As Nerina looked around the library’s ground floor, she could see nearby bookshelves knocked over and books on the floor surrounded by pages that had once resided in them. She saw many isles of books long since forgotten, left to rot with no one to read or take care of them. She almost felt like sitting down with a few, to unlock their secrets and the worlds people had forgotten. But sadly she was there for a mission. It was dark, she was alone and paranoia was in full affect by now. As she looked through the darkness, she could not see her friends. But she knew they were there, on different floors but they were here in the library, trying to find the artifact they were sent to retrieve, none of them knowing what else might be dwelling within the halls of this ancient, forgotten library. She started to walk slowly down one of the isles nearest the stairs, that looked somewhat promising. "At least the floor doesn’t look like its decaying," she said to herself, in a soft voice. While keeping an eye out for the artifact and an ear out for her friends, in case they needed her, she made her way down the isle.
"Let’s split up," he says, "everything will be fine," he says, Nerina thought sarcastically, bobbing her head as if she said it out loud. She remembered the look Ryker had as he told them his plan. "Okay, here’s the plan, I am going to look in the basement. You three take the ground floor, second floor and the attic. Okay? Okay." he said. His tone was serious and full of confidence, as if they could handle anything this place gave them. Nerina started to believe him until she thought about being alone, on her first mission, in a old... dark... decaying library, with possible creatures that just love to eat Gnomairaens. She was just about to remind him that it was her first mission and would be her first fight alone. She didn’t know what to do if she faced off with a creature that wanted to eat her. But before she could say anything he was running off towards the stairs leading to the basement, leaving the others behide.
"Is he always like this or just on the missions where it seems like an easy job?" asked Nerina, walking towards the left spiral staircase. "Usually, he is more cautious, but when there is a new member, he tends to try to show off." said Aziel while shaking his head and walking at her pace. "You would think he would learn from the last time." said Larissa, "But knowing my brother, he will never learn." She was flying to keep her talons from scratching the floor. She seemed as uneasy about splitting up as Nerina was. "Why? What happened last time? Did someone get hurt?" asked Nerina, curious about what had happened but also wanting something to distract her negative, pessimistic thoughts. "It was nothing serious, he just was showing off and got a little to close to a Lofa. They’re giants from Chickasaw Native American mythology that flay the skin of their victims. He got away unharmed." Aziel said, though he was smiling, Nerina got the feeling that, at the time he was worried for his friend. "Aziel, stop smiling."Larissa scolded, "It was a close call and you know it." She looked down at Narina. "Don’t worry, we will all be fine and back at the guild before you know it." she said, smiling, giving off a calm energy, as they reached the spiral staircase. Aziel took charge, "I’ll go up to the attic and check for the artifact, Larissa you take the second floor and Nooby gets the ground floor. Sound good." "Yeah, all except the whole Nooby nickname. My character’s name in here is Naya, not Nooby." Nerina said, half teasing and half hoping he’d stop calling her Nooby. "We’re all set then, okay if you either of you have any trouble, come find me or escape. Naya you have not had a lot of practice, there is no shame in escaping outside." Aziel said. "Understood. If I need to escape, escape." Nerina said, hoping her smile didn’t show relief in knowing they wouldn’t blame her if she left, but also resolve to stick this out. "Good luck you two," she said, watching them go up the stairs then disappearing. She turned around to face the library.
"Why would anyone think of splitting up in an ancient, library that is falling apart," she said to herself. As she continued down the isle, she read some of the titles, "The Haunting of the Oniate," "The Kasha Cat Attacks," "The Cyroraeth’s Warning," "The Stymphalid’s Revenge." "Great, leave it to me, first isle I go down has books about mythical creatures that either kill, scare, or warn people that something bad is going to happen," Nerina said. When she got to the end of the isle, she looked down the isles to the left and right expecting to see something or someone lurking about. But nope, no one in site just some old books and pages scattered on the floor and a couple boxes here and there. She looked across from her, down the isles, trying to see if maybe one of the isles looked promising or at least more intriguing then the others. Three isles had a crack in the floor and looked like they were going to cave in, four more looked the same as the one she just went down: shelves mostly intact, some pages on the ground a couple stacks of boxes. The last isle she looked down had a glass case on one of the shelves against the wall, that draw her attention right away. She tried to make out what was inside from where she was, but dust was everywhere in the library and all over the case, so she couldn’t tell what was inside.
She gingerly made her way down the isle, doing her best to not disturb any of the boxes or shelves that were dangling from the bookcases, with her tail. As she came up to the shelves that held the case, she noticed that, sadly she could not reach it. "Flipflab and fiddlesticks," she whispered, scrunching up her nose and letting out a soft growl. She started to look around trying to find a chair, box or something she could bring over and stand on. She noticed that to the left of the case, a few sections over, was an old but still usable, rolling library ladder. She walked over to the ladder and started to test the rungs, making sure they could hold her. She used her tail to slowly roll the ladder towards the case, as it rolled, it made a low squeaking sound. She was hoping they were the only ones there, that the artifact was in the case and they could leave soon because not knowing if there is a creature there or not was making her paranoid.
She stopped the ladder a little before the case and started up the ladder, using her tail to keep her balanced. The first couple rungs were a bit wobble but she was able to reach the level of the case. She was able to get a good look at the glass case now, though she still couldn’t tell what was inside of the case, just that whatever it was, it was dark, looked sort of like fabric with some objects on top that she couldn’t make out. The case itself was rectangular, the glass surrounded the middle and top of it, with strips of silver along the sides holding the glass together, there was three locks that she could see along the crease of the lid, the locks did not seem to have any keyholes. As she started to grab for the case, she heard heavy foot falls upstairs, not running but rather at a slow pace reminding Nerina of a predator stalking there prey. "Yup. That’s it, I am going to die. I am going to die crazy, paranoid and alone," Nerina said, as she lifted the case, it was bit heavy, but with the help of her tail, she managed to make it back down the ladder without dropping the case.
She placed the case carefully on the floor, she grabbed one of the locks to inspect, when all of a sudden sparks of light and dark colors seemed to come from the box. She watched as swirls of colors began to form around the box and then around Nerina. She did not know all the colors by name but knew there was multiple shades of each of the colors, she had learned to name as a child. She focused on the swirls of colors and started to see symbols she had never seen before, form around the box and then without warning, the colors and symbols went into Nerina’s body. She felt warmth fill her body, then there was a tingling sensation before her body felt on fire, air left her lungs. She couldn’t scream nor move, all she could do was watch as her health went down, on the HP bar the popped up on her upper left corner. Right as the health bar was at the end, she felt as if she was going to burst up in flames. Then she felt a calm cool feeling wash over her, a sense of tranquility mixed with the warmth she felt before the fire. She looked and all her health was back. She watched the bar disappear once more.
She sat for a few minutes, calming her nerves and trying to understand what had just happened to her. She could still see the colors and symbols in her mind, as if they were still there in front of her, around her. She felt different but didn’t know what changed about her, she just knew she felt different, energized, and strong. "Must be the adrenaline from being on fire or at least it felt like I was on fire," she said to her self, as she inspected her clothes for burn marks. "I need to stop talking to my self, the others will think I’m crazy. Well I am, but still." She sat awhile longer until her heart rate went back to normal, then she moved in front of the case and reached out to open the lid, but stopped for a brief second as she saw that her hands had a glow of energy that moved and looked like fire, as if it was alive and real fire. She looked to her upper left, even though she didn’t feel any pain right now, she wanted to make sure she wasn’t taking any damage. The bar was not there. She touched the lid, and the fiery glow engulfed the case, as it did, all the locks unlocked and the lid made a popping sound. The fiery glow started to recede from the case, then started to fade into her hands, before disappearing once more.
Nerina stared at her hands for a few seconds, still marveling at the fact her hands had looked like they were on fire and then the fire went back into her hands. She shook her head, "Focus, you got a mission to complete." she scolded herself, before turning back to the case. She opened the lid to find a Gnomairaen sized, jeweled dagger, still in its sheath, she took out the dagger to inspect the blade. It was sharp, looked new and seem to have a fiery glow. She put the dagger back in its sheath and attached to her waist tool belt. She pulled out a jeweled hand mirror, inspected it for anything special, and when she didn’t find anything, she put it in her satchel. Next she pulled a vial of lavender colored liquid, and not knowing what it is or does, she put it in one of the pouches of her tool belt. She found a set of jeweled bracers that shrunk to the size of her wrists, when she touched them, those she put on. She picked up and a letter and put it aside to read, after she was done pulling everything out. At the bottom was a velvet fabric, that took up most of the case. She picked the fabric up, it shimmered a deep blood red and started to shrink after inspecting the cloth, she discovered that it was a cloak. She put it on, it felt snug, and it didn’t drag on the ground, which she considered a big plus. She twirled around a couple times, enjoying the feel of her first cloak, before she sat back down and picked up the letter.
Dear Magilian,
I hope this letter is found by those who will not misuse the information found within. I placed the spell that would burn alive those with evil intentions that tried to gain access inside the case, to keep them out. Those that gain access to open the case are worthy of the knowledge I give, and are marked. At the same time as the mark shows your worthiness, it also makes you a target for those that seek to destroy or corrupt you. You are now one of the Linmysik. In your journeys you will meet others with the mark, and will exchange what you have learned. Be cautious with who you share the knowledge with, whether they are marked or not, knowledge is power and power can corrupt people. Right now you have items in your possession that are very powerful and dangerous items, use them wisely.
The dagger can pierce any armor, hide, or scale if wielded by one that is marked by draiochta (magic). It can store magical energy or it can be used to strike with it, I suggest practicing before trying. To strike with magical energy you could either say however loud or soft you want to what source you want to use, fire, ice, lightning, and so on, and the blade will glow with that source. The other way is to envision the blade glowing with the source you wish to use, feel the energy go into the blade and you got it. Note be cautious when trying to use sources you have yet to learn it might back fire.
The sheath has the ability to form a barrier of magical energy, that will withstand as long as you give it energy. Allies can be let in, once the barrier is up and they can lend energy should you need help. To form a barrier think of what you need the sheath to do and who you need to protect and it will naturally form. Should you find yourself to nervous to naturally form the barrier just yell barrier and the sheath will form a barrier, note it will not be as strong as if you did it naturally.
The mirror can show what is hidden by magic as well as show possible futures, such as what might happen should your take the right path and not the left, however take caution, the future can change at anytime.
The vial holds a liquid that when a drop lands on a weapon, it doubles that weapons power or ability, for a short time and each time there after the time of the effect increases. If used in the making of the weapon, only use five drops and no more, after it is made the abilities will remain and only require a bit of energy to use it. Warning do not drink the liquid, only one drop at a time, and do not use it on a weapon made with the liquid.
The bracers give the wear the ability to shrink half their size and their speed increases or they can grow double their size and their strength increases. Beware the process is very painful the first couple of times, then it becomes a warm numbing sensation. Shape-shifters do not experience pain using the bracers as long as they have already shifted before, note do not use bracers if you are a shifter who has not yet shifted, it will cause problems when you do.
The cloak is very special, it forms to the wear’s size, the color inside and out can be changed at anytime, by holding it and saying I want you to be..., it can also be used for stealth, just say I’m not here, and the other uses are for you to find out. Note just because you are stealthed does not been they cannot hear you.
There will come a time when we will call a meeting and at that time you will know what to do, until then.
Sincerely,
Kamali Holaynore
P. S. Warning when I entered this library to leave the glass case here, I was not alone. I have yet to see the creature or being, and it may have left by the time you arrive. I am going to leave the creature or being be to either safeguard the case or to leave of its own accord, just be careful.
After reading the letter, she put it in her satchel and started to stand. She thought about the letter and remembered the noise from earlier and hoped everyone was okay. Looking around she didn’t see anything, she tried to listen for the sound again. After a few seconds, she bent down, closed the lid to the glass case and picked it up. It was lighter but still heavy. She brought it to the ladder and started to climb. On the third rung her foot slipped and as she grabbed the ladder to steady herself the glass case dropped, shattering to the floor. "Flipflap and fiddlesticks, really!"Nerina exclaimed, in her frustration she had forgot she was trying to be quiet, and now was mentally kicking herself in the butt for talking out loud. Nice, alert everyone to the fact your clumsy and are here. she scolded herself.
She started to get off the ladder when she heard something on the second floor bounding down the isles above, towards her direction. She looked up to the old decaying ceiling, now wondering how whatever was running didn’t fall through because it sounded big. As she was wondering this, a puddle of dark ooze starts to form about fifteen feet away from her and where she guessed the creature was on the second floor. She starts to look for somewhere she could go and hide, when she hears what sounded like sloppy rain hitting the floor. She looks over to see the dark ooze now on the ground in front of her, then the sound changes to a messy suction noise. Nerina got off the ladder and whispered, "I am not here," into her cloak and hoped it worked. She started to inch away from the broken glass and the creature that has now fully formed, but stopped when she heard it sniffing the air.
The creature was on all fours, facing away from Nerina, more than double her height, almost to wide to fit in the isle, and had a long tail that ended five feet away from where she stood. It looked similar to a lizard, but she couldn’t tell if it had scales or not. She didn’t see any wings, but she could see it had a long neck, as it slowly sniffed the air with its neck stretched out. She saw something around its eyes as if they were bandaged or covered. Great, it is blind, seems to have a good sniffer, and is really really big. I am so dead, she thought, I hope the others are on their way, because I have no idea what to do, other than to stay quiet and hope it will walk away. Just then the creature let out a loud growl that shook the pictures on the walls and there was a crash off in the distance of something that fell. The creature sniffed the air again, as if searching for her scent, it started to move backwards so slowly, that it made Nerina even more nervous. Just as she was about to move away from the tail that was getting closer, the creature stopped and faster then Nerina thought possible, the creature had turned its head and neck around and was now facing Nerina.
. . . . .