Book (I): The Remnant of Gregory Fischer, Chapter V: A Flame Rekindles

--- Gregory Fischer ---

“Well done! Truly brilliant!” A voice called, applause echoing as a light flashed and he found himself back in the library atrium standing in front of a smiling young woman with dark hair wearing glasses and black button up vest over a white long sleeved blouse. “I’ll admit I was a little worried things wouldn’t work out for a moment there, but you managed to turn it all around!”

“Uh… thanks.” He managed to get out as he dealt with something of an emotional whiplash, before slowly pulling himself together. “But, um, who are you exactly?”

“Oh, sorry I got so caught up in your story telling that I almost forgot.” The woman grinned wryly as she adjusted her glasses. “I’m Briar Black, The Head Librarian of the Black Briar Library.”

“Right…” He nodded slowly as his eyes narrowed. “And going by your name I’m also guessing you’re the owner of the library too?”

Briar winced as she gained a sheepish look. “Heh, sort of… We were, uh, we were named for the same thing… Sort of… Let’s just… move on from the name thing…”

“Okay.” He acquiesced, figuring the oddity of her name was less important than her admitting she was near the top of the food chain for this place. “But I’m guessing that means you’re the one I should be… thanking for my invitation here?”

“Heh, you don’t, you don’t have to do that.” Briar assured him bashfully as she twirled some of her hair, clearly wishing he would.

Regardless, given the emotional rollercoaster of the last hour he wasn’t sure whether he actually should thank her, even with his recent resolution. Which is why he instead asked, “If I may, what made you decide to send me that invitation?”

Briar looked vaguely disappointed before giving him a smile. “Well, you see, we’re still building the library up. I was only recently put in charge and I still need to staff it with Librarians who can do everything we need doing around here.”

“Okay…” He nodded once more. “That doesn’t really explain why you invited me, given how I’m not a librarian.”

“You’re not a Librarian, yet.” Briar corrected him with a wag of her finger. “I think it’s safe to say after your performance here you are clearly Librarian material. Enough so that I’m surprised no other library has tried to scoop you up yet.”

He inhaled and exhaled almost wishing he hadn’t given his last smoke to his younger self as he tapped his fingers against his leg. “Alright, but how did you know I was going to be ‘librarian material’ before… all of this.”

Briar rolled her eyes, and gave him an amused grin. “Because you found your way here on your own, of course!”

“So, you didn’t bring me here from my normal library?” He asked as plainly as he could.

“Well, yeah, I did this time.” Briar admitted, before adding, “But I didn’t do that the first time you came here!”

“The… first time?” He frowned, fairly certain he hadn’t stepped foot in this place prior to getting his invitation.

“Yeah, you know when you wandered in here while- Oh!” Briar hit her forehead. “You were Dreaming and people forget those!”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “So, you’re saying I came here in a dream?” (Which fits since this whole thing has been a fever dream.)

If not for the pain he’d been feeling he’d think he was actually in one.

“Yep!” Briar grinned as if what she was saying made perfect sense.

He took a deep breath before reaching for one of his ‘special smokes’ less because he needed the firepower and more because he needed something to take the edge off of his mounting frustration. Which in turn led him into thinking about something he’d been wondering about. “So, moving on… I’ve got to ask about the whole book thing?”

“Oh, that’s something I’ve set up for all of my Librarians to help them with their work.” The Head Librarian explained with no small amount of cheer or confidence. “I figured giving you your Book during your test would help you with reading your story volume.”

“My story volume?” He repeated, having an idea of what that was given the book in his hand but not entirely sure.

“Yeah, I figured proof-reading your own story would be easier than doing it for someone else. After all, since it’s your story you can more easily fix any issues that you find.” Briar elaborated. “Now that we’ve workshopped the final draft of the current volume, I’ve gone ahead and added it to your collection so you can more easily reference it in your book.”

He looked at the book in his hands, not really surprised to find that it had reverted back to the book he’d carried throughout his previous trial. With next to no effort the book fell open to its table of contents, where he once more spotted a section ‘Volumes Collected’. The moment he focused on it the paged began to flip before he found a secondary index with his name at the top and three lines things listed in eldritch text beneath it.

(“Gregory Fischer

-Overarching

-The Black Briar Librarian

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

-The Ashes of War.”)

He focused on the ‘Overarching’ text, and just as it had before the pages flipped until he found himself staring at a swarm of shifting eldritch writing far denser than anything he’d seen before barring his synopsis. Enough so that he was fairly certain that if he were to actually turn the page… it wouldn’t go well for him.

Which is why he instead focused on what text he could actually understand, slowly piecing together something that roughly read as, (“The Man Who Burned: At the start of every combat chapter and whenever this unit plays a card, this unit gains a stack of Heat. Additionally, at the start of a Reading search your Library for a 1-Cost Arm Equipment Page and equip it to this unit for free.”)

He couldn’t help but close the books as he felt an ice pick driving itself through his eyes as he tried to process the words he’d just read. “What… what does any of that mean?”

“Ah, right… You aren’t used to reading Eldritch truths…” Briar grimaced in sympathy before giving him a smile. “Don’t worry it gets easier as the psionic scarring builds.”

“The, the what?” He blinked, his head still pounding.

“It’s not important.” Briar assured him as she got him to sit in a chair that wasn’t behind him just a moment ago, before handing him a cup of coffee off the table that had appeared in between his blinks. (Damn, I must really be out of it…)

“Feeling better?” Briar asked him after a moment of nursing his drink.

“Yeah… I think so…” He slowly answered. “My head is feeling a lot clearer at the very least.”

“Good. That’s good.” Briar nodded, sipping at her own drink. “Since you’re a little more here, how about we get back on topic?”

“Back on topic?” He frowned, his head briefly wincing as he even thought about opening the book again.

“Yeah, I mentioned before that all of this was an interview to see if you’d be a good fit for the Black Briar Library, and… You are!” Briar grinned with a small cheer.

He gave the librarian a confused look. “And… and what does that mean exactly?”

“Well, if you accept the job your work will alternate between in house work helping to structure and clean up the Library and more field inclusive work collecting stories and proof reading them as you do so.” Briar explained in a more professional tone than she’d been using, almost as if she’d rehearsed this part.

“And collecting stories… I’m guessing that’s going to be like what I did today?” He grimaced.

“Yes, and no. While you will be going out and collecting stories, we shouldn’t have to recreate someone’s past the way you did today. Unless you think it’d help with your proof reading?” Briar asked with a tilt of her head, as if she wasn’t sure whether or not it would help him.

“I… don’t know.” He admitted, not actually sure what ‘proof reading’ would entail if not what he’d just been through. (Thinking of…) “Will I have to… proof read myself like that?”

“You don’t have to but if you do I can help you collect more volumes of your story.” Briar answered with a look half way between concern and regret.

(Okay, so… I won’t have to go through all of that again.) While he may’ve been glad he found the… closure that he did, he was confident saying, (I really didn’t want to go ripping anymore emotional wounds open.)

The fact that he wouldn’t have to, went a long way in soothing his nerves. (Making this just like any other job interview now, meaning it’s time for the most important question.)

“Alright, what’s the pay?” Because even if he would’ve let them low ball him while depressed, he had enough spine right now that he was going to be damned if he was going to work for chump change.

“You get to read all the books there are!” Briar smiled as she stood and raised her arms towards the massive shelves full of books surrounding them.

He waited a moment, before realizing she was waiting on his reaction. “Okay… and?”

Briar blinked in confusion. “And?”

“Yeah, and? I mean, being able to read on the job is a perk but… it’s not really pay?”

“It’s… not?” His would be boss frowned, sounding even more confused.

“It’s not.” He confirmed, only staying because of her clear confusion and the bit of gratitude he felt for helping him find the spine to question this.

“Um…” Briar looked around, before pointing at his book. “You get your book and all the perks I packed into it!”

“I’m pretty sure this thing is keeping me from doing more than it’s helping me with.” He admitted, trying to form a fireball in hand only to get sparks.

“Oh, that’s… I’ll, I’ll look into that.” Briar promised, even as she began to look around with a bit more desperation. “Trust me, by the time I fix it you’ll be so wowed you’ll be shooting for employee of the month! Heh-heh-heh…”

He raised an unimpressed brow.

“Um… what… what exactly do you want to be paid?” Briar finally asked, looking both pained and embarrassed to be doing so.

“Money.” He answered dry as a desert.

“What kind?”

He gave the visibly sweating librarian a flat look, before taking a deep breath and letting it out. “You haven’t been running this place for long have you?”

“No…” Briar admitted without meeting his gaze.

He took another breath as he looked the nervous young woman over, before looking over the library atrium and thinking about how much it must have cost to set all of this up. (And that’s before we get into however much magic it’s taking to run… everything I’ve seen today.)

The smart thing to do would be to get up and walk away, given how he had no idea whether or not he was going to get paid, but…

“How important is this library to you?”

“It is everything to me.” Briar answered with no small amount of conviction.

He ran a hand through his hair before pulling out one of his now seemingly unlimited special smokes. (Which given how much these things cost…)

Lighting the cigarette he kept circling around a thought and a memory, something he’d just told himself.

(I’d have to work a lot more than I like to make this work the way I want but…)

He gave Briar another look, the librarian giving him a hopeful look as she waited for his answer.

“Fuck it.” He finally decided. “I’ll help you out, if only because you clearly need it.”

“Yes!” Briar cheered, before launching herself forward and wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!”

“Just remember, the moment you start making money off of this, I’m going to demand a pay check.” He warned the surprisingly strong librarian as he tried to pry her off of him, not mentioning the thing the library had already given him.

(“Hope isn’t the worst lie to believe in…”) He smirked as he finally got Briar off of him.

It’d been a long time since he’d had hope.