest a pair of trousers first—although I suppose it wouldn’t really be covering anything, would it?”
I respond with a sign my translator won’t interpret for me, and Zyneth laughs.
----------------------------------------
The Athenaeum is just as packed today as it had been the days before. I would say that helps us keep a low profile, but my appearance doesn’t exactly lend itself to blending in.
“I don’t see how this can go well,” Zyneth says for about the tenth time in as many minutes.
“Have you found it yet?” I ask, ignoring his pessimism.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“No.” We’re circling around the ground floor, passing under where the slope of the library begins to spiral above us. According to Gillow, there’s a hidden entrance into the underbelly of the library around this point.
Zyneth frowns. “But I don’t think my spells are the right type of magic for this kind of operation. I have one that is designed to identify what type of magic powers a spell, but that doesn’t tell me any other information about it, or pinpoint its source. All I am getting is a lot of enchantment magic, which is unsurprising. It would need such reinforcements just to support all the stonework.”
Gillow had seemed certain Zyneth would be able to find the entrance, though if that was because of his magic or his general sneakiness, I’m not sure. Either way, it seems they were mistaken.
Or Zyneth purposely isn’t giving it his all.
Echo, can you check the spells along this wall? I ask. What can you identify?
[Check: The Library of Miasmere is generally considered an architectural wonder which rivals the ingenuity of the Ruins. Over three hundred spells are integrated into its spell circuit, most of which are dedicated to sustaining the structural integrity of the building and the organization of its contents.]
Okay, well, thanks for the history lesson but that’s not what I’m asking, I say. Maybe I can use my recently obtained Inspect spell. I try activating it as a skill, first.
[No target selected,] Echo says. [Caster must be in contact with desired spell in order to glean information about its nature.]
Geez, well I guess I can’t use this to go poking very many spells unless I know they’re benign first. At least here on the first floor of the library I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I wander over to the wall, Zyneth trailing after me, and I touch a hand to the stone.
Lights appear on the wall like circuits in a computer. Shit—I nervously glance around, but no one reacts. I’m the only one who can see it, then. I focus on one zig-zagging line of yellow light.
[Structural spell: Enhances the integrity of the wall.]
I move my hand along the wall, and other spells jump into clarity. Spells for strength, stability, fire proofness. I stroll along the wall as I casually scan through the spells I walk past.
[Water summoning enchantment: Releases a volume of water if fire is detected within range,] Echo continues. [Illusion spell: Conceals the irregularities in the surface of the wall. Anchorage spell: Locks two surfaces together unless when in the presence of a complementary release talisman.]
That sounds promising. And sure enough, even as I pass by, despite the wall appearing to be made of seamless white stone, my fingers bump over something that might be the edge of a door.
“I think it is here,” I tell Zyneth. I take my hand away and keep walking, not wanting to draw attention.
“What?” Zyneth says, skeptically glancing between me and the wall. “Are you serious? That easily? How did you do that?”
I puff myself up. “A wizard never tells his secrets.”
Zyneth looks entirely unimpressed.
Psh, fine. I deflate a little. “But it looks like we need something to get through. A talisman?” Sounds like the magical equivalent of a key card.
Zyneth frowns. “That would make sense. Only those allowed access will be able to enter. We’ll have to pinch the key off someone, if we know what to look for.”
“Can it be disabled another way?” I ask.
“Those sorts of spells are difficult to break,” Zyneth says. “And given the resources of Yedzaquib, I doubt either of us could manage it. It could likely be opened from the inside without a talisman—such spells are generally designed to keep people out rather than in—but that’s somewhat of a nonstarter. For now, I suggest we wait, watch, and attempt to find who has access so we can steal it off them.”
Sounds boring as hell, but it’s probably the safest and smartest play—how very Zyneth. I guess there’s no harm in it. Zyneth decides to go scouting for a bit while I remain nearby, so I can watch anyone who approaches the hidden door on the wall. I settle in at a table near a fountain and idly wait as the animated nereid statues continue their never-ending scooping and pouring of water.
No one uses the hidden door that first day. I swap shifts with Zyneth out of sheer boredom when he wanders back from whatever investigating he’s doing, whereupon I search for other entrances. In fact, I discover another four hidden doors, scattered throughout the library, though that bodes even worse for our plan to watch and wait, given there’s only two of us. That day, we leave empty-handed.
The next day passes just as unsuccessful as the first. I spend my time away from door-watch duty idly searching the stacks for a different approach to find a way to Earth or get rid of the predator, but I don’t make any headway into either of these endeavors. Focusing on reading is hard when you’re stressed to the tits and trying to keep a ravenous murder void on a short leash.
“You’re right about… your shadow,” Zyneth says as we reconvene at a table near the nereid water feature, a morbid reminder of our jobs for Gillow. We decided calling the predator ‘my shadow’ was slightly less suspicious when discussing it in public. “I haven’t been able to find any information about it in the stacks, either. I would have assumed I don’t have access to a high enough level if you hadn’t confirmed there was no more information about it above. Quite peculiar. If information on it doesn’t exist here, I doubt we would be able to find insight anywhere else.”
“I guess I am just special like that,” I say. I raise a hand to rub my head, but when glass clinks against glass, I lower it once more.
“Maybe,” Zyneth says with a tone that indicates he certainly does not think I am that special. “Or perhaps that information is being kept elsewhere. Not all information can be displayed publicly. Miasmere wouldn’t permit forbidden arcana to be accessed here, no matter Yedzaquib’s power within the Scholars Guild.”
“You think the… my shadow is some kind of forbidden magic?” I ask.
Zyneth shakes his head helplessly. “If it is, it will be difficult for us to know for sure.”
After lunch Zyneth heads back into the library as I return to door-watching duty, but it gets old fast. No one particularly seems interested in that patch of wall, which really shouldn’t be surprising: We have no idea how often people even need to go back there. What if it’s something they only do when the arcana crystal needs to be swapped or recharged? What if Yedzaquib is the only one with access, anyway? We could be waiting here for weeks! Weeks I’m not sure I can afford to waste with the predator lurking in the back of my mind. I stir a finger through the surface of the fountain as I think. There’s got to be a better approach.
Stone fish float along lazy tracks in the air as they circuit through the fountain’s arcs of water. Even the water rises in unnatural twists and loop-the-loops. I rest a hand on the lip of the basin and Inspect it out of curiosity. Threads of blue magic jump to life, outlining the paths the water and moving statues are supposed to take as they continue to loop through their never-ending program. The magic circuit drops into the surrounding basin, then fades out as it leads deeper underground.
Can I trace those water spells further? I ask Echo. If the arcana crystal is really what’s powering this place, then every spell in this building should lead back to it, right? Where does it lead?
[Negative, your skill range is limited to the local proximity,] Echo says. [However, activating the skill as a spell would increase the range. Spell cost: 1 mana for every ten feet maintained for every 5 seconds.]
I weigh my options. I’m up to 50 mana now—the only reason I’m not fully topped off at 56 is due to the predator gradually eating away at my reserves. Alright, I say. Just fifty feet for now.
[Activated.]
The library floor comes alive with magical circuits. The blue lines of the water magic extend further down, but they also branch off in every direction along the floor, then rise up into the walls. I hone in on these spell paths as Echo feeds me more information.
[Linked to the central fountain, this system of spells is designed to deliver water throughout the walls of the Athenaeum for purposes of responding to and extinguishing any fires that may originate within the building.]
The beginnings of an idea are tickling my mind. What can you tell me about the size of this plumbing network? I ask. How big are the pipes?
[Based on the parameters of the spells, the volume of water varies throughout the circuit, from one inch at its most narrow, to two feet at its largest width.]
I can tell which ones are the wide paths by following the denser concentrations of magic. One goes down, only twenty or thirty feet, before it stops. There’s a room down there I think, and all the magic circuits seem to be leading back to it. That must be where the currently active arcana crystal is; hopefully, the dormant ones aren’t far away. I end the spell before it can consume too much of my mana.
As discreetly as I can, I move my signing shards from beneath my cloak into the water of the nearby fountain. The pull of the current tugs on my glass, but I can overcome the force without much trouble. I practice maneuvering the cluster of glass around the basin for a minute. It’s awkward, but not difficult. I call the signing glass back as I glance around for Zyneth. He can keep snooping—or try to find another way to Emrox—but in the meantime, I have a plan, and I’m itching to get a move on.
Heh. Zyneth is going to hate this.