I wasn't sure if they could actually read anything from the moving text on my pages. Infinite Layers had compressed Handbook and Wildlife into just a few pages each, arranging the words into elaborate geometrical patterns. Sentences scrolled past as words rose and fell between the fore and background, more art than information. The titles, at least, stayed fixed on the first page of each section.

'Alright,' I thought, focusing my attention. 'So, you can't hear me, huh? But the other guy… maybe?' I mentally popped open my scroll, searching through the skills I'd seen before. 'One… of… these… aha!'

Writing - Level 1

Description: You can inscribe new words or symbols into your own pages at will. The writing appears as if created by an invisible hand and can include any language or cipher you understand. This ability allows you to record thoughts, observations, or information directly.

'This is the one!' I zeroed in on the person currently perusing my pages, excitement bubbling up as I activated the skill.

"Hello?"

The hand froze. I could feel the tip of a claw paused just beneath the word. 'It worked. It WORKED!' I almost wanted to cheer out loud but reminded myself to focus. 'Well… maybe. Let's confirm it.'

"If you can understand me, would you change to a blank page?" My center trembled with anticipation. If I had lungs, I'd be holding my breath.

The claw disappeared, leaving me to wait in tense silence. Seconds stretched like hours before fingers gripped my pages and flipped through to a blank one.

'Yes! Haha! It worked!'

"Yes! Haha! Hello! I am so glad you can read me!" I hummed happily in victory, basking in the moment as I waited for a response. And waited. And… waited. "Uh? You can read me, right?"

The moments dragged on, and I felt myself shifted to another hand. This one held me steady as something pressed to my paper. "Yes." It was short and simple, but it was there. It was there. They had responded! Written in me! We had conversed!

"Hello! I'm so excited! This is awesome!" I was starting to ramp up my excitement. "I don't know how long I was on my own there… Thank you for finding me!"

The utensil seemed to hesitate on the page before it started to move again. "Are you an Artifact?"

Something about the way that last word was written gave it weight. It was weird to feel a word have weight. "Uh… no. I'm," I paused to pull up my scroll and glance it over.

Name: Nakia Davids Species: Handbook, Level 0 Experience: 1.67/100 Health: 18/25 Stamina: 26/26 Mana: 814/814 (824)

I sighed into the void. My xp had gone up again! 'What am I doing, well, right?'

"I am a Handbook, Leve-,"

A thick slash cut through the sentence as I was writing it. Surprised, I stopped writing. After a moment the person did so. "Are you Nakia Davids?"

I stared at the words, suddenly weary. 'How did they know my name? I don't think I… no, no I didn't tell them.'

With a bit more hesitance, "Yes?"

There a few moments of silence before they say anything more. "I have been looking for you. I am Cuttle. How you managed to," I could almost see the '...' even though it wasn't actually written out. "Bond with me, I do not know. But here is some advice you would have received if you had appeared in a proper Initiate Zone: Keep the details of your Status Scroll to yourself. While we are Bonded, it is not," he paused in his writing, as if searching for the right word. "It was not done as it normally would have. The fact we are Bonded, gives you a stronger chance at trust, but perhaps just us." I can feel Cuttle be jostled, as I am jostled in turn. "I will do my best to help in that regard, but later."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

'Initiate Zone? What's that?' I flick through Eryngo's notes and nothing came up. He talked about wanting to be in the City of Highpeak before the next Initiation, but nothing about it being a Zone. He also had a few years to get there, at the time of the note. 'And a 'non-normal' bond?' I would like to look to the Heavens now.

"I understand. Thanks for the tip. Cuttle… oh, right! There was a brief message about being 'bonded' with someone named Cuttle, but no actual details as to what that meant." I looked over my scroll once more. My Trait and Skills were there, but nothing about the Bond.

That hesitance again, no. They were talking again. I felt a little bit of annoyance about being left out of the loop, but not much could be done since I couldn't actually hear them. 'I suppose they could write out the conversation, but that would probably just draw the whole thing out.'

Almost as if mirroring my thoughts, "It seems there is much to discuss, and it would be unwise to try and continue this conversation while traveling. We must make camp if we are to continue speaking. We can talk more after we have set ourselves up."

"Could you put me down near my friends?" I asked, rather hopefully.

Cuttle paused, "The other books are Initiates too?"

"Oh, no. Haha! I think they're normal books. But I can hear them? Its like some kind of… book bond or something? They're the only thing I can experience." Something about the grip that held me softened just ever so slightly.

"Very well." I felt myself be closed and moved. A flat surface pressed against me from below, or rather I guess I had been set down. Shortly thereafter the rhythms of the eight other books slowly started to filter back into my void.

The directions they came from were different. Wildlife, Deep Blue, and Pastel Yellow seemed to be piled together. White and Tan came from their own direction. Reddish-Brown was on it's own. Then Grey and Iron were paired up. 'Ooo, maybe they organized them for me? Or completely forgot the order they grabbed them in.'

I sat, basking in the gentle rhythms of the other books. On occasion, I once again thought I saw the flashes of other rhythms far out in the void. 'I wonder if there is anything on my sheet that could help me out with talking to Cuttle? I should probably come up with some questions to ask too. Instead of just kinda wingin' this whole thing.'

My scroll unrolled before me, and I took a look. While most of the sheet looked much the same, two things stood out.

Experience: 1.67

Traits: Living Book – Racial

Within silent pages, wisdom stirs. Your form, bound by leather and lore, feeds on the currents of magic and vitality that surround you. Though your body needs no breath, your mind never slumbers. When your physical and mystical energies are sated, you will passively gain experience.

'What the what?' My focus didn't waver from the scroll. 'I gain xp from… being full? No. That doesn't feel right. Physical and Mystical…' I focused in on Resonant Scribe and compared it side by side with the new Trait.

'I think… passively absorbing the knowledge, which is different from Echoing Script, and what? Organizing it? No, something, something, rhythm. So absorbing knowledge and improving my rhythm fills up my mana and stamina, and when my 'energies' are full I, what, convert the excess into xp?'

I was beginning to feel another book ache coming on.