LSRO: Interlude - Original Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Soooo

I think I took something from these old ones. But the beginning of the book was soooo different.

At least it was always an isekai, right?

Actually it wasn't... I can't seem to find it, but I had another beginning - a third one. Yep. Library took a lot to get going.

Today I'm going to share two separate iterations of what would have been the story's beginning...

~~

One

Books had that perfect scent. Part nature, part mustiness, and all knowledge. The latter was a sore point with Kassie. She was adamant that the knowledge contained in books had its own scent. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say scents.

And colors.

Definitely colors.

She filed away her most recent return after having lovingly restored it to its original state and turned to survey her library. Columns rose up from the floor to the forty-foot ceilings. The center was clear of everything except several desks placed orderly along the center line. 

Right at the front of that path stood the check-in desk. It was her favorite place in the world. The seat she used was soft as a cloud and perfectly conformed to her body. And, it was where all the books found a temporary home.

To each side of the path, stood bookcases with ladders that allowed people to reach the top of each shelf before it met the floor above it. The wooden beams and balconies shone with the loving care of millennia. Their own scent of nature blending perfectly with the shelved books. 

Two floors the entire length of the building, making each of them close to twenty feet tall. It had to be that way. 

Knowledge had to be accessible.

To everyone.

That included all different types of species. Human. Elf. Dwarf. Lycanthrope. Faerie. Dragons. Even the pesky dryads who kept trying to absorb the damn paper if no one kept a keen enough eye on them. 

If a species was sapient, it was welcome in the Library.

Initially.

However. Everyone knew the Library had rules. They'd been passed down to Kasira when her ‘grandmother’ passed the Library onto her not three years ago. 

• Rule 1: All books must be returned in the pristine condition they left the library in. Should damage be incurred a fine equal to the type of damage will be levied. Should the Librarian be alerted to potential severe damage, she may retrieve the book before the designated return slot and levy an appropriate fine. Should a book be destroyed the Librarian reserves the right to name her price.

• Rule 2: All knowledge is free to those who seek it with honorable motives

• Rule 3: Dishonorable motives extract a price determined by the nature of the motive, and the discretion of the Librarian.

• Rule 4: The Library operates on a three-strike basis. Strikes can be earned all at once depending on severity of the offense. There is no appeal path. 

• Rule 5: All books in the Library possess memory and tracking magic. Do not presume to pull one over on the Library or its Librarian.

• Rule 6: New additions to the Library must be verified by multiple experts and confirmed by the Librarian. Always remember that knowledge is neverending. The Library will expand when necessary.

• Rule 7: All Librarian decisions are final.

Along with the wealth of knowledge power, came everything she needed to enforce it. There were some things Kassie was still getting used to, but now...

A soft and plush sensation rubbed past her ankles, and she looked down, momentarily distracted. "What is it Winnie?"

The currently cat formed Library manifestation managed to raise an eyebrow. "You're daydreaming again."

Kassie waved away the comment, impatient to shelve the books that had come in while she had to go chase down those pesky adventurers. Seriously. Since she'd taken over the business that was the Library, she'd had no end of trouble makers trying to pull one over on her.

She certainly didn't recall her ‘grandmother’ ever having this problem and had to chalk it up to the fact that she hadn’t aged into the roll yet.

"You know my system would have flagged damage. Why do you always double-check them?" Winnie sounded like he was pouting.

With a sigh, Kassie crouched down and scritched him behind the ears. "Need some affection today? Is that why you're a cat?"

Winnie rolled his shoulders in a way she'd never seen a cat do before. It was fluid, like he didn’t actually have any bones. "It's nimble, easy to access almost anywhere, and unobtrusive enough for me to spy on visitors if necessary."

"Ah. Purely logical then." Kassie said, still scritching behind his ears. She wasn’t about to mention that he had access to the entirety of the Library even without a body simply by his nature. 

A soft pur vibrated beneath her hand. Yeah, he wasn't fooling anyone.

She couldn’t crouch there all day. There was work to be done. Raising herself back up to standing, she stretched, glad she had managed to save that book.

The History and Magics of Minotaurs for Beginners wasn’t priceless, but it was rare. Mainly because Minotaurs were aggressive to anything outside of their species. They weren’t at a level of sapience necessary for civilized society. They weren’t even as civilized as goblins which said a lot.

Studying Minotaurs held inherent dangers and, as she scanned through the data well in her mind, several people had died to bring those facts into the collective knowledge base that was the Library. It was her duty to protect the hard copies by any means necessary.

After all, it took far too much computational power to reproduce one lost through carelessness. Winnie’s core just didn’t need to be unnecessarily stressed like that.

Katsira busied herself putting away the mass of books that had been returned. Sometimes she pretended to grumble about it, but she actually loved revisiting each of the knowledge suppositories like an old friend. 

A wave of magic power she didn’t washed over her like a summer breeze. Pale blue like the washed out summer sky, with a hint of seawater on lingering as it finished touching her senses. It pushed through the massive oak doors along with a rather tall and willowy girl, not much younger than Kassie herself. The thrum of acceptance by the Library sang through the floor right to her bones. It was a wonderful sound.

Kassie loved it when people already had a Library card. That beautiful harmony of acknowledgment soothed her soul.

Meanwhile Winnie had jumped up onto the counter and was washing behind an ear carefully observing the new entrant. 

For all her knowledge, one of these days Kasira would ask him why he mimicked cats habits when taking their form. Apart from attention, it made no logical sense.

She looked up at the visitor, sizing them up immediately. It was as she’d expected.

“Welcome back, Miss Nepsia.” It wasn’t very often that Kassie liked people enough to remember them this fondly, but Nepsia had proven her love of books over and over. She treated them reverently, fully cognizant of the treasure they contained. 

“Hey Kassie! Still getting used to the old lady not being here to greet me. You seem to have settled in rather well.” Nepsia’s skin held a pale blue tone. Her hair was such a dark green it was almost black. She was part water nymph and proud of her heritage. It leant her magic a certain fresh scent, fully influenced by her mother’s homeland.

“I’ve lived here most of my life. I didn’t really need to settle in.” Kassie continued to set the returned books down on the return trolley. Ignoring the way they zipped off to different locations as the library took over the function to reshelve them. After all, these ones weren’t damaged. 

Nespia was also one of the only people Kassie knew growing up as the next Librarian. But that wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on right now. 

~~

The one above set the story up with a cold Librarian who is solely invested in the books. I couldn't get much farther than this. The words didn't flow anymore and I found it difficult to continue.

So - then this next one came along, and while I liked this, I didn't like the tone it set Quinn at (Quinn was Lore initially but the name felt too on the nose for me). I didn't want her to be pitied, I didn't want her to seem pitiful.

She's independent and pretty strong, and I needed her to come across that way. So I discarded this opening too.

~~

Isekaid

There were several things about death that annoyed Lore, the most prominent beind the finality of it all. When people were dead, they ceased to exist and so did all of the benefits that might have gone along with them being alive. Such as being not completely incompetent parents.

And so it was that Elenore Decker, known fondly to friends as Lore, tiptoed down the backstairs of her foster home. She didn't really need to be that careful, because the yelling and screaming coming from the kitchen probably would have drowned out any creaks made by the stairs, however, she wasn't about to tempt fate.

Clutching her crossbody bag to her chest, she double checked that the imprint of her phone was inside, along wtih her small wallet. While she didn't have work today and thus, technically, not the excuse to leave the house that she normally had, Lore was willing to forgo the aftermath of the argument and get forgiveness after the fact. One of the only drawbacks about leaving this way, was the fact that the arguement was in the kitchen, which meant there was no picking up some snacks before she darted out of her house.

The other was that her foster mother really did try to take care of them, but she worked full time and her husband was gone more often than not. 

If Lore were in her shoes, she'd probably be at her wits end too.

She took a breath, grabbed the three thick envelopes she'd rested on the back hutch before creeping the rest of the way to duck out of the townhouse, closing the door softly behind her. The sigh of relief didn't last long as she inspected the letters, unable to tell if they were college offers or perhaps waitlists? They did seem thicker than the one rejection she'd got last week.

A shift of the air made her look up briefly. A faint smell like the toasting of bitumen. Then it was gone. She looked up and down the street. There were no road works trucks. 

Shrugging, she looked up at the clear blue sky in the far too hot to be spring sort of day and made her way to the Library. After all, nothing like a good book to put her in a better mood. 

The walk wasn't far, and she passed her favorite bakery that was closing up for the day and stopped by the back door.

"Lore! Was hoping you'd stop by." Earl stuck his ruddy face out of the kitchen doorway. He wore a baseball hat turned around backwards that no one had told him wasn't in style anymore. He was a large man, with round cheeks and a smattering of brown hair that was desperately trying to vacate his head. 

It's why he liked the cap.

"Don't suppose you've got any leftovers?" Lore's hunger was truly gnawing at her as she hadn't eaten since last night, and this would be dinner. On days like today, her foster mother never managed dinner, or breakfast, or even lunch. It was everyone for themselves.

"Half a pepperoni sub, and an apple." He held out the small paper bag for her.

"Thanks Earl." She wanted to say more, but the sudden urge in her gut to open her letters stopped her. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"I'll hold a special pack back for you!" He waved and shut the door.

Earl reminded Lore of her Dad. He'd been a pretty special person. The ache in her chest wouldn't go away either. It only enhanced her need to make it to the Library so she could just find a book and lose herself for a while. They'd shared their love of fantasy - of far off tales, of adventures and dragons. 

A lump rose in her throat and she decided to save the food until later, her appetite suddenly gone.

It wasn't much farther to the Library and the day was still bright. The white hot glare shone down from the sun and she wished for cloud cover. 

Grabbing a book from a series about the Magical Kingdom that was for sale that Lore remembered reading with her dad, she curled up on one of the teal couches and watched life pass by on the city streets for a few moments before gathering the courage to open her letters.

The first was a waitlist. Not bad, but not the best. It was a higher tier college which she couldn't afford without a sizable scholarship because although she'd be able to if it was for school, she didn't want to touch her inheritance if she could help it.

Inheritance. 

The word still shook her to the core. Being reminded that they were gone was a bad thing.

Still. She sucked it up and ripped open the second one.

Dear Miss Decker was how it opened. But she skimmed part.

We are honored to be able to offer you a full scholarship...

Lore didn't read any farther. Just a little bit longer and she had a sure fire option to get away from everything, and to become her own person. She'd leave the other envelope for later though, after she reread her favorite passages. In a way, it felt like celebrating with her dad.

It felt like he was there, watching just over her shoulder, like he had been for more than fifteen years of her life.

When she pulled her head out of the book however, the sun was already down, and the library was closing up.

Lore frowned, sure that she hadn't been that engrossed. She'd read the book before after all.

Checking her phone, she noticed that her foster brother Harv had texted her three words. Stay out tonight.

Damn it. That really meant she needed to stay away.

It probably meant that her foster father was home again and laying into liquor. IT wasn't that he got touchy or anything, but the man took whatever he could. Be it food, money, joy...

And right now she needed to not be in the position for him to ruin this for her. She wasn't eighteen for another eight months.

Thanks she texted back, hoping that Harv knew she meant it. As far as people you were forced to live together with against either of your wills, Harv was pretty okay. They'd warned each other off more than once. Mutual survival mode.

It worked. 

The first year after her parent's deaths she'd been stuck in five different foster homes, but this last year had been almost steady.

The Library closes in five minutes, please make your way to the exit. 

That was her cue. Staying outside in the cool spring night wasn't going to happen, but in here. Yeah, as long as she was clever about it, she'd done it before after all.

With the Library closing in a few minutes she knew they'd already searched the small kid area. It was usually the first. So she entered and hid behind the bean bag chairs. It was easy enough to open the letter, find a full tuition scholarship available where she'd only have to pay board. Not as good, but the college was a great choice and the tuition substantial. 

The lights went out moments later.

At first it was pitch black, but as she moved cautiously through the library to find the concealed couches in the back section, where it was much safer to sleep as there were no cameras to be found, her eyes slowly became accustomed to the light. A faint glow emanated throught the massive floor to ceiling windows from the streetlamps outside. If the city wasn't in the middle of nowhere, she'd even think it was a good place to stay.

All she had to do was hunker down on one of the couches that faced away from the windows. That way she wasn't going to get caught by a patrol, and she got to stay out of her foster father's hair while he was in one of his moods. She just needed somewhere to crash for the night.

She was cautious though, because it was easier in the library than it was at home. At least here she could hear herself think. She finally had the thought to pull out the half stale sub sandwich she'd got at the deli from Earl and stowed the apple in her little bag. It wasn't gourmet, nor was it overly nutritious, but it was food and it was blessidly free and would tide her over.

Laying down she looked up at the ceiling and watched the shadows dance across it as cars drove down the roads.

Suddenly, her stomach heaved like she was about to be sick, as if she'd been on a tilt-a-whirl and was going to throw up. Lights flashed around her - in her eyes, almost like they were exploding out of her head. She tumbled off the couch onto her hands and knees, heaving like her life depended on it.

Snatches of noise entered her mind, like a gutteral growl echoing through a dome. Scents of grass and rotting leaves, of freshly turned earth and heat.

Then suddenly, all the distractions were gone. Along with her sawdust tasting sandwhich that was the first thing she would have eaten in days.

Not to mention the Library and the couches had suddenly vanished.

And the sun was back in the sky with an eerie red tint to it.

She pushed herself to her feet and brushed off her now grass stained jeans. Trees surrounded her but to her left there was only a row of them before there was room beyond. 

"Well" she said to herself. "This is definitely not Kansas anymore."

~~

TADAAAAAA

These portions only got one chapter or the start of a chapter each.

The next ones I'll share were so so close to what we ended up with, but were never quite right. I managed about 14000 words before I ended up arriving at where the book actually begins.

I'm only going to share 2 more chapters of what might have beens.

By then I should be organized and well under way to getting book 4 written.

Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear it.

Much love.

KT