“All the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first… they have to catch you.” -Richard Adams, Watership Down-

_____

Over the last few years of his life, James had ended up in a lot of weird places. And not even dungeon-weird, either. Just the simple real world oddity of spaces that were strangely designed, or became unsettling when you were in them under unusual circumstances.

Like, for example, this library.

It was a library. It wasn’t exactly a great library, but it was hitting all the library requirements. It had an open entryway with a few computers that would normally have the card catalogue search up on them. It had aisles of books in slightly sloped uniform beige metal shelves. It had a checkout counter, complete with those cool self checkout barcode scanners that were awful in grocery stores but really cool in libraries because libraries were just generally cooler than grocery stores.

And yet, despite the presence of what he mentally described as ‘a bunch of library things’, James still felt out of place here. And it wasn’t hard to diagnose why; it was two AM here in northern Texas, and despite the fact that they were all waiting on the second floor of a perfectly normal library along with the guy who had brought the dungeon to their attention, it was still a perfectly normal library at two AM.

Also it wasn’t a normal library, as evidenced by the fact that they were on the second floor. From what the Order - and Planner specifically - could tell, it was just a simple masking memeplex. If you were in the building, of course there were two floors. If you weren’t, then there weren’t. Geographically earthed information blackout. It wouldn’t even complicate their attempt to explore here that much if they hadn’t had a rather strong assignment backing them up, it seemed like it was just a weak veil put up to make it hard for people to talk about their experiences once they left.

“So, you do this professionally?” Vad was nervously asking James. They were actually the same age, which was kind of weird and made James feel weirdly self-conscious. Because he could easily see himself being the kind of person that would be uncomfortable when a well equipped and battle hardened team that was only mostly human teleported into the empty lot near his job.

“Sorta.” James said, trying to be casual in his answer. “I mean, yes, really. The Order’s resources basically all come from dungeons like this one, in some way. But if you asked me if delving was my job, I’d probably say no?”

Looking up from where she was sitting on the floor and trying to teach Arrush how to play a card game, Alanna shot a line over at their conversation. “Dude, we have a ton of normal resources! What about JP’s stock portfolio thing?”

James sheepishly bit his lip. “Oooh, he actually sold off pretty much all of that. As it turns out, being good at investing doesn’t mean you can see the future, so he lost a bunch of money and decided to cut our losses, since we’re focusing on alternate revenue streams anyway.”

“Is that… isn’t that the thing from Leverage?” Vad asked.

“Oh, fuck, it is!” James perked up. “Man, I loved that show. We should do some heists sometime.”

Vad stared at James, the other man leaning casually on the edge of the table that Vad had taken a chair around, and wondered what the hell was happening with his life today. “You just seem… really casual about all this.” He waved his hand around. “Why aren’t you…”

“Nervous?” Frequency-Of-Sunlight asked from under the table where she was reading a comic book, her authority turning the pages for her.

Vad didn’t exactly jump, but he did shift slightly in a way that made it clear that he’d forgotten there was a giant snake-esque creature near his legs, and that he wasn’t totally comfortable with that. “Yes?” He asked. “Of course I’m nervous! Aren’t you? Why aren’t you?”

“Oh, sure.” James answered with a shrug. “We’re all probably at least a little nervous. Except Momo, but Momo has a different outlook on stuff like this. But… can’t you feel it?” He cracked a toothy grin.

“Feel… what?” Vadik asked, suspiciously.

“In a little under an hour, you get to see a world that isn’t the one you’ve been living in this whole time.” Anesh spoke softly from the end of the table, setting down the expendable smartphone he’d brought along to record with. “One where the rules of life and landscape are different. Where who, or what, you are might change and grow in ways you never considered.” He met James’ smiling eyes. “Where you can find a piece of magic.”

Vad raised his hand slowly, and then pointed at his freshly scarred arm with his other hand. “The last time I was in there I almost died?” He asked in a voice that caught James so off guard he almost burst out laughing right then.

“But you didn’t.” Arrush said from the floor.

“Talking breaks the rules. Draw a card.” Alanna told him.

James narrowed his eyes at them. “Wait, hang on, you talked a second ago. Wait, I recognize this, this was the game the kids in Townton inflicted on me! Why are you tormenting poor Arrush?”

“We’re bored!” Alanna told him. “We have a whole hour to fill!”

Arrush moved hesitantly, the ratroach raising one of his smaller arms in a motion that felt like it wasn’t even close to being an organic reflex. But he still leaned forward slightly to tap Alanna on the shoulder. “Talking. Card.” He said nervously.

Alanna looked down at her hand of cards, then gave James a ‘see what you did?’ kind of look, before dramatically pulling another playing card off the deck.

“How did you get into this anyway?” Vad asked, trying to hide that he was staring at Arrush.

“Same way you did.” James said, then held up his hands when Vad gave him an incredulous look. “I’m actually literally serious!” He protested. “I was at work late, and found a stairwell that went to a dungeon! It kind of escalated from there, if I’m being honest. And now we’re here.”

“Collecting superpowers?” Vad asked.

James snapped his fingers. “Exactly.” He answered in all seriousness. “Though probably in a less selfish way than you mean. We’re sort of setting up a lot of different pipelines, to turn dungeon nonsense into actual help for people.”

“People and aliens, apparently. Or, like, mutants?” Vad added.

From under a different table, where she was reading a different comic book, Momo made a threatening noise. Anesh and Alanna also made hesitant sounds. Heading off any of them before they could start talking, James jumped in. “Okay, first off, everyone here is from this planet.” He said. “Dungeons are still on Earth, we think. Also it doesn’t matter. They’re still people, so be kind.” He didn’t phrase it as a request.

“Sorry! I think it’s cool, I just don’t know what’s going on or what’s real anymore!” Vad burst out. “I wasn’t trying to be a jackass!”

“I am from a dungeon.” Arrush hissed out. “It was not a nice one. I like this place better, it smells nice.”

“So, you aren’t, like, a human that got too many of those orb things?” Vad asked. “Actually, wait, do all dungeons have orb things?”

“Only two so far!” James informed him with a refreshed smile. “Kinda weird coincidence actually.”

Arrush set his hand of cards down, conceding the game. “Also every orb I have been gifted has made me better.” He said in rough Spanish, switching languages without realizing.

“How many… are there?” Vad asked quietly.

“Dungeons?”

“Yeah.”

“Several.” James said quietly. “Some of them are nice.” He sighed, looking down at his phone. “Also we still have… forty minutes? Jesus. Alanna, deal me into this stupid game. I need a distraction. We should have cut this closer, I could have taken a nap or something.”

“You can nap on the chairs here.” Vad said, tone instantly changing to that of someone with a casual comfortable knowledge of a space.

He had more questions, of course. But James left them for the people who didn’t get in on their chaotic mess of a card game to answer. He wasn’t allowed to talk.

Thirty six minutes later, the delver team assembled outside the door. They’d already gotten their armor on, their bags adjusted to comfort. They’d even, through the magic of Karen’s spreadsheets, remembered an extra set of their light armor for Vad, who looked thoroughly out of place in it. James had asked more than a few times if he was sure he wanted to come along, until eventually his interrogation subject had just snapped that he was more curious than he was nervous, which was basically the best possible answer a new delver could have.

Deb was near their back rank, fussing with Frequency-Of-Sunlight’s armature pack while in front of them,Momo was basically vibrating like a piece of industrial machinery waiting to get in. Thought-Of-Quiet was covering their other side, looking almost like a statue the camraconda was sitting so still. In contrast, Arrush was repeatedly checking the several pistols he had in the five different sidearm holsters strapped around his body, each one positioned in a different spot for one of his arms. James and Alanna were just leaning on each other, while Anesh was making sure everyone’s cameras were recording.

“Do I get a gun?” Vad asked.

“No, because we’re not going to shoot anything anyway.” James said. “Everyone ready?” He got nods and affirmations. “Okay. Remember, this is a library. So let’s keep noise to a minimum, just to be safe. Vad, as our resident discoverer, I leave it to you to open the door. Your call whether or not you open it slightly early to fake us out.”

“You’re not even a tiny bit worried I made this all up, or I’m crazy or something?” He asked James.

Everyone shared glances that ranged from incredulous to amused. When James answered, it was with a voice that was obviously trying not to crack from laughter. “It’s pretty much just easier to assume everything is real, honestly. Anyway. Time in three… two… one…”

Breaking with a tradition he wasn’t really aware of, Vad just opened the door right on time. And, while they hadn’t exactly practiced with this particular group, the team filtered in from both sides, fanning out in a relatively organized vanguard around the entrance like they’d drilled dozens of times each.

If the library out in the waking world was strange at 2 AM, with shadows in the backs of the aisles and the sound of the overtaxed AC system grinding outside the building, then this library was truly alien.

Within ten feet of the door, they were greeted by shelving units, the hallways of books stretching away from them in straight lines. But the shelves were off-colored, their endcap signs reading nonsense symbols. The shelves also rose to the ceiling, twenty feet up, and as James glanced up at where the shelf and the structure met, he got the impression that the shelves just went right through without stopping. The place was brightly lit somewhere, and that bright light filtered through gaps in the books and from around corners, casting them in a twilight gloom where sight wasn’t impossible, but the whole world felt like it was one big shadow. The beams and patches of distant light were in a range of tones; to his left there was a lopsided square of sunshine painting the carpet, while down the aisle in front of him James saw more familiar fluorescent white beams catching the dust in the air. It wasn’t clear where any of the light was coming from; the sunlight to his left couldn’t be from around the corner, there was just more shelves there, but there also wasn’t a window nearby at all. This outer edge, seemingly at the back of the shelves, stretched for hundreds of feet in either direction.

The floor under his boots was cracked stonework, black lines of old breaks having been polished down again and again until they simply became part of the floor. Or at least, that’s what would have happened if it had occurred naturally in a used building. Here, it could mean anything, the pale pink and white stone might just have been made that way. Along with the thin coating of dust that they stirred up as they entered.

In the distance, a growl sounds, low and threatening. As it does, a cold breeze whisks through the library, rustling pages and stirring up some dust. The growl doesn’t stop, and James snorts as he realizes it’s what the air conditioning here sounds like. Either that, or there’s a distant wolf the size of a skyscraper that keeps the air from stagnating or something.

“Aisles are pretty cramped.” Alanna muttered in a low tone, loud enough for everyone to hear, but not loud enough to carry. “Split?”

“Yeah. Let’s take these two. Vad, how deep in were you when you got attacked?”

“First row.” The young man whispered, nervously hanging back in the middle of their formation.

James nodded. “Okay. Everyone be alert.” He paused, and almost made a joke about how pointless that was to say in a new environment like this. Of course everyone was already alert. But Arrush still gave a considering nod as the ratroach moved forward to peer down one of the rows of shelves.

The rows weren’t especially wide, even if they did reach up well over everyone’s heads, looming above like uncomfortable cliffs. Cliffs filled with books that might be alive. And, as Sarah had reminded them before they left, absolutely full of teeth.

James crept forward, taking the lead on his row and letting Thought-Of-Quiet, Arrush, and Momo fall in behind him, with Vad bringing up the rear. He was watching the books around them, partially waiting to be attacked by something in a sudden ambush, but also just appreciating the sheer variety of tomes that this place had stocked itself with.

Hardcover and paperbacks, some of them brand new, others covered in cracked and crumbling plastic laminate. Some heavy texts bound in leather, or sheafs of assorted papers tied together with a barcode stamped onto the edge of them like a warding sigil. But the books that looked like they were misplaced from another era were sparse compared to the sheer volume of simple rectangles of bound paper, in a riot of colors and shapes around them.

He tilted his head to read a few titles, and wasn’t disappointed. The Anatomy of Chairs (Second Printing). Bus Death. Poems And Other Poems, by… the author names were all blank. Interesting. Not just blank, actually, but destroyed. Every part of the books around them that should have borne a byline was scratched or torn away, leaving only a gap in the text.

They proceeded slowly, everyone still keeping their eyes peeled. They could see the end of the row of shelves, and in theory James knew the other half of their group was just on the other side of the shelf to their right, but the books were packed so thick there wasn’t any visibility, only the thin lines of light cast from overhead that brought small illumination to their path. Light that couldn’t possibly be coming from anywhere.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Is that creeping anyone else out?” Momo whispered, drawing a flinch from James.

“What?” He spoke in a low voice, pointedly not whispering, not wanting it to carry too far.

“The humming?” Momo asked.

James froze, straining his ears. “I don’t hear any humming.” He said. “Anyone?” He glanced at his group. Arrush and Vad both shook their heads, but the camraconda with them gave a slow nod.

“It is a kind song.” Though-Of-Quiet spoke in a low volume digital voice. “That way.” He pointed with one of his motorized arms toward the end of the row they were halfway toward.

James sighed, and looked down toward the end of the row, past the ladder leaning against one shelf, and the rolling plastic stepstool, to where he could see out into an open floor area, centered around a table with a pyramid of books on it, beams of light from directly overhead casting sharp shadows on the scene. “Well, nothing seems-“

If James had been new as a delver, he might have not realized that setting himself up like that would be a bad idea. But he wasn’t new, and even as he started to say something that would tempt fate, he had already spotted the grey covered book to his right that had opened a fleshy eye along its spine and was watching him. When it lashed out with a bookmark tongue that moved like a prehensile whip, James was already moving, his enhanced agility letting him flinch back just enough that the dry flesh rope missed his face, grab it, and yank the book off the shelf. He’d completed the motion before Vad let out a startled yelp that cut through the muffled quiet around them.

The book in question immediately opened up into a cracked maw of triangular teeth, writhing and twisting in his grasp, trying to get closer enough to his leg to start sawing into his flesh.

“Stop.” Thought-Of-Quiet said softly, and the book froze.

“Jesus, those things are freaky.” Momo said, pushing past Arrush to kneel down and look at it up close. “Look, the teeth aren’t even paper, they’re just… uh… teeth stuff.”

“Bone.” Arrush told her.

“Teeth aren’t bone.” James and Vad said at the same time, the lead delver shooting the other explorer a smile. “So, want to see if we can make friends with…”

James trailed off as, around them, ten more books opened their eyes and focused on the group.

“Ah.” He said simply.

“Fuck!” Momo said, more passionately.

Thought-Of-Quiet unfroze the book James was holding, while he swept his feet in a pitcher’s stance and flung it by its tongue down toward the end of the shelves, the camraconda pivoting to lock onto another one of the creatures. Two more flung themselves off their hiding spots among the other books, causing a shift in the paperbacks as they tilted to fill the gap, tiny paperclip legs propelling the toothy tomes toward the group.

James punched one out of the air, bringing it down to within stomping range, and planting an experienced boot on its spine. Momo flicked a finger at the other, calling up the blue power she had right now to melt paper and turning most of its body into cold goo. The momentum carried it forward to splash against her arm, teeth and other pieces clattering off her to stick in the puddle that splattered down to the floor.

When the rest of the books started to move all at once, Arrush started grabbing them out of the air with his arms, thick chitinous fingers ignoring the teeth, even as they did saw into him in bleeding lines. The first one, he was almost confused what to do now that he’d caught it; then he watched James duck a book and pin it against a shelf, pulling back the cover to snap the spine, and he started doing the same maneuver to the ones he was grabbing.

Vad yelled in panic as one went for him, even when Momo silently melted it before it got to his face, leaving him covered in melted book. Thought-Of-Quiet just lashed his vision back and forth, stuttering the attack patterns of any book that started to move, and letting the others clean up their attackers. The camraconda knew the arms he was wearing had a limit, so he held back and did what he was good at; being a problem for anything that wanted to harm the people around him.

When the second wave of books started snarling around them, it got a little more hectic. Arrush found himself standing between Vad and the aggressive tongues of the new set of hungry paperbacks, slapping them away or at one point even biting through one, letting his corrosive saliva burn the bookmark tongue in a way that left the creature making a rattling wail.

None of them drew their guns, though James and Arrush both unclipped the hatchets from their belts and used them to batter books out of the air or bite into them when they tried to scramble for feet or climb the shelves to leap again. The only injury came when James stepped the heel of his boot in one of the puddles of book that Momo had melted, and slipped sideways, thudding his shoulder into the metal bar dividing two sets of shelves before he toppled sideways onto the floor.

But by then, there was nothing left alive around them to take advantage of his slip.

“Ooooow.” He wheezed out, the air knocked out of his lungs. “Okay, we may have to rethink you liquefying things as a strategy.” He told Momo as he shifted so he wasn’t crushing everything in his backpack, rolling to his hands and knees so he could stand.

The motion brought him face to face with the footstool. It was, James realized, probably something he should have paid more attention to. A hard black plastic step, with a circular top that would make it easy to sit on if you needed to restock a lower shelf. They were a fixture in every library he’d ever been in. Little wheeled tools that were easy for people to move around and make use of.

This one didn’t have wheels. It had a bunch of thick curved claws that ended in blunted tips, and what looked like glowing black points for eyes that shone clearly even in the similarly dark shadows underneath the shell of plastic.

James stared at it. It stared back.

“Sorry to bother you?” He said politely.

Slowly, the creature retracted itself back under the stepstool it was hiding underneath.

“What was that?” Arrush asked patiently, staring at the thing that was barely a foot from James’ face as James pushed himself off the floor and stood up.

“Someone taking a nap.” James answered. “Okay. Standard loot sweep, then let’s keep moving so we can meet up with the others. Avoid the seat.” He pointed out the crablike creature to everyone just in case.

“I like this place.” Momo grinned wildly as she started going through the remains of the books around them, grabbing up all the yellow orbs. “Hey, are we using any of these?” She asked.

“No.” James told her. “Vad can have his share, if he wants, but we’re gonna copy the rest at least once. Just… you know, because. We’re trying to be less… uh…”

“Less us.” Thought-Of-Quiet answered. “But in a growth way, and not a death way.”

Momo nodded. “Sure, that sounds terrifying, I like it.”

“What just happened?!” Vad whisper-shouted, cutting them off.

“An almost flawless victory, before I fell on my ass.” James complained. “Or, do you mean, why aren’t we dead?”

“Yeah!”

He shrugged. “It’s not actually a superpower thing. It’s that at a certain point, you can get used to dealing with the small creatures dungeons tend to put as their opening fights. Uh… you don’t specifically have to fight them, to be clear. I’m friends with a stapler. But these guys seemed pretty relentlessly murderous, so that’s… depressing.” He sighed. “Also we do all have a bunch of little tricks and augmentations. Or we’re just Arrush who decided grabbing things with teeth was a good idea.” James folded his arms at the ratroach as Momo finished snagging all the dropped yellow orbs. They were even the same color as the ones from Officium Mundi, which James was sure wouldn’t ever be a problem.

He stepped forward, kicking away the flattened and folded false paper of one of the dead books as he aimed to lead them to skirt around the crab thing. And as he did so, he felt something pop under his foot.

{+1 Species Rank : Hedgehog - Four Toed}

James sighed deeply. “Dammit.” He muttered mostly to himself.

“Are you well?” Thought-Of-Quiet asked.

“Stepped on an orb. Doesn’t actually… feel different. Vad, I actually forgot to ask, do you know what these do?”

“I… no. No idea.”

“Alright. Well, let’s get out of these shelves, just in case there’s more books lying in wait.” James said, pushing onward and deciding to deal with it later. The others followed behind him, everyone carefully sliding around the hiding crab creature that seemed content to let them be. They made it down the last fifty feet of shelves and to the end without any further incident

Alanna was tapping her foot as they emerged, the other group having been waiting for them. “Took you a while.” She said.

“Yeah, got lost in a book.” James said.

“No.” Anesh cut him off with a stifled grin. “No book puns today. Book puns tomorrow.”

Letting out a groan of acceptance, James looked around the small open area here at the end of the shelves.

It wasn’t small. It looked small, when they were approaching, but now that he was here, it was huge. A cavernous space - literally cavernous, the shelves that surrounded them curved together in places and gave it a den-like feeling - of a few hundred feet of cracked slate floor.

That table was still in the middle, with a host of displayed books on it forming a pyramid. They all appeared to be copies of the same thing, but James couldn’t make out the title without approaching, and he was wary to do that just yet. To their right, as they emerged from the shelves, there was a circular desk, dotted with what looked like computers from the early 90s, underneath a hanging sign. The sign was a wooden rectangle suspended by a pair of copper chains from the shelves that curved overhead, and read, “AASITISTI”. James was also hesitant to check that out. It felt intimidating.

And all around the oval of open floor, more shelves. Row after row of them, densely packed, like the aisle they’d come down they held just enough room for two people side by side if they were really comfortable with each other. Many of the shelves were parallel to each other, but they radiated out from this space, and the ones that should naturally widen as they got farther away seemed just as cramped. What little they could see down them, anyway.

There was a staircase to James’ left. And a thin hallway around its rectangular profile, before the library reasserted its shelf-based dominance and cut off any accessibility. The stairs went down, worn wooden railings and a runner of carpet giving a warmth to it.

That was something that was striking James about this place. It did feel warm. Not in temperature, but in mood. “Does anyone else get the vibe that this place is kinda cozy?” He asked.

Vad looked at him like he’d lost his goddamn mind, while Arrush just tilted his head like the big ratroach was considering it. It was Deb who surprised him by answering first, though. “It’s so familiar.” She muttered, hand idly resting on Frequency-Of-Sunlight’s head. “Like I’m back in college. Or coming home. Do you hear humming?”

“It’s coming from downstairs.” Momo confirmed.

Alanna casually interposed herself between them and the stairs. “Hol’ up.” The armored woman said, holding out a hand. “Because if you’re being hypnotized, that’s gonna be a no from me.”

“I should tell you I hear it too.” Anesh said softly. “But I don’t feel any particular compulsion. It’s just humming.”

“Okay.” James said. “If the scout team is right on the time dilation, we have maybe two hours of safe exploration here, and I actually don’t want to test teleporting out when the door’s closed. So let’s make sure this landing is safe enough, and then stage from here. We can check out the humming, and more of the shelves, and then leave before we push too far.” He started pointing at different things. “Vad, Arrush, Quiet, you’re with me, we’ll go look at the info desk. Alanna, Momo, Sunny, see what’s up with that display.” He made sure there was a camraconda in each group that would be poking something that might be hostile. “Everyone else, check out the stairs, but don’t go down, just take a look, and then see what the border of this place is like.” He paused. “I’m sorta getting the impression this one is a little more dangerous than we’re used to with the Office. So stay alert, and if we need to pull back, we don’t hesitate to run, got it?”

They got it. And they moved with reassuring confidence that James felt good about as he took point on approaching the help desk.

It was easy to forget, sometimes, that when he’d first gone into Officium Mundi, he’d done it alone and basically unarmed. And he’d been lucky to get out with a skill point and a few ultimately minor injuries.

Now, he’d brought a team of seasoned delvers into the near entrance of a dungeon that didn’t seem to be too murderous. And that just wasn’t fair.

But it sure was effective.

The desk was a soft, pale wood. Sanded down, yes, but with a century’s worth of nicks and divots from overeager pen presses. There were a few misaligned stacks of books sitting on it, in between plastic trays holding paperwork templates for services that didn’t exist. There didn’t seem to be a gap in the desk to get into the inside.

“Do we just jump over?” Vad whispered.

“No.” Thought-Of-Quiet said. “I cannot jump. You jump, and carry me.”

“How much do you weight?” Vad asked seemingly on reflex. And even though the answer was ‘a couple hundred pounds’, he still gave a considered nod and bravely stated, “I could probably carry you, sure.”

James smirked as the new guy started to come out of his shell. “We don’t jump over yet, we check stuff first. As much as we can, really.” He reached out and tried to spin around one of the beige cube computer monitors, but froze as two of Arrush’s hands slapped down on the stack of books, pinning the one in the middle that had started to bare its teeth. “Wow, I got complacent in record time. Fuck, thanks.” He breathed out a tense breath as he looked up at the ratroach.

“Always.” Arrush said in a soft hiss, casually drawing a knife and spiking it into the book he was holding down with one of his extra arms, drops of ink spraying onto the desk as he clinically butchered the trapped creature.

James moved slower this time, lightly tapping the computer before he pulled it around, making sure nothing was moving as he checked it. The beige box wasn’t, he realized, actually plugged into anything. It was just a freestanding cube, on top of another flat beige rectangle, with a very dense beige keyboard sitting in front of it. It was no model he’d ever seen, but it felt achingly familiar for a time that never was.

The screen was actually on, too, even though it wasn’t plugged in. A flickering white lit display with boxy black text. ‘Waiting’ it read, and then what looked like a prompt.

“Huh.” James said, slowly moving himself over the desk to see if he could reach the keyboard without being ambushed, before realizing he had no starting point to solve this particular puzzle. So, leaving that for a more thorough search later, he and the others started circling the desk. Arrush and Thought-Of-Quiet kept watch around them while James and Vad examined the various objects. Partially to just explore, but also to see if there was going to be an ongoing risk of being attacked by a collection of animate pens while in here, and have at least a little early warning.

The thing that almost got a full booming laugh out of James when he realized what he was looking at, were the photos. The desk was obviously not a cold and impersonal place; even if it was artificial, it was meant to look like someone used this space. And so there were thin copper picture frames, complete with slightly faded photographs in them. They even had what looked like humans in them. But different humans in every one, no real connection between them. Except that every photo had the same leather bound book sitting in the center of the shot, or being held by one of the humans.

James was about to share his silly discovery when, from a few feet ahead, Vad let out a worried “Um…!” that had James taking two swift steps to close the distance between them.

“What’s up?” He asked.

Vad pointed down at the desk, stepping back reflexively and keeping his hands away from the surface. “I moved the desk lamp, and…”

James followed where he was pointing, and in the shadowy ambient light, saw what looked like a black ring of scribbles on the desk. No, that wasn’t quite right; they did look like something written, but it wasn’t just scribbles, it was more deliberate than that. And they were moving, circling around like a snake eating its own tail. Slowly, yes, but not so slowly you couldn’t see it. “It hasn’t moved or anything?” He asked.

“No, that’s where I found it. It’s Greek, I think.” Vad said.

That got a double take from James. “You read Greek?” He asked.

Vad shrugged sheepishly. “I had to fill course credit somehow.” He said, almost defensively.

“What’s it say?”

“Uh… it’s… I mean, it’s ‘tongue’, I think? Just repeated a few times. Why is it movinaaah!” Vad’s shout of surprise was understandable, as the moment he’d translated the word, the text had started moving rapidly, inky letters shooting off the wood table with no trace left and angling to press themselves into the skin of his hand. His shout also drew attention from everyone else, and after a brief scuffle with a set of books on nearby shelves that decided they wanted to investigate the noise, the others all came rushing as well.

“Hold out your hand.” James ordered him sternly as Alanna and Anesh came running up behind him. Vad complied, and James grabbed his arm, seeing that the repeated words had stopped at the top of his palm, and while they were still rotating, they weren’t moving any farther. “Can you still feel this?” He poked at Vad’s fingers and palm.

“Yes!” Vad’s voice contained panic. “Is this going to poison me?”

“Quieter please.” Frequency-Of-Sunlight said as she slipped up behind them, eye scanning around the shelves.

“Also probably not.” James said. “What…”

“Wait.” Vad said suddenly, pulling his hand back and holding it up. “I just… it told me something.”

“The scrawl?” James asked quickly.

“No, like… like when I broke the orb the first time.” Vad explained, struggling to breathe easily as his adrenaline drained away and left him with a bitter taste and shaking muscles. “It just said the word, and then ‘three uses’, and that was it. What does that… I mean… what is it doing?”

James relaxed. “Okay.” He sighed. “False alarm everyone. Dungeon power. Be on the lookout for moving words. How’s everything else look?”

“The display is actually just a pyramid of normal books, so if books titled How But Then For Is How are your jam, then there’s apparently a guest speaker for them sometime next year.” Momo told him. “Nothing hostile about it. We were sorting through them, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything buried in there either. I’m kinda weirded out by the fact that the non-language in the books apparently looks different to all of us?” She said. “Sunny and I hooked our brains up to check; the text is different for us.”

“Downstairs is just another landing like this one.” Deb reported. “The humming is definitely coming from down there.

James took a deep breath. “Okay.” He said. “Quick break. Then we’ll figure out our next move.”