LSRO: Chapter 294 - Cementing the Memories (Patreon)

Soooo I hope this clears up any confusion. Chroniclers are integral to the way the universe works in the Library universe. This is an important opportunity. Yeah. I think that works.

Anyhu... I'm not overly sure what to say about this one, except that I hope you enjoy it.

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Chapter 30

Cementing the Memories

Quinn blinked again. But he was still there. Large as life, which was pretty damn big, all things considered. She’d never seen Carafax’s quills in the sunlight, but they glinted with the occasional golden highlight, giving him a light dappled look. The slothilis smiled gently at her, as if he had all the patience in the world.

Her imminent danger gut feeling faded and gave way to relief. Perhaps she was just supposed to remember to visit this small island. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked, even as she felt Malakai scanning the area warily, Aradie flying over them with a deep hoot, and Geneva and Lynx practically vibrating with nervousness next to her. 

Something about the image flickered. “I am not precisely here, Librarian. I do apologize.”

She barely resisted the urge to rub at her eyes again, and just took in the slightly grainy appearance of the chronicler in front of her. “How am I seeing you right now, then?” She couldn’t pick up anything substantial when scanning him, either. The system just glitched. She wasn’t entirely sure if she should be worried about that. Her gut feelings appeared to have taken a hiatus.

Quinn feels torn between action and inaction. Surely there’s something she’d supposed to do here.

Carafax chuckled in that languid way of his. The large, all-knowing eyes took in all of them. “I’m not actually here. This is a memory of myself , though I am glad you are here now, as otherwise I would have had to refresh this enchantment soon.”

Looking around herself, Quinn realized the tent was larger than it was last time, and she can glimpse past the slothilis to see there are no remains on the little cot, although it’s still there. Suspicions tickle at the back of her mind, but aren’t reinforced by her usual sense of foreboding. In fact, her sensory abilities aren’t picking up anything untoward. She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes, trying to see if the net catches a glimpse of aura or anything else.

Carafax’s smile stayed on his face. I left this copy of myself here eon my last hiatus from the Library a couple of months ago. I had assumed you’d make it here much earlier than now, but am still relieved to see that you did make it back. Magical signatures are one of the few things we can trace definitively. I am glad you realized this."

“And that’s why you’re here?” Malakai asked this time. Quinn could hear the skepticism practically dripping off the words.

“Yes, and no. There are...” The image paused, as if it was searching for the correct phrasing. 

But Geneva spoke up before he could say anything else. “What is a chronicler doing out of your jurisdiction? You would have had to come here in the first place.”

Carafax’s eyes twinkled, but not in a realistic way, sort of like a recording. “Chroniclers may travel. We are not assigned a place and never leave. There were messages left here, echoes of occurrences, especially magical ones that weren’t fully investigated.”

Quinn felt a wave of guilt wash over her. It had been one of her first excursions. One where she hadn’t understood much of what she was doing.

It was like Carafax’s visage could understand that. Or whatever he was. “I do not mean that as a slight, Librarian. I mean that as an important piece of information for you.”

“We came for the signatures.” Lynx sounded defensive, and Aradie swooped down to sit on Quinn’s shoulder, hooting like an exclamation mark.

“But time dissipates them. They are here, in a much better concentration.” Carafax hesitated before handing over a small satchel. “Do not put them in dimensional storage. It will corrupt the signature.”

Quinn squinted at him. “How are you able to hold that if you’re just a memory?”

“You haven’t got around to the memory control portion of your mind training yet. Milaro will tell you in good time.” He said with measured words.

But it was Malakai who shuffled forward to take the satchel. It clinkered sweetly, proof there were several glass sample bottles in there.

Geneva hovered, and Quinn could practically feel the nervous energy rolling off her. “What aren’t you telling us?”

The Firionas asked a question Quinn hadn’t had the guts to ask yet.

But Carafax frowned. “Ask Jasper to help you with the tracking of those...”

“She’s dead.” Quinn didn’t even realize she was going to speak, but once she did, the dispassionate tone of her voice startled her.

Carafax’s memory blinked. “I apologize. It has been a while since I placed this memory here. I am sorry for this loss.”

Quinn nodded. There was so much she had to ask. “How are you able to be so direct? Everything you’ve usually helped me with has been in hints and puzzles and figuring out things ourselves.”

But he flickered once more and held up a hand, as if to forestall a barrage of questions. “There is limited time now I am active, but there are things you must know. First. I am able to tell you because...” He cocked his head to one side as if referencing something. “Because others, shall we say, have broken rules.”

“Rules?” Quinn blurted out.

“Rules that govern how the universe works.”

Quinn suppressed a groan. This was more like Carafax. Superbly cryptic. She waited for him to continue.

“Because of this. The chroniclers have some leeway. That is likely the best term. With Jasper’s death, it might even open up more.” His eyes glowed briefly before he continued. “You do, in fact, have two opponents. Ones that wish to destroy the Library, and ones who wish to commandeer it.”

“Commandeer? Take over? Usurp?” Lynx asked, his eyes flickering, his runes erratic.

“Precisely the definition,” Carafax said without an inflection of facial movement, and then continued. “I am here because the Library is not safe. Safe communication within the Library is no longer guaranteed. Mind speech has never been one of my fortes. It is not something I felt comfortable attempting. Thus I am here. I found new information, contradictory information to that which has been set up within the Library. Bringing this book into the Library with me would alert those who do not with it found. However, the Librarian, especially one such as yourself, has a personal force-field around her. You must keep this information safe. Do you understand?”

Quinn shook her head. “Not entirely. You wish me to take what information and keep it safe? Can we discuss it, read it, what do we need to keep it away from?” So many freaking questions.

Momentary flickers ran through Carafax, and Quinn could have sworn his visage was beginning to fade. “I am unsure where your skills are. Reinforce your office. Use your heritage to do so if necessary. Keep it that way.”

“Got it,” She took the satchel off Malakai and slung it over her shoulder. “Anything else?”

Carafax offered her a smile. “You grow less in danger, but it is still dangerous. These signatures are taken from the tree, the esposian walkways, the attack point, and this camp. They are marked and should hold sufficient strength of magic to track. You will need to use the ritual circle in the Library, if you can.”

Quinn nodded, making notes mentally. She was glad the others were there. Right now her paranoia ran rampant enough that she didn’t believe making notes into her HUD was a good idea.

“Find what is hidden. Find who is hidden. Find the heart of the matter.”

Quinn blinked at him. He’d never been quite this cryptic before.

“Deep down, you know who you can trust.” He said the words softly, locking his projected eyes with Quinn’s while holding an odd intensity for a memory. “Analyse everything, everyone, and you will find the inconsistencies. Remember that everything has a source.”

There was a pause, a brief gust of wind that fluttered the tent around him.

“It is too dangerous for you to speak to me about this at the Library. This exception will not have been welcomed.”

And then he was gone.

Quinn wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. She’d meant to ask him where the bones were, where the body had gone. Why he’d chosen this specific island to come to instead of... but then again, at lease this place didn’t have the stench of rot and death lingering around it. 

“That was... unexpected.” Geneva said, her expression thoughtful. “I’ve always loved the slothilis. Chroniclers are notorious for being cryptic. This one was no exception.”

“Yeah,” Quinn still watched the crack in the front of the tent where the flap blew. Not for the first time, she wished they could use the tent flap as a launch point to get back in the Library. She’d always liked Carafax, and at first when she saw him here, she’d been worried he wasn’t on their side, that he’d lured them here for a nefarious reason.

Not that he’d been waiting there for them in person. 

“What did he mean? Others have broken the rules?” Malakai asked. 

“I’m sure they’ve broken some rules. It seems very much like a - these people are being bad sort of thing,” Quinn answered absently. Her mind wasn’t there. She ran over every single word he’d said, trying to find more of a hint than the cryptic. Cementing the memories so she could recall it and dissect it later when she had time in her office. She could freeze her memories now and work through them. This whole conversation had multiple layers of meaning to it, and Quinn would figure it all out.

Already compartmentalizing, she catalogued the final surroundings. Noting the firepit, the strange little pond. How nothing had changed except the tent being larger, and the bones being missing.

She glanced over at her friends who were scouting in their own way, making sure they hadn’t missed anything else. 

“We should get going.” She said suddenly. The breeze brought an air of unease with it. She crinkled her nose, suddenly certain they’d almost outstayed their welcome.

“Across and back to the...” But then she remembered her impossibly large power pool. She recalled her massive amount of mana. And all the affinities she had. “Bugger it. I’m taking us directly back to the Library fro here.”

Lynx raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

Quinn nodded, because all of a sudden, she was certain she could do this. Glancing around, wrapping her power around her, she sought out the best surface. Which, it turned out, was the tent flap. Mal would have to duck through it, but he’d live.

She touched the fabric and muttered ‘solidify’ under her breath. It obliged in the same second it also followed her ‘create a door’ command. Creaks echoed around her, battling her will as it created a small five and a half foot tall door. The fabric stretched, giving it the grooves equal to the ones that led into her office. A part of her could tell it wouldn’t hold indefinitely, but they had a good few minutes to get into the Library. This was akin to the doors Escadril could create. The one that took him to his death.

Quinn sighed, and placed her palm on the outside of her makeshift door, its creation barely having tapped into any of her mana at all. “Library, I need you,” she whispered into it. 

It wasn’t the first time she’d meant every syllable of the words.

She hit the ground into her office and immediately began warding it, even before anyone had followed her through. Her mind stretched, grasping at all the details Carafax’ memory had mentioned. She expanded her quarters by sheer force of will, the Library obliging her. 

Pushing her own power into the shielding, she kept it thick around the entire circumference of the room. Not to mention the outer walls. Quinn extended her heritage that far too, making sure anyone who wanted entry would have to pass her stringent list for access.

And then she sat down at her desk and looked at the others in front of her. “We’re going to be in here a while for me to attune the room to me and those I trust.”

Mal sat on the couch, Lynx hopped up on the sofa, Aradie flew to her perch, and Geneva crossed her legs and sat at the corner of the desk. None of them seemed perturbed. They all took her at her word.

Quinn grinned and began to make her list, with those four at the top of it.

Carafax was right. She knew who she could trust, deep down, if she analyzed everything. Now she just had to admit it to herself and set the shielding appropriately.

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Well, I liked the chapter hahaha

I hope you did.

Quinn has work to do

Much love

KT