Ch. 2.17 | Conflicting Interests
PoV: Sanya
Thankfully, the teleport did not toss Sanya into that dark, empty plane again. It consumed her and spat her out as usual, now standing with her party in a massive clearing in the naked forest, halfway between the forest’s edge and a large building.
Her heart rate and breathing returned to normal levels as she settled into her new location, not threatened by the idea of being plucked and held hostage in that space again, while the veil cracked and the eldritch entities tried to break through.
The treeline of this new surrounding ended in a perfect circle, roads of stone cut through the trees, heading to various places within this strange realm of red, connecting city and vampire manor alike to this location.
The place had been cleared for a large, ornate structure. Large archways served as entrances into the circular building. Pillars held up etched and decorated walls of marble, the whole thing was topped with a dome.
“Ah, yes, the Summit,” Calinichia stated with a wistful breath.
“The Summit?” Mai echoed.
“Yes. It was here that the vampire families would politick. Its central location made it the node for the portals.”
“Why'd we arrive in the city?”
“Because portal entrances and exits aren't aligned, and because there used to be portals there.”
“Hmm.”
Sanya's own mind resonated with Mai's thinking hum. It just did not make sense that the entrance and exit were not the same, considering they would enter and leave this realm into the same location back in their reality. This weird detail was just the nature of these portals and realms—the Abyss worked this way, too.
In a flash of blinding red, the world rumbled again. Sanya's body shook with the ground and she struggled to maintain her balance. After mere seconds, both the oppressive light and the earthquake stopped. A red light still cast itself through the dark air. The whole plane shook, but in a subtle and manageable way. The group did not have much longer to get to the node before the portal would collapse. In fact, Sanya or another Spatial mage could have closed it by now. So, who was closing it?
“Shall we get going?” Calinichia prodded.
It was then that Sanya's attention went to her [Spatial Sense]. There was a distinct mana signature coming from the Summit. It was heavy and oppressive, and with a familiar tone to it—Elemental mage attuned to Aquatic.
There was another mana overlaying that type, stronger and with hints of sky blue and gold. Sanya had never seen that mana before with her acquisition of [Spatial Sense]. Yet, Sanya almost certainly knew who that person was.
It was enough to make her pause, while everyone else continued towards the magnificent structure.
Mai paused and turned her gaze behind her. “Sanya?”
“The . . .” Sanya swallowed. “That's the librarian.”
“That is . . . who? Oh, you mean? . . .” Mai blinked. “A-are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Why was she here, personally? She had vanished from Calderae and from contact with Aisha and the rest of the guild for weeks. So why would this place be where they reunited, of all places? Why was the librarian invested in closing this portal? What did she want?
Back in the academy, why had she curated and handed out those tomes? Why had she given Sanya Celestial Summoning? Why had she given Fleshweaving to Mai? Why had she given whatever assassin thing to Esmat? Those had all been tomes, supposedly in Nur's own, restricted stash. It was to prepare for “what was to come.” What was that? Had it yet to happen? How did the librarian know anything?
The librarian had revealed Aquatic magic when Sanya had never heard of it before, as well. She also had the golden and blue mana. Having access to these new types of magic made sense, considering she got her hands on those grimoires, Sanya supposed.
Why had she disappeared? Once again, what did she want?
The party exchanged glances.
“Who is ‘the librarian,’ and why did you react in such a way?” Calinichia asked. “Did the plot just get thicker?”
“Come on, let's go, then,” Zahira shrugged.
She and Esmat continued forward. Lania and Nadiyya switched between looking towards them and at Sanya.
Sanya took a hesitant step, then stopped again, before picking up her pace in earnest. None of this made any sense to her, and she found herself reluctant to continue on. However, her choices included going to the node or getting left behind, stuck until her little otherworldly buddy forced open a portal again using her own magic to power itself.
The group passed underneath an arch. The grass beneath them turned to stone. Here, a wide walkway wrapped around the building, with an inner wall beyond that. The high up ceiling here was vaulted. Sconces lined the walls between each arch, unlit.
Calinichia took the lead and guided them all to an actual doorway.
The light blinded again, and pieces of old and loose stone and dust rained down. Calinicha and the group picked up their pace as their time slipped away, going into an actual run as opposed to a walk. If they got to the node, then they would not have time to fight the offending individual or talk them out of it. Their course of action was purely to escape.
Passing through forlorn halls and long-empty rooms, the group emerged into a large chamber in the center of the structure. The perpetual dark red light of this dying realm shone through holes in the dome, rays illuminating the room, pushing aside a need for candles or other sources of light, making up for the unlit sconces.
In a central dais, a woman stood in front of a floating, pulsing orb of red, one palm against it. Her other hand held her staff and eyes closed (so, not pondering it, unless that could be done with closed eyes). The orb was maybe two heads in diameter. Wooden benches and chairs encircled the central dais. Etchings sat carved in the walls and faded tapestries hung from them.
“You all certainly took your sweet time,” the librarian said.
The orb cracked, sending crunching noises echoing through the chamber. Had she been slowing it down so that Sanya and the others could make it there? . . .
Thanks, I guess?
Calinichia rushed forward at a blinding speed, closing the distance between herself and the librarian.
Sanya paused. What should she do? . . .
She was torn between forcefully stopping the librarian or letting her have this. Sanya's heart slammed in her chest. Her stomach writhed, her eldritch parasite clearly unhappy with this development.
Hmm, if it was a physical thing, could Sanya remove it? Not without killing herself, probably. Was it even a physical thing that Sanya could comprehend, something separate from herself? She knew the answer was “no.”
Sanya pointed her staff towards the librarian. She gave in to her little parasite and chose interference.
Calinichia swung a hand at the librarian. Sanya did not see if she landed the blow.
“[Starf—]”
Sanya did not know if she cast the spell. Her hearing turned into ringing and her voice drowned out as an oppressive red light bathed the world. Everything became a solid block of red as the Summit and Sanya's group vanished from her sight.
All she could feel was her heartbeat, and the rhythmic movement of her breathing. She felt the clothes against her skin, bandages wrapped around her scar-riddled arms. Bile bubbled up through her throat, burning along the way to—
Sanya doubled over and emptied her stomach onto the dirt and grass.
The light of the two suns shone down upon Sanya's realm.
They had made it out.
The Heliux-forsaken librarian had destroyed the node and kicked them out of the vampire realm.
Sanya's limbs gave out, and she collapsed against the grass, barely avoiding the contents of her stomach.
She heard Esmat do something similar from nearby. Her body pulsed with a numb pain, as if her skin had been torn off and her body doused with ice.
Mai rushed for Sanya and turned her onto her back. Sanya squinted through the bright light of day.
Off in the distance, the librarian fought back a raging vampire with her Aquatic magic. Fortunately for her, she was fighting the vampire in daylight, so Calinichia wasn't empowered.
The librarian tossed a bunch of calm words at Calinichia, who yelled and snarled back like an underfed, wild dog. It reminded Sanya of the fight Lania had with Calinichia, except Calinicha's role was swapped.
Mai said something, and then opened her [Pocket Repository]. Her free hand took a waterskin from it and then opened it, kneeling down and holding it up to Sanya's mouth.
Sanya weakly propped her head up and began to drink from it, Mai trying her best not to choke Sanya with it.
Sanya muttered her thanks.
Mai tilted her head, then said something. She then returned the waterskin to her Repository.
Oh, Sanya’s comprehension of her language must have gotten shot again. Or she couldn't hear. Sanya was really starting to dislike this stupid eldritch parasite inside of her. Like, why was this thing so fragile? Maybe Sanya and the others would have more of a chance against the actual entities than she thought. A hug, a light kick? Terribly hurtful. A teleport? Traumatizing. Some random portal to a big name realm collapsing and ejecting them out? Well, Sanya's temporarily sick and paralyzed. Everyone else could enjoy all those things without worry, but they debilitated Sanya.
This was a parasite that could tear open portals by leeching off of Sanya, by the way. What was usually a terribly complex spell and required a convocation from half of a hundred Spatial individuals became some random thing that Sanya's body did without her noticing.
Calinichia trudged back over to the group, wet from head to toe, dripping water like she just jumped into a lake. Her expression was down, eyebrows furrowed and with a frown plastered on her face. Her usually pale skin had hints of red—burns?
“Don't go fighting that librarian lady unless you've got the moonlight on your side, or with your realm cut off from you, hey,” Calinichia grumbled.
Hey! Sanya had her hearing back.
Calinichia sat down with as much noble grace as she could muster, although a slouch threatened her posture.
The librarian came into earshot as well. “Sanya, Esmat, can we talk? Alone.”
Mai crossed her arms. “Can we talk about why you're here, and what all this was about, first? And why alone. I think whatever this is concerns all of us now.”
“Let me check . . .” The librarian responded, closing her eyes. She muttered something out of earshot, and . . . cast a spell?
It must have been one from that gold and blue mana that she had. What was that mage type?
“Ah. You know now. Okay . . .”
Mai glanced at Sanya and raised an eyebrow. What was the librarian doing, indeed?
Sanya pushed herself off the ground with a groan. She brushed off the dirt and grass from her robes and stood up straight. She put a bit too much weight onto her staff to keep her upright than was comfortable.
“Librarian?” Mai asked as she went silent.
“Give me a moment.”
Mai shrugged.
“No, not that either. No. Ah, I don't have high confidence in that working either . . . Woah, those all moved quite a bit. Hmmm . . . Ah, call me a grain of sand and trample me under a caravan!”
“What are you muttering?” Zahira demanded.
The librarian sighed, opened her eyes, and glared at Zahira. “I'm an Oracle. I'm divining.”
Sanya blinked. She shared a look with Mai.
Huh.
An Oracle? That's what that gold and blue mana was?
“An . . . Oracle?” Zahira asked, disbelieving.
“Yes. You doubt me?”
“No. That just came out of nowhere.”
It indeed came out of nowhere. Perhaps that would provide some context to her actions. Why would she have given Sanya any extra magic at all, then? The librarian probably knew and had known that Sanya had an eldritch parasite writhing inside her.
Maybe the future wasn't so clear? Was all that muttering her looking through different possibilities? Maybe over time some had become more clear and others had vanished. Perhaps her meddling was to try and steer the future into a certain direction?
That would make some semblance of sense.
“And,” the librarian began. “I'm sorry to say, but the most likely option if Sanya lives is she becomes a villain that rivals the eldritch themselves. Our most likely path to victory is killing her. I'm sorry.”