The Library of Panceia

Chapter word count: 3086

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Airot’s vision returned back to the present with Narro.

“W-What was that?”

“It was their fight. Don’t tell me you can’t realize that?” Narro playfully teased.

“No, I get that. But I mean… how did I see all that?”

Narro just looked at him with a playful smile.

“Okay… I get that it has to do with your power— your yapst. But after experiencing something that crazy it’s normal to ask questions!” A moment of silence passed before Airot muttered, “I didn’t realize Simon was that badly injured.”

“Let’s continue on with our tour. I’m done here.”

“Hold on, I still have some questions.”

“I’m sure you’ll find the answer at some point.”

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“Well, what do you want to know?”

“So Simon’s yapst involves controlling bubbles, and that Dolen guy’s yapst is some sort of repulsion power, right?”

“Yup.”

“But what about all that weird pausing and powering in the middle of the fight? And weren’t they physically stronger than a person should be?”

“Mmm, what a shame,” Narro was looking at the second building they fought in, the one with the open dining area and kitchen. “That was a good gathering place.”

“Uhm, my question?”

“And I guess this bar won’t be operating for a while.”

Seeing Narro blatantly ignoring his question, Airot figured he should just go back to silently following him.

After walking down the street Narro decides to speak up. “Alright, I’ll give you a hint for the first one. What’s the only thing you currently know about yapst?”

“The only thing I currently know?”

“Think about that and you’ll get your answer. As for the second one, yappers are given physical prowess along with their unique power.”

“A-Alright,” Airot nodded, a little confused.

They reached a large intersection with a notable stall in the middle.

A man rested under the stall’s shade with his feet on the counter and leaned back on his chair.

The blood path from the fight also ended here.

“Well, we’re finally here.”

“Where’s ‘here’?”

“Why do you think Dolen’s blood tail ends here?”

“I… don’t know?”

“We have no access to electricity. We have no gas. We can’t power any traditional vehicles outside of bikes, scooters and whatnot. So, how do you think we get around in this big city?”

Airot took a moment to think.

“Helpful yappers…?”

“Correct. And this here, is one who helps transport people within Panceia.”

“So, are we chasing after Dolen?”

“There’s no need to.”

“Then why’re we here?”

“For you.”

Narro turned to the guy resting at the stall and gave him a cheeky smile.

“Hey hey, Vryko. This kiddo here needs a place to stay for the night. Send him near the center.”

‘For the ‘night’?’

“Alright.”

Vryko raises his arm while still sitting with his legs up.

“Into the dust you go,” he directed at Airot.

From the ground near Airot rose a pile of shifting dust up to his height.

“Well then, I’ll go back to Zorin’s place. If you want to come back here, just head to the southernmost district,” Narro explained as he shoved Airot into the dust.

Unable to even exclaim his confusion, Airot found himself being pushed to the dust pile.

“Ah, right. Be careful around there.” An unrecognizable voice warned him, presumably from Vryko. “I’ve heard that a murderous lunatic recently popped up there.”

“Oh? Is that so? Well it should be fine, there’s plenty of orderly yappers over there,” Narro shoved Airot inside the dust while talking with Vryko.

Without being able to get a word out, Airot was trapped by the dust. He tried moving but he couldn’t.

Soon, Airot exited the dust and saw he was in a new location.

Narro and Vryko were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, he realized he was near the colossal tower in the center of the city.

He wasn’t in front of it, the tower was still far down the street. However, this distance was still enough to view the size of the tower.

While Airot didn’t know every building in Panceia, he had no doubt that this tower was the tallest one.

‘Jeez, what am I supposed to do now? They said I need a place to stay, so I’m guessing there’s a place here.’

Airot looked around, but there weren’t any obvious signs directing him anywhere.

The nearby buildings weren’t too different from the ones at the southernmost district.

The most notable difference is that the ones here weren’t on the verge of breaking, they seemed more maintained. But their architecture was the same.

Looking around the street there were a few people walking around but they didn’t have any interest in him.

All the buildings seemed uninteresting, too.

All except one.

The skyscraping tower that stood at the center of the city.

‘Well, it wouldn’t hurt to explore. It’s not like night comes anyway.’

He started heading towards the center tower.

It wasn’t that long before he reached the base of the tower. All the other buildings stopped a bit before the tower, leaving a whole plaza for the circular tower.

There were several people entering and exiting the tower.

Following the crowd, Airot entered the structure.

“A… library?” He muttered under his breath.

Airot was greeted by a huge library within.

There were only books in sight but the air had the unique scent of an antique shop.

There was a standalone front desk but it was unmanned.

People who’ve just entered could be seen walking pass without worry, so Airot imagined it wasn’t necessary to wait.

Heading a bit deeper he could easily see above him.

The ascending floors above were all mezzanine floors that left the center of the tower unblocked, leaving a wide open view of the other floors.

There were bridges that crossed the center, but they were limited enough that one could see the ceiling of the tower itself.

Viewable on all the floors were an unending amount of bookshelves, all filled.

The scenery of the tower was also further amplified by the amount of people here.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

It was easily the most people Airot had seen, not just within Panceia, but for the last several years.

“There’s gotta be hundreds of people here,” Airot mumbled to himself in awe.

He focused back to the ground floor and looked at the crowd of people.

A lot of people looked uninteresting and similar to the crowd that gathered around Simon after his defeat.

But there were also numerous people who attracted attention to themselves.

There was a small crowd around some youthful guy at a table playing some game. The man seemed to be on a winning streak.

Off to one side was a man dressed in a black suit with floating books surrounding him as he read one.

Not too far from himself, there was another guy in black clothing that was speaking with what looked to be a library assistant.

And finally, near the stairs to the upper floors was a soft-looking lady reading a book.

‘The one making all those books float is surely a yapper. But I wonder how many others are as well.’

“Hey, don’t get any weird ideas, alright?”

A guy with a white jacket on put his arm around Airot.

“What?”

“You’ve been staring at Lady Greenriver for a while now,” he patted Airot.

Airot hadn’t realized he was staring.

“Oh, my bad.”

“No worries. But from the way you’ve been gawking at everything, I assume you’re new here?”

“Yeah, I arrived in this city today, actually.”

“I see, condolulations. Let me show you around. I help around here, after all.”

“Thanks, I’m Airot.”

“Call me Elfein. I’m actually quite new to the city myself. Been barely two months here.”

Elfein guided Airot deeper into the tower.

“So, what is this place?”

“If you couldn’t tell from the books, it’s a library. The Library of Panceia. It harbors all the knowledge we have left of the old world, before it awoke.”

Airot nodded as he viewed the rest of the first floor.

“The first three floors are free to everyone, the higher floors require a permit, either a library card or someone with enough authority allowing you in,” Elfein extended his arm to show off the library.

“Okay, but why are there so many people here?”

“Well, as you should’ve guessed by now, we lack the luxuries we used to have. So really, these books are the only forms of entertainment to pass the time. Well, the only consistent one. Every now and then a yapper will put on a show,” Elfein explained. “Ah, wait. Do you know what a ‘yapper’ is?”

“I do, I've met a few.”

“Ah, good. That makes it easier,” Elfein grabbed a pamphlet from a nearby table. “Here, read up on this,” he passed it to Airot.

“I do have a question, though,” Airot brought up as he skimmed through the pamphlet.

“Yeah? Go on.”

“How do yapst work?”

“Hmm, tough question. Considering that they all function differently.”

Elfein led them to a sitting area.

It seemed to be a children’s section as it was more open and had playful colors and a wall of short bookshelves.

There were many books scattered around without any signs someone was using them.

“Well, I mean, is it normal for a yapper to halt in the middle of a fight for no reason? Or for one to power up even though they were just losing?”

“Did you see a yapper fight?” Elfein turned to Airot.

“Well, sort of, yeah.”

“Lucky you, on your first day too,” Elfein went to pick up some scattered books. “Hey, help me.”

“What? Why do I have to?”

“If we clean this quickly then I can easily answer your questions.”

Airot rolled his eyes and went around to pick up a book.

“To answer your question, let me first ask you what you know about yapst,” Elfein inquired.

“I know that they’re supernatural abilities, like the ones I saw were able to repulse things and control bubbles. There was also a healing one. And one more that allowed me to… see into the past? I don’t really know,” Airot spoke as he gathered a few books in his hands.

“Bubbles, huh? I assume that’s the recently awakened Simon Hergellbs’ work. Repulsion in the southern district would be Dolen.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s them. How’d you know?” Airot’s hands reached their capacity. “Also, what do I do with these?”

“You can just pass them to me,” Elfein piled up a stack of comic books. “We like to keep track of all the yappers, you know, to keep order,” he referred to the prior question.

“Do they make every helper memorize all the yappers?” Airot handed over the books in his hands and went to collect more.

“No, I’m just special. You see, I’m actually under guidance from the owner of the library,” Elfein stacked the books by genre and separated medias. “Anyway, the healing one is too vague to pin down… and, uh…” Elfein trailed off, thinking deeply. “I… I don’t think we’ve ever heard of someone looking into the past…?”

Elfein sounded doubtful of himself while Airot was left confused.

“I’ll look into that later on, for now let’s stay on track. What else do you know?”

A moment of thought had to pass before Airot remembered. “Oh, right. Apparently there’s something with their yapst’s names. I think that’s it, though.”

“Correct. That’d be the commonality between the majority of yapst. A yapst’s power can change due to its name’s usage.”

Airot stared at Elfein, awaiting further explanation. While Elfein had another pile of books by him.

“If a yapper says their yapst’s name out loud for the other person to hear, then their power increases. Whether that be their efficiency, control, capabilities, or just strength they become more powerful,” he sets aside a large collection of books. “It also amps up their physique. However, one must do so discreetly. If the opponent figures out your yapst’s name and says it aloud, then you’ll lose your strength and feel it surge out of you.”

‘So that’s what happened. Now knowing that, I can guess the name of Simon's yapst.’

“Another thing is that the amps are stackable. Meaning if you can say your yapst name multiple times without being noticed, then you’d be multiple times stronger. But the risk of your opponent finding out your name also increases.”

Airot interrupts him to bring him the last of the books.

“Ah, thanks,” Elfein gathered all the books. “Keep in mind, the penalty also increases along with every stack. The power increase does lessen after multiple usages, though. There’s believed to be a cap, but we have no records of that,” he stood up and counted the stacks of books.

“So if one says their yapst name two times, and then their enemy says it, they’d have a worse burden than if they had only said it once?” Airot took a step closer, assuming they were now going to pick up the book piles.

“Correct,” Elfein stated as he double-checked the genres they had.

“But what’s stopping someone from repeating everything their opponent says?”

“Well, the penalty only applies when you actively say something with the intent of it being their yapst name. If you’re just mindlessly repeating words then nothing will happen. Though note that if you’re wrong with your guess, then you’re the one who gets penalized,” he raised his hand.

‘Ah, that must be what happened during the last parts of the fight.’

“Okay, then what about spreading the name once you find it?”

As Airot spoke Elfein waved his hand and the books began floating upwards as a gust of wind came off him.

“That’s not possible,” Elfein continued on. “If someone tries to reveal the name of a yapst, they’ll risk dying. The world itself prevents that. So yapst names are kept secret for the most part. Only yappers who have already fought each other know their yapst names.”

While he spoke, all the books they had collected had flown away to their respective spot on empty bookshelves. They easily filled the nearby bookshelves while the rest floated away out of view.

“I see…” Airot couldn’t exactly pay attention to the explanation. “By the way, are you a yapper?”

“Hmm? Oh, this?” Elfein summoned a small tornado within his hand. “Yeah, I’m a yapper.”

“Seems like everyone I meet is one,” Airot joked.

“You're definitely on the special side,” Elfein replied.

They began to walk to the edge of the sitting area.

“One last thing before we continue with the tour. A yapper can rephrase their yapst and still be amped, albeit on a weaker scale. For example…” Elfein looked around for a notable name. He ended a children’s nursery rhyme book right next to him. “Yeah, this’ll work,” he turns back to Airot. “If my yapst was ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, I’d get a massive boost if I used it word for word. However, if I said ‘Little Star that Twinkles’, I’d still get boosted, just not as strongly. And my enemy would have a harder time deciphering my yapst.”

“I get it. It all makes sense. Thanks for the info.”

“No problem, let’s wrap up the first floor before it turns dark.”

‘Another mention of it ‘turning dark’. Must be a figure of speech.’

They finished the tour of the first floor as Elfein showed Airot the different genre sections and other areas of interest.

He passed by a large collection of tables where the board game winner was still at.

He learnt where the staff desks are, as they were placed around the floors.

And was only given a brief description of the higher floors but didn’t view them himself.

Elfein escorted him back to the front at the end of their tour.

“Looks like we made it in time. Do you have a place to stay the night at?”

“Not really, but I was told there’d be a place down the street. I didn’t see anything, though.”

“I get that. None of those buildings look special,” Elfein tossed a badge to Airot. “Use that at the building with the same symbol just down the street, they’ll lend you a bedroom for free.”

“Alright, thanks again.”

“No problem. Come back anytime.”

Elfein turned back to return to the library.

But just then Airot let out a yelp in shock.

“Wha… What happened to the sky?” Airot exclaimed, baffled.

In an instance the sky, which had just been a clear bright day as it always was, had turned pitch black like the nights of old.

All light from up above had ceased and the ever-burning torches that were lit even during the day were now the most notable light source.

The library was well-lit even when it was day, so the lobby’s light was the brightest thing nearby.

“Oh, right, you’re new. Well, you see—”

“There’s more?!” Before Elfein could explain, Airot had cried out again.

The pitch black sky had dots of light begin to emerge.

One by one in a speedy sequence.

The sky had stars appear within it.

“Those are stars, right?”

“Yeah. I forgot to mention, night exists inside of Panceia’s walls.”

“I can see that… It's been a long while since I last saw the night.”

“Same could be said for everyone before they arrived here,” Elfein looked up at the night sky himself. “And there’s the finale.”

From an empty dark spot near the center of the perceivable sky emerged a large, bright circle.

The moon.

Airot just gazed in awe.

“It’s… pretty.”

“I agree.”

“Say,” Airot peacefully gazed up above. “Aren’t there less stars than there should be…?” he lingered on his question, clearly reminiscing. “Or at least I think they’re less than what I remember,” he softly spoke. “The moon also seems a little bigger than it should,” Airot calmly detailed as he stared up at the sky.

“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t remember anymore. It’s been nearly two months of this for me, and it’s been seven years since either of us last saw the night sky. It’s just the norm now. What’s changed has changed.”

“Yeah… I guess so,” Airport looked back down to the street. “Well, I guess I do need a place to sleep at night. I’ll see you.”

They waved each other goodbye as Elfein reentered the library and Airot walked down the street to find his place to stay.