Finishing her second class with some time to spare before the next, Rom started to walk around campus to gain some familiarity and came across a library. “Finally,” Rom said.

“Finally what?” Shade said, poking out of Rom’s hair.

“It is the library. I heard that it has every book, scripture, and piece of writing that was ever written. That means anything we want or need to know is all within these walls.”

Shade could hear the excitement within Rom’s words but it wasn't reciprocal.

Two golden doors were the entrance to the silvery three-story library that put every other building to shame. As Rom walked through, her entire body was scanned followed by a white panel coming up from the floor. “Please Romhtra Dorfmure. Step forward and place your wrist on the connector in front of you,” a rigid voice said.

Rom did as instructed and placed her left wrist onto the panel. A rubber device snapped around her wrist followed by the rigid voice saying “Enjoy your library band that gives you full access to all the knowledge the Exalted College of Noire has to offer. I am also the library’s AI and will be available to you for help and questions the entire time you are a student at the Exalted College of Noire.”

Rom lifted her wrist to her mouth to say “Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure Romhtra.”

“You can call me Rom. What should I call you?”

“Well Rom, you can call me whatever you like.”

“How about Two?” Shade suggested.

“And why that name?” Rom asked.

“Because I was here first,” Shade replied.

Rom smiled and said into her library band “I will call you Two.”

“Very well, Two my name will be.”

After finding a table to sit at on the third floor of the library, Rom started to read over some materials she found on spectra quills.

“Shade. It says that you can interact with another being’s spectrum.”

“Really? How!?” Shade eagerly asked, hopping onto Rom’s shoulder.

“It says that-” Rom stopped reading upon spotting her roommate Suke rushing out of a room emitting a vibrating blue glow within her, but the color was off. “What is that inky blackness spewing from her spectrum?”

“I don’t know but I have a bad feeling about it,” Shade responded.

Rom assumed that the blue represented a sorrowful spectrum due to noticing Suke’s red eyes and smudged mascara. Although she was the type to stay out of other people’s business, Rom was still curious about the blackness spewing from Suke’s spectrum and started to scan the books she had to find information about it. Thirty minutes passed and nothing was found. Rom started to get frustrated and rubbed her face muttering “I can’t find anything.”

“Hello, Rom. What are you having trouble finding? I may be able to help.”

Oh yeah, I totally forgot I can use Two.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Two are there any books or information about inky blackness coming from a spectrum?”

“Bleeding Spectrum Volume One. That literature can be found on the fourth floor in section PG for Spectrum Psychology. The closest stairs and elevator are on the west end.”

“I thought the library only had three floors. Is there more than four?”

“Yes. There are fifty-three floors in total with three being above ground and the other fifty being underground.”

Rom’s eyes widened. Fifty-three floors!

“Why are you picturing an iceberg? And why is it upside down?” What Shade was seeing within Rom’s mind confused her.

“Because this library is like an upside-down iceberg. Just the tip is visible from the outside of just three floors while the true huge structure is below, containing fifty floors. So much to read all in one place. It’s amazing.”

“You really like words on paper,” Shade stated with Rom responding with “It is much more than just words on paper Shade. You will see.”

Rom used the west wing stairs to walk down a flight and arrived at a door with a number four on it.

“Where’s the doorknob?” Rom questioned.

“No doorknob needed. The fifty floors below ground are accessed by clearance levels based on your grades and tests. However, all first years are given a trial period of twenty-four hours within the first week of the semester to enter the fourth floor of the library and use all it has to offer. You just have to raise your library band up to the door.”

Rom listened to Two and held her band up to the door. A click was heard and then the door opened up from the ground to a wide open zone filled with students reading at tables while others stood up lost in the texts of their literature. However, what grabbed Rom’s attention were the pillars. Huge wooden cylindrical structures up to the ceiling, filled with rotating shelves of books. Up, down, left, and right the printed works moved with surrounding students pulling out their next reads from the shelves.

As Rom started walking on soft carpeted floors with a mosaic of colors designed in a way that was telling a story of different sensations, she got closer to the pillars and could see runes on some of the books’ spines. The oval light fixtures suspended from up above illuminated the entire area allowing one of the runes to be made out.

“Liberation?” Rom thought. “Two. Why does that book have the rune for Liberation on it?”

Two’s rigid voice lowered, making Rom bring up her band to her ears to fully hear what was being said. “The Liberation rune on certain books is to indicate that they are being borrowed by someone.”

“Amazing!” Rom yelled in her mind, causing Shade to jump off her shoulder startled.

Shade fluttered up to Rom’s face and gave a small pop with its tiny hand onto her nose. “Next time don’t yell like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” Rom said. “Wait. You have a heart? Like an actual heart?”

“Of course I do. It may not look like yours but I have a heart. You think humans are the only ones allowed to have hearts?”

“No. I was just surprised that was all.”

“Well, I am surprised your head didn’t explode from all that reading you were doing earlier,” Shade said.

“Reading helps me to relax. It’s sort of therapeutic.”

“Well, at least you like it because that means you can just tell me the important stuff of whatever you read.”

Rom chuckled a little and then started searching for the PG section for Spectrum Psychology. After a few minutes, she was about to ask Two for help until she observed a girl speak the name of a book in front of a pillar. Rom watched as a book slid out the top shelf of the pillar and then back in. Her eyes tracked the book on its way down through the shelves like a puzzle until it popped out in front of the girl who grabbed it and walked away.

Already in front of a pillar, Rom said “Bleeding Spectrum Volume One.” Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a book that was halfway up the pillar slid out, and then back in. The shelves started to move the book just like she witnessed a moment ago and within seconds the book popped out in front for her to take.

“Cool,” Rom uttered with Shade uninterestedly adding “Of course you think so.”

Now having the book that can tell her what she saw coming out of her roommate’s spectrum, Rom found a table to sit down at and started reading. From the first page, she was captivated and didn't realize how much time had passed since she opened the book.

“Rom,” Shade called out but no reply. “Rom!” She jolted up from the book looking towards Shade.

“What happened?”

“You haven't picked your head up since you opened that book,” Shade stated.

“It's because I found out what the blackness was or rather the bleeding which it's called. Bleeding happens to spectrums when a being is under extreme distress which I was able to grasp easily but the book also said that bleeding can come from extreme comfort.”

“I am not sure what that means,” Shade responded.

“Do you remember early in class that we learned that a spectrum can be in different states such as red for anger and orange for fear?”

Shade nodded its green little head.

“Ok great. Well, those emotions can become too much for a spectrum due to a traumatic experience of some kind. Like if a loved one is killed. The anger someone can start to develop from that can become overwhelming for their spectrum which will start to crack and bleed out that blackness. From there, two paths are presented. One in which the person will overcome the experience and the bleeding will stop, making their spectrum stronger or they will succumb to the trauma and the spectrum will turn fully black. While the bleeding can happen with negative spectrums, positive spectrums—”

Rom glanced down at her phone seeing the time and realized she was about to be late to her next class if she didn’t get a move on.

“Shade, we got to go. I have class,” Rom said before rushing off to class.