LSRO: Interlude - The scene that started it all (Patreon)

So. I have a weird writing process. I get an idea, and it stews for a bit. It's always in the back of my mind, and it sort of just settles and begins slowly growing.

Then - it'll develop into my initial scene. That scene becomes the inspiration for the whole story.

It's either the first scene, or just becomes inspiration for the whole story - and might be included later.

After that I dive into worldbuilding, system creation, character definition.

So, after I had the idea for the Library, I wrote out this scene depicting the Librarian in action after a book that gets damaged while being loaned out.

I cannot wait for Quinn to reach this level of power. She'll get there. I know she will. But! At this point in time Quinn's name wasn't Quinn... and this is like a future version of what a fully powered Librarian is capable of.

It's made me want to write scenes for past Librarians and make them each more fantastical than the next.

Without further ado - welcome to the scene that started it all:

~~

Pieces of rock showered down as the horns of the Minotaur scraped against the cavernous ceiling. Their adventure party cowered behind one of the only remaining stalagmites in the room. Jiro marked his original place, and flipped frantically through the pages of the magical tome they'd borrowed, determined to find the solution he was sure he'd read.

"Hurry up! I thought you said you read the damn thing!" Patty yelled at him, her voice quivering with fear despite the anger it contained.

The Minotaur roared, leaning forward with a massive swipe of its arm to cleave another stalagmite out of the way. There were only three of them remaining, including their hiding place.

The massive creature looked up, pausing for a moment as it sniffed the air, before moving one massive hoofed foot in their direction. Beneath them, the ground rumbled. So much so that they lost their footing briefly.

More debris floated down, covering all five of them as the creature's horns scraped even more of the ceiling cover to rain upon them.

"Hurry up, Jiro." Hastius spoke softly, his fear evident in his eyes. 

It wasn't like Jiro wasn't trying to hurry. He'd told them over and over again that he needed more time to become familiar with the magic in the book. With the information in the book. But everyone had been eager for the potential treasure in this cave.

A stone from above fell, landing briefly on the edge of the pages of the book, snagging on it, and tearing a tiny piece free before the rock plummeted to the ground. Jiro tsked under his breath. He was going to have to pay for damages.

On top of everything else. It really wasn't his day.

A sudden wind picked up, swirling around the minotaur and the adventurers, pulling and tugging at everything in the room. It barely let them hold their place behind the giant stalagmite. To be honest they only managed to maintain footing because they were squished up against it.

Jiro noticed, almost absent-mindedly, that the books' pages were perfectly still. Not a ruffle.

A tornado formed in the middle of the cavern, suddenly there one moment, and then it was as iff the air got sucked right into the middle, where the Minotaur was. A loud slurping sound sent shivers down everyone’s spines, followed by a loud pop. The tornado disappeared and minotaur bones dropped down to the floor with a clatter, bright shining white, as if they’d been licked clean.

"There we are!" A strange voice that reminded Jiro of his mother lecturing him snapped.

Suddenly, the book was no longer in his hand.

Jiro looked up at where the sound came from, and he was oddly aware of his teammates' jaws also hanging open in awe. There, floating about four feet off the floor, directly in front of him, was Librarian Kasira.

She was frowning. Her long brown braids whipped around her head, and her dress fluttered in a breeze he couldn't feel. Her eyes didn't even glance in their directions as she examined her precious book, a look of consternation spreading over her face. "This is unacceptable. You’ll  be fined for the damage done to my book."

Jiro blinked at her, slowly nodding.

"You came for the book?" Patty's tone was incredulous. Not that Jiro could blame her. He still couldn't wrap his mind around the Librarian basically showing up and saving them without intending to.

"Of course I did!" Kasira snapped the book shut, punctuating her indignation with the sound. "One minor tear, and a dog eared page. Both, strictly against the borrowing policy. I expect the fine to be paid within the week."

With another pop, she was gone, leaving a slight scent of lavender in her wake, and Jiro and his team thankful for their lives.

~~

That's the first chapter. It's what a Librarian can do. And how, when she only has to worry about the damage to the books and not restoring a system and saving the universe, the Librarian is powerful even with just a click of her fingers.

I'm not sure what Library's lifespan will look like, but I would love to get it to a stage where Quinn is this powerful and the Academy is open... and I can really delve into the world itself.

Hope you enjoyed this.

I'll be popping the first two original chapters up first.

I couldn't get more than 5 chapters done of this original iteration, but I think it's fun to see where it started, to where it ended up.

And now I go to plan out more of 4 so I can write like the wind and move the story along for all of you.

Thank you for being here

Much love

KT

PS: ALSO - These are the ribbons I'll have with me at Dragon Con!