LSRO: Chapter 341 CORRECTED - Willpower (Patreon)

Hey all

Had a wee mini family crisis pop up over the last few days. So this (which, coincidentally also includes family) was harder for me to reformulate than I'd thought it would be.

I think I've fit Dru and Driv in quite nicely - and I've tweaked multiple elements of the chapter to be stronger.

I think it reads much better and is stronger.

Thank you all for bearing with me.

Hope you like this version better. I know I do. Onto more chapters tomorrow!

~~

Chapter 4

Willpower

Rage welled up in Quinn so fast it was all she could do keep the simmering anger inside. Jasper’s killer stood in front of her with a cheeky smile, with a beating heart. It took every single ounce of willpower not to launch herself at the other dragon with abandon. 

The Library rumbled in response to her attempt at tamping down on the raging power within, leaving them all to balance through the aftershocks. Dro’s eyes widened in response at first, and then she scowled, watching Quinn closely.

Another drop of green goop fell from Dro’s nails and made a distinct plopping sound when it hit the ground. It pulled Quinn completely out of the anger-filled pit she’d been teetering on the edge of. 

She slammed down a set of shields around the intruders before they could separate and make any attacks. There were only half a dozen or so who’d accompanied Dro... after all, it wasn’t as if the Library could keep out one of its siblings. Their magic had also gone into creating the Library, and thus was attuned to the wards even if it didn’t give them access.

A glint of blue and gold dragon scales rippled across the surface of the shield, reinforcing the transparent walls like it did Quinn’s body. But as it hardened, a mist formed within the cell, she’d created. It dissipated quickly, revealing that Dro wasn’t even inside the cell.

“Na, ah, ahhh,” she said mockingly from beside it as she morphed back into view. “That won’t hold me. It wouldn’t hold any cosmicisodracus. Have they taught you nothing?”

The derision in her voice grated on Quinn’s mood. The Librarian was surprised at how much she just wanted to smash that dragon’s face in. But she wasn’t quite so far gone that she’d give in to the temptation. Dro was eons older than her. 

“Not speaking to me, poppet?” A flash of red passed through Dro’s eyes, and she sneered. “Did I break one of your toys?”

Quinn gritted her teeth, pushing down on the anger and seeking a calm space in her mind. She refused to give in to these mind games. There was nothing to be gained by losing her cool and acting without thinking everything through.

Instead, she took in the area. This hall was wide as it led to the elevators. She accessed the system, disabling the elevators as they were, and initiated a seal over the stair entrance. All the while she maintained as stony a gaze as she could manage and fielded a plethora of ways to make Dro pay in one of her mind compartments. It helped her maintain an outward cool and focus.

All the while around the Library the attackers were being driven back. She could sense it as doors began to close. But instead of being happy, it made her wary. Surely Dravishk and his sister hadn’t planned this without contingency plans.

But she couldn’t sense him anywhere around. Perhaps this was a decoy from something else. Although all the readings running through her mind assured her that in this instance, there weren’t any hidden entrance pockets with more troops. 

Since nothing was concealed from her anymore, Quinn could also watch the repair of Ashiron, as it happened in real time with golems working on it. The Library was about to hit full power again; the golems were all legitimate and not some tainted version; the Librarian and manifestation were now operating at optimal levels thanks to the Library finally reuniting with all of its personality. But the question remained: where was the Library right now? And was it up to taking part in this fight?

It’d been mere seconds, but it seemed Dro didn’t want her prime target to be distracted by anyone but her. The cosmicisodracus slammed the hilt of a long-bladed weapon... which the system informed Quinn was a double-bladed halberd, into the ground, causing it to rumble ever so slightly, and glared at her. “Your attention is to be with me!”

Aradie squawked at that statement and then hooted angrily. Milaro raised an eyebrow, Malakai drew his bow, and Quinn really wished Lynx had come with them. Even as she thought that, he popped back into view, purple and black runes writhing around him.

And then Drukala and Drivok stepped out from behind Milaro, crossed their arms, and glared at their sibling.

It was only after the last three appeared that Dro seemed to lose some of her gusto. Her gaze narrowed, and she frowned. “You can’t fight me, manifestation. Your solidity is imagined.”

Lynx actually laughed, and a big cheshire cat type grin spread across his face. 

Before Quinn’s eyes, her oldest friend in this Library, which wasn’t really saying much all things considered, expanded until he was about the size of Uncle Hal, with clawed feet and lynx ears. The runes swirled in hypnotic fashion along his entire body now, not just through his hair, and his brilliant purple eyes bled out a bright glow that reminded her of the spatter of blood at crime scenes. Droplets scattered, and everywhere they touched, a hornet sprouted, also purple and wreathed in tiny runes.

“That’s not... you’re just a manifestation.” Dro practically spluttered.

Quinn tried not to gape too widely as Lynx shrugged. “Might want to look up that definition.”

“I was here when you were created. We went through so many before you.” Dro had apparently forgotten her ire in the wake of her disbelief.

“True. But now that my handicap is gone. I’m very much my own being.” His eyes glowed again, and more hornets appeared as the light of his eyes flickered out again.

“This is ridiculous! You can’t change the rules.”

“But you can?” Milaro asked mildly.

Quinn knew he was old, but he was much younger than one of the siblings. She worried for him. All the while they kept her busy, she was fortifying and directing the Library. Sealing any way down to the filtration chamber from intruders, including by reinforcing the ground they stood on. She pushed more power into the doors. Since they weren’t currently using any for the dimensional travel, it was easy enough to allocate power to keeping the stasis areas solidly in stasis. 

In the meantime, she boosted the battle prowess of all golems, and anyone bound to the Library like the assistants.

Dro roared. “Fine, we’ll see about changing the rules.” She flexed, and a flood of power began to pour out of her. 

And then it stopped.

Dro blinked and repeated the process again, only to be met with a wall she couldn’t push the power past.

“Did you really forget about us, sister dear?” Drukala drawled and gestured to her fading scars. “I haven’t forgotten about you recently.”

Dro growled deep in her throat, attempting whatever transformation spell she’d tried, a third time. Quinn could tell what type of ability it was, and yet not precisely what it did.

Drivok summoned flames that he wound around his arms like a snake. He looked and sounded bored when he spoke. “Temper, temper, Dro. You always did have a short fuse. Probably not the best to try to transform in here. The dimensional shifts will work against you, just like we decided so long ago.”

This time Dro looked less confident, and her flex of transformation this time wasn’t as bold. The sheer frustration on her face was almost comical.

“If you do it again, I’ll just siphon the power off you,” Quinn said matter-of-factly even if she wasn’t entirely sure that was something she could do.

Even if she wasn’t able to use all her power within the Library, the power she could use was vast. Dro growled again, but then her eyes calmed down, and her expression became thoughtful. She glanced at her siblings first and then her gaze settled on Quinn, the animosity somewhat tempered by curiosity. “This isn’t how I remember it. Is it you? Have you somehow changed the makeup of magic in here with your not quite cosmicisodracus makeup?”

Quinn shook her head. “Nothing’s changed that I’m aware of.” She pushed more power into the shielded cell so that the intruders were still contained.

Dro moved her weight from one foot to the other, a thoughtful look overcoming her face.

“Did you really think we’d be defenseless?” Milaro asked, his words genuinely curious.

She shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d be as prepared as this, able to put up such a solid defense.” The dragon sounded mildly amused while somewhat impressed. Then she shook her head. “No matter though. This will come to an end whether you like it or not. Eventually, you’ll have to give up.”

This time, Quinn shook her head. “Nope. I’ve become rather attached to this place. I hate having to move.”

Dro threw back her head and laughed. While she was outnumbered by far, Quinn had no doubt that if her magic wasn’t somehow restricted here, and she was still trying to find out how, then they’d have a battle on their hands she wasn’t certain they could win without destroying elements they didn’t want to. While she was aware, they were two and a half cosmicisodracus versus one… she definitely didn’t want to destroy the Library in the process of winning. She had no doubt that a full-on sibling fight between multiple cosmicisodracus would be mega destructive.

A sentiment Dro did not share.

Quinn was still trying to figure out if there was a way to restrict the automatic access the cosmicisodracus appeared to have.

And where the bloody hell had Drevicia gone when they needed it. Maybe the taste of freedom had been too much.

Finally, Dro finished laughing and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Seriously. You’re all just too much. You sincerely think you stand a chance against me.”

The effort at bravado was solid, and yet Quinn could feel the slight tremor in the words.

Just as Quinn was about to quip back at her aunt, she felt a slight shift in the wards, but nothing that set off alarms; in fact, all it did was make her grin.

“I think we definitely have a chance against you.” Drevicia spoke, its true humanoid form forming as if from mist to stand right in front of its sister. “In fact. I believe I have more than a chance.”

“You!” Dro practically snarled.

“My, you have lost all manners in the last hundred thousand years or so. You’re looking a little peakish, sister dear.”

Quinn wasn’t entirely sure that Drevicia should be taunting the dragon who’d just broken in, but so far Dro hadn’t attacked, so maybe it was okay.

Dro roared again, flexing as she did so, and the power swelled, until it stopped short once again. She screamed in frustration.

“Oh sister dear, did you forget?” Drevicia’s tone dripped with condescension.

“Forget?” Dro sneered.

“You can’t take on your true dragon form in the Library.” Then Drevicia paused before continuing. “Unless you want to take on the mini version? I mean, we won’t mind; it’d make you decidedly cute for once.”

Dro paled, as if she had indeed forgotten that. And then she rallied again. “I don’t need my dragon form to take you down. Once I find the backdoor, you’re all dead.”

Finally, the other form clopped into place just behind them. Heat enveloped Quinn like a warm hug.

“I don’t think so,” Uncle Hal said, his voice booming through the space. “I’m rather partial to my Library and my little egg. I’d like to get out some of my aggression. I’ve been irritable since someone took my prisoner from me prematurely.” His eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

If it were possible, Dro paled even more.

Quinn had never been happier to see Uncle Hal.

~~

Am now not ambivelent about the chapter. Now I like it.

Much love.

KT