LSRO: Interlude - Second Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Okies

So we're getting to the last couple of interludes, but I wanted to say - I kind of liked this beginning but something was off for me.

So I ended up combining this and the first go around and ended up with Library as it is now.

Quinn was originally Lore, and Lynx was originally Winnie (Winnie is my cat's name lol). Anyhu - Here you go.

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Chapter 1

It took Quinn a few seconds to really access her thoughts. Maybe she'd dozed off while she was reading or something, since the book was still clutched in her hand. She was standing at the edge of a wooded area, open out onto a field with grass about calf height. There was no city beyond the trees, not like she was used to. No winding river, no houses over the other side. 

Rubbing her eyes and wondering if perhaps her hunger had gotten the better of her, she looked again. Nope. Right in front of her was a large field and beyond that maybe a stone wall and behind it a town. It looked like something out of her history text books.

And how the hell was the sun shining brightly in the sky like it hadn't gone down. There was also a very red tint to the whole thing, like it had set, but she could see the orb still in the sky. 

Had she somehow lost track of time, lost a whole day or two and ended up on the outskirts of her medium sized city? That seemed highly unlikely. Especially since there was no way to get out of the library once she was locked in.

On the bright side, nothing was trying to kill her except the hunger pangs in her stomach, so she should probably figure out what happened. Which is when she realized that her half a sub was gone.

"Damn it." She muttered, trying to relegate her hunger to the back of her mind. "First things first."

Quinn felt all over her head to make sure there were no concussive bumps, and then pinched herself for good measure to verify that she wasn't actually asleep. 

Which she wasn't, and would have a nice bruise later to prove that point. 

"Okay." she muttered to the tree next to her. "If I'm not still in the Library anymore, where the hell am I and how did I get here?"

The tree next to her, was unhelpfully silent.

"Thanks a lot." She mumbled to nothing in particular before she took a deep breath and stepped out from the cover of the trees to traipse through the field and head toward the town, grumbling under her breath as she went. "If I've somehow pulled a fantasy book stunt and ended up on a different continent or something, the least it could do it let the tree talk."

She pulled her jacket around her shoulders as a brief breeze picked up, and wished her clothes weren't so threadbare. Still, there was a town, and it didn't look like a ruin, just roughshod and simple in construction. So, perhaps there'd be someone there who could help her. Or tell her where to go.

Or something.

The grass around her had a fresher scent than she was used to. It reminded her of the grass in the park whenever it was freshly cut. The perfect green and healthy scent. Yet, underneath there was a faint hint of something else, something more sinister.

And the smell was gone as fast as she noticed it.

As she shifted her stance to try and get a better whiff, there was a bright purple flash up ahead of her. Just long enough for her to notice it before it winked out.

"Well... I'm definitely not near home anymore. I guess following the flash makes a sort of sense?" No one was going to answer her, but mumbling out loud helped her firm her resolve.

Not wanting to look gift flashes in the mouth, she headed toward it. This wasn't the same as being summoned to a mage tower or another world or country like it was in the copious amount of books she'd escaped to.  The Library had always been her favorite form of entertainment. Not even her current foster family could find fault with her reading. At least that way she didn't try to hog the television remote.

Maybe the purple flash was a portal or a book or whatever that she could use to get back to the park in time to find her sandwich. Because damn if she wasn't hungry.

Her stomach suddenly spasmed like it was trying to make a point. She shrugged it off.

She'd been hungry before, this wouldn't be the last time.

And to make things even better, the sun was very obviously on its way down. Quinn began to jog toward the town, not wanting to get caught outside the walls in the dark. Something about that hidden underlying scent made her think that would be a very bad idea. 

Not to mention that she'd somehow got sucked through to a location no where near where she lived and it was probably a good idea to follow her gut.

Finally her fingers scraped against the worn stone of the wall in front of her. There were no fine cracks between the stones. Not like she was used to. Nothing about this screamed of her home. Everything was foreign. Still that made it just that much easier to pull herself up and clamber over, because thos gaping gaps made for good foot and hand holds.

She dropped over the other side in a dark alleyway that belied how much of a way the sun still had to set.

 There was a faint scent of mold that echoed the sickly color of green growing out of the spaces in the stone of the buildings and walls. It turned Quinn's already empty stomach.

Quinn had been fending for herself the last two years since her parents succumbed to sickness. For all that she'd never been sick in her life, Quinn had wished she could have given them some of her immune system.

If only her luck could hold out, long enough for her to regain some strength, find a place she could settle in. Once she got back to her home. Surely not all foster families were like the last one she landed in.

If she could get home...

But the next alley was just as dark, dank, and deathly. Had she somehow landed in a cult that refused to use electricity? People were huddled into the corners of the alleyway near the buildings, pulling thin clothing around themselves in an attempt to stave off the frigid late afternoon air. 

There was this air of desperation around all of them. As if they'd given up. As if they were certain nothing was ever going to be good again.

And here she'd thought she was a little pessimistic at times.

With a pinch of her forearm she double checked that she was, in fact, not dreaming. What she wouldn't give right now for a bucket of popcorn, a blanket, and somewhere to binge one of her comfort shows in peace. Or enough light to read one of her favorite books by. That would do.

That sort of escapism would be much preferred to this tangible one.

There were more poor people that she passed. Some of these didn't even bother to look up as she passed. That sense of wrongness emerged again, the scent vanishing in a puff of shadow as she approached the end of the alley.

How the hell has she ended up here?

Finally, she pushed her way out from the alley into a courtyard or perhaps even a town center between several front-facing buildings.

Quinn was surprised to note that the sun had made it further down than she'd anticipated. It had taken her longer than she thought to make it to the end of the alley. Maybe now the lights would come on. If the sun hadn't actually set yet, then it made sense that they were perhaps conserving energy...

The sun's orange and crimson light reached through the trees and past the buildings in front of her like fingers made of blood grasping to hold onto something, anything. It was a sentiment she echoed fiercely.

She caught a faint scent of iron, but it was gone just as quickly as the bloody imagery. The sun was simply the sun, setting like it did everywhere and plunging the world into twilight.

Just as she was about to turn away and see if she could find somewhere to beg for food, something flickered in the corner of her vision. Quinn turned to the right and squinted. There, just beyond the building the sun set behind, she saw the rear of a cat with its raised tail as it sauntered into another alleyway. Even from this distance, she could see it wasn't bony like most of the people around here, which meant the dark creature had to know something humans didn't. It meant there had to be food somewhere nearby.

And for a short moment, she could have sworn it flashed purple.

Quinn thought about it only for a second, weighing her options. With electricity being a sorely missing component, she had no idea how anything worked here. She was almost seventeen and she wasn't aware how things were handled in places like this, but as a teenage girl, she'd learned long ago to look after herself. And the first rule of that was caution.

The flash had led her to the village, she'd trust the cat to lead her elsewhere. Hopefully with a baked potato at the end of the path.

After all, cats were predators but also scavengers, and if luck could stick with her just a bit longer, Quinn was quite certain she'd be able to find some sort of scraps.

Cats were nothing if resourceful. And Quinn had no problem using that.

Plus, sometimes they could be cute too. And warm.

Even with her jacket the chill picked through it now the sun was behind the horizon. Cuddling a cat would bring much-needed warmth.

It wasn't like it would be the first time she'd eaten rat.

Maybe if the cat ended up warming up to her, it could help her hunt for better meals. But Quinn checked her thoughts. 

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She whispered to the night air. Follow the cat. Get food. Figure out how the hell I ended up here when I was just trying to eat in the park.

That sounded like a solid list.

Crossing the town square, as fast as she could and still remain in the shadow of the buildings. This was the very definition of a small village. If it was anything like back home, they'd probably be suspicious of strangers. Best to keep herself as hidden as possible.

The cat was definitely moving much slower than usual cats. It's dark glowing purple was almost soothing, and it appeared to maybe have dark stripes too.

Perhaps it was getting ready to pounce on prey or something. Still, it was moving so slowly that she traveled even more cautiously. Just in case she needed to be ready for anything.

Now with the sun down, the next alleyway she approached was even darker than it had been. Something thrummed under foot, just for a moment, snagging at her memory like something she should know. One thing after the other. First, the cat. 

A faint purple glow suffused his fur about twenty feet away. Perhaps he wasn't fully a cat. Maybe he had some sort of mystic mix in him that made the sunset cause his fur to glow. Or maybe he was just a glow cat. Who knew what this place had.

Because she'd slowly come to realize it probably wasn't Earth.

She pinched herself again and suppressed a slightly terrified laugh at the fact that she was definitely wide awake.

The cat continued to walk at that slow, deliberate pace. Almost like he was stalking prey.

The ground beneath her was dustier than the previous alleys she'd been down. Every now and again her feet would crunch over something that sounded startlingly loud, and caused some of the dust to blow up close enough that she got a whiff of it.

While she couldn't see what color it was, she knew instinctually that it was beige, with undertones of dry brown and rot. There was a festering stench to the dust that blew up around her. It smelled a lot heavier than it felt. Portions of it contained withered disease, no longer potent, but still related. Then there was a smidgen of death blended in with it. Because darkened alleys were where the weak went to die. 

Her eyes, now accustomed to her surroundings, picked up on larger brick blocks in the walls, with even worse moss and mold growing out of the walls. 

The scent of a bog caught on the wind, and she shuddered, hoping the cat wasn't headed out there to make himself a meal.

Or make her a meal. 

Because how could she really tell in this town that was nothing like her modern, electrically powered home.

She blinked as the cat half rounded a corner too far ahead of her, and pulled her hand away from the wall, ready to run after it if she had to.

Only to have it caught by a calloused and greasy hand. Considering the latter she thought she could wrench it free, but the grip only tightened.

It was only quick thinking that saved her from being immediately dragged in through the doorway as she braced herself against it with her free hand.

"What 'ave we 'ere?" The guttural voice was low and rough, and the breath that exited rivaled the stench of the alleyway itself. 

Her brief time as a runaway kicked in. "Get your hands off me!" She leveled a tone that could have curdled milk.

But he only tried to tighten his grip. "Well, well..."

Quinn twisted in his grasp, moving to dislodge the grip just as a sudden movement darted out of the shadows, landing squarely on top of her temporary captor's head. A yowl that sounded nothing like a common cat, and more like a lynx emanated from the flashing purple and black fur that didn't hold still as it scratched at the man's face.

Taking her chance, Quinn darted away, back into the alley. Away from her captor, and sadly away from the dim light he'd shed. She had to get out of there, so she raced toward where she thought she'd seen the cat disappear earlier.

But once she'd rounded that corner she stopped.

Where she thought the cat had disappeared?

No, not that... the cat, the lynx... whatever that purple and black thing was, it had saved her.

How, on earth, had it known to come back and help her stop that man from taking her?

Maybe it was planning on making her its snack?

Taking a few halting steps as she gripped the wall to guide her, her mind was in turmoil. Was she perhaps feverish? She'd never had a fever in her life, so she wasn't sure how that should feel, but if it truly felt like nothing made sense, then this was, indeed a fever.

But her forehead felt like it always did. 

She gripped the wall and realized that she had come to a doorway.

This one was proper, with a lip for the step and everything. But the door itself felt wooden and half broken and patched with other pieces of wood. Like it hadn't been used in a very long time.

The cat saved me was the only thought on repeat in her mind. Saved by a damned purple cat.

There was a brush of something soft against her leg, and she barely stifled the scream in time as she realized it was a cat brushing up at her.

Bending down she offered her hand for it to sniff, wishing she could see it in a better light. It allowed her to scratch behind its wonderful large ears. Frankly the creature was much larger than she'd thought. Like a medium dog really. "Thanks for doing that boy. I think I've used up my luck that following you brought me, eh? Thanks for the save."

She stood up and stretched, leaning lightly against the door trying to figure out her next step.

"Well come on then."

Quinn choked down a gasp and looked around frantically, even at the door behind her, wondering where the voice came from. A paw patted her ankle, and she didn't want to look down, not at all. Looking down would mean that she'd finally lost sense of everything. That everything she'd fought for was for naught because she'd finally started talking to herself.

"Come on. I know you're not that dense."

This time though, she gulped, and let out the breath she was holding in hopes that she'd wake from a dream. And then she looked down into bright white-blue glowing eyes of her rescue cat.

The large feline purred ever so briefly when she didn't break eye contact. "There. That's better. Now would you kindly open my door?"

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Even here I love Lynx