Chapter 39 - Revelations

Vern stood there dumbfounded as he looked at the charred ruins of the library. It was as if time had never reversed its course. This is what the library would've looked like if that fire back during the Duskfall had continued its fiery onslaught.

He paused, maintaining a respectful distance from the grandeur now marred by disaster. The cathedral-like library, once an architectural masterpiece adorned with spires and ornate brickwork, now stood desolate and scorched. The roof that had towered into the sky was partially caved in, its high-reaching spires reduced to blackened stubs.

The purple hue that had once spilled from its numerous arched windows and balconies was replaced with the bleakness of charred timbers and smoky, darkened glass. Where elaborate corbellings once graced the structure's exterior, only jagged remnants clung stubbornly to the blackened façade.

This didn't make any sense. What had gone wrong? It had only been two days, for steam's sake!

Before he could approach the scene, he noticed someone sitting on the bench across the ruin,. She wore a white shirt beneath a short, black jacket that had an emblem of Von Industries—a cog pierced by a straight blade—prominently displayed on both her shoulders.

Over her shirt and under her jacket, she wore a raven cravat tied neatly around her neck. The lower half of her outfit comprised black breeches tucked into tall, charcoal leather boots. A grey belt encircled her slim waist, and a golden four-state vapor blaster was tucked into a holster.

That looks like some standard uniform. She’s got to be more than just superficially associated with Von Industries.

But the moment he noticed her, she shifted her eyes from the crumbled wreckage and met his gaze. Then, she suddenly got up and walked towards him in graceful steps.

Cursing the lack of his top hat yet again, he moved to meet her in the middle. When at an appropriate distance, he bowed in an elaborate gesture to give a better first impression than last time.

"Hello, Miss Cera. Glad to see you're alright."

"Good evening, Vern."

But before anything else, he had a burning question—pun intended, that had to be asked, "Miss, do you know what happened here? This…wasn't how I left the archive just a couple days ago."

"Certain individuals set it on fire yesterday," she said without even a pause.

.

.

.

Maybe noticing his perplexed expression, she carried on, "I came back here prior morning to read up on a few more things, but then a trio came in and urged me to withdraw with haste." Then she shifted a little and looked at him with narrowed eyes, "They said there was an anomaly surrounding this place, which lead to the death of everyone in the library, and it's better to cleanse this place as soon as possible."

Vern became speechless.

They were indeed right. A disproportional number of people had disappeared in the library compared to everywhere else. He knew it was because of the fire that engulfed the place, burning all scholars before they could be extricated from the jaws of that entity—somehow being omitted during the reversal of time. But anyone without this knowledge would indeed think of this as some anomaly.

After a while, he spoke up, ignoring the questioning look in her eyes, "Who was it? The Kingsmen?"

Her tresses waved back and forth as she shook her head, "They called themselves Vigilantes of Duskfall."

Oh? That was unexpected. The same organization which that swordsman tried to recruit him into? Their name was quite telling in and of itself, but he didn't anticipate they would do something like this.

It must be quite an organization to have members working both in inner and outer districts. They are either working in tow with Kingsmen or have some way to traverse the barricaded bridges. Nonetheless, how did they even realize something had gone wrong in the library?

Miss Cera remained silent, gazing at the ruins, just like him.

Unwilling to waste any more time, he finally shrugged, "Well, it's unfortunate, but there's not much we can do about it. Anyway, I hope I didn't make you wait longer than necessary."

She shook her head gently, "I was done with my other matters a little earlier, so I ended up waiting here. But time is of the essence, we should get going."

Vern nodded and turned around, leading the way to Starfall Heights in the west. Then he heard, "Still, we should first iron out the finer details of our strategy. Could you…umm clarify exactly how you're planning to help?"

"For me to answer that you'll first have to elaborate on what's expected of me. What's waiting for us in the Steamscript relay? What are your plans regarding your enlightenment?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Following his steps, she nodded before speaking, "According to the information I have, the relay station is incessantly ringing with peculiar noises, but the eccentricity here is that the factories which supplied gas and steam to the station were reduced to ashes during the Duskfall. Then, where is the energy required by the pipes to produce these sounds coming from?"

"Hmm, is it really such a big deal? The station could just have its own vapor engines, no?"

"I have already examined the architectural blueprints of this station I found in privileged sections of the archive, and such is not the case. The amount of energy needed to operate the station is massive, and there are no on-site engines that produce that much steam."

"There has been no news of any deaths in the vicinity, and it's one of the most harmless options I could have picked. My plan is to simply Observe the anomaly from as far as possible and trigger enlightenment. Then we simply leave the moment I am done forming my Viewpoint."

Vern's countenance tensed, but luckily she was behind him and couldn't notice the changes. What does she mean by leave as soon as she's done? It took me three days! I can't wait there for three days.

But he didn't want to ask her such a simple question. He didn't know what was normal, and it would only arouse suspicions about his own enlightenment. What if he had an irregular experience and asking about this ousted that fact? She was already suspicious of him now that those Vigilantes burned down the archive. He had no plans of divulging whatever happened in the library—not even indirectly.

So he started with a different question, "Hmm, then, Miss Cera, how long do you think it would take you to form your Viewpoint?"

"I—I don't know."

Hmm.

"Do you know the average time it takes to do so?"

She turned silent for an instant before she said, "For those who religiously study their Observation Records prior to their enlightenment, it could take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour."

That's it? He scowled unknowingly but still replied in a natural tone, "So I simply have to protect you during that period?"

"If you can, yes. But that's my question. What visions can you employ other than that invisibility? It might be a useful skill, but I don't see how that would come in handy in this situation—unless you can use that vision on me…?" she said, catching up to him, matching him step-by-step as they made their way towards that tall bridge in the distance.

Huh? What? She thinks that's a vision I can use?

But it only made sense. She just said it only takes a few minutes to form a viewpoint. Naturally, she wouldn't assume that he was invisible for three days due to enlightenment. It seemed like the process of enlightenment generally didn't even include going invisible. It was all but obvious that his experience was atypical.

But now that she was right next to him, he quickly schooled his expression to one of indifference, hiding his panic underneath as he rambled, "Uh, that vision has some uncanny limitations, and I can only use it very sparingly."

"Oh…" a soft sigh escaped her lips, her shoulders slumping a little.

Damn.

She was losing confidence in him. He must prevent that from happening. She had already indirectly given him more information than he had figured out by himself in the past few days. He had to somehow keep her invested.

So he said, "But I can do something else."

He looked around and promptly noticed a familiar target just a few paces away. It was a clock that hung on a ledge jutting out of some office. Going for the theatrics this time, he quickly perceived it based on complexity and focused on the flaw that came from the spring in the winding mechanism.

The speed at which he shaded familiar objects had been improving day by day. So, it didn't even take a second before that notion appeared in his mind—one he followed without hesitation, inducing an instability within the device.

CRACK

CRUNCH

"AAHH—"

Miss Cera stopped in her tracks as she muffled her scream. Shards of glass burst forth from the clock, alongside a bunch of gears and sprockets that spilled from the device and scattered on the cobblestone underneath.

She gasped in amazement, looking back and forth between Vern and the fragments of broken clockwork, "That—that was you?"

Vern simply smiled back, feeling a little smug. This should assuage her worries for the time being.

"Ephram. Is this really the power of Observers?" she mumbled to herself as she rapidly closed the distance between Vern and herself again.

But something struck him as odd. Has she not seen other Observers in action?

"It is very impressive that you can do something like this just with your eyes. If you were capable of this—I wonder why you almost succumbed to the whispers back in the library."

She calls those voices, whispers, eh? Didn't that madman at the ascendant council also ramble something about learning the secret from the whispers? But that wasn't the point right now. He needed an excuse.

"I…wasn't in the best state of mind."

To this, Miss Cera stared at the ground in thoughtful silence and a few boulevards went by as they walked on wordlessly. Then out of the blue, she looked back up, pointed at her revolver, and asked, "I wonder how you'd match up against a gun like this? Can Observers really surpass the might of these firearms?"

"Uhh, let's not discuss malevolent schemes of violence against little harmless me, okay? I just wanted to show that I am not completely lost. I have been an Observer for a while, and just need some ideas on how to formally progress my Viewpoint."

She tilted her head to one side and one of her eyebrows quirked in puzzlement, "Do you not have an Observation Record of your own?"

I knew it! There are multiple Observation Records, and not everyone learns from those bloody parchments. Ahh, but this meant he needed more justification. After a quick thought, he settled on this story.

"I—I lost it…"

"You lost it? But you were able to read about Visions and Enlightenment? Umm, did you not even read the preamble before becoming an Observer? That sounds very…foolish?"

"I agree. But my circumstances were quite peculiar when I first got my hands on the record." Then he suddenly turned sideways and peered into her dark eyes—one of them hiding behind her locks. "And this is why I lack basic knowledge about Observation."

Hoping to change this topic and reduce his missteps while being a touch more frank, he appealed, "Anything that you can tell me before we venture into the relay station will benefit us both. You don't need to divulge anything significant, but even a basic insight might just prove to be of vital consequence."

She blinked, her movements pausing as if momentarily derailed before she turned thoughtful and inquired back, "Then, do you know about Shades of Perception?"