Atomos: Interlude 2
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The main party takes it leave following the directions of the librarian. This allowing Tirstania slip out from behind the group to start seeking her own direction in the library
The Dryad has some time; and she's not about to pass up an opportunity of this magnitutde, especially since she seems not to be needed with the group. They'll fill her in later. She begins to wander on her own, gazing at the various tomes as she passes by them; she knows what she's looking for, more or less, but finding it may be another matter.
Giggles, very familiar giggles can be heard a few rows of books down. The current section of book is a verity of titles but nothing relating to anything interesting.
Tritania's eyebrow perks upwards behind her mask; she turns, and bare feet carry her around the corner, to peer at where her sister is busy... giggling, at something. The dryad crosses her arms, and inclines her head. "Rydia," she intones. "What is it, that is so amusing?"
Only when Rydia is found she seems well to be in ther thirties, taller, and a full fledged woman. She turns and glances back to Tristania with sad syes, "Sister." eyes leveling on Tristania and still wears no mask. "What you seek here will set you on the path you seek, but there are prices that must be paid. The price for this knowledge is high, but I am one of the choosen of Andromeda. I can guide you to this path. I cannot tell you the price, only that it is high and painful. Will you pay this price?"
About to say something else, Tristania looks wholly taken aback. She gazes at Rydia, looking her up and down, top to bottom. "...This is an illusion, or a trick of the library," she murmurs. "Is it? I am correct? ...You cannot possibly have skipped a portion of your life and aged so quickly." Her voice sounds both hopeful, and an ounce... fearful, all at once. The question asked of her, she doesn't answer, just yet.
Rydia offers sad smile, "I live both as the innocent girl you know, and as the woman you see before you. My past and my future sometimes get confused with each other. Makes dinner parties such a hassel." The joke slipping out before she turns serious again, "This is no illusion. Time in the library is not as static as it is int he prime material, and I am certain my younger version is helping my very confused daughter with her homework." A touch of a smile before the sad expression returns. "What is your answer?"
Tristania closess her eyes, and sighs heavily. "I'll make the sacrifice," she murmurs. "Doesn't matter what it is, Rydia. I already lost my grove, it withered and died one tree at a time while I watched, helpless to stop it. It tore my heart asunder, and there remains only one thing in the world that I truely care for; and that's you. So if I can make a sacrifice to stop the same fate befalling you, I'll make it."
"And that is the sacrifice that is made. Tristania, from this day forward you will never cross paths with me again. To save my sister, this is the choice I have made as well Tristania. I am here to set you on the path you will walk anyways, and I hope this time it will be different. I hope you find the right answers this time around in time. Good by dear older sister, maybe someday a path can be found where ours meet again. Until then, I love you." The imsage starting to fade as Rydia reaches down and tapps the floor. Which opens up into a hidden staircase.
"WHAT?!" Tristania shrieks out loud, and dives forwards, seeking to throw her arms around her sister. "You can't be serious! You couldn't tell me?! I would have... I would have cut off my *arms* for you!" She catches nothing but air, and collapses to her knees. A lump comes to her throat, and she bursts into tears; unable to touch her face through the mask, she sits where she is, weeping and shuddering.
The ghostly image of Rydia still fading and turns to where you landed on the floor. Rydia offering a sad smile and a tear dropping from her right eye and landing on the ground where it suddenly crystalizes before you. Her voice can be heard after she disappears completely, "Nothing is truly lost sister dear. Find the right answers you seek, amid all the wrong ones. Find them in time to save yourself... from yourself. Only then can we see each other again." With that the voice is gone, the only thing left is the crystalized tear on the ground.
Tristania watches the single tear splash on the ground, and crystalize. She sucks in a deep breath, letting it out slowly; ginger fingers reach out to touch the tear drop, and after making sure it isn't also going to vanish, she picks it up. The small object is held in her hands, like some vastly important treasure; carefully, she wraps it in a bit of cloth and tucks it into her clothes, against her breast. "I love you, Rydia," she murmurs. "And I'll still give my life to protect yours." She pulls herself up to her feet, and wills herself forwards; down into the trap door, and down the stairs.
The hallway is dark and dusty. As you get off the last step you end up in a long hallway where the books are covered in dust and the shelves are made out or of rib bones. Several books line the shelves, each one relating to death, undeath, cycle, and dying.
Tristania stares at the forbidden library she has found herself in, and inclines her chin. This is, afterall, what she came for. She sacrificed for it; she damn well ought to have a look, now that she's here. She peels the mask off her face, and drops it on the floor behind her as she approaches the shelves. Uncertain as to what to look at first, her fingertips brush along the spines of the tomes, before she selects one and carries it to the lectern, letting it fall open as it may.
The book falls open and flips on its own through several pages, only to come to a stop near the end. "The binding of the spirit to a body can create a intelligent and sustainable undead. As described in earlier chapters with the creation of Skeletons, zombies, and other basic undead. The next chapter will describe how to make intelligent forms of undead base on the following principles..."
Words flow past Tristania's eyes, and it doesn't take long before she realizes what she's reading. She slams the book shut so hard she knocks it off the lectern, and staggeres back away from it, breathing heavily. She looks up, and around, as if suddenly fearful that she is being watched, somehow, by... someone, something, the walls, who knows?
The room stays quiet, only the surprised dust from her movement is any indication of something living is there. The book she slammed shut lifts up and moves back to its spot on the shelf and settles in. The title on the book, "The Living Book of Undead."
Tristania pants softly, reaching up to rest one hand on her chest. She gulps audibly, and her expression looks... strained. "Why... why send me here, Rydia?" She shakes her head, "I don't understand... but you wouldn't've..." She trails off, and moves to pick a different book. This time, she eyes the title, before letting it fall open as she did the one before, sinking down to sit cross-legged with it.
The first book that seems to have the most reasonable title is "Cheating Death". This one seems to not have any unnatural life about it as you flip through the pages. The chapters are all on different methods of escaping death. Immortality potions, body snatching, and various other techniques.
Well. This one seems relatively safe. Tristania's brow furrows, and she flips back to the beginning of the book. It's quite unlikely she'd be allowed to take it with her; but Rydia did say that time is fluid, in the library. She licks her lips, and mmms softly, settling in to read the book... if undisturbed, she'll go through it cover to cover, all in one go.
You will find out you only have a hour with the book before things start to get wierd. With eyes starting to show up between the books watching you and things moving on their own. A feeling of being watched and unwelcome quickly starts to fill the chamber along with longer and longer shadows. What you do get to read is part of the first chapter, "What is Death?" The chapter unfortently has no answers as to why death happens only that it does and some of the theories behind the spirit and hows.
The Dryad stands, slamming the book shut. She stands, and puts the book back where she found it; around her shadows gather, do they? "I didn't come down here to be chased off by apparitions," she snaps. "Remain in your shadows and observe." She picks a different book off the shelf, this one at random; feeling time growins short she flips it open, and starts reading, furiously scanning the page as quickly as she can.
The book she opens the first words on the page are, "Your time down here is up." Then slams shut and attempts to bite at her hand before it flies back to the shelf. The shadows grow longer and one of them covers over a foot. The foot starts to feel icy cold and dead the very life seeming to be drained out of it.
"Damn you... Damn you!" Tristania recoils from the shadow; then she snatches up her mask, hurriedly afixing it in place.. "I made a sacrifice... I... I deserve more time! I *need* it!" She snatches at another book and attempts to rip out a page; this time she does get bitten and her fingers bleed openly. In a burst of rage, she braves the shadows to hurl as many of the books on the floor as she can in one furious motion, before turning to run back for the stairs.
The shadows chase after you until the light from the library hits. Where you step out though is not where you stepped in from. At least you are able to figure that out once your eyes are no longer being blinded. You are at the entrance again and the librarin stands before you frowning. Then lets out a heavy sigh, "I do not know what is going on but it seems you are to be rented a book." Reaching under the desk and holding out a book to you titled, "The Book of Death."
Tristania stares at the man, waiting for her eyes to adjust. At first, she doesn't fully comprehend his meaning; she looks at him, then the book, then back to him. "...I see," she murmurs. She reaches out numbly, to take the book off his hands; she gazes at the title, and nods once, the beak of her mask accenting the motion. She gazes at the librarian for a moment, before she tucks the tome under her arm and turns to go, feeling... dizzy, and numbed.
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