Syddall Moore – Leaving The Library

Syddall was awoken to the sounds of crashing, his eyes strained to open through the pain. The little he could open his eyes still allowed him to see the abomination chasing him, he could feel himself moving at speed, but he was not running. As he got his eyes fully open, he could see his feet sliding around in front of him. Syddall let his head tilt back, allowing him to see one of the librarians dragging him down the library halls. The abomination was howling as it had its movements blocked by more librarians. Syddall looked back at it; it seemed to be losing more and more body parts. The abomination started to fall into smaller pieces that all ran off in different directions, confusing the librarians and ceasing Syddall’s pursuit.

Falling in and out of consciousness, Syddall found himself awaking in a small room surrounded by the librarians in human form. He did not move; he could not move. The pain that went through his body bound him to his sitting position on the floor.

“You are lucky you said what you said; if you had not, you would have been left to become part of the abomination.”

Syddall strained to stay awake; with a hand clutching at broken ribs, he directed his attention to the librarian who was speaking.

“We have been looking for an individual such as yourself, a budding young scientist with the passion to learn. Someone who we can use.”

With great effort, Syddall managed to respond. “How can I be used?”

“Well, the library collects books; Magnus is quite interested in books, you see. So, we head out and hunt down books that have been made, no duplicates though. Unfortunately, Hollow does not have many writers because of cost and, well us. We are looking for new lands to obtain new books at a much greater volume.

“How can I help with that?”

“Let me finish, and I will tell you. It is common knowledge that Anodyne drags our nightmares from a pocket dimension and sets them upon us. Our goal is to find our way into said pocket dimension, using it as a pit stop to jump to alternate universes that share the dimension.”

“This only works if the nightmare dimension is an area that spans the Eternaverse.”

“True, but it is worth a shot. We need someone who is studying the nightmare/dream dimensions so that we might use it to escape Hollow.”

Blinking slower and slower, Syddall fell unconscious once again, this time awaking to a pain-free bed of books.

“Before you ask three days, it took us three days to get you back to full health.”

“Three days does not seem too bad, but why did you heal me? I thought you were supposed to kill people on sight.”

“We normally do, but you are useful. If you decide to work with us, we will not only let you go but will allow you to take books as you need them; you will become a librarian, but your duty will be to finish your studies and break the interdimensional barrier.”

“Well, this is a no-brainer; I do not want to die, so I guess I am with you.”

The librarian looked at Syddall smiling; he then pulled out his gun and shot him in the head, knocking him back onto the floor.

“Well, that fucking hurt; how am I still alive?”

“We assumed that you would accept our offer, so we already made you a librarian. To be a librarian, you have to obtain gleam eyes blessing. You did this, so you are now a librarian and have all the perks. You will just have to figure out what they are.”

Syddall stood back up; he noticed his belongings on a table next to the librarian.

“So, I just continue as normal, but I have access to this library and the gleam-eye blessings?”

The librarian nodded, gesturing for Syddall to take his belongings.

“You are not free to roam though; at any point, either Gleam eyes or the library will call on you. If you do not answer, it will end in you being fed to the abomination; when you are eaten by it, you are not dead; you become a part of it. I hear it is a life of torment, so think about that if you ever think of ignoring the call.”

“I will assume I will just know what the call is, but I think I can live with it if I get unrestricted access to this library.”

“So, like, how do I leave?”

“Close your eyes; you can echolocate using nearby crystals. Either hum or make noises in your mind, and all nearby crystals will give you vision; that is how we tracked you. We told you your gun was helping us more than you.”

Syddall used his new abilities to make it back to the entrance to the library, and the librarian followed to ensure that he was capable of finding his way.

“Cy’Edia, that is my name. Yours is?

“Syddall Moore. Till next time Cy’Edia.”