Stay Put

You thought about wandering off for just a moment, but those thoughts pass when you hear that getting lost in the side halls could take days or maybe weeks. At least you were given some semblance of food at the Minotaur camp. If you got lost in the temple, who knows when or if you would be able to eat or drink. It was not like the wilds where you could forage. Oddly enough, something as laughable as getting lost in a library for days was actually starting to seem quite menacing.

You stepped forward between Lyla and Virise. “Hi.”

They turned. Lyla nodded. Virise spoke reassuringly. “We are figuring out what to do, right now, Eve. You are fine.”

“Why's it important to find Lore?”

They both turned in response to the question. “Oh. You don't remember.” Lyla commented, as if it had come up for the first time.

Virise motioned around at the high walls with shelves upon shelves. “This place is kind of like an 'homage' to the Writer Synra's Library. It was created by our Great Master, but for the opposite purpose to the Primal.” She offered vaguely.

“Anyway, the reason Lore is important is that girl is like the 'Librarian.' She tends to the 'books' and their inhabitants. She knows almost everything about anything that is in here.”

Something struck you. “Why was my research considered novel if there's a library with everything and a person that knows all of it?”

Virise laughed. “Oh, it is not that kind of library.” She took your hand and floated up to one of the third story shelves. Even though you had no idea how to levitate, you found yourself weightless as the sylph-like woman took your hand and carried you up. She smiled gently and spoke in a motherly tone.

“Do not read anything other than the title by accident. I will not open it, just look.” As Virise withdrew one of the tomes you stared at it.

“It's the Tale of the Black Crater Marauders: Cao Cao” You commented.

“The Black Crater Marauders were a band of thieves that gave themselves to various entities for power, and thus lost their humanity. They had one-hundred members and...” She motioned up towards the shelf.

“There are one-hundred tomes here.”

“One for each bandit? They all got a story written about them? Isn't that a bit more than they deserve?”

“I agree, in essence, however it is not that kind of book.” She slid it back into the shelf carefully. It is not that they had these stories written about them. They are the stories. Each member of their clan was hunted and bound. Their entire life was written into the Tome as per the invocation and they ceased to be anything, save for a memory. Their effect on the world is now a footnote and that is the fate of...” She floated with you away from the shelf, allowing you to take in just how many shelves and how many books there were.

“So many.” You marveled.

“But... You were going to kill that whole tribe of Minotaur. You weren't turning them into books.”

Virise sighed. “Sometimes we do not have time and some of us do not fully believe in this practice.” She stared pointedly down at Lyla.

“When you were yourself, you believed fully in our Master's ideology. Some might say to an even greater extent than her...” She trailed off at that sentence, leaving you hanging as to what she meant.

“We are not punished for doing what we believe to be correct. Overall, our purpose is to advance our Cultivation and use it to do good for Aoia.”

“Some of the average people don't have the best opinions about Cultivators. They're scared of us.” It felt strange saying 'us' but you felt it undeniable that you were with them, at least in body and in your past.

Virise nodded. She began to bring you both down. “Yes. It is to be expected. To be a Cultivator under the Great Master is to be above even the Emperor of this land. We are not the only Cultivators, there are many more schools and Masters and such, but we are the greatest, because we have the Greatest Master.” As she finished her speech you both landed gently back on the ground. Lyla was looking around impatiently.

“Where the hell is she!?”

“Patience.” Virise advised.

You took a few steps forward and found something out of place. It was a tome that was laying on the ground near one of the central shelves. You picked it up as the two girls argued and looked at the cover to see the title. 'Lore.' A book titled that was a bit on the nose and general, but considering the name of the person they were looking for and the explanation given about the tomes, you were able to infer what it was. You turned around.

“I found this book titled 'Lore.'”

“Oh for the love of-” Lyla gritted her teeth.

“Again? She's going to actually be lost forever at some point! Does she not get that?”

“Who knows.” Virise lifted her thin glasses and rubbed her eyes.

“Eve, dear. Please read a few lines.”

“But you said-”

“This one is fine.” Virise reassured you.

“From anywhere?” You asked. She smiled and offered a short nod. You opened the tome and wondered what would happen when you found a random place and began to read a few words. Before you could reach a full sentence the tome slipped through your fingers like sand before disappearing completely. Just as you were worried you killed Lore, a short, orange-haired girl appeared in front of you. She covered her mouth and yawned.

“Eve?” She uttered quietly. Lore stretched and wiggled her body beneath her loose, dark robe.

“Welcome back.” She offered comfortably, closing the distance to make a very poor attempt at hugging you. You gave your poor attempt to embrace her back, but it was short lived. The two of you were separated quickly by Lyla.

“The hell were you thinking!?” Lyla demanded.

Lore sighed deeply. “Forgot where I left my favorite pen, so thought I'd just write myself into a Tome to re-live where I put it instead of havin' to strain my brain to remember...” As she said that her pointed ears perked. Lore walked past you and squatted down to the lower shelf. She stood up, returning with an average-looking fountain pen.

“T'was here all along.” She remarked happily.

You covered your mouth, trying not to chuckle, since Virise and Lyla looked quite upset. Lore was a short girl with shoulder-length orange hair and bronze eyes. She had one very apparent grouping of orange strands that stuck up embarrassingly before curling back down like a question mark. She had a slender, yet boyish frame from what you could see, and you could not see much because she wore the loosest and least-fitted robes that you had seen. Beneath the black and red you could just barely make out the straps of something tight and white.

“What's the issue?” You asked curiously.

“That's what I'm sayin', Eve.” Lore remarked.

“When you get turned into a Tome it's nothin' bad. You just relive all the things you've done over and over again like they are happenin' all over again. I use it when I need to remember somethin' I forgot.”

“One of these days, as Lyla said, you will not be found. Worse yet, perhaps someone will come along with know-how and modify the text...” Virise warned gravely.

You noticed Lore blush subtle and scratch her cheek. You lifted a brow. “What happens if the text is modified?”

Lore looked at you in shock. “Why're YOU of all people askin' us that, Eve? Wait...” She took a few full steps back while holding her head.

“Oh damn I forgot!”

“She lost her memory and we need you to verify she is alright.” Virise explained.

Lore stared at you cautiously, inching forward. Her eyes trailed up your body from your feet to your head.

“Gonna need you to strip- Ow!” She was slapped on the back of the head swiftly by Lyla.

“No you don't.” The girl affirmed.

“Okay okay, fine.” She inhaled deeply, her bronze eyes beginning to stare seriously into you, not at you. Her tone grow more formal.

“I can read into the text that is your life. Your memory. If you're fooling us Eve, speak now or be branded a traitor...” Lore Warned. You began to sweat as she inched forward, closer and closer. Her face came close to yours. If she was right your memory of not being Eve, of being from another world, all of that would come to light. Suddenly Lore leaned back and huffed lazily.

“Actual amnesia? I got nothin', then. So borin'.”

“So she really doesn't remember anything?” Lyla smiled widely. Excitement leaked into her tone.

Lore shrugged. “If she was Scriven and tryin' to pull one over on us I'd see it. Eve's alright, I'm guessin' old Synra just messed with her head when she got nothin' out of her.”

“I see.” Virise's eyes widened.

“Eve actually escaped the Grasp of the Writer.”

“I'm sorry.” You raised your hand nervously.

“Who are we talking about, here?”

Lyla moved closer to you and rested a hand on your shoulder. “Some of our more pessimistic members thought you had gone over to Synra. She's our Master's natural enemy and the main one who we were taught to be wary of. She has a library like this, only it's full of the Tomes of those that have made deals with her. When she writes you into one of them you become Scriven and are **** to do her bidding.”

“I am guessing what happened was, Synra thought she had a good catch in one of our Master's favored disciples. Eve was more than she bargained for and so in frustration she scratched out what she could from our Eve and dropped her in one of the Primals famous temper tantrums. Only our Great Master will know what truly went down, but for now it seems our girl has been through a lot.” Virise stared at you with a warmth you did not feel like you deserved.

“I- I don't understand... I don't feel like any of that happened. I don't even-”

Lore looked at you. “The Writer plays with your mind. Affects your thoughts and memories and alters them. Her pryin' took a toll on you, Eve. You'll be rememberin' stuff that isn't real, or thinkin' back to stuff that should be familiar but isn't. It's horrible, but we're here for you.”

“Wait...” You cringed. If that was true, any of your memories could be fake. The ones about you being from another world. That whole life. You felt it strange that you shared a name with the person that you inhabited. Was it really just this 'Writer' messing with you?

“Oh god... I'm not quite sure who I am anymore. I feel like-” You paused. You were not sure what you could say but these girls all seemed to have a favorable past with you. In fact, it felt like they were downright biased in your favor in spite of everything.

“Like I'm not even from this world. I remember a whole other life on another world.”

None of them looked the least bit surprised or worried. Virise smirked. “Silly. If you were from another world you would be a Core Beast. That would be extremely clear to us.”

Lore chimed in. “If you were workin' with Synra, or one of hers, I'd see that.”

“Also... I know Eve and I just feel like it's you.” Lyla offered last.

“We'll help bring you back. That Primal Bitch wont have you.” She added, turning around before you could fully see her eyes becoming misty. She crossed her arms and looked down.

“You guys... Thank you.” You remarked. Whoever you really were, you felt grateful that these three seemed to be on your side no matter what.

“What would have happened if you found the taint of that Writer person on me?” You asked.

“Oh, we would have left no trace of you whatsoever.” Virise claimed. The others nodded in agreement. You gulped.

“Not even a tome.”

Lore smiled. “When the Great Master gets back from Trysk she'll confirm what we already know about Eve.” You stood by, listening nervously. You were completely uncertain, about everything. You did not carry the confidence in yourself that they had of you.

“What was she doing in Trysk?” Lyla questioned.

Virise shook her head. “Apparently there was a Turais that was going to appear there at some hall for Guild candidates. With or without that person she said she would return soon.”

Lyla whistled. “Wow. When did the last Turais live? I can see how she would feel it's so important, now.”

As they conversed casually over things that definitely did not concern you, you began to feel anxiety creeping back. You passed the initial tests, but a figure known as the 'Great Master' that was above Emperors in the land you were in, was going to return to assess you. If she found you lacking it was very possible that there would be no trace of you left, just as Virise said. They would feel no remorse for you, in stark contradiction to the feelings they showed before.

* * *

Schedule - Patron release here https://www.patreon.com/TVWintergreen | Extra Tier - Tuesday | All Patrons - Friday

CHYOA Release - Tuesday