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Kernstalion 2 - 18: Two for the price of one
🕑 Added 2021-07-08 20:37:43 +0000 UTC"It didn't really resist," I muttered as I kicked the head of the Sarcouzia away from the spindly body.
It had taken me a few hours to trace down the final one, and the battle was more than a little anticlimactic.
"Of course it didn't! It had used all of its energy chasing you in its empowered state!" Fnip said.
"So, time to finally do what I came for," I said with a sigh, walking towards the central pillar. I was praying Fnip wouldn't bring up the cleaning duty he had told me I'd need to do.
My hope was in vain. The now-familiar dangerous aura came from the tome, and it hissed.
"Either you will do as I told you, or there will be consequences."
I sighed sadly and looked around at the two broken-down bookcases and the books sprawled across the floor. Elliandra is going to laugh her ass off when I tell her this, I thought.
"Fine. So, how do I go about this?" I asked.
"Open me," Fnip said.
I blinked at the odd command but managed to keep my jokes to myself. Instead, I gritted my teeth and opened the book, expecting something annoying. A mass of dots sat on the pages, and I put my finger on them to zoom in. Immediately my annoyance turned to fear as I saw the dense hand symbols sprawled across the pages.
"What are these?" I asked in trepidation.
"The first one is a spell to repair the bookshelves. The second is a simple levitation spell that will replace the books," Fnip said.
Simple… I thought as I did a quick count and realized the first spell alone was over a hundred symbols.
"I can't learn this…" I said, shaking my head. "I'd die of old age before I'm done."
"No, you won't. You don't age while you're here, so that's not a problem," Fnip said, making it sound as if that fixed everything.
"My knowledge is capped…" I muttered, trying to imagine what would happen if I tried to learn a hundred new things.
"Your what?" Fnip muttered.
He mumbled to himself as a foreign entity slithered into my mindscape as if it was the simplest thing in the world. It stayed for only a moment before retreating again, leaving me wanting a shower. Besides this, I also noted something odd. Right at the moment the entity left, it almost felt as if two things passed through my barrier.
"So, you're one of those unbalanced ones! I haven't met one of you in… twelve thousand, four hundred and eighty-one years, I think."
That's oddly specific, I thought as I tried to shake the dirty feeling out of my head and focus back on Fnip.
"What is an unbalanced one again," I asked before I realized I hadn't paid attention to the number of questions I'd asked.
"Enough!" Fnip snarled in his angry voice.
That was number three, I guess, I thought as I clenched my jaws.
"You've been trying to get out from under your job for a while now! Either start cleaning up, or I'll do it myself."
The threat behind the words made any idea that him doing it might be a good thing evaporate. Still, so far, he hadn't made good on any of his threats, and if I did as he asked now I was in big trouble. Besides taking forever to learn, I'd lose so much knowledge I could only end badly. Taking a deep sigh, I was about to tell him I couldn't without help when the tome began glowing.
"Are you about to anger me, mortal?"
Fnip's voice turned to an earthquake-like rumble that made my hairs stand on end, and I was about to swallow my words when I noticed something. Although the depth of his voice should cause dust to bob up and down and books to move, nothing did. Instead, the sound that made me feel like it should shake books from their shelves didn't even rustle a spec of dust. I'd almost missed it due to the fear his aura caused. But what if that was all there was to it? A fear-inducing aura and illusions?
"I wouldn't risk it!" Fnip barked, and although my skin crawled from the aura, I decided I was right. He could read my mind, or some part of it, that was obvious. But all he did was threaten.
Without a second thought, I put the book on the nearest still intact shelf and left only a finger on it.
"Tell me what is going on," I said. I'd almost added some threats but thought better of it.
"Last warning, Mortal!" Fnip roared, much louder than before. For a moment, I wondered if I was making a big mistake, then I pushed the fear back.
"You're trying to trick me," I said, annoyed that my voice actually cracked even while I was so sure he was bluffing. Taking a deep breath, I took my finger off the book and took a step back, then another.
Nothing happened. I grinned and wondered if I should toss the frightening thing through some random door. Better not, I thought. It might trick someone else into doing something horrible. Turning around, I almost had a heart attack as I gazed right at a massive shadowy blur that stood before me. I jumped back, ax raised. The blur turned into a semi-humanoid shape that shook its finger and pointed at the book.
My fear faded as fast as it came, and I laughed. "More tricks."
I tried to move along the shadowy area, but it kept blocking my path. In the end, I waved my ax through it, and to my surprise, it dispersed like a cloud of gas.
I was about to pull up my map and find the fastest route to the center when the shadow appeared again. It was smaller this time but still humanoid. It bowed and pointed at the book, making pleading motions. I ignored it and pulled up my map, zooming out. We were a great way from the library center and had made a straight line into the uncharted areas. Still, there should be no problem just heading in a straight line to the center.
As I closed my book, I found that the small humanoid shadow stood before me waving, bowing, and pointing at the book. Should I just leave it? As soon as I thought of it, the shadow dropped on its knees and pleaded with its two shapeless arms.
Oh fine, let's see what it has to say for itself, I muttered, turning back to the book. My hand hovered above it, and I frowned. What if all of it was some elaborate trick? I thought about it for a bit as the shadow tried to wave my hand towards the book. Eventually, I sighed and put a finger on the surface.
"What do you-"
"Don't leave me here!" Fnip said in his normal voice. "I can't stand being around him another eternity!"
"Shut up, weakling," the angry, fear-inducing voice roared, causing my hair to stand on end again.
"No, I won't! I can't stay here with you, I can't," Fnip howled. "Please, Est, you have to take me out of here."
There are two of them, I thought in surprise. Suddenly I remembered the moment I'd thought I felt two entities leave my mindscape. I hadn't been mistaken!
"Yes, there's two of us. Sadly," the anger-inducing voice said.
"Who exactly are you," I asked.
"Rapariron, the deity of fear!" the voice hissed, and this time the fear I felt increased to unbelievable levels.
"Par, that's who he is!" Fnip said, and the fear subsided as fast as it had come. "Some lowlife Deity that managed to find a way into my tome! He sullied me!" Fnip almost cried at the end.
"Stupid construct. You better hope he brings you, or I won't forgive you," Par growled. Even though his anger was targeted at Fnip, it still made me shiver. "After he leaves, I won't speak with you for a million years!"
"You wouldn't! Besides, you don't have anything useful to say!" Fnip snapped.
As the two continued bickerings, I wondered what I should do. I didn't feel like bringing the tome along at all.
"See? He will leave you!" Par said, roaring in evil laughter.
"Stop reading my mind," I snapped.
"Or else? You are going to leave us here? I don't mind!" Par shot back, laughing again.
I sighed, grabbed the book, and began making my way towards the center.
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Fnip said before turning to Par. "See? He will take me!"
"Not so sure yet," I said as I moved further. "Why would I?"
"I know things!" Fnip said. "I really am the Librarian's tome! I know the location of every book in this library and roughly what's in it!"
That got my attention, and I decided to see if it was true.
"Where's the nearest book in a language I can read," I said before thinking of something else. "Mark it on my map!"
A ping came from my status, and I quickly opened it.
> The Librarian's tome desires access to your map
> Do you grant it?
Below the lines hovered the words yes and no, and I was more than a little surprised. I had not had the option to select something. Also, if the system could be trusted, which ever since I'd found out it was made by the Guidar was a bit if, the tome was actually what he said what he was. Well, At least the name was.
After a moment's hesitation, I selected yes, and a new line appeared below.
> A new location has been marked on your map
I opened my map and saw a white dot almost on top of myself. After zooming in, I found it was nine hallways away, roughly in the right direction.
Let's see what it is, I thought, getting slightly excited.
"I wouldn't get too happy," Par said, his voice sounding like a threat. "His guidance is horrible."
I ignored him and ran forward. A short while later, I ran into a corridor with a ragtag set of books that looked similar to the thousands I'd seen before. A faint white glow hung from a book on one of the bottom shelves at the end. I moved over and picked up a thick book with a cover that looked like wood. The letters on the front were unreadable and hazy, and I was about to complain when they began moving around and clearing up. A moment later, I could read them.
The equinox of Grenorian night. Volume three.
Confused, I opened it, trying to just skim it so I wouldn't lose any more knowledge.
And as she lay atop his majestic four nippled chest, he ravaged her with his left eye while his red moved from its socket to pen-
I slammed the book shut as I swallowed and put it away.
Par's evil laughter only made me angrier.
"What the hell kind of shit is this?" I asked Fnip.
"A romantic novel by a race called the Grenorian," he said, sounding aggrieved. "I did what you asked!"
I groaned and moved back in the direction of the center.
Let's try this again, I thought, trying to ignore another bout of evil laughter from Par.
"Fnip. Where is the nearest book with magical spells in it that have few gestures?"
Another ping came from my status, but I didn't look yet.
"And Fnip? One I can read that deals with basic ranged attacks."
It was quiet for a moment, and then there was another ping. Opening my map, I noticed that there was no dot anywhere close by, and I had to zoom out very far to find it was in the center of the library. From what I could see, it looked to be in the central pillar.
"Seriously?"
"There are only books on magic in the central pillar," Fnip said before muttering something I almost didn't catch after it.
"What was that?"
"Only useful ones," Par said, followed by another evil grin.
Although I'd heard him speak for a while now, I still shivered when he did. For a while, I continued walking, and the Fnip and Par kept quiet. My mind was stuffed with ideas on what to do with the tome. Although it seemed a dangerous thing to keep around due to Par, and besides, I didn't think I could thrust Fnip any further than I could throw him. Still, that didn't mean I couldn't get it to help me. But first, I needed to fix my knowledge issue.
Halfway towards the central pillar, I had sorted my questions and decided what to ask first.
"Fnip, did you close the doors as you said?" I asked.
"Yes," Fnip uttered, sounding annoyed. "I said I had, didn't I?
I ignored his annoyance and nodded. "Can I go out if I want to?"
This time it was quiet for a little bit longer before Fnip answered in a somewhat grumpy voice.. "If you want to."
"I told you he would leave you here, with me," Par hissed. "You shouldn't have angered me!"
I didn't bother to answer Par, trying to ignore the shaking of my legs as he spoke. "Could you even leave this place? You control everything here, right?"
"I can be in more than one place at the same time!" Fnip said, sounding excited.
"He lies," Par said before I could answer. "If he leaves here, he will leave me in his place."
I expected Fnip to scream blood and murder, but instead, it was quiet. "Fnip? Is that true?"
Again it was quiet, and when Fnip finally answered, it sounded as if the words were dragged out of him. "Yes… But in a way, he will be me if I leave him here, right?"
Yeah, but no, I thought as I decided it was not a good idea to bring Fnip out of here. Whatever he truly was, he was willing to say and do anything to get out of here, and that probably didn't bold well for me.
"He won't bring you. He just thought so!" Par said, sounding content for the first time.
"What? Why not!" Fnip asked in distress before he began nagging me.
I blocked him out and continued onward as a plan on what to do slowly unfolded. The first time I'd been here, I had seen odd books with eyes, and they were so scary I'd scrolled past them as fast as I could. If I put this stupid tome there, the chances of anyone finding it was pretty small. It would also make it harder for Fnip to use the shadow to get some poor sap like me to find him.
When I finally reached the wide corridor and saw the massive central pillar filled with books beyond the balustrade, I had a major headache.
"Est? Est? Est?"
"Est? Will you take me along?"
"Est?"
Fnip's constant nagging had even managed to tick off Par enough to go silent, and I could almost picture him with his divine ghostly fingers in his ears.
I jumped from the staircase and moved to the nearest table to put the tome down. Like a mute button pressed, the constant nagging stopped, and for the first time in hours, it was quiet again.
Damn, his prattling would be enough reason to just leave him here.
I grimaced as I moved forward. Close to the central bookcase stood a small wooden column. Its top was flattened, and it had two sundial-like circles with words along the edges. As before, I could only read the sun elf word, and I changed the instructions to that language, not that it was really needed. I'd used it for many months during my first visit, and within moments, I had selected the options I wanted. The entire bookcase sank into the ground as I stepped before it, quietly waiting for the section I needed to show up.
It took a while, but when the bookcase finally stopped moving, I grinned as I saw the familiar section of books.
Ten minutes I was sitting at a table beside the one with Fnip and Par's tome, quickly scanning through a stack of magic books. The table was filled with books that lay open on pages, at spells I thought might be useful that had less than ten gestures. I had probably the entire series of Halomiumani's books on Life, ranging from Vegetation to specializations about weaponized Spores. When I finished the stack, I leaned back in the chair.
"So, twenty points of knowledge per spell and god knows how many weeks to learn each. Unless I can figure out a way to get more learning-rate." I sighed and looked at the Fnip's tome. There wasn't really another choice. I was already maxed, and even if I tried to learn nothing new, I gained a few points each week. I needed to get rid of this bottleneck, or I might forget who I was.
I shivered at the thought of listening to the horrid whining as I moved to the table, then put my hand on the tome.
"There you are! Est, will you talk with me again? Please?" Fnip sounded like a child denied his candy, and I wondered how that was even possible for something millions of years old.
"Because that is how he was created to be," Par said. "He can't grow, never learns."
I shivered and focused on my questions.
"Fnip, if you want to have any chance of me taking you out of here, answer my questions," I said, trying to convince myself this was the truth.
Par snorted, then laughed evilly, but he said nothing.
"Alright, ask!" Fnip said.
"Is there a book here that can increase my knowledge by hundreds or thousands within a few days? In a way that I could and would do!" I added quickly, not even sure myself what that meant.
"There are…" Fnip said after a while, but the way he said it made me wonder what was wrong.
"But?" I asked.
"Most of them require you to kill and steal it from other beings."
I blinked in distaste. Wait, he had said most. Not all.
"Alright, and if we ignore those for now? What about the others?"
Par's laughter gained a taunting ring to it, and Fnip sighed.
"There are a few ways. There is a spell that will make a treasured memory and destroy it and every emotion attached to it. In return, you will get a hundred knowledge. There are also a few mental exercises you can do… but…"
"But what?" I snapped, not interested in destroying the few precious memories I had if I could help it.
"Those you could do…" Fnip muttered. "I'm not sure you could do them. You have the requirements but-"
"Stop beating around the bush," I said, getting annoyed. Was this guy intentionally trying to piss me off?
"Probably," Par said, but he stopped laughing, and for some reason, I had the idea he was paying close attention.
"Well, those exercises are meant for Deities or other beings born from the Primal chaos, like Despotins and Aucerion's."
I frowned, wondering what the hell Despotins were supposed to be.
"You don't want to know," Par said, and I realized I didn't get goosebumps as he spoke. The fearful aura seemed to have subsided somewhat.
"What are the requirements," I asked.
"You need Karma and a Mindscape," Fnip said.
"I have those," I said, actually a bit surprised.
"Yes, but if you do the exercise, they will hurt, and if you stop midway…" Fnip stuttered.
"Your soul will turn to chaos dust, removing any chance for it to ever be reborn," Par said.
Pain, I thought, shaking my head as I looked at the books on the other table. This sounded like something I'd read in old novels. No pain, no gain, and all that. Still, how bad could it be?
