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Of the Masters of Books
With the doubt
Came the drought
Tried to write to wash it out
Thought and thunk and turned about
Write and write all day and night
But the thoughts turned all to shite
Could some knowledge ease the plight?
Could those facts just turn the fright?
Read and type all day and night
No enchantment was in sight
Then one cold and stormy night
On a dock with a rock did he fight
Went into the depths alright
A dead old boat did his rock bite
The cabins door was broke just right
And in through this watery plight
Was the books with knowledge bound tight
In and out and roundabout did he exclaim and did he shout
Oh the library he ran throughout and perused and read and thought throughout!
Then the dread he could not get out
He could not best the likes of such great clout
And in the end when he found this out
Tore up his writing and threw em’ about shuffled and muffled disordered no doubt
Even this page was scattered about
All full of drivel and shittel and nothing no doubt!
My paper souls shall be always drowned out
By those who are better, will live forever and always escape this damn doubt drought!
-A poem from a collection of loose papers found in the Library.
To the well
Past sweltering hell
Toils never bid farewell,
Before you break
A drink you take
May you he make,
To pass the tests to have the light
To the knowledge do delight
With the keys you have the might,
All the books you will recover
To keep and give to one another,
When your flame is nearly out
Go and seek another out,
Test them good and test them well
Send deceivers to their hell,
Give the keys and you’ll have peace
And the light may never cease
-Written on the back of a Nubian map
The magnetic dust formed into a sharp line pointing to the southeast. Cordon looked down and smiled at the dust formation on the hovering stone.
“That's our heading? Are you sure?” asked Hallamane.
“Did you not hear me utter the words asili mbaya zaidi?” Cordon asked with a glare.
“Of course, I'm not deaf, but only you know what they mean."
Cordon collected his items and rose from the sand “Do you not trust me?”
“You have yet to lead us astray. That key of yours is prepared?”
"Of course. It will make us entirely undetectable.”
"I should hope, I would hate to repeat the mistakes of the Foundation."
The camel ride to the well took another hour. It didn’t seem that long to Hallamane, who was too focused on actually raiding the library. What seemed more odd was the way that Cordon led them to the well. As they rode, Hallamane could hear him speaking some words in a strange tongue. A small turquoise orb grew in his hand, and suddenly they were upon the well. It had appeared in front of them like an apparition. It's square stones looked aged and sun-baked like those of the pyramids. The rotted ladder that led up to its mouth looked as though it would not hold the weight of a mouse, much less a man.
As they prepared to descend into the well, Hallamane gave a final briefing to his team. “Listen up! As a friendly reminder, each team has a unique shopping list of titles, so no two teams should go after the same book; each team has a lookout, a copier, and a snatcher. You know who you are. If you're compromised, radio with the code word bookend and head to the way. Act casual when you're in there. We have ten minutes to snag 'em and go. Cordon, you're on point,” said Hallamane as he pointed to Cordon.
Cordon threw the rappel line down into the dark chasm. It made a faint splash as it landed. He stared at the moon's reflection as it danced across the water's surface. For a moment, he imagined a creature waiting to pull him under the silvery ripples. As though it were the library's response to his treacherous presence. Brushing his fleeting thoughts aside, he hooked himself up and rappelled into the well. The cool water lapped at his body as he gently lowered himself down. “I’m in. I'll signal when I'm on the other side,” radioed Cordon.
"Copy," Hallamane acknowledged.
Cordon took a breath and submerged himself. As he swam down into the darkness, he focused on the key he possessed. The one that he had forged using the slightest bit of energy he stole from the key of the master. He had bonded that key to an old way that had long been forgotten. One that was out of the way and could be easily destroyed, if need be.
As Cordon swam, orbs of lambent turquoise appeared in the palms of his hands. In response, one of the bricks began to glow with the same color, illuminating the dark waters around it. It revealed a large crack in the stonework. This dark maw was an old way he had used long ago. When it revealed itself to him, he swam for it with glee while recalling the words of his mentor.
"The power to find old ways and make new ones belongs only to the master and the library itself. I assure you many have asked what you ask now, but no one without the full power of the key will be able to control the ways,” his mentor had said. Look at me now, old man. Look at what I have done! I am no master, and yet I have bent the library to my will! With this act, I defy your old knowledge!
At the end of that thought, Cordon wiggled the brick ever so slightly. The meeting of his hand and the brick created a pulsating glow. He gently pressed himself into the crevice.
He braced himself to run into the stonework. When he realized nothing was in his path, he opened his eyes. A circular ray of light shone above him. He swam towards it, slowly. Carefully, he peeked his head above the water. He blinked as his eyes readjusted. Looking around, he could see he was in a small, round reflection pool. Pumice stones lined its perimeter. Fluorescent orange plants sprouted from blue roots that were embedded in the stones. Around the garden, small tables, chairs, and mats encircled the area. Fortunately, none of them were occupied by anyone.
Slowly, Cordon rose out of the pool and stepped onto the stones. “Way secure, clear to proceed," radioed Cordon.
"Roger, on my way," Hallamane responded.
A short time later, Hallamane emerged from the pool “I thought you said we were coming out of a fountain? Are your diagrams still reliable?” Hallamane asked with concern after inspecting the area.
“The decor has changed, but the stacks appear to be the same," Cordon responded as he motioned to the labels on the shelves. "We have no choice but to proceed regardless. We'll also have to use the way one at a time now,” Cordon said.
“So much for a swift exit,” scoffed Hallamane.
“Melra, plant those charges and come through. Everyone goes one at a time. It’s not a fountain on the other side, just a small pool,” Hallamane radioed.
“Wilco,” responded Melra.
The rest of the team exited one by one and quickly dried themselves with parts of an anomalous quilt. Absorbing all liquids was one of its primary properties. Once the entire team had assembled, Hallamane gave the order to sync watches.
“Set your watches to 1200 hours and sync on my mark. In 3, 2, 1, mark."
Each of the seven teams knew where to go and what texts to take. Everyone had memorized diagrams of where to find their texts, so physical copies were unnecessary. Whether or not they were still accurate, however, only time would tell.
The process of quick copying each text had been tested and was sure to work. At least long enough for the team to make its escape. One property of the anomalous ink they utilized was self-replication. Eventually, the ink would expand and spread from the pages of the book it was bound to. This is why they weren’t going to take the copies of the books.
Having been a member of the Serpents Hand, Cordon felt a pang of sadness because he knew what leaving behind the ink would mean for the books in the library. But his vengeful rage propelled him forward. If he truly cared for the library as he once did, he wouldn’t have assembled this expedition in the first place.
As the teams scattered throughout the library, Hallamane left two of his best, Jericho and Mattheson, to guard the entrance. Cordon, Hallamane, and McKenzie then left to seize the grandest prizes of the entire expedition.
The seconds crawled by as time slowed down for Cordon. He looked up to the stacks that surrounded them and wondered if he could take on the new Master of Books if they were to come face to face. Cordon imagined that if he had the aid of the entire team, he would be able to handle it. Perhaps even if it were just himself and Hallamane, the master could be dealt with. But in reality, they would face far more than one person if they were caught in the library. They would be up to their eyes in Docents, Pages, and Hands members. The way would close on them. All while attracting the attention of the fabled Master of Books.
Cordon's presence would actually be the only reason for the Master of Books to appear. Cordon smiled at the thought that his presence would cause such concern. He almost wished they would be caught so that he could face the master himself.
Cordon walked down an aisle and suddenly stopped. He tilted two books out of their row from the shelves on both sides of him. He muttered some words to himself and then pulled a large tome from the bottom shelf of the stack on his left. He opened it to a page marked by a red leather bookmark. As he read from it, he touched the paper with the palm of his hand. A yellow key orb formed in his palm and slowly drained into the page. Soon the bookmark grew and writhed to life, growing to an immense size and wrapping around the trio.
Hallamane and Mckenzie lurched as it tightened around them. “Don’t worry,” gasped Cordon.
Hallamane blinked and found himself in a small, dimly lit hallway. Looking around, he saw Cordon facing a door and holding a bronze lantern at the end of a chain. Behind them, he thought he heard the growl of a bear.
Hallamane blinked again. This time he was inside some sort of dormitory. The beds were massive, wider than any he had ever seen. A tree with bronze lanterns growing out of its branches illuminated the high ceiling. The other furniture consisted of large tables and chairs with backrests the size of benches. Sewing machines were set up at intervals. One of them had a large hooded cloak resting on its base. There were game-boards and generous spreads of food. Some half-eaten and some Hallamane had never seen before. Metal washbasins and bronze receptacles tipped with orange orbs were stationed at regular intervals. On the walls, murals of Docents, Pages, Boilermen, and Archivists at work lit up the room. Bright browns, greens, and oranges reflected off the walls. The paint seemed to glow and bring the figures to life.
The entire scene passed by quickly for the trio. Cordon led the way out of a door and onto a walkway that encircled the perimeter of the dormitory. The walkway was attached to a rail system that was itself attached to a massive bookcase. Hallamane peered over the railing but saw only a dark chasm. Above them, the chasm was lit by three massive bronze chandeliers, all in the shape of lanterns attached to a roof reminiscent of tree bark. Across the wide gulf was another massive bookcase, with more dormitories attached to the side of it.
Cordon looked at the shelf and read off the letters and numbers. He manipulated what appeared to be a control panel by adjusting the numbers and letters on its face using a series of marble-like spheres. Pulling a long lever caused the dormitory to shoot up diagonally, not following any pre-made track but merely making its own as it went. The dormitory stopped, and Cordon pulled a book from its shelf. He handed it to Mckenzie, who held a metal wand with a scanning eye on one end and a runed ink well on the other. The wand scanned the text as she used a physical manipulation spell to quickly flip the pages. She handed it back to Cordon, who shoved it into his bag of holding. Mckenzie cracked opened a blank replacement book to its first page. She squirted the ink out of the wand, dousing the paper. The ink would absorb through the pages and form the same text as the original, thus making a passable copy. Hallamane noted the time on his watch, five more minutes to go.
When Evans reached for the same book that the patron was looking for, he gave it to her gladly and proceeded to look for the next one on his list. There were two more minutes to go, which meant time for one final grab. Unfortunately, he was moving too quickly to notice the woman’s curious paper sprite following him, concealed among the books. It watched patiently as Melra copied the next book, and Evans stored the original in his bag. As the sprite flew away, Malich saw it and burned it with a quick flame spell.
“We need to move, now!” said Malich.
"Bookend," said Melra into her comm.
The trio moved with haste towards the pool when the woman Evans had met earlier emerged from two tall stacks of books. Docents flanked her on both sides. She appeared to be showing them something from a little notebook in her hand. Melra beaded with sweat as she realized it was a book of origami papers, complete with seer carbon copies. Melra knew the woman was showing the Docents what the sprite had seen before it was destroyed. The woman looked up and pointed to the trio.
“It’s them. He has the book in his bag,” said the woman as she pointed to Evans.
Without hesitation, Melra used her corroding gear talisman to oxidize and disintegrate the chain arms of the Docents. The woman was prepared, however, and set her origami sprites against them. With a flick of her finger, paper sprites flew out of the notebook and swarmed the magpies. Their unnaturally sharp edges cut deep into their skin. Malich played another flame spell to make short work of them. Melra surged with adrenaline and reached for her pistol. Before she could raise it, one of the Docents broke a bottle of constrained lightning on the ground before them.
Malich dove behind a desk as the lightning felled Melra and Evans. He drew his sawed-off shotgun from under his coat and fired. The woman and Docents were vaporized into a gunpowder fine mist that floated to the ceiling. Malich was firing vaporizer gunpowder instead of regular buckshot. It used the magic potential emitted from one's body to turn them into a mist of pure aura. The effect was temporary. Soon they would be whole again, but only after the gunpowder consumed their potential. It was meant to clear full rooms of magic users in one shot while leaving them unable to cast for some time after they were reconstituted. Malich brought it for such a purpose.
More Docents appeared from behind the stacks. Patrons poked their heads out to see what was happening. Malich made a mad dash for the exit. He notified Hallamane that the situation had escalated.
"Melra and Evans are down! I've got tails. I'm heading for the way now."
“Lose them in the stacks, dammit,” hissed Hallamane in response.
“Melra’s team has been compromised!” said Hallamane as he turned to Cordon.
“We have what we need, let's go!” said Cordon.
“All teams head to the exit, we’re leaving now,” radioed Hallamane.
Flying to the controls, Cordon forced the dormitory to the far end of the seemingly endless bookcase. The trio exited the walkway and passed through a door set in the face of a looming stone wall. They dashed through two small rooms, each containing carts of books and scrolls. They entered a third room and rushed past a Page filling some carts. Cordon glanced at the Page briefly and cursed under his breath.
Finally, the trio entered a dimly lit passage. Slots containing scrolls lined the walls. Hallamane could hear the Page moving close behind them. As they neared a door, Cordon yanked a scroll from one of the slots, which caused the entire tunnel to shake. Hallamane was the last to exit. He turned to witness the passageway close itself before the door slammed shut.
“Come quickly now!” Cordon said as he ran down a staircase to the library. The trio rushed to the reflection pool just as the door behind them burst open. Hallamane’s team was the first to arrive.
“Cordon your first!” said Hallamane.
“No. Mckenzie, you take the bag. You'll need me if the Master shows up, or you won’t stand a chance,” said Cordon as he handed his bag to Mckenzie.
“Mckenzie, you're up,” said Hallamane.
Mckenzie dove into the reflection pool just as other teams began to arrive.
“Get in, get in, let's go!” ordered Hallamane as several others filed into the pool.
Gun blasts could be heard reverberating through the stacks. Hallamane’s men noted Pages stalking the shelves around them. Several Docents emerged from the stacks, followed by Malich, running frantically.
Footsteps could be heard coming from the direction that Hallamane’s team had taken. The magpies closed ranks as more Docents and Serpents Hand members moved in to surround them. Talismans, amulets, and guns emerged from the hands of the magpies as they prepared for a fight.
Where is the Master? Come on, you bastard. Can't you sense that I am here? Thought Cordon to himself.
Malich emerged from the pool “I can’t get through! The ways closed!”
A cloak of silent dread fell over the entire team upon hearing his words. They were completely trapped, with no choice but to fight their way out and somehow find an open way.
“And who might all of you be? Chaos Insurgency, cultists, gangsters?” called out a woman who was somewhere among the growing crowd of Serpents Hand members.
“We're dangerous magpies that will kill a lot of your people if you don’t let us out of here!” Hallamane exclaimed.
“As long as you have those texts, you're not going anywhere. Return them to us, or feel our wrath! You are outmatched. To fight would be suicide,” replied the woman.
“Dammit, goddammit,” Malich said under his breath as he raised his gun.
More Docents and Serpent's Hand members crowded around the group as Pages descended from the stacks. Hallamane scanned around for an exit. He noticed a hallway with only a few Docents guarding the corridor.
“Concentrate fire on the hallway with two Docents. That’s our best escape route,” whispered Hallamane into his radio.
“I’ll make the opening move,” muttered Cordon to Hallamane.
A purple aura manifested in Cordon’s hand as he shouted a silencing spell. The Docents and Hand members began to attack in response. Just then, the aura fragmented into smaller orbs. They flew into the faces of many of the Hand members that surrounded them. Their mouths began to melt closed as Hallamane’s team opened fire. The room erupted into balls of blinding light, whipping chains, and shrieking faces. The magpies collectively moved towards both Docents. Hallamane lept across a table and fired implosion rounds from his customized MP5 to clear a path. He hit the ground and rolled as they enchanted him with an organ transmutation spell.
As Hallamane struggled to regain his footing, he turned to fire on the Docents. He saw his team retaliating. One Docent was shielded by an array of glowing green amulets that floated around him. They had repelled Hallamanes fire, but his attack managed to weaken them. Now they were being pounded with bullets. One began to crack under the strain. The second Docent had her cloak and skin being eaten away by deconstruction enchantments and caustic potions. Hallamane quickly downed a neutralization potion from his belt. Suddenly, he felt a chill in the air, and the magpies were lifted off the ground.
Their enemies took advantage of this and picked off the bewildered magpies. One was blasted and sent flying over Hallamane’s head. Hallamane turned himself around to glimpse one of his team being lifted up and away by an opportunistic Page. Then he beheld Cordon with a flushed face, straining in absolute concentration. He was staring at a figure that hovered above them. Hallamane could make out the hem of gray silk robes, but the figure's upper half was in the shadow of a massive bookshelf. A quick pulse of energy radiated from Cordon, and Hallamane felt the pull of gravity again.
Another shockwave shoved the belligerents from the reflection room and into the aisleways. Hallamane, Jericho, and Malich rose to face four Docents. Lifting his weapon, Hallamane fired, striking two of them. Their generous potential fueled the violent collapse of matter and energy triggered by the implosion rounds. They were instantaneously pulverized. A small explosion resounded behind him. His flesh singed from the intense heat. Turning around, he saw Cordon unleashing vapors of raw energy at the figure above him. As his teammates covered his rear, he aimed his weapon and squinted to see his target through the light of the vapors. He laid down a large spread of fire to cover the top of the bookshelves across from him.
With the last of his clip emptied, he went to reload when Jericho called to him, “Hallamane, it's clear! Let’s go! Everyone this way!” The magpies that weren't in the thickest of the fighting disengaged. They filed past Hallamane, who reloaded and fired at the figure again. This time, the shadow dropped to the ground. It hovered ever so slightly before making contact with the floor.
“Cover me!” shouted Hallamane as he rushed to catch the collapsing Cordon.
As spells were cast around them, Hallamane threw Cordon onto his back. He turned to run when a woman with dark hair charged forward and raised her hand to them. Her black, spider-like bracelet reverberated. It fired a black pulse of energy at the fleeing Hallamane. However, the pulse meant for the two men was instead absorbed by a charging crystid minion that had been released from one of the magpies. The crystid strained to move as a cocoon encased itself around the creature. It broke free as Serpents Hand members blasted it. Hallamane ran into the hallway as the remnants of his team followed him in their flight.
As they ran, a member of Hallamane’s team named Sero threw more crystal eggs down each hallway they passed. Hatching quickly, the four-foot-tall anthropomorphic crystal beasts would lash out at anything before them. This would hopefully buy them time as they looked for an escape route. Hallamane had thrown Jericho his gun, and together with Malich, they blasted a path forward. The group zig-zagged between corridors in an attempt to shake their pursuers. As they rounded a shelf, Mattheson noticed a door at the end of it.
“There’s a door here! Turn around!” yelled Mattheson.
The magpies quickly turned and followed him through the door. On the other side, they were greeted by an old wooden office with large square windows taking up an entire wall. Suddenly, the door to the office burst open. An old man with a swollen eye, singed beard, and wearing a tattered gray cloak appeared. With one small flourish of his hand, he paralyzed the first four that had come through the door. Cordon reached for one of the potion bottles on Hallamane’s ammo belt. He held it outstretched towards the man and fired a yellow orb from his palm, shattering the bottle instantly. The orb swelled from the potion's magic as it rocketed towards its target. Hallamane, Sero, and Malich headed for the office window and jumped through the glass.
Hallamane awoke outside of a house, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Desert stretched for miles around the cinder block building with busted out windows. One of which Hallamane’s teammates had busted through. The team quickly took stock of their surroundings and found an abandoned car.
It was operational for the most part, save for a dead battery. Cordon opened his pouch of magnetic dust. He coaxed the powder out of the pouch like a charmer would a snake. It swirled into a dense cloud. His hands glowed red with heat as he formed the dust into two metal clamps. He forced them onto the car's battery terminals as they cooled. Channeling the last of his energy into them, he slowly charged the battery. Cordon nearly collapsed before struggling into the backseat of the car. His potential was completely spent. Malich hot wired it, and the four drove off.
“Step on it. Those bastards are trying to find us as we speak. We need to figure out where the hell we are and make contact with the rest of the team,” said Hallamane.
“You mean what’s left of it,” said Sero sardonically.
“We all knew the risks,” responded Hallamane.
“She’s right,” replied Cordon, pausing to catch his breath. “We lost more than half the team in there!"
“We made it out wi—,” started Hallamane.
“I know exactly what we made out with, dammit! I know that we'd have had more if everyone survived and if I had killed the Master. I thought we were ready. We mapped everything out! I thought I accounted for the library's changes. Instead, we fared no better than the Foundation. I made the same mistakes as my mentor,” lamented Cordon.
“We are alive because of you. Take that from this, if nothing else. Who else can say they survived a raid of the archives and came back with something to show for it?” said Hallamane.
“What will you do? Spread the word, so the Serpents find you?” replied Cordon.
“No. I’m going to lay low. We're all going to lay low until the heat comes off. We'll hear that some shit went down in the library, and some crazy bastards made it out with archive texts. But when we sell our knowledge, our clients will hardly care how it was obtained,” said Hallamane.
“So we take our money and hide away? The stories of the magpies and the master as our only legacy?” Cordon let the words hang in the air and pondered them.“If that is what they called it, then maybe it would be something. If the Master was known, it would certainly be a change. I wondered why we were allowed to escape through that office window. Why the magpies flew free with their shiny trinkets,” reflected Cordon.