Is it instant? Or is it thousands of years?
That’s what I felt when out of nowhere, my surroundings shifted from a sophisticated facility filled with screens to an old-looking wooden room.
*Creak*
My body stopped levitating from the ground, and the red liquid on my plastic-covered boots touched the wooden floor. Spraying the dark brown wood with some red liquid. There is nothing except me and my bag in the room.
What happened? How did I get here?
The mind of a librarian work overdrive.
First of all, since I appeared to be safe, I recollected my own memories to see whether they were intact or not. It is dangerous if I am not in reality.
“My name is Rivan…”
No family name when I was born, but given one by a benefactor. Because of certain matters I refrained myself from using it in public. As a child, I was exposed to the wonder of curiosity and learning by someone. The teaching makes me love doing observation, discovery, and reading.
This was one of the reason why I was on my school library committee when I was just a middle schooler and working part-time as a librarian high-schooler. Now, I work for a pretigious library with several odd tasks attached.
I was in the middle of a task when I found a bloodied grimoire in an empty room except for the security camera. Having been taking care of the security, I took it and went on to take the item of my task objective.
The randomly assigned task was arduous, and I didn’t even get paid for it. So, the items I took along the way were something like personal payment for me, including the grimoire.
After finishing today’s task, I was in a very great mood. One of the highest moods I have experienced in the past years. Librarian as the main job, it is customary to check a book you found on the road. I decided to read the grimoire near where I completed the task.
Opening the grimoire, I started to read the first page.
It already expected the grimoire to be abnormal, but for it to claim having a ritual to bring entities into the caster desired world was one of the few things I least anticipated.
The lines and dots of the ritual subtly move a few millimeters as if they are fluid. The ritual is changing in real-time. It was not just the ritual design, I guessed the ingredients for it would change as well. Opening the following pages, they are covered in dried blood.
I had the required ingredients for the ritual and was in a great mood, so I attempted it.
That’s when I felt my surroundings shifting.
~~~~~
Opening my eyes after recollection, I realized I was still in the wooden room.
“My memories remain intact, so the grimoire doesn’t interfere with the psyche.”
My hands with gloves clenched.
“This is real. A grimoire that has teleportation function….”
Second, I decided to check my physical situation. If it’s teleportation, they tend to mess up your body instead of mind.
Both of my hands and legs are in one piece. I also don’t feel any discomfort inside my body, so my organs should still be in it. My clothes are also the same, even some of the red liquid stuck on my boots.
I sighed in relief because my body was also intact, and my instinct told me something was wrong with my face. Then, a discomfort welled up from my nose.
Taking out my smartphone, the battery was half full as I clicked on the camera function. That’s when I found out about the effect of teleportation.
The face of an early twenties man greeted me, its my face. The black hair swayed, hiding the glasses underneath and the clouded grey eyes.
“My eyes are black, not grey.”
Considering its teleportation, I think they are not as bad as I thought. It is unusual for its price only for changing eyes colour, but which Irregularities doesn’t have a weird price?
“What a small price… Cough”
On the screen, the man has a nosebleed and coughing blood. Its too sudden. To find out why, I checked the Irregular on the shape of a watch.
Glancing at my wristwatch on my right hand, I slide the wheel several times to see a result on it.
“Cough Cough Cough”
The nonstop cough and the result forced me to take my bag and search the small pocket. My left hand is dyed with my own blood while my right-hand takes a bottle that produces a collision sound of pills.
*Tlack Tlack*
A hand-sized medicine bottle is in my hand, and brief information about the bottle flashes on my head.
Irregular I-4590 Name Bottle of Panacea (Prototype Body version) Type Item History ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Description A transparent blue glass bottle that contains I-4590-1. It can Recover all illnesses and wounds of the entity body. Unique Characteristics Self-Repair Offer ten fresh corpses and let their drops of blood touch any part of the bottle either to fix the bottle if broken or refill two pills of I-4590-1 By Product I-4590-1 Total 3 remaining Description After eaten, all entity illnesses and wounds will be recovered. Physically immune from any damages for the next hour. Note DO NOT eat more than three I-4590-1 in one month.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
AFTER eating the I-4590-1, Immediately drink water or eat some food. If not, the entity will receive the same effect of eating three I-4590-1.
Taking one I-4590-1. The next step is rummaging through my coat pocket and eating the candy in it. I-4590-1 didn’t have a distinct taste, so the only flavour I felt was the sour candy in my mouth.
In no time, my body stopped coughing and rechecking my watch. My health condition is recovering immediately.
“Viruses and Bacteria… With this, I only have two Panacea left.”
Looking at my bloodied gloves, I took the plastic covering my boots off first and then removed my gloves.
Opening my bag, now I could properly see what were in it. After placing the Bottle of Panacea back, I count my available tool.
A Grimoire, a couple pairs of gloves, a spare clothes, two bottles, a key, my second pouch of candies, a bottle of perfume, a glock 19 and its three and half full mags…
I took out the key and a new pair of gloves. Leaving the discarded gloves on the floor, I wear the new pair.
There is some blood at the bottom of the coat I am wearing, fortunately they are meager enough that it can be ignored.
Suppressing my urge to glance at the digital clock on top and having a last look at myself with the smartphone before I placed it in my pocket, I concluded.
“My eyes are still a clouded grey, it’s either beneficial for the body or it is a psyche wound. Regardless, the virus probably be an effect of me being here instead of a teleportation effect.”
“For the unknown viruses, I must be in a place where modern humans never stepped on. Pocket dimension? But it doesn’t explain how woods doesn’t show any sign degradation from the Space Oddities.”
Leaving behind the dirty clothes and taking my bag with me, I went to the only door in the room. It’s locked.
A tiny silhouette key slips up from my shirt sleeves and perfectly fits the door keyhole.
Irregular I-3855 Name Passage Key Type Item History A World-wide renowned thief was captured by the Safe Company. Due to its ability, the thief was classified as an Irregular H type under the confinement of the Safe Company. At the date of ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ , the entity died of a Limit Break incident, and I-3855 came out of the entity’s heart. Description A dark, illusionary silhouette engulfed the pointed side of I-3855. I-3855 is the size of an adult thumb, and raving of anguish can be heard when held with direct contact with the skin. Unique Characteristics Open Door When the pointy side of I-3855 comes into contact with any kind of physical door, the door will open regardless of any restriction. Note The I-3855 anguish effect will be multiplied if the holder didn’t commit any act of thieving in the past year.
DURING the night, the raving of anguish will be minimal.
IF the holder of the I-3855 was forcibly in a captive involuntarily, I-3855 would release madness and anguish to all entities except for the holder.
The creaking of old wood comes out when I open the door. Outside the room was a corridor with stairs going down on the left. Going to the stairs, I took out the grimoire that brought me here in the first place.
I don’t know what Irregular it is because there is no data from where I stole the grimoire. For now, I organized it as
Irregular I-■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Name ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Type Item History ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Description A 10 cm thick grimoire. The cover seems to be made of leather from an unknown source. Most of its pages were stained with dried blood. Unique Characteristics Teleportation(?) ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Note ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
I don’t know anything about the importance of the grimoire. It’s curious how such a potentially useful Irregular item has no information available in the facility or worldwide. Not even rumour.
I went downstairs. No one is inside the wooden house, but hearing people’s sounds outside confirms that the house is in a bustling city and reduces the speculation of this place being a Pocket Dimension.
Stopping in what appears to be the house’s living room, I reread the grimoire.
[World of Desire
Everybody has a wish, something and someone they have longed for. This ritual will bring you to where your most profound and desperate desire exists. Granting your desire and amplifying it.
…
]
The first page shows little difference since the rate of the ritual changing is very slow. The title, description, and offering are in an unknown language, yet I could read it fine.
The dark ink shows it is written with a quill pen, and it is hard to know the grimoire’s age from the weird paper quality. At least since it’s a quill pen, then the grimoire isn’t that ancient of Irregular.
The older an Irregular, the more dangerous it tends to be.
“The second page no longer covered in blood?”
[Return
Few can achieve their most desired outcome, and fewer can resist the urge to wake up from their achieved desire. Returning could mean a few reasons. Finding their desire is vain, feeling fulfilled from desire, and Death.
…
]
The second page shows another ritual with the same offering but a different ritual design. From the title of “Return” alone, I can infer it’s a ritual to come back. Come back where? Into the facilities?
“This should not be a dream since Irregulars rarely ever appear in such, and the Watches of Watcher indicate my Psyche health is as usual.”
Maybe it’s a Pocket Dimension? I entertained the thought that this place is a Pocket Dimension again, but considering how rare they are and how hard it is to live in one, It is impossible. A wooden house in a Pocket Dimension is impossible.
Especially if the entry to the Pocket Dimension is a grimoire Safe Company stores carelessly and with less Limit than other Pocket Dimension Limits.
“But… barely any information might also mean they are new. Maybe this is indeed a Pocket Dimension?”
I come across a door. From the light coming out the gaps. It looks like the door to go outside. I keep the grimoire inside my bag and use the Passage Key to unlock it.
I hesitate to open. My instinct told me there was a danger, a subtle danger. The kind that I usually feel when going to execute a complicated task.
I went out.
My desire to learn about this place is overpowering my cautious feelings.
The blinding sun hit my face.
~~~~~
In a messy room full of books, the low-battery alarm clock rings intermittently despite the screen being dead and an old computer that sounds barely alive due to no maintenance and neglect. A being is sleeping on the bed, snoring.
The loud snore stopped not because of the noises in the room but because of an unknown jolt out of nowhere.
The being woke up and looked around its room. The light from the curtain indicates it’s already morning. The being head turns to its work table.
A Quill pen is chaotically dancing around to write gibberish on a book. The stark difference between barely readable words and newly written gibberish is visible to the naked eye.
Seeing that, the being pupil constricted.