“Hey, don’t I know you, little fluffy guy? Also, you look kind of familiar. Did I meet your dad?” Serilina asked as soon they were secure in the reading room.
“You didn’t, you met me. It’s a long story I’d rather not share at the moment, but your cat has saved our lives for a second time, and I’m a little tired of running for my life when there is so much else that needs to be done so at this point I’m much more willing to stick around and learn just what you know.” Andy shook his head as he spoke. He was physically exhausted and his brain still hurt from the encounter with the baby things.
The cat hopped onto his mother’s shoulders and began to meow lowly. She scratched him behind his ears and meowed back.
“Yeah, so we brought a Librarian with us, so what?” Twonger responded to the meowing, surprising Andy.
“Uh, Twonger, do you speak cat?” Andy asked.
“No, and neither do you. I really need to teach ya idiots how to properly use your mana already. Ya got too many stupid questions, especially considering the crazy shit you can do. Who ever heard of people with direct mana flow control that couldn’t do the basic things? I still don’t even see how this hasn’t killed you a hundred times over.” He responded.
Andy tried not to laugh as he considered how many times Cal had died to get where they were now.
“Librarians aren’t allowed in the Under Library itself. Well, at least in this wing, things may work very differently in the other wings, but I’ve yet to find my way into another wing. This Librarian could change that, though. How much do you want for it?” The Gryalth asked
“They aren’t for sale. I don’t even know if they are functional anymore. They tried to give us more information than they were allowed and then just shut down. I assume something purposely did that.” His annoyance at the question was evident in his voice. Andy had no intention of selling anyone to the Gryalth. His dislike for the woman was returning.
“Oh, stop being so serious. I wasn’t really willing to buy it. I forget how many worlds out there my people are genocidal maniacs. Sorry, my sense of humor doesn’t translate well to people from those places.” She smiled.
Andy sighed loudly. “Look, let’s not fight; I’ve had enough of that. Bill, can you check over the Librarian and see what you can figure out? Twonger I want to start your lessons tomorrow, can you plan something? And Serilina, are you willing to answer a few of our questions?” Andy’s questions were answered with affirmatives.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Though I don’t know how much information I can really give you. I’ve been wandering this wing for a very long time and still haven’t found my way out of it.” Serilina answered.
“That’s fine. You likely still have far more information about this place than we do,” Andy said.
“You say that, but what did you mess with here that turned you back into a kid? As far as I’ve found, this place only has mechanisms for aging you, not unaging you. Though I guess if it exists, it’s here somewhere.” She said.
“Wasn’t here. It was after we left the last time we saw you, and part of the reason we are back. I want to learn to age myself up when needed easily.” Andy answered her curiosity.
“Wait, what? You left? How? I’ve talked to a ton of patrons, and they are all in the same boat as me. The doors we came in through have all been swallowed by abyssal voids. You’ve got an actual way out of here?” She had a look of astonishment on her face.
“Yes, it’s just through the hub that has the main doors for the wings, past the reference desk.” Andy was confused about how, in all her time here, she had never tried that hallway. It seemed like an obvious choice to him.
“Yeah, no one here can walk past the reference desk. That just summons security, and if we try any further, we are ejected. I have no idea what that means, but I have no interest in finding out.”
“Interesting. Where do you think we would be ejected to? Do you have any idea where this infinitely large size of a building could reside?” Andrew jumped in with a question. Apparently, she had caught his interest now.
“My theory is we are sitting somewhere in the heart of the abyss. What else could host a building of indeterminate size than a place of indeterminate existence?”
“That makes some sense, though our understanding of the abyss is also fundamentally lacking. As Twonger would put it, we are from a world very backward in its understanding of the great cosmos, let alone the great multiverse.” Andy was surprised to hear Andrew admit to his lack of knowledge of anything. Maybe this place had been a bit humbling for the man.
“So, are these abyssal voids where all the monsters are coming from?” Andy cut in.
“I mean, the abyssal beasts are surely coming from the voids, but some of the monsters are just coming from their home realities to find answers the same as everyone. Just because they seek knowledge doesn’t mean they aren’t going to use it for monstrous unthinkable pursuits.” She gave them all a giant, unnerving smile as she said that.
“Uh, what exactly are you looking for here then?” Andy asked. His concern for what the cat had dragged them into was quickly growing.
“Oh me, nothing horribly evil. I just want to learn the source of all magic. It seems weird how mana works once it enters an individual universe, so I’m curious if I can learn about where it flows from originally.” She answered nonchalantly.
“Any luck on that knowledge pursuit?” Andrew asked.
“Oh yeah, a ton. The problem is all roads lead to different wings, and as far as I can tell, they are closed, but hey, with you guys able to access the hub, I think we might just be able to work something.” She was smiling again.
Andy still didn’t like it.