Jace had only ever been in a library once, and that had been one of the few times he’d ever been in a major city. Being a farmhand, there hadn’t been much time for that. He’d gotten most of his books online.
But if this was anything like the library back on earth, then that meant there were probably custodians he could talk to.
He snaked up and down the rows of shelves on the bottom floor. Each shelf was a single storey tall, and even he could barely reach the top rows. There had to be hundreds of miniature blue lines, upright, and each about as thick as a book. They all glowed with different vibrancies, and it all made his eyes hurt after looking for too long. The sections had labels, but they were in this galaxy’s foreign script, and he couldn’t read it.
Which, as he was realizing now, might have been a slight oversight. He couldn’t read a book if he couldn’t decipher their script. Kinfild could, though, and if worst came to worst, he might have to…borrow it for an extended period of time.
But he’d deal with that problem when he came to it. First, he needed to find someone who looked like they worked here.
He wove between scattered patrons of the library. There were hundreds of different alien races, with differences as simple as pointed ears or a slightly bluer complexion, to having skin made entirely of red stained-glass, or wolf ears, or an insect-like head. All were humanoid—having four limbs and walking upright—but aside from that, anything was possible.
It all made his head swim. He had never been more overwhelmed in this new world than he was now.
There was an intergalactic war brewing, a dark lord hiding in the outer reaches of the galaxy, and now, a kobold hive to disable. Worst of all, he wielded a type of magic that most considered illegal.
Atop it all, he had millions, possibly billions, of records to search through.
When he reached the end of the current shelf, still on the main floor, he contemplated marching out into the center of the library and just shouting to see if anyone could help him. But that would attract undue attention.
Just as he was about to turn and step back into the dimly-lit maze of bookshelves, three brown-cloaked men stepped from around the corner. They wore woven leather robes and thick cloaks, and they were all men—humans. A Whistling Blade hung at each of their hips.
[Level 18 Watchman]
[Level 21 Watchman]
[Level 19 Watchman]
They were all staring directly ahead—right at Jace. One of the Watchmen whispered, “It’s him. The boy matches the description.”
Of course they would know what he looked like. They’d seen him through the windows of the dropship at the Wall, when they stopped for an inspection.
Jace immediately spun around and walked as fast as he could. Once he left the Watchmen’s sight, he turned left abruptly and sprinted down another hallway of bookshelves, pushing past bewildered library perusers.
Hopefully the Watchmen were only here to bring him to justice for breaching the wall. That was probably why they were of a comparatively low level—they didn’t see much threat in him yet. It’d be different if they knew he was a hyperspace mage.
When he reached the outside wall of the library, he turned abruptly again, then sprinted a few shelves over. Before he could turn, an old human woman stepped into his path. “Excuse me! No running in the library! And be quiet! You’re disturbing the peace!” Her long gray hair swayed, and the wrinkles on her face contorted.
Jace was about to duck around her and keep going, but he had looked at her for too long, and a golden tag appeared above her head. [Level 12 Foundation Wielder – First Stage]
A Wielder. A weak one, but she still was one. He stopped running.
“Wait…” Jace whispered. “Do you work here?”
“Yes,” the woman said. She wore a vibrant yellow robe with an angular, tree-shaped sigil on its lapel. She motioned to the sigil and said, “I am Locara Voe, and I am in the service of the Thegn of Eight. May I assist you?”
Jace glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t see any Watchmen, but they couldn’t be far behind. “Do you have anything on…kobolds? Or dark-aspect queen-cores?”
For a few seconds, the librarian, Locara stared at him, her expression blank. Then she blinked a few times. “Are you alright, my dear?”
“I’m just…” Jace tapped his foot inside his book. “Uh, on a tight schedule. Academy projects and all.”
He realized he didn’t exactly look like a student of any academy, and certainly not any of the partygoers at the Roteac Arcane Academy, but it was the best lie he’d pull off for now.
She placed her foot down firmly and manifested a technique card, then crushed it in her hand. Just before her fingers closed all the way around it, Jace picked out the name:
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Technique Card: Data-seer (Rare) (Type: Support) (Compatible Class: Librarian) (Compatible Aspects: Mind, Sight)]
A faint purple light swirled behind her eyes, and a crown of runes circled around her head for a few seconds. She stared forward and slightly up, eyes glazed, and made eye-contact with nothing until the runes dispersed.
“Come with me, my dear. I know just the thing.” She walked at a brisk pace down the aisle, motioning with her hand for him to follow. He wove through the crowd after her. Every second step, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him.
They exited the aisle and stepped back into the central atrium of the library. As they crossed it, Jace kept his head down, trying to attract as little attention as possible. He snagged a brown coat from a chair and pulled it on, so hopefully it would throw the watchmen off the trail a little bit.
They stopped at an elevator on the opposite side of the room. The doors opened for Locara, and Jace stepped in after her. “Did you change your coat?” she asked.
“Uh…no. I’ve always had this one.”
She looked at him suspiciously. Was she trying to find a tag or pull up any information about Jace?
But he stopped and reminded himself that only he could do that.
He turned his eyes forward again, waiting for the elevator doors to close. The Watchmen emerged from an aisle, and one turned his direction. He pulled the hood of his coat up, then reached for the elevator control panel and repeatedly tapped a button with two arrows above it—what he hoped was the door closing button.
The elevator doors hissed shut on command, and the elevator rose to the floor Locara had selected.
“That was very rude, young man,” Locara said. “There were people approaching.”
“Sorry,” Jace whispered.
“Are you in trouble?” Locara asked.
“It’s alright, ma’am. I’m okay.”
They took the rest of the elevator ride in silence. When it reached the fifth level, the doors slid open, allowing Locara and Jace out. It’d give him a slight lead on the Watchmen, but not by a lot.
Locara walked down the aisles, counting them, then clicked her tongue and stopped. “This one. Follow me. I have just the set of holofiles for you.”
Up on the fifth level of the library, it wasn’t as crowded, but there were still a few library perusers checking the shelves and pulling sheets of glowing blue glass out of their containers. She stopped halfway down the aisle and dragged her finger down a column of glass sheets—holofiles, Jace supposed.
“Here we are,” she said, halfway down the bottom of a column. She pulled out a sheet of glass that was a little darker than the rest. The glass was misty and smudged, and grime clung to the edges. A crack ran across the corner.
Just like a real library book back on earth, then.
“This is an account from King Alledur III. An old king of Luminia he was, and he ruled at the time of the first war against the Enemy. They destroyed a great many kobolds and queen-cores in that war, and it should have everything you need in it.”
Jace took the plate of glass gingerly, like he was holding an ancient, precious artifact. It had rounded corners, and a small metal control panel clung to the base—what had previously been hidden by the shelf. There was probably a technique card hidden in there, but it couldn’t have been too powerful, and he wasn’t about to break open an ancient account in front of a librarian.
He dipped his head and said, “Thank you, ma’am.” Then, he pressed a glowing button in the center of the control panel.
Words scrolled across the panel in holographic letters, but it was in the exact same script as the other words he’d seen in this universe—at the moment, unreadable. Locara had begun to walk away, but he ran to catch up with her. “Sorry, ma’am. I’ve…uh, I need to get back to my starship soon before we leave. Any chance you could give a summary?”
Locara scoffed, then tutted. After a few seconds, she grumbled, “Kids these days and their procrastination habits, hm? Fine, yes, I can summarize.”
She swapped her technique cards quickly—only being at Foundation One, she’d only have a core cloud and only be able to socket a single technique card at time—but Jace didn’t get a glimpse of the other card, and it activated as soon as she socketed it. Her eyes flashed purple again as she stared at the tablet.
After a few seconds, she cut off the technique, and her eyes returned to their normal hue. “You want to know about the queen-cores, hm?”
In the distance, the elevator chimed, alerting Jace to its arrival. He really didn’t have much time. “Yes, please, ma’am.”
“The queen-cores are the central mind and control system of a kobold horde,” she said. “They use tendrils of dark-aspect Aes to control and fuel each kobold’s body. If the queen-core dies, then the rest of the horde cannot function, and will deactivate. Their influence only expands as broad as a star system, but King Alledur III hypothesized that there were thousands of them. The Enemy Beyond the Wall crafted them all individually.”
The elevator doors hissed open. Jace peered around the corner of the shelves. Beyond the puff of steam, there were three cloaked figures. The Watchmen. He pulled his head back into cover.
“Was there a surefire way to destroy them?” Jace asked.
“Hyperspace torpedoes were effective,” Locara said. “It seems any light-based technique had high effectiveness against them. A hit through the center was enough to collapse the queen-core, no matter how large, but the Enemy began shielding the queen-cores with anti-hyperspace torpedo nets.”
“Does plasma count as light-based?” Jace asked. “Would shooting it with a plasma cannon work?”
“Spiritually, plasma is a subset of fire,” Locara said. “You know your elemental cycle, yes? Light has a neutral effectiveness against fire, earth, and water, but against dark, if using an offensive technique, it acts as if it has an elemental advantage. You’d need a light-aspect Wielder, and you’ll find those in short supply nowadays. Shame about them, really. Couldn’t all have been bad apples, I’d’ve thought, but the star-empires all did what they had to stop their rebellion.”
Jace nodded quickly. The Watchmen’s footsteps clacked on the marble floors of the library. They were getting closer. He reached into his backpack pocket and pulled out his Cleanse card—in case he needed it.
“Thank you, ma’am!” Jace said. He needed to move, and he’d gotten pretty much everything he could.
“Do you need to make a citation? I can find the—”
“No worries! Thank you!” Jace sprinted out the aisle.
And came face-to-face with the three Watchmen.