6.

Lynn continued visiting Vivian’s cabin daily for the next week of their trip. Several of the other applicants invited him to dine with them, as was in fashion, and he accepted their invitations. Alexis Jade turned out to be by far the most entertaining of those he dined with, throughout their meal he knew that she internally strategized and analyzed him for strengths and weaknesses. However, if he only judged her by her demeanor, and hadn’t studied her reputation, he never would have suspected her of doing so. Alexis Jade retained the aura of a perfect lady. Not only did she have outward beauty, she also knew exactly when to laugh and when to scoff to make a visitor feel welcome. Alexis used exactly the right amount of wit to make her seem intelligent while not being condescending.

Kaylin Garnet, on the other hand, hosted an incredibly awkward dinner. Where Alexis Jade made Lynn forget about his disfigurements in the pursuit of conversation, Kaylin Garnet managed the exact opposite achievement. She constantly glanced at his empty coat sleeve as if fearful a weapon might appear from within it. The girl never managed to ever pick up on any of his jokes, while her own ended flatly and without humor. Her nerves caused the girl to grind her teeth their entire encounter, the sound of which irritated Lynn beyond belief. However, Kaylin Garnet did seem to at least speak her mind, a quality that earned a little of Lynn’s respect. Unfortunately, it appeared her only redeeming factor in Lynn’s eye.

Uriah Diamond invited him to dinner on the forth night and Lynn went to the old man’s chambers reluctantly. The discussion that ensued went exactly as Lynn predicted. Lord Diamond spent the time discussing Lynn’s grandfather’s triumphs while confusing Lynn for his father. Lynn did glean a bit of interesting information about Ander Jet, apparently the man had a fascination with astronomy and spent entire nights mapping out the stars. Of course, those maps had been stored in Nornex, now the land of death, so there was no feasible way to gain access to them.

Perhaps the most uncomfortable of the dinners was with the Quartzes. Lilian, the eldest of the two, was a quiet girl who was plain and rather uninteresting. She met Lynn expectations as she seemed to comply with all of the rumors about her. Her day-dreamy, only half there attitude was what he had expected of the sibling. Ivan was different from his sister. He had a face full of freckles and Lynn often pondered throughout their meal whether or not the boy’s face was always that red or if it was only because Lynn was in the same room as him. Apparently, Lynn’s grandfather, Ander Jet, had delivered quite the insult to the Quartz family. Lynn never actually learned what the slight had been and he doubted it was anything of actual significance, or he would have heard about it many years earlier. But Ivan Quartz seemed to blame all of his house’s problems on Lynn’s grandfather and he was not shy about vocalizing his opinion. Lynn’s missing left hand had spent the meal twitching with irritation, as if it wanted to shove itself down the loud boy’s throat.

The entire trip Lynn expected to be called upon by Nyx once again, but he never encountered her again. At one point he inquired about her and found that one of the sailors left her meals at her cabin door and that she had not left her room once since entering it. The way the sailors told it made it sound as if he was the only person to actually speak to Nyx since Haven Finder left port.

The others, Quinton Silver, Zac Heliodor, Fitz Jasper, and Dreme, made no attempt to contact him. On occasion, he passed them in the halls or on deck but they avoided communications with him. Although, Fitz Jasper stared at him at every encounter and it seemed as if the Jasper boy suffered an internal conflict about whether or not to approach each time. Lynn considered inviting the boy and hosting a dinner but decided against it. His quarters were filthy and his servant spent more time missing than located. Those were less than ideal conditions for a dinner.

Silvian Island came into sight on their seventh day out at sea. The island exuded life, luscious plants flourishing and covering it entirely. Chimney smoke curled up into the sky drawing attention to a village that lay perched upon the side of a flat topped mountain. Color oozed out of the green island, bleeding into the surrounding ocean. A reef of living stone passed beneath the boat, pinks and reds spread across the ocean floor through the clear water as Haven Finder navigated over. Lynn watched in awe as bizarre fish darted about. The fish fascinated him. He had only seen drawings of the underwater creatures such as these in books, they appeared mythical to him. Sadly, the boat left the reef behind as the docks neared.

Sailors scurried about, tossing rope to one another as they prepared to dock on the island. The boat finally halted and the gangplank dropped, allowing Lynn to exit the boat. His servant followed, carrying Lynn’s few possessions on a bag slung across his back. The other applicants also disembarked, each seemingly bringing a larger amount of possessions than the last. Vivian Topaz left the boat last. Two muscular sailors now assisted her with her unnecessarily large trunk and her attendant shadowing her. All of the applicants stood uneasily still for a moment. Like himself, they all must have expected someone to escort them to the library, but not a native soul was to be seen on the docks.

Lynn, shattering the illusion of statisity among them, motioned to his servant and began hobbling towards the smoke he had seen from the boat’s deck. A dirt path seemingly leading to the village, Lynn immediately followed it. He considered whether their abandonment was a sort of test but, until he was certain, he decided to take the most obvious path.

Glancing behind him, he noted the other applicants hesitantly following his lead. Ivan Quartz was speaking to his sister in hushed words, smirking all the while. Lillian, as a response, turned red and sheepishly stared at the ground. Nyx was wide-eyed examining Quinton Silver, biting her fingertips as the man trudged onward, seemingly oblivious to the pale woman’s gaze. Past them, Lynn could see several of the others remained at the docks next to the boat, apparently uncertain how to proceed; however, Alexis Jade was not among them.

Lynn wanted to analyze the area for a clue as to where the girl could have disappeared to, but instead he put the thought out of his head. He needed to focus on his current objective: not falling flat on his face in front of the other applicants. Most, if not all, already considered him pathetic, he needed to not reaffirm their beliefs. It was difficult though, the path was overgrown in several areas, he had to remain constantly tactful when navigating through the mud covered trail. The worst was when he encountered a fallen tree. The others just hopped over. Unfortunately, his wooden leg might break under the pressure in an attempt to jump, so instead he gripped the wide trunk with his right arm and heaved himself over. He felt like a walrus attempting to beach itself on a rock. The picture in his head did nothing to lighten his irritation with the situation. It may have been his ego imagining sounds but Lynn thought he heard a snicker from one of the other applicants. He ignored it.

The air was thick, pasting his hair plastering itself to his forehead in a grotesque mixture of sweat and humidity. Never before in his life had he wished so full heartily to be clean-shaven with short, tidy hair. Regrets also flared involving the gentleman’s jacket that he wore in preparation to meet with the library's occupants as it became drenched in putrid sweat. Lynn halted several times to readjust the straps that attached his fake leg to his stump of a thigh. Thankfully, after years of practice, Lynn knew how to do so quickly and subtly.

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Eventually, after hours which stretched off seemingly for eternity, they came to their destination. Lynn was panting like a hound but analyzed the new scenery to the best of his ability. It appeared to be more a village than a town. Lynn noted that the architecture for the houses seemed more open than back in Neo Regnum. Likely to allow airflow into the homes as a way of cooling them for warm days such as today. They found none of the village’s residents. Still, the buildings were kept in such decent condition, implying they normally housed occupants, even if they saw none. The smoke he had noted earlier came from the center of the village where a large outdoor stove was carved into the ground. No food cooked on the stove but a smouldering fire still burnt in it.

Ivan Quartz pushed his way ahead. “Cripple, fall back with the women. Quinton and I will discover what’s going on with the library.”

“You have no authority over me Quartz.” Lynn’s left hand twitched.

“Do as you like,” the boy said with a sneer. “I doubt you’ll make it far alone. I doubt you bothered but I actually studied the island before we arrived. There are plenty of venomous creatures lurking all about the island waiting for cripples like you to lumber by to snack on. If you stay here, at least my sister will keep you and the living corpse alive. But if you insist, by all means join me, I don’t mind you dying Jet. One less competitor. Not that you’re much competition.”

Logistically, it made sense but it infuriated Lynn. He bit his lip until the bitter, metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. Quartz took Silver and left, as promised. Lynn went to the women. Minutes of silence followed. The discomfort arrived both physically and mentally as they stood. The only noise was Nyx softly muttering under her breath some list while slightly rocking on her heels, her eyes glazed over and oblivious to the world around her. Lillian Quartz was glancing about nervously, as if afraid that one of the creatures her brother had mentioned would appear. Her serving girl stood by her side, appearing almost as anxious as her master.

“Jet!” The sudden exclamation from Nyx made Lynn jump. “I remember. You’re the one with disfigurements. I want to examine them. You promised, therefore you must. I recall, nudity not being an issue.”

Lynn took a step away, wobbling on his fake leg. “Here?” he asked, glancing about uncertainty. Lynn caught sight of Lillian Quartz’s face which was swiftly draining of all color as she averted his eyes.

“Hmm…a table. Where would be a table? Preferable to standing. The leg must be removed. I need sight on all available skin.”

There was no sign of either Quinton Silver or Ivan Quartz returning. And maybe it was better to get this out of the way now, sooner rather than later.

“I am certain there will be one in a building,” he said with a sigh. “Follow me Nyx.”

He hobbled into the closest building. He entered it and, sure enough, he found a dining table. Removing the leg was simple enough, the straps were made to be unlatched with one hand, the clothing proved more difficult. Thankfully, his serving boy at least had the foresight to follow him into the building and assisted him. After removing almost all of his garments, Nyx swooped in. Immediately pulling out metal tools from within her dark cloak to prod at his skin with.

“Blackened. Reports depicted it as dead skin.” The pale woman looked at his eye. “Only one eye as well…hmm. How?”

“I’m not going to repeat what happened in Nornex. I will tell you that after the incident the medics that found me found my left leg and arm shriveled and lifeless. My left eye physically…dripped out of my skull.” Lynn shivered as the words escaped his lips. The sensation haunted him. Maybe not as painful as one might expect, but the memory remained bone chilling and repulsive. Left unable to move, the ooze that had once been his eye, drizzled into his mouth. His gag reflex spit out everything from his stomach and kept going until blackened blood was all that came up. Just thinking about the experience left him queasy.

“Hmm…the dead are more forthcoming. I can peel them open. No secrets. Amputation is obvious. Medical blade scars along thigh.” Nyx ran a cold finger along his stump of a left leg. She took a tool and scraped at his blackened skin, catching the skin flakes in a glass container. “Abnormal lack of moisture. Circulation cut. Mostly. Pain?” Nyx dug a tool into his remaining left leg. Lynn gave no response as he felt no pain. The stump remained completely numb since the accident, he had actually maintained consciousness while they cut off his arm and leg. Nyx then jabbed the tool into his right leg.

“Ah! What was that?” Lynn grabbed the new wound. “My right side is perfectly normal! Only my left side is dead.”

“Why? What stopped the disease?” Nyx removed Lynn’s hand from the fresh wound and put her face down to it. “Gone. Why?”

“What’s gone Nyx? I’m fairly certain the cut is still there. Or is there something wrong with my right eye as well as my left?”

“The dead skin. Gone. Inserted via my scalpel.”

“There was still skin on that tool? Are you trying to kill me?”

“Not disappeared.” Nyx spoke to him without even glancing up at his face, her attention seemed dedicated to his right leg. “Normalized. Not dead.”

She pulled out her scalpel once again and dug into his cut. Lynn bit his lip as she did so, eye watering as he held in a cry. Finally, grinning, she scraped off the tool into another glass vial. She then began to make her way up his blackened side, poking at it as she ascended his body. Lynn was regretting his decision to allow this woman access to his body when Ivan Quartz entered the wooden building. Lynn pushed away Nyx’s prodding and grabbed a tablecloth to cover himself.

“Ugh, what kind of messed up romance are you into Jet? Having women play doctor on your repulsive body…that’s disgusting.” Quartz wrinkled his nose. “We’re leaving now…and you better not be contagious.”

“No,” Nyx said. “Not contagious. Only people who enter the city receive the disease. Basic knowledge. No carriers. Cannot be spread out of the city.”

“I’m still not getting close to that grotesque creature,” Ivan said. “Don’t you dare go anywhere near my sister either. If you do, I’ll come close just long enough to end your miserable life.”

“I’ll keep my distance.” Lynn said. “I know very well how easily you could ‘end my miserable life.’ I’m a cripple, not an idiot.”

Ivan Quartz snorted and exited the building.

Lynn wondered silently why they chose to even let them know they were leaving. They could have simply walked away.

Lynn’s servant dressed him painstakingly slowly while Nyx continued to examine her new prizes within her glace vials. Finally, Lynn strapped his leg on and hobbled out of the building with Nyx trailing behind him absentmindedly. The others awaited outside along with their servants. The two boys turned and stormed off into the woods directly after seeing him while Lillian gave him several glances before following her brother’s trail. Seeing no other logical course of action, Lynn did likewise.

It wasn’t long before Lynn realized why the Quartz boy had chosen the specific route. Alongside the path, dozens of lit candles blazed. The number continued to grow in number as they traveled on, dozens becoming hundreds. The stream of flickering flames absorbed candles from other paths. It grew into a river of light as they walked along the center of it all. Thousands of candles. And they all lined up towards a single destination. Ahead of them loomed white spires which reached for the heavens. Without a doubt, it was the Silvian Library.