"I have a little time to explain while Bel places the final touches of the array." The elderly man said. "First, introductions. My name is Osipheos. You may refer to me as Osiph or Master Osiph moving forward."

"Yeah, fuck that. I thought to myself. Who does this guy think he is?

"You're probably thinking, 'Fuck that. Who the hell does this guy think he is?'

If I could have moved my body, I'm sure my eyebrows would have slid right off the top of my head.

"But here is the situation you find yourself in. Everyone in this city seems to have been put under a protective time dilation that slows time to an almost imperceptible crawl. However, it would appear it has malfunctioned and brought the dilation to an extreme, especially for such an underdeveloped world such as this. Most of the inhabitants of this city may have lasted a century or two. Some of the more talented and strong-willed; maybe a few thousand years. Genius prodigies, those already close to Ascending; one million, perhaps more. That is why I find it interesting that you, who have barely awakened your core, not even having it fully integrated, survived for so long. Not only survived but it would appear you have retained most of your mental faculties. What was it? A few days? A week? Couldn't have been longer or your core would have fully attached."

Osiph let his smile slip a bit as he shook his head.

"Either way, this is all to say that everyone here is gone. My condolences. They have been, for a very long time in your eyes. Only a few days passed before we received a distress call from your planetary leadership requesting assistance with an unstable time array. I'll spare you the more tedious details, but we were sent to end the array's effects before it could rip a wormhole in the side of this galaxy. I must say, you are an unexpected surprise. I am going to try and have you diverted back with me through the rift as we activate our own array. I'm not sure if you will survive or if you do what the backlash of remerging with the normal flow of time after you spent so long in this stream will do. But it is this or for us to let you die as a byproduct of just completing my job. I'm going to offer you a contract, whether you accept it or not is upon your judgment. I offer only three small concessions. The first is, that not only will I give you shelter to recuperate. That, of course, again is predicated on you surviving the exit. But assistance once you ascend after level 1000, navigating the higher planes, if you manage to meet the requirements. Along with information on what happened here, leading to all of this chaos in the first place. If my first concession is given, then you will stand a chance at potentially putting the second to good use. Finally, I will introduce you to a friend. That is all, just an introduction, but one you would be a fool to miss."

Osiph smiled wider, exposing the two sets of linked chains attached themselves from his metal jaw into the rest of his skull holding it in place.

However, when he talked, I didn't notice any impairment in his speech or off movements that would indicate a prosthetic. Clearly, a high level enchantment was placed on it.

"The only thing you must do is…" Osiph paused for dramatic effect and inhaled deeply. "Anything and everything I say, with only some allowances on questioning me, but otherwise complete trust. No context, I could be a crazed maniac for all you know and I'm taking you to dissect you to see what makes you tick. It's up to you to take the deal."

Osiph moved closer to me, taking small careful steps. His black tattered robe seemed to have frayed on the end just since he had been standing there.

"I will clasp your wrist with mine and initiate the contract. All that is required of you is to pass mana back through the connection, if you refuse simply restrict your mana flow for ten seconds and I will receive the message."

His hand grabbed my forearm, and he pressed our wrists together. Osiph looked me right in the eye and smiled. "That is a wise decision."

A tightening around my core strained the flow of mana but I pushed back to keep up the connection. There was no pain, it was just uncomfortable after a few moments I felt something click around my core like a vault.

Of course, I had my mana flowing before he even touched me. Not because I wanted revenge, though I wasn't going to say no to a silver platter.

I had mourned my family longer than most species existed. No, what I wanted was to just get the fuck out of this hell hole no matter the cost and if I died in the process, well, I had come to terms with that too.

"That is a Soul Oath, It will protect you from the worth of the transition as well as bind you to me until I deem our contract up or you convince me it is no longer needed." He grinned maniacally at me. "Don't worry I'm not a crazed maniac."

Pausing, he added. "If you adhere strictly to reputable sources, of course."

"It is ready." Came the other voice still seemingly from Osiph himself, though his mouth never moved. "Whenever you are prepared."

"Good. Good. We should move forward as planned." He looked into my eyes. "Prepare yourself, boy. This will be unpleasant no matter how it turns out. We shall reunite on the other side and you can properly introduce yourself."

There was no more warning. No flash of brilliant light, like that which had led to this nightmare. I was just suddenly trapped in a void of pitch-blackness. Not a mote of light anywhere, yet I saw my body.

I could move my body. At first, I didn't even register it, being flung into nothingness, primitive instincts kicked in and I started flailing to catch myself falling. But nothing moved here. And I had no sense of falling, or floating for that matter.

I just was.

It was then that I realized I had moved my arms and legs. I brought my hand closer to my face to examine it further, poking at it with the other.

"Have you never had hands before?" A disembodied, vaguely feminine voice asked from the darkness.

Well, excuse me for, reveling in the fact that I can move again after millions of years of standing still. I thought, realizing I hadn't said anything out loud as I had intended. I was about to repeat my response when I was interrupted.

"Millions of years you say… ah I see. Wow. Truly powerful stuff. Able to move your eyeballs. The work of a master. Amazing."

Are you mocking me? And what would you know anyway if you weren't there?

"Maybe not, but being bound to your soul has given me access to your mind. I took a moment to process everything but as a Librarian of Pinnacle Hall, it has been organized and categorized. Also, yes I was mocking you. " The voice paused, but then sensed I was about to respond, it continued. "Librarian with a capital L. You met my father, the head Librarian in the Hall. He's hard to miss on the old geezer's face. Yes, I'm talking about the metal chin. Yes, he kind of has his own body but not really. They do this thing where my father drops down from those chains, while in the form of the old man's jaw and they open up a black hole, so that's pretty cool. No, I'm not trying to distract you. No, I can't take over your mind even if I wanted to. And no, it wasn't against your will, you consented when you made the Soal Oath with the old man. I'm here because he and my father asked if I would meet with you and get your measure. I've been in search of a vessel to bind to for longer than should be necessary for my kind, but none of the contenders has the two things I require in a partner."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I waited, finally allowing me to speak after answering every errant question that popped into my head in rapid succession.

And what would that be?

"A stupidly high base Luck is a big boon, and you'll find out about it after you have access to your status screen later. But the main one is a moderately high Intelligence Stat. As you know, Once you hit Novice and gain a Class, the distribution of Stats is based on what they were when you earned your grimoire. So every day you will have to dump more and more points into your originally low stats, just to keep up with others in those aspects. It is wise to try to balance your weaknesses with your strengths, but most people would ignore this for an "overpower" build." It said this with disgust, sounding more familiar for some reason. "All you need is luck, a Librarian, and the Intelligence to wield both."

I frowned into the deep void. My Core hasn't integrated with my body yet, how do you know my stats? I won't even have access to my Stats page until it's complete.

"Just because you can't see them doesn't mean I can't. No, absolutely not. It will ruin the surprise. Just know everything will be just fine, so don't worry. I will tell you that, as everyone knows, Luck is the only Stat you can't put points into; it has to be earned through Titles, Classes, surviving life and death circumstances, or chance encounters of fate."

Fate? I asked skeptically.

"For example, imagine a bard playing in a tavern that just so happens to have a semi-retired assassin drinking in the corner for personal reasons I won't share. This man, having a very bad night indeed. Thinking about many dreadful things. Then the Bard takes his position on the corner stage and begins to play a very merry tune laced with magic to lighten the mood of the room, therefore, giving the scout just a moment away from those thoughts that brought him worry. This assassin is not dark and brooding by nature, so he buys the man a drink at the end of his long night. Grateful, the bard sits and talks with the man, telling more outlandish tales of traveling the kingdom. Something they both share in common. They bid farewell, both with pleasant impressions. Years go by and a handful of similar taverns and nights spent telling tales as they both traveled to similar areas for work."

"One day, the assassin received a contract, a noble was slighted by this Bard and asked for his services. By the end of the week, no one who held the book of that house lived. Far away in another city, this Bard would receive a significant increase to his Luck with no explanation as to why."

Makes sense. I thought. The Bard did get extremely lucky to have befriended the assassin who got hired to kill him.

"Just how lucky does one have to be to survive millions of years of mental torment in a compromised Time Arrestment array, do you suppose?" The voice in the darkness changed further, sounding younger and even more feminine. Something I could almost recognize like it was prickling my mind.

Who are you, and what do you get out of it?

"I am a Familiar. A knowledge bank of sorts. You could call me a sort of Library myself. Librarians cannot gain knowledge of their own until they are bound to a soul oath. Which can only be done before level 5. I'm sure you can view how many geniuses below level 5 have both luck and intelligence. It is usually one or the other and they are more often than not cheeky bastards, but not in a fun way like you. More in a very pretentious, 'wait till my father hears about this' way."

I frowned even deeper.

"Fine, fine. Luck brings loot, and loot gives you stuff and money. And I like stuff and I think I'll like money to buy more stuff. Stuff I can learn from. I've never had stuff but I've always wanted to try it. Being unable to store knowledge while being unbound was frustrating, even though I tried to learn things on my own. But it just fades away whenever I focus on something else. So that's the deal, you give me stuff to gain knowledge from and I will allow you to use my library to help keep your mind stable plus many other amazing things, because everything I do is amazing. Besides Luck, a high Intelligence is needed to hold the first floor of my library to hold information as a mental construct. Once you're at a higher level you will be able to access other levels like the crafting and research levels which open up a storage domain where you can physically enter to bring items in to learn more about them or craft with them. Then there is the archives. They house important works shared by the Librarian network. But that's far off so you don't need to worry about that just yet, as well as many others. Not a fan of spoilers."

I was astonished at the information this entity was sharing. Not just the fact that I could barely think of a question before it would be answered, which was quite nice. But if what it said was true and I not only just bonded with not just a familiar, but a built-in fountain of storable information.

All this thing wanted was loot in return. That seemed very reasonable. The crafting floors are what piqued my interest as my family had been jewelers. I had tinkered when I was younger but made it clear I wouldn't be following that path, so I never took it very seriously.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy it. It was relaxing to hyperfocus on a single project and lose myself in it. Having portable labs would be tremendously helpful. This could change a lot for my plans going forward.

My memory was never the greatest and with so many years under my belt, I had barely held on to my family's names or their faces.

Thinking about it though, I could now recall everything perfectly, I could picture my family's faces from before, now especially seeing Ren's face happy and smiling while she teased me one time we had gone out to get our mother a birthday gift together.

Tears welled up in my eyes but I let them go. I didn't suppress my grief, it had just been exhausted a long time ago. These were tears of my peace, born from the simple act of not being forced to remember them in such a terrible state.

"Thank you," I said, my voice not cracking, as I had imagined it would from disuse. I bowed to the surrounding area, not sure where they were.

"Of course, all I did was sort your useful and non-productive memories to better order your subconscious, allowing it to run at a higher peak efficiency."

They weren't lying either, I had noticeably felt my mind clear. Some of the insanity of my nightmare had dissipated. Not truly gone, just pushed away.

"I also compressed your time dilation experience into notable experiences at the forefront and the long expanses of doing nothing or counting has been repressed to what is essentially a very long storage closet. You can think about them specifically and will be able to call them up, otherwise, they will stay put. Once we are fully integrated, you will be able to enter the Library and see for yourself."

"So, what do I call you?" I asked, nodding at their explanation.

"My name is Melthezaaria, but you may call me Mel. As much as I've enjoyed this little meet and greet. The soul vault I arrived in to transfer to your soul, is about to break from the constant damage the backlash has been attempting to inflict on your core and soul. Most of the damage has been absorbed by the vault but will not hold much longer. You must be ready for it when it comes."

"What about the second requirement?"

A small pinprick of light appeared in the distance overhead. Just as I was about to say something about it the void ripped apart and a torrent of blindingly hot light washed over me, searing my flesh and melting my eyeballs into pools of gelatinous liquid before they evaporated.

My skin had finally melted and slagged off my bones. I was so sure that without nerves I wouldn't be able to feel the pain anymore, but I was so wrong. As my spiritual matrix was revealed, the light hit my pathways first and began hissing like it hit water. Pure agony. Nothing went through my mind, only the pain was there.

I had read many books where the brave hero faces excruciating pain by resolving his will and gritting his teeth. That, I came to find out is bullshit.

There is no gritting your teeth through that kind of pain. I woke up realizing I had passed out, as the light weakened more and more, expending whatever energy source it used.

Parts of my pathways were scuffed pretty well, but no serious-looking damage. As the light cut off completely, I stared down at my skeleton pitch black from burns yet I could still move despite no tendons or ligaments holding my body together.

The last thing I saw before I passed out completely was two purple eyes on the face of my little sister, only slightly older. She had a black inverted trapezoid panel of metal on the left side of her chin, only about an inch wide.

I recognized the void metal Osiph's jaw was made of. Before even being able to reflect on what I just saw I let the void take my consciousness. But not before a final familiar voice called out to me, one more time.

"Cassieus run!"