"I wonder who she killed," Bastian whispered as he clenched his fists. "I want to be the one that puts an end to that firefucker's life!"

Bastian had been muttering the same thing for a while now, and I wasn't sure how to answer. We were sneaking through the corridors, making our way to where the Sarcouzia and the Prime were shouting and screaming for us to come to save our last friend. Now and again, a strangled scream of pain could be heard, but was quickly cut short.

With every step, I felt energy return to my limbs, and my breathing became less ragged. Still, I didn't think I'd be up for any running or battle just yet. Again someone called out with a loud scream of agony, longer than the previous attempts, before it too was cut short.

Whoever that is has a hell of a pain tolerance, I thought. I almost felt bad for the Prime, who had been tortured for Rathica knows how long now. Almost.

"You're sure you can take Lischen's Prime?" I asked, trying to get my mind on something other than the constant screaming.

Bastian sniffed, then grinned at me. "I recognized her voice from a Prime meeting a few years ago. She was one of the newer Primes back then, that means she is weak."

That didn't make me feel a whole lot safer.

"A Prime meeting? What with drinks, food, and a party?" I muttered in disbelief.

Bastian's foot froze midstep, and for a moment, his normal happy smile appeared on his face. "That'd be nice," he whispered before shaking his head. "No. With fighting and competitions. They are public events and used to gather more followers."

"Lasssst warning!" The Prime's scream came from a few hundred meters of book-lined corridors ahead of us.

Bastian's smile faded, to be replaced with a scowl.

"We are close enough. Try and lure that Sarcouzia away. I'll take care of that hag!"

The plan still didn't seem like a great one to me, but Bastian seemed sure it would work, and I didn't feel up to fighting a Prime just yet. The alternative would be to flee again, and that didn't sit well with me at all. I nodded and looked around until I spotted a corridor leading off to the side.

"I'll be in that one. As soon as you hear that thing pass, move," I whispered before sneaking into the corridor.

At the end of the ten-meter-long corridor, I saw another intersection, and I stopped. Unless we were mistaken, there was one more Sarcouzia, and I had three Vengeful Spirit insects ready. After looking around for a bit, I placed one on each side of the bookshelf, nestled atop books.

"If that Sarcouzia passes by, attack it and eat its brain from the inside," I ordered them before adding, "If she attacks me, kill her."

I kept one of the insects on me, my ax ready, then sucked in a deep breath.

"You sad little Sarcouzia! I've killed your stupid brethren, and you're too pathetic to do anything about it!"

Such a weak taunt, I thought, and I cringed. Still, Bastian had said it should work, based on their mindset. When there wasn't an immediate response, I began doubting him before a loud screech came. It started as a high-pitched child-like scream, but as it continued, it dropped in pitch until the walls were reverberating with something that, by all accounts, should belong to a dragon. Before I could even wonder about the change, collisions came from the direction the Prime was torturing her victims.

Something flashed into the air high above me, and looking up, I saw a massive white mass angle towards me. In the middle sat overly big brown eyes, hate-filled and with tears around the edges.

Fuck!

I sprinted around the corner of the intersection, heading left and away from the thing and Bastian. Whatever that was, it wasn't a Sarcouzia like the previous ones. Ten steps in, an explosion came from where I had just stood, and a wave of dust and debris pushed me forward. I barely managed to keep my footing and stumbled forward.

An annoyed roar made me turn around, and I saw a giant Sarcouzia tower over the bookshelf. Where the others had been thin and spindly, this one was a mass of fat easily sixteen feet tall. It was raging incoherently as it slapped at its arm. I could barely see a round hole in the flesh.

The vengeful spirit made it inside! For a moment, I felt hope that it would end the Sarcouzia, then it roared and turned its eyes on me. As soon as it saw me, it barged forward, snapping the bookshelves in its path in half. Stone, wood, and books scattered everywhere, and I ran.

Seconds later, it became apparent that the Sarcouzia wasn't gaining ground on me, but I couldn't escape either. I was technically faster, but I had to move along the paths, and he could just crash after me in a straight line. What surprised me most was my increasing stamina. I'd thought I would probably drop dead from exhaustion within a hundred meters, but instead, my breathing became easier, and I could feel myself become stronger.

Has to be that maxed stamina, I thought as I dodged around a corner and made a dash to the end. Still, none of the stamina in the world was going to help me kill that thing, and I had the feeling the vengeful insects weren't going to do much to the mass of flesh either.

A minute later, the Sarcouzia was still after me, and I was trying to come up with a plan to get rid of it. I couldn't shove it through a door, and if I ran out of one, Bastian was done for. Besides, how was I going to get back in with that thing lurking around?

I hadn't heard anything from Bastian, and I hoped he was alright. I wasn't in any position to help him, though. I began playing through everything I knew of the library, trying to come up with a solution as to what I could do. There were only books, books and more books.

The central pillar!

It was the only thing different from the rest besides the exits. It would also give me the option of leading it around the pillar, blocking its view, and perhaps getting away unseen to find another way to kill it. Deciding on my plan, I pulled up the map, and I plotted the fastest route to the center of the library.

I hope Bastian successfully deals with that Prime, I thought as I focused on what was going to be a long run.

Hours of our cat and mouse chase later, I was still running between shelves, and the Sarcouzia was still carving a path of destruction through them. My stamina had filled up at one point, and I was breathing easily as I ran.

We were coming up to the last passage before the central pillar, and as I jumped around a bend, I saw the wider corridor in front of me. The wooden railing leading to the large room was a welcome sight. I dashed over, jumped the railing, and landed in the table-filled reading room that surrounded the central pillar.

The book-filled, oval pillar that stretched up into the heavens without an end hadn't changed since I'd last seen it. Although I knew it was round, it was so massive the curvature was barely noticeable. Seeing no difference left or right, I swung left and continued along the pillar.

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Behind me, the Sarcouzia crashed through the wooden railing, still only a few yards away from me. Now on clear ground, I picked up speed. The lumbering beast began running, smashing tables as it went. At full speed, I noticed it was faster than I'd thought, and although I was gaining distance, it wasn't happening quickly.

This is going to be a fucking long chase, I thought, knowing that if I didn't have my seemingly infinite stamina, I'd be a goner. As if some evil entity heard me and decided this was time to mess with me, I felt my breath turn a bit more ragged. My muscles cramped ever so slightly, and a small sheen of sweat appeared on my forehead.

A burst of adrenaline gave me a boost of speed, and I used it to pull farther away from the Sarcouzia.

Ten minutes later I knew what was going on, and I started alternating sprinting at top speed with a slower run. It seemed that I could run forever as long as I didn't go full speed. As soon as I did, I began tiring out rapidly.

The Sarcouzia's thudding sound came from far away now, and as I turned, I saw it was a small form. The sounds of it crashing through the tables were muted and distant, more so than they should. I knew that wasn't normal, but I didn't want to think about it now. With my breathing having eased up, I sprinted until my stamina cut out again. This time as I turned, I didn't see the Sarcouzia anymore, and when my breathing calmed, I found I could only barely hear it.

Finally! I thought and slowed down until I was moving at a pace I knew I could keep up indefinitely. It wouldn't increase my lead, but the Sarcouzia wouldn't gain on me either.

Should I just head into the library and double back to help Bastian? It seemed like the only logical plan, and I was about to run to the nearest staircase leading out of the reading area when I saw something ahead of me. Sitting atop a table in the distance sat a mouse-sized shadow. As soon as I saw it, it skittered down the table, across the ground, and up the staircase leading away from the central room. It moved so fast I barely believed what I'd seen.

That's the thing I saw when I first got here! The memory of the thing popped up and how it had helped me find the central pillar. I had completely forgotten about it after that moment… why? A shadowy thing in the middle of a mysterious library where nothing ever showed. How had I forgotten it? It reminded me of how Rathica sometimes hid away my memories. The shadow flashed at the top of the staircase, and I knew it was a signal for me to follow. It cost me only a moment to make up my mind, and then I sprinted towards the staircase and the shadow. The last time it had helped me, and I had the feeling something had actively made me forget about it after.

When I reached the top of the staircase, the shadow was already at the back of the corridor. I took a single look behind, but the Sarcouzia was nowhere in sight. For a moment, I wondered if it would head back to Bastian, but I doubted it. It had been following like crazy for hours, and even if it did go back, Bastian had either dealt with the Prime or had his own trouble.

Show me what you have then, I thought as I turned and ran after the shadow.

The shadow easily kept ahead of me no matter how hard I ran, and it led me deeper into the library. I kept an eye on my map and found we were heading far from the area I'd already covered. In a straight line, we moved away from the central room, and after an hour, I wondered if it was leading me to an exit.

As I jogged into another corridor, my steps faltered. Rows and rows of blood red bound tomes lined the shelves of the hallway. Each was taller than any normal book should be.

Now what?

Ever since coming here, the books had mostly been a motley assortment of different sizes and colors, all but those in the central library. These, however, all seemed identical, with the only difference being the chicken scratched markings on their sides.

The shadow was still flitting about at the end of the hall, showing we hadn't reached our destination yet. I continued forward, getting more than a little confused as we passed through six more corridors. The first two were the same blood red bound books. Then there was one with blue ones the same size and the same chicken scratched symbols. After blue came orange, yellow, purple, and a whole smattering of colors until we stepped into a corridor filled with forest green books. The symbols were still the same, and the shadow was waiting, agitated at the end of the corridor. Moving towards it, I glimpsed at the books, and when I saw a book with a random row of symbols, I couldn't hold back. Stretching my hand, I was about to grab the book and look at what was inside when a shadow appeared before my eyes, and I dodged back and out of its path.

Startled, I looked around, but the shadow was back at the end of the hallway.

"Right. Got it. No touching these books," I muttered, following the shadow again.

Hours later, the novelty of the colored books had worn off, and I was chewing on some dried meat as I stepped around the next corner. The shadow stood in the middle of it, in front of a small black book that lay on its own on a shelf. It seemed discarded, lying on the shelf instead of neatly placed on its end. Alone on the shelf, it stuck out like a sore thumb, and looking around, I saw that the other shelves were covered in the usual ragtag books in different sizes and colorations.

"So, we got to our destination?".

The shadow vanished into the book as I got closer and when I reached it I saw there weren't any markings on it. It was roughly the size of my hand and just as thick.

"So…" I said, looking at the book, feeling annoyed and let down. I probably should have known I'd be brought to a book, but somehow I had expected something more. The shadow hadn't shown up except at the start, so there had to be something special going on. Right?

"Now what?" I muttered as I wondered how safe it would be to pick up a book that lay all by itself.

"Now you open me, of course. What are you? Stupid?" A sharp, annoyed voice hissed.

I jumped back, staring at the thin lips that had appeared on the cover of the book. There was nothing but blackness beyond the lips, no teeth or tongue—just darkness.

"Stop standing there dumbstruck," the voice said.

The lips moved animatedly, and for a moment, the odd thought crossed my mind that it must be easy to lipread.

"First you bring in some ancient abomination, then you draw in that evil old thing, and now you destroy a large part of the library," the book shouted suddenly, and I jumped.

"Stop shouting," I snapped back, annoyed.

"No. Stupid mortals don't get to tell me what to do," the book said.

For a moment, I wanted to give in to my childlike tendencies and just turn around and walk away. But only for a moment. Then it faded, and I sighed. "Fine. Who or what are you?"

"None of your business. Now open me up so we can get about fixing the mess you've made."

"I'm not picking you up unless you tell me how, and what you are," I snapped.

"Sure you will," the book said before snorting in disdain.

"No, I wo-"

"And do you know why?" it said, interrupting me." Because if you don't, you will find all of the doors locked to you, and you won't ever leave this place again."

I blinked in surprise. He couldn't do that. Could he? "I don't believe you," I finally said. I was getting the feeling that this thing was hamming me in a particular direction.

"Don't tempt me, mortal. The last entity that did ended up being my guest for over thirty millennia. Well, you know that one don't you?" he added the last with a derisive snort. "You let him get out after all."

It took me two seconds to figure out what he meant. "The Aucerion?"

"Yes, an annoying, irritating thing. He really deserved to be here for a while longer for his insulting words."

My mouth turned dry, and I weighed my words more carefully this time.

"What will happen if I open you?"

The book's mouth hung open for a moment before it barked a derisive laugh. "What? You can read me that way! What is wrong with you?"

Should I trust it? What if it was just goading me into picking it up… In the end, what made me decide was the fact that I didn't feel anything disturbing coming from the book. I picked it up, looking at the lips in distaste. I hoped they wouldn't touch me if I handled the book.

"Finally. Took ya long enough," the book said, sounding annoyed. Now read the first page, then wait for further instructions.

Hoping I did the right thing, I flipped open the hardbound cover and found that the pages were black and filled with stars like the night sky. For a moment, I saw nothing, and I almost slammed the book shut again when letters formed in the middle and began scrolling from left to right. At the same time, a loud ping came from my status.

"Congratulations, you have found this universe's mortal knowledge Library! All knowledge discovered by mortal beings while they are still mortal resides in this library. The book you are now holding is the Librarian's tome, and it shall guide you. Only the one holding it is able to communicate with the Librarian's tome. Be advised that the tome holds absolute power in this library. Only this universe's Primal Deity and mortal beings may interact with it, or they will be punished. Severely. Be advised that regular Deities are only allowed here if they accompany their followers, and they are to behave. If they act out of line, they will be punished severely."

An angry, smiling face appeared after the last line, and I swallowed.