A Librarian Story - The Fate of the Fool

[trancehime]

I have no idea what I was on when I wrote this.

the fate of the fool
The Cup

It was an veritable treasure trove of wonderful books containing the stories that had been written of this small world's inhabitants. It was a sort of fantasy, of sorts. This Scarlet Library took a very long time to get itself started, and those that kept it safe, that held order here, they had indeed worked very hard to make sure that things were as they should be. Reading was the only virtue in this little pocket dimension (one could argue that Patience belonged in this hall, as well, but the people in charge would say nothing of it), and those up there would make sure that it would stay that way. They called themselves the Librarian Squad. It was composed of a like-minded group of extraordinary people, each possessing their own strange abilities, and it was through their co-operation that the Library is still as it is today, and arguably the rest of the world. Things have been rather peaceful in the recent times, but as of late, some things were beginning to come down in a rather subtle and ominous way...

The leader of the squad, a certain Sakura Rurouni, was standing outside of the Library, and was amidst a field of roses. She looked up at the blue sky, it seemed clear as day, but she noted that something was off. Normally, birds would freely fly in the sky, and clouds would float by, on their own whimsical pace... However, this day, they were absent. Ruro cocked an eyebrow and turned around to face the Library once more. Something was definitely wrong. Usually, if there were an incident, it would be very easy to pinpoint who the culprit was. It generally would have been a random fairy troublemaker looking to play a prank, or something equally juvenile. However, Ruro had a bad feeling in the back of her mind. She didn't want to acknowledge its validity, and so instead returned inside the library to consult with the rest of the squad.

As Ruro re-entered the Library, some of the roses in the field started to wilt.

The swordswoman looked around and saw that there were some fairies wandering around looking for things to read. She wanted to smile, but the ominous sight she had seen only moments ago was already plaguing her mind. She wanted to look for Sakana, the Librarian who had a "tuna-half," but then, she realized that Sakana had something she needed to attend this day, and sighed to herself. Soon, it seemed evident that this day was definitely inauspicious. The only other Librarian present seemed to be Roukan, who was idly sitting by a desk with a quill pen and stabbing a piece of paper, seemingly undergoing some sort of writer's block. Ruro sighed with some degree of concern and approached her. "Hey, Rou." she said, approaching the desk where the Librarian was sitting at and rapping it with her fingers.

"Huh, oh, what?" Roukan blurted out, her quill pen nearly leaping out of her hand from shock, and soon sat up straight, alert, looking at Ruro. "What's up, Ruro?"

"The bees in the field and the birds in the sky are absent," she said blankly. "I think something is very wrong with this picture. What do you think?"

Roukan looked outside a nearby window conveniently placed behind her, and saw that the once blue sky had turned an ominous, bleak grey. She placed a palm over her mouth, as if in shock. "That's never happened before... At least since I was inducted into the Squad..." she said. Roukan rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing anything. It was as real as her eyes led her to believe. "This is quite a worrying incident. Do you think the other prominent residents will know? Do you think Moerin is behind this?"

Ruro shook her head. "Moerin can't control something this big in her present state. Do you remember what we did? Moerin's probably still trying to regain her energy. It's been peaceful for the longest time until now..." she sighed. Roukan looked up at Ruro and comfortingly gave her a pat on the shoulder. The fellow Librarian was quick to try and assure Ruro that they would be able to do something. They just needed to gather the rest of the Librarians and then see what would happen from there. They would search right now... Well, they would search right now, if the large door hadn't been swung wild open that instant, and in rushed the rest of the Squad, looking very alarmed. Ruro and Roukan reacted calmly as Esi, Chaore, Sakana and Polaris had run in. Of the four, Chaore was the only person who didn't seem at all nervous. Polaris looked around frantically, and mentioned that the black sky was in fact an impending sign that something terrible was about to happen.

"Polaris, do you have any idea what it might be?" Ruro inquired, fingering the scabbard containing her blade tensely.

"That is a question I cannot answer with certainty," Polaris lamented, but continued on. "However, I can at least tell you that nobody we know has started this. An outside force is trying to invade from some other place... It's distorting the world as we know it, as an attempt to break in."

"How did you figure that out? It all seems quite bogus and I'm skeptical on it," Chaore grumbled, as she leaned against the wall and looked quite tempted to spit on the ground, but remembered she was in the Library. "How would beings from another dimension be able to encroach and break into our world?" All Polaris could do was shrug. Even she wasn't sure. However, Ruro looked tense, and concerned. It seemed it was the only piece of information available, and Ruro didn't want to risk her chances, it was all they've got. No matter how outlandish it seemed, it was only reasonable for them to see if they could do something about it, right?

"Chaore... Polaris' theory may be outlandish, but it's the only piece of info we have," she mentioned. "We need to see if this is really the case. We can worry about the consequences later. The present is what matters. This is the present." Chaore shrugged in response and said nothing. Esi, in silence, seemed to stare at her eye-adorned staff, as if she was deep in thought. Sakana was holding the tuna tightly, and suddenly heard a loud noise from outside. "Something is happening!" she said, and immediately ran out of the Library.

"Sakana, wait!" Ruro called before quickly following her trail. When the two ran out of the Library, they immediately froze. Something in the sky was definitely off now. From the glimpse of her eye, Ruro swore she saw part of the sky actually tearing. In its wake was an empty, black, nebulous void, and to the untrained eye, it housed nothing, but eventually, shadowy figures emerged, and they soon dropped from this tear in the sky. "What on earth is that?" Sakana groaned, pointing at the now visible rip in the sky. It didn't look like it would close itself up on its own. Ruro stared in horror. "I really have no idea... I don't... But this definitely confirms Polaris' theory."

The other Librarians soon ran out to check what the commotion was all about. They soon responded with gasps and panicked reactions, even Chaore managed to squeak an incredulous "What the hell?" with regards to the now massive tear in the grey sky. "Moerin would never even be capable of doing something like this, even at full power. Nobody here has the ability to introduce entities from a completely new dimension." Polaris concluded. "I was right, even if I didn't want to be." she continued, hanging her head low.

"What do we do about this situation? It's quite grave." Roukan sighed.

The question could not really be answered though, as several of these gooey, black substances fell in front of the Librarian Squad. It was only there and then that Ruro looked down at the field of roses she thought she was standing on. It had already wilted back when she had entered the Library. "Oh... Oh my God."

"We have no time for epiphanies!" Chaore exclaimed. "We have... Uhm... We have THINGS to beat!"

"Uh, right!"

Ruro tightly gripped the blade kept in the scabbard on her left hip, Tizona, and stared at her opponents. Sakana, Chaore, Polaris, Esi and Roukan were also on the ready, to make sure that these shadowy entities would be sent to whence they came. There were six entities, and soon each of these entities changed form, it seemed that each became a doppelganger of the Librarian Squad, possessing similar features and weaponry as their real counterparts. Chaore applied face to palm. "How cliche!" she whined. And soon, the battle began, though it was quite unrefined in a sense! Ruro was using her Tizona, but yet, her doppelganger had opted to use the fake Colada? It seemed, there was more to these shadowy entities than one may have initially suspected.

While Ruro and her fake clashed blades, the others had their hands tied up. Esi seemed to have to fake out her clone, however, the clone was able to predict all of Esi's movements and respond accordingly. Each of the clones shared the abilities of their counterparts to a tooth, and it started to show even more evidently. The two Sakanas seemed to try and hit each other with their tunas, and it seemed Roukan and Polaris had some sort of a co-operative battle going on, it was truly quite chaotic. Where had Chaore gone in this mess? It seemed she had plans of her own. Chaore led her evil clone away from the rest of the battle, and into a secluded part of the Library courtyard. Soon, Chaore smiled and started magicking up lasers using her power, but the clone responded in kind, almost as if in opposite... It was really a literal mirror match. Chaore sighed. "This is way too cliche."

"This is going nowhere!" Ruro said, looking around and seeing everyone else at a stalemate with fighting. "Well!" Polaris said, trying to evade the attacks of her doppelganger. "Perhaps we should try fighting different entities instead of our own clones." she theorized.

"That's a pretty smart idea." Roukan said, soon immediately tripping over Sakana's twin, who then fell over and then was cleanly smacked by Sakana's tuna, and disappeared. "Oh, well, would you look at that. I guess it did work." Sakana nodded and turned to see Ruro still deflecting the attacks of her opponent with Tizona, and soon intercepted their battle by launching her tuna at the ground, which caused sparks to fly and disorient the clone.

"Hah, got you!" Ruro clamored as she took advantage of her clone's moment of weakness and cleaved the shadow cleanly in half, and it dissipated into the bleakness of the sky. Soon after, lasers could be seen zooming past the battleground of dead roses, as Chaore was trying her best to push away the doppelganger who was now losing ground. Polaris snickered and stuck a foot out, causing the shadow to trip and fall right on top of a laser.

It exploded.

Chaore did a thumbs-up and noted that several of the lasers she shot poked the remaining doppelgangers, paralyzing them in place and allowing everyone to defeat their shadows, with what they had in their arsenal. Chaore smiled. "See, I'm still a good shot." she said. The doppelgangers that had assailed the library were all defeated, and soon, there was a strange calm. Polaris looked around and soon she turned her gaze towards the distance, where there was a vast expanse of forest, and in the middle, was a small clearing. Polaris then noted that a large bolt of darkness descended on it and almost caused it to explode, but a white light deflected it at the last second.

"...? Isn't that the hermit's home?" Polaris said.

"Which hermit? There are many." Ruro said.

"The Dragonsword."

"That's odd. A bolt of darkness of the sort wouldn't have been so easily deflected by her, she's still recovering from the recent incident..."

"Maybe she's been training."

"We need to investigate this." Ruro continued. Everyone else seemed to agree in their own manner. "If the darkness is affecting other places, our friends will probably in danger, too. We need to find out what's behind this and how we can solve it." she said.

And it was then and there that the Librarian Squad decided to put aside their duties of the bibliotheque, and soon shift their focus to something more urgent, and they decided to put matters into their own hands, and to try and save the world (again).

[Words] must flow out from the heart.
And, when the soul is touched with passion's flame,
We look around and ask - Who burns the same?

[Janitor Morgan]

I liked the battle scene and the premise behind it. If you can't fight yourself, have someone else fight you...or not-you, in this case.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Whoa, we've graduated from defending the Library to defending the world!

This is going to be neat stuff. :3

[Esifex]

Whoa, we've graduated from defending the Library to defending the world!

This is going to be neat stuff. :3

Well, there're stil books out in the world, right? They're just not put back on our shelves yet. Clearly, we must defend them.

[trancehime]

the fate of the fool
The Sword

Ruro, alongside the rest of the Librarians, had agreed that moment to try and take it upon themselves to investigate the incident of the shadows that emerged from that tear in the sky. They had seen the clash of dark and bright lights occur at the clearing in the forest far away, and then Polaris made a rather melancholic sigh as she noted what had happened at the time. Soon, the forest itself started changing, the trees' verdure and green was slowly being corrupted, into something barren, something dead. Polaris looked with an expression of horror in her face as she led the rest of the Squad to the forest, and by the time they had reached the expanse of dead trees, the forest had been fully corrupted. The leaves had withered away leaving only the bareness of the branches that held them. The former clearing had now become a house in clear sight of the Librarian Squad. It seemed that it wasn't all that far away after all, considering that the forest had pretty much been killed that instant.

"This is terrible!" Ruro sighed, looking around her surroundings, and seeing virtually nothing but deadness. "How could such a thing have happened so quickly? If we don't do something, the entire place will become this sorry state."

Chaore had already faded into non-existence at this time, and it seemed that only Sakana noticed. "I don't think Chaore's very happy to see this place. She's not around anymore. She probably phased out..." she sighed, and looked up at the sky. It was still a bleak grey, and things didn't look like they would change. Night and day seemed to be completely destroyed in this new form. "Anyway, we have more problems at the moment... That house, I'd pass by it occasionally, it didn't originally look like that..." she noted, pointing ahead.

The house itself was by no means small, even housing a compartment of stone, it had become a makeform blacksmith's corner for some reason. It seemed to be constructed of magickal hardwood, but right now it had been plastered with magical charms and papers all over its walls. Ruro tilted her head curiously and suddenly her eyes widened, something was up for sure. "Those magic charms, I know those! I read about them. They are supposedly for warding away bad things, but I don't know if they are working! I can hear sounds from all the way here! We need to go there fast."

"But who knows what lurks?" Roukan sighed. "Even if there are many of us, the shadows were tough. Who knows what's going to be in the house? If the hermit is even alive right now?"

"I trust her enough to live. Definitely won't get out there unscathed, but she'll be alright, I reckon..."

Everyone had made it to the house by now, there wasn't much in the way of obstruction by now since the forest had pretty much been killed. Ruro approached the locked door, and peered below, and saw a trail of brown blood. Apparently, a fight had been going on, and the trail of blood had coagulated. It's been quite a long time since it started. Esi yawned and tapped the lock with her staff, causing the door to open on its own. Roukan looked visibly terrified, with good reason. She had seen the trail of blood, and was quick to recognize that the only blood shed here would have come from whoever lived in here. Ruro opened the door, and heard screams and the sound of steel against flesh. Roukan looked inside frantically, the room was dark. Eventually, she eyed the figure of a body heaved against the wall. "Hey!!" Roukan screamed.

"Quiet, quiet!" Ruro said. "You might call the attention of whatever creature lurks here. Let's go quickly to the sword princess and monitor her condition. We won't be having anyone fade on us!" she continued as she ran to the body heaved against the wall.

"Don't go alone!" Roukan said, trying to catch up, but soon fell over. Something tripped her up. "Hey, who did that!" she said, as the other Librarians shrugged. They were very far away from her at this rate, none of them could have done it. "...Are you telling me..."

Ruro made her way to the person sat against the wall, and soon to her surprise, saw Hime sitting against the wall, coughing, and looking very weakened. Several deep cuts have been made all over her body, and her clothing is ripped and torn. Fortunately, her crown was in a decent enough condition to still allow her to fight. However, she was in no condition herself to get up. "What happened?!" Ruro asked. She kept her hands on the hilt of her blades in case something tried to get on her from behind.

"Ah..." Hime wheezed. "I was caught off-guard. It was some sort of shadow being... Some sort of land kra-- Hey, look out...!" she spat, weakly pointing to behind Ruro. The Librarian looked shocked, quickly turned around, but whatever Hime was pointing at was faster. A dark, shadowy tentacle struck Ruro and knocked her over a ways away.

"No!"

Ruro hit the wall but didn't seem too injured, more shocked if anything. She saw the tentacle inch closer to Hime, who now looked visibly terrified. It was her greatest weakness, after all. She was trying to get over it, but now was a bit much! Suddenly, a sparkle from a ways away could be seen, and Sakana's tuna struck the tentacle and sliced it off cleanly. She made her own entry and retrieved it. Hime was desperately trying to crawl away to safety. As she slithered across the ground, a trail of blue blood was being left behind.

"No, you can't move," Sakana said. "You're going to faint from blood loss. I read about your kind. You know you can't die, but you're going to exhaust yourself."

"..."

"Let us handle this."

"C, can't... m, must... kill... it myself." Hime coughed out a little bit of blood.

"Huh?"

"Nightmare Horror... Only can be killed by those... who fear it in reality... S, Sakana... Behind you...!"

Sakana looked down and smacked a dark tentacle that attempted to slither in secret. Hime was now wielding her trusty Fenris, an icy scimitar, with simple design, but trusty and quite reliable in most situations. "You don't seriously consider fighting that thing in your current state, do you?" Chaore said all of a sudden, shifting into existence next to Hime. "Let us handle it, as Sakana said."

"...Your funeral..."

The land kraken Hime had alluded to was hiding in the opposite corner of the room. Ruro was already up and about, trying to slice off the various tentacles that attempted to strike. However, for every appendage that was torn off, a new one grew. And so, it would be an endless battle. This was no hydra for which you could stem the growth of its heads, there seemed to be a trick to it. Polaris and Esifex were at Hime's side, trying to tend to her wounds. They noted that the cuts seemed to be of an otherworldly source, not at all mortal, and this nature affected a Dragon like Hime quite greatly. Hime winced at the pain and looked at the land kraken angrily. "Weakness... head." Hime groaned, pointing Fenris in the direction of the kraken's large head.

Sakana and Chaore ran over to Ruro to assist her in battle while Esi and Polaris were hard at work trying to restore the wounds afflicted on the blade princess. "Wow, these are pretty rough. A normal person would probably be dead after these." Polaris noted. "You should be grateful we could help." Hime merely nodded weakly and watched the battle from a safe distance. Chaore was pelting the kraken with many lasers, however, the monster was able to block most of them with its tentacles. Sakana grumbled as she assisted Ruro in slicing down the tentacles the monster was using to block Chaore's attacks. "It doesn't seem like the monster is faltering," Chaore said. "It will manage to tire us out if we don't do something about it."

Hime then groaned and stood up, her legs were shaking. Polaris attempted to get her to sit down again, but to no avail. "You're not fully recovered! Get back here." Polaris yelled, but Hime ignored the warning, stumbling forward and holding Fenris. "You three... It's useless to fight that way." she said, coughing.

"You're in no condition to fight!"

"Try me."

"..."

"Fine." Ruro said reluctantly, heaving her blade forward. "Don't blame me if you run out of breath half way, though! Haha."

Hime sighed and slumped forward a bit, obvious that she's still a little weakened. However, her senses had mostly returned to her, and she was able to recover her sluggish movements easily. She focused some of her inner energies a little, causing Ryuujintou Gram, a thinner, blazing dao, and the Wyvern Caliburn, a plain, non-descript, but obsidian broadsword, to float around Hime as if they were sword familiars.

"You couldn't do that before," Ruro said. "What happened?"

"Regaining my abilities."

"I see!"

Hime charged forward, definitely, her fleetfooted-ness had faded away in injury, but Gram and Caliburn danced around, aiming for the head of the kraken. "Now, you must aim your attacks at the head. I will seal the limbs from regenerating." Hime said.

"How can you do that?!" Ruro said. "You're terrified of the things."

That's right, I am.

"Uh... I'll think of something."

Can I really do this? I don't even know. But I've gotta try. I got them involved in this. I wonder if I had just passed out there, you know?

"So just strike at it!"

Hime stood still before the land kraken as Ruro, Chaore, and Sakana leapt forward at the head. The tentacles swarmed around the trio of Librarians, but soon ignored them and rushed towards Hime. "No!" Ruro called out, but Hime shook her head as she stood firmly, holding Fenris with her two hands, and Gram and Caliburn were at her sides, ready to attack. Ruro could see that Hime was crying. "You didn't have to do this!!!" she said, and soon aimed her frustrations at the shadow monster, raising both Tizona and Colada at once. Chaore started shooting lasers at the defenseless kraken, who, in a fit of pain, struck Hime on instinct with a loose tentacle right across her face, causing another cut. However, in response, the sword maiden cut down the tentacle and froze it with Fenris, so it would no longer regenerate. Gram and Caliburn began to work on slicing the tentacles, so they could be easily frozen by Fenris. However, the team effort was quite dangerous. For every time the Librarians tried to penerate through the being of the kraken, it would respond by slashing at Hime with its sharp tentacles.

Hime screamed in pain as she started getting overpowered by the tentacles. Gram and Caliburn were returned to their places as she fell backwards, and tried to defend herself by cutting down and freezing the appendages that lunged at her, but there was too many. Eventually, some of them wrapped themselves around Hime's arms and legs, the dark energies proving very powerful as they started sinking into Hime's skin, it was enough to cause her to drop Fenris in her hand. "Aaaah...!"

Ruro turned her head around and saw Hime's entire being slowly turning dark. "Hey, that's not good! Is this the effect the darkness has on people?! Better stop it!" she said, as she drove Tizona and Colada in the kraken's eyes, causing some dark energies to leak out of its pierced eyes. She eyed Fenris on the floor and grabbed it. "I'm going to borrow this and get you out of there! Sakana, Chaore, don't stop weakening it!" Hime felt weaker with each passing moment, and her vision started blurring, she swore she could feel the tentacles grope around a bit. Soon, a flash of blue light rushed past, soon, the tentacles were all cut down and frozen. Hime passed out.

"Sigh. Polaris, Esi, she didn't listen to you, did she?"

Polaris nodded, smiling. "Well, let's go fix her up."

Ruro eyed the Fenris in her hand. "I've never used a sword like this before, at least, not seriously. It'll be an interesting experience. I've only read about them." she mused aloud, before returning to the main target at hand. Tizona and Colada were still embedded in the shadow monster's eyes, and it was clear that it was going to go down soon. Chaore shot lasers at it, and Sakana drove her tuna into the kraken's upper jaw, and caused it to roar loudly in pain. Hime's arms and legs were black with the darkness, but it had not taken over her body completely. Suddenly, Fenris, from Ruro's hands, released itself from her grasp and drove itself into the kraken's mouth, causing it to freeze up and then shatter completely. The swords and the tuna then fell to the ground as the kraken shook and melted into nothingness.

The room became bright once more. Outside, Esi could see the trees still mostly dead, but some leaves could be seen growing on them. The kraken seemed to be holding some form of influence over the barrenness of the area, and its elimination caused the area to slowly recover again. Hime was still very much unconscious, as Polaris was busy treating her wounds and amplifying the recovery process as the darkness infecting her body was slowly being purged, almost as if through some sort of detoxification. A few moments later, Hime was already able to open her eyes. "...Thanks."

Ruro saluted. "It's not an issue. We needed to figure out the problem anyway," she said, whilst sheathing Tizona and Colada as well as returning Fenris to Hime. "It seems that there are many shadowy entities taking the form of terrors out there. You mentioned the name 'Nightmare Terror.' Do you know anything about it? Does it have anything to do with those charms you plastered out the door?"

Hime sighed. "I took trips to the Library on occasion. I would read the occult section. I read a particular book detailing Apocrypha. This thing about Nightmare Terrors came up. It fit this exact description."

"Huh..."

"An entity of purest darkness, one that takes the form of fear or doubt in the victim's heart. It is said that only the victim has the power to vanquish a Terror for real. Others are only a helping force."

"I see."

"I had no idea they actually existed," Hime continued. "If that tear in the sky has anything to do with it, I don't know. But they have insane powers of corruption. I fear what would have happened to me if it had managed to grab me longer than it did." she shook her limbs around a bit.

Ruro sighed. "We must do something about this, right?"

"Well, yeah. I think there are other places being attacked by these forces. Sadly, I have no idea where to start looking..."

"The Library is in danger," Ruro said. "Some of us should stay behind."

"I'll volunteer." Chaore said. "I have some things I need to check in the Library, anyway."

Roukan also agreed to join Chaore.

"So, I suppose everyone else comes with me?"

Esi nodded with approval, her staff whirring and buzzing around the place. Polaris cleared her throat. "If I may make a suggestion, dears, I think we should probably go to the village," she said matter-of-factly. "Villages tend to be the places where evil forces strike most, so it'd make sense that the town would be a good place for us to head to next. Hopefully we aren't too late."

Ruro nodded. "That's a good idea! We should get going now."

Hime managed to stand up properly and look around. "Please let me come with you. You saved my life, pretty much. All of you."

The words "saved my life" rang hard in Ruro's ears. Matsuri... I haven't seen her in ages! Where could she be? I hope she's safe. I certainly hope nothing has happened to her, too...

So, the Librarian Squad and their honorary recruit were to make their way to the unnamed village. Nobody knew what to expect there, especially with the introduction of these Nightmare Horrors. However, they had no choice. They wanted to enjoy living in their world, not with these rank forces of darkness spoiling their fun!

Methinks, by most, 'twill be confess'd
That Death is never quite a welcome guest.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Heheheh. I have some theories as to... things, but I will not say them just so I don't impose false expectations on you, Trance. :3

And it's fitting that the Library would be the place to go for all sorts of knowledge on inter-dimensional beings that might enter our realm. Hee!

[Janitor Morgan]

Conquer that fear, Trance!

Finding the library ferret should be interesting. I wonder what Matsy's gotten into...

[Esifex]

Esi's psychic staff gives her telekinesis, too? Neato!

[Sana]

This is completely unrelated, but whenever I see this thread topic I think of Fate of a Fencer and then it starts playing in my head :<
YOU PLANNED THIS DIDN'T YOU

[OkashiiKisei]

"Don't go alone!" Roukan said, trying to catch up, but soon fell over. Something tripped him up.

Tripping apparently makes Rou change genders. :V

[trancehime]

Tripping apparently makes Rou change genders. :V

that's the second time i made a mistake like that

it's hard writing everyone as female when you know they are male :V

[Esifex]

This mustn't die, I need more insight on the mind of the Six Blades :O

[trancehime]

the fate of the fool
The Pentagram ... Part I

Cue the sun setting. A village was in clear view, but something was very off. The houses were barred shut. Several barrels and crates that were kept for storage nearby were either destroyed, ransacked, or their tops were clearly open. A closer inspection of the village yielded quite a mysterious sight. Several black critters could be seen scattered around the area, scavenging the place for food, jewels, or other related commodities and luxuries. A small little ferret was seen scampering around as well, trying to set back what had been destroyed by the black stuffs, but it was too much. The ferret sighed to itself and scampered into a little hole inside one of the houses, the place where she was taking shelter for now. She was Matsuri, a close friend of Ruro's, but recently, there was quite an invasion of these little black critters. They didn't do much to harm the people living in the village themselves, but they were severely harming their livelihoods by stealing their supplies, food, and other things.

Matsuri sighed to herself and thought about the time Ruro would come and do something about this...


"It's getting dark." Polaris sighed, looking forward, barely seeing the rooves of the houses in the village over the distance. Esi whistled innocently. We need to hurry. Who knows what will have happened by the time we get there? Sakana twirled her tuna around in her hands and pointed forwards. "We must go!" she called. Ruro nodded, starting to run towards the village. Polaris called out asking her to wait, but Ruro had more important things in her mind. "Hey, you," Polaris said, gesturing to the unusually relaxed Hime. "Please go after her. You're probably the best person right now to catch up to her. When she's got things in her mind, she'll be like that." Hime closed her eyes, nodded solemnly and dashed in Ruro's direction. Ruro was running closer and closer to the village on her lonesome at the time, the only being in her thought at the time was "Matsuri," she remembered Matsuri taking shelter in the village. She was concerned for the ferret's safety, hoping nothing bad had happened to her.

"...Need a hand?" a voice said behind her, it seemed to vibrate, indicating the person talking was also running. Ruro turned her head and saw Hime.

"How did you get here so fast?"

"Exercise. Flying doesn't do me wonders when I need to go places."

"I see."

"Well, we're here." Hime said, as the two of them ran into the village, which seemed to be... in quite a state. The sun had already set, and some of the villages had been broken into at this point. Ruro gasped, running towards one of the houses, and dashed through the alley, and saw a small hole in the wall. She kneeled down and called out for Matsuri.

"Matsuri! Hello!? Are you there?!" Ruro called louder and louder with each successive mention of Matsuri, and soon a squeak could be heard. A white ferret weakly squirmed out of the hole and hopped up on Ruro's shoulders. "Aaah, you're here! But what happened?"

"The village got attacked by invading critters like the ones over there." Matsuri said, gesturing to the center of the village, where one could see Hime trying to cleave several of the critters in half with Caladbolg, but she wasn't doing so well. The darkness seemed to be unusually heavy, and the only thing shining in the sky was the nebula through that tear. Hime could be heard cursing to herself, wondering how she could hit anything in the dark like this. Ruro and Matsuri ran out. "Aren't you going to use some of your abilities to shine a light or something?" Ruro asked. Hime had her hand on her left eye the entire time, and soon placed her hand to the side, facing Ruro. The rounin could only see a large, burning red orb in place of Hime's left eye. "What on earth happened there?" she asked.

"It couldn't have happened so instantly like that!"

"It is most visible in dark places. I will distract these things, go ahead and take Matsuri to safety and wait for the others."

"But what about you?"

"I'm dispensible in this situation. I will need to study these things to figure out how to eliminate them, but I do know that only you and your band of fellow Librarians are capable of accomplishing such a feat!" Hime said, squishing a black critter with the side of her massive blade.

Ruro hesitantly nodded and assured Matsuri that things will be okay. "Well, okay. But we're going to come back! So don't die out there." she said as Hime saluted Ruro in response and continued to wrangle with the monsters. Meanwhile, Polaris, Sakana and Esi had just arrived at the scene, and seen Ruro running towards them, Matsuri had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Polaris looked a little shocked. "It's really dark here," she duh'd. "Where's Hime? I thought she went after you."

"She's trying to fight the black shadows that invaded."

"Alone?"

"They're small, and nothing like the kraken we fought earlier, so she'll be fine. She said she wanted to study their mannerisms and find their weakness."

"Really."

"Matsuri is feeling weak, though, so please could you and Esi help make her feel better? I will go back and see how that stubborn dragon hermit is doing."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ruro returned to see Hime continually squashing the shadowy bugs, but they didn't seem to stop coming. "What's this mess?" she said. Hime sighed and walked to Ruro while idly squishing another bug that tried to come close. "Matsuri is needed for this endeavour. Please nurse her back to health and then we can try to fix this problem. I think, with your powers, we could purify the area."

"How do you know these things?"

"Your Library."

"That doesn't make sense. I don't remember keeping such things."

"Did you forget you had a [Do Not Enter!] room?"

"Hum... Hey, how did you get in there?! That's forbidden to normal visitors."

"I got in there like a certain book thief would."

"Touche!"

"Enough chat, we need to stop this infestation."

"Indeed."

Ruro and Hime decided to work together for the meantime to try and stall time for Polaris and Esi to nurse Matsuri back to health, as she seemed unusually tired and weakened from the previous events. Hime theorized that Matsuri was needed for the purification process, but Ruro could tell that she wasn't entirely one-hundred percent sure on its authenticity.

What lies beyond doesn't worry me.
Suppose you break this world to bits, another may arise.
My joy springs from this earth,
this sun shines on my sorrows.
When I leave here, let come what must.
What do I care about it now, if hereafter
men hate or love, or if in those other spheres
there be an Above or a Below?

[Dragoshi]

Just finished reading through this a couple seconds ago. P. interestin' stuff so far. Kinda curious as to what the whole process entails, as well.

That, and. I am really liking the little bits at the end. Either way, curious as to what shall happen next.

[Dorian White]

What lies beyond doesn't worry me.
Suppose you break this world to bits, another may arise.
My joy springs from this earth,
this sun shines on my sorrows.
When I leave here, let come what must.
What do I care about it now, if hereafter
men hate or love, or if in those other spheres
there be an Above or a Below?

In diesem Sinne kannst du's wagen.
Verbinde dich! Du sollt in diesen Tagen
Mit Freuden meine K?nste sehn
Ich gebe dir, was noch kein Mensch gesehn.

Interesting, are those quotations just a fitting add-on or is there more to it?

[trancehime]

the fate of the fool
The Pentagram ... Part II

Hime looked tensely at the little black creatures scuttling around the ground. Ruro traced their movements and cocked an eyebrow. It seemed the critters were no longer aggressive, their scuttling chaotic, and soon she started inching backwards a little bit. Her eyes were quite wide at this point. She sensed something Hime did not, at least, that was what was running through her mind. Hime covered her left eye and soon noticed that the little buggers were beginning to melt into each other, and she fell backwards from the shock. The black mass began to take shape, in fact, it began to turn into some sort of figure not unlike Ruro, though there were some distinctly distorted features to it. "It turned into me again?!" Ruro whined, drawing Tizona and Colada both this time, but the figure ignored her, instead focused on the fallen Hime. The shadow raised its hand and pointed at Hime, releasing some sort of magical shock.

"My head!" she cried, yelping in pain, but it was a minor shock. She scurried backwards and tried to draw Fenris from her diadem, but gasped to find that something was shutting off the course of power to her diadem. "Damn, was it that shock?! Hurry, Ruro, you must go to help Matsuri so we can purify thi-- Ah!" Hime tried to explain quickly to Ruro, but the shadow drew a blade of her own and tried to slice Hime in half, who in turn evaded by rolling on the ground and quickly getting up.

"Hurry." Hime quickly implored, quickly sidestepping away from the shadow's attack once more, quickly raising her fists forward.

"You're crazy! You can't beat that thing with your bare fists."

"I'm not trying to beat it. I'm trying to stall for you! Quickly and help Matsuri."

Ruro hesitantly ran back to see to Matsuri's condition, and soon found that the ferret was quite energetic at this rate. "Wow, you guys are pretty quick," Ruro said. "Hurry, we must take Matsuri and see if we can rid this area of these shadows!" Polaris and Esifex nodded, with the latter already eagerly making her way to where Hime was engaging with the shadow, her staff bobbing up and down in a hyperactive state. Esi gasped as she saw Hime trying to fight the shadow weaponless, at close-quarters, when the shadow itself had quite the advantage.

"Are you crazy?!" Polaris called out, as Hime rolled to everyone else, her arms having several cuts on them.

"I'll be fine. Anyway, from what I read..." Hime was about to explain, but the shadow had its blade raised as it snuck up on Hime from behind. Esi sighed and quickly deflected the blade away with her staff, signalling for Hime to continue. "You need to have Matsuri channel the Magical Circuit and draw the Holy Light."

"You mean...?"

"Yes, yes. I mean that. Please..."

Ruro sighed reluctantly and pet Matsuri gently, before having the ferret glow brightly, and soon, the shadow reacted violently to this, lurching backwards as Hime turned to face it. Ruro looked at Matsuri and called forth to no one in particular, driving her hands into the glowing body of the ferret and procuring forth a small, shining dagger from it. Ruro could not stop snickering. "Stop laughing!" Matsuri whined, but this only served to make Ruro laugh more as she held the dagger of light in her arms. "Now, drive it into the ground." Hime said as the shadow was now having a seizure on the ground, its essence slowly fading away.

"Here goes!"

Ruro drove the dagger into the ground, which soon created a giant pentagram of light surrounding it, and it released veins of holy energy into the ground, releasing spirits into the air, purifying the environment, it made the shadows disappear isntantly, and the darkness in the area cleared, it became the lull of the night. Though, it was still being encroached by the dark surrounding the tear in the sky, it became clear that this is what they needed to do.

"I was right." Hime said, sitting down on the ground and inspecting the cuts on her arms.

"You were."

"This is what you must do." Hime said, suddenly standing up and turning away from the rest of the group.

"Where are you going?"

"I am going home."

"Why? Aren't you going to come with us?"

"This is not my place, Ruro." Hime sighed, turning away from the village and walking back to her house in the dead clearing. "I have my own things to do. When my time comes, I'll gladly help you in your battle."

"What do you plan to do?"

Hime stopped walking and turned back to face the Librarians. Her arms were blue from the blood from her cuts.

"I need to... ...do some work."

The hermit made her way back, leaving the Librarians and Matsuri standing there in the middle of the rejuvenated village, wondering what was up with her.

"I guess it's just us now," Polaris said. "Let's continue. We've no destination in mind, but we don't really need one what we're doing. This is, after all, something for the world."

Now I have studied philosophy,
medicine and the law,
and unfortunately, theology,
wearily sweating, yet I stand now,
poor fool, no wiser than I was before;
I am called Master, even Doctor,
and for these last ten years have led
my students by the nose--up, down,
crosswise and crooked. Now I see
that we know nothing finally.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Ruro looked at Matsuri and called forth to no one in particular, driving her hands into the glowing body of the ferret and procuring forth a small, shining dagger from it. Ruro could not stop snickering. "Stop laughing!" Matsuri whined, but this only served to make Ruro laugh more as she held the dagger of light in her arms.

Pfffffffft

I cracked up oh god. This is what happens when you pull swords out of small ferrets.

[Janitor Morgan]

Pfffffffft

I cracked up oh god. This is what happens when you pull swords out of small ferrets.

Stop laughing :<

Loving this so far, Trance. :3

[Esifex]

I am called Master, even Doctor,

Trance is a time-lord dragon, calling it now.

[OkashiiKisei]

I think I should be honest now that I'm so far in and point some things out.

Trance, the story is a bit lacking in a few categories. I'm not trying to antagonize you, but there are a few things that you could expand on.

Firstly, the characters don't have much personality so far. We all know these people, yes, but the way you depicted them so far made them bare slabs of stone. Some insight in the character's thoughts and maybe a more lighthearted scene or two where the characters talk with each other about what they think of the situation or just random things would do wonders for the characters. Scenes like that would give you great opportunities to make their personalities shine through and give them some character development. So far the characters have only gone 'Lets go from A to B', 'Battle time!' and 'I theorize/read this and that'. You know, basic Saturday morning cartoon stuff. Only Chaore commented on the situation ('This is way too cliche.') and frankly it felt quite forced. Ruro has been concerned with Trance's health, but not too much. She didn't seem to think too much about the fact Trance has a corrupted demon eye now. The rest of the Librarian Squad also have very limited screen time. Ruro and Trance are the main characters yes, but Esi had hardly any chance to talk in this fic, and Sakana and Rou don't talk too much either.
Thus, I suggest you give the side-characters a bit more screen-time and let everyone share their thoughts about what's happening more. A few jokes and lighthearted moments between the squad members would be great for their character development.

Secondly, you jumped a bit too early in the action. It gives the feeling this fic is all about fighting and nothing much else, strangling the plot. It just goes a bit too fast. A 'calm before the storm' would have fit at the start before hell breaks loose. Said calm could then be used for the aforementioned lighthearted moments and/or chances to peek into the minds of the cast.

Third, some parts about the evil force are a bit too cliche, like Chaore said. The name and cloning stuff especially. 'Nightmare Horror' isn't too original, and the evil clone stuff would seem to me like something that comes later in the story instead of being the first foe faced. You should also try and make them more frightening. For creatures that have such a name and are capable of scaring hermit dragon badass Hime so much they don't really radiate much scariness. Try and describe how evil, terrifying and eldritch they really are,. Show that they are a dark, threatening force. Hell, even incomprehensible screeches and ominous demon chanting could do the trick. Make them seem more scary than your regular Heartless look-a-like.

You don't need to take all these things into account though. The intro and Nightmare Horror criticisms are only minor things. The main point I'm trying to make is that you should try and give the characters a bit more personality. I hope this will help you in future story making.

[trancehime]

words

This is the main reason why I never write fan fiction of anything ever until now, because I keep getting the idea I'm not allowed to twist the characters to my own designs out of fear that people will call foul and say "OOC! That character's totally OOC!" Thanks for being the only one so far to see how sloppy and shitty I was, though. Greatly appreciated.

I do feel very bad that this piece of work makes me seem like I'm a newcomer to the art, though, because I'm not... It's just a lot of my works have been original, and I rarely write derivative works if ever at all. I'm not trying to take your advice badly, and I feel like I did set a bad example, but I assure you, it's going to get better. >_>

Spoiler:

Esi isn't supposed to talk for a majority of the story.

the fate of the fool
The Rod

Day had risen once more, and the clouds in the sky lazily passed by the houses as the chickens cawed and some early birds rose and left their houses to go on with their own merry business. The Librarians, with Matsuri in tow, had stayed in one of the larger houses of the village, along with food and such, to thank them for their efforts. Ruro smiled, sitting on one of the stools by the windows in the house, gently stroking Matsuri's fur. Sakana and Polaris had procured a deck of playing cards from the shelf nearby and were trying to figure out what game they wanted to play with it. "How about a game of Go Fish?" Sakana asked, twirling her tuna excitedly. Esi was sitting on a soft, cushy arm-chair with a book in her hands. Her staff was idly floating around the chair, like a dog suffering from boredom. Esi turned to Sakana and reacted bluntly to her suggestion, sighing and hanging her head low before burying it back into the book she was reading.

"I don't like Go Fish..." Polaris whined. "That game's boring. Besides, Esi would beat us all at it." she continued.

"What do you suggest, then?" Sakana asked, placing her tuna on the desk and rapping on the table with her fingers. Ruro continued looking outside the window and saw that the crack in the sky had shrunk a little bit, as if the sky was trying to fight back. She could also hear faint sounds in the background, which caused her to have a worried expression on her face.

"Matsuri?" she asked.

"What's up?" the ferret chirped, hopping on Ruro's head to see the crack.

"Do you hear that sound?"

"What sound?"

"...I guess you don't hear it."

"Ruro..."

"It's like... I hear some sort of whirring... Machinery, working from somewhere."

Matsuri tilted her head. "Lighten up for a bit! Hell, why don't we go visit Sapz, like, right now?" she asked.

Esi heard Matsuri mention Sapz's name and soon she jolted out of the armchair, threw the book at the bookshelf and somehow managed to make it land clean into the open slot she aimed at, and finally stood at attention by the table. Sakana and Polaris had finally decided to play a game of Hearts, but Sakana had quickly changed her mind. "Hey, d'you hear that, Polaris?" Sakana said. "We're gonna go visit Sapz!" Esi jumped up and down on the spot excitedly with a mad grin on her face. Ruro surmised that Esi wanted an excuse to get drunk.

Sapz owned a tavern not very far away from where they were. There, Sapz and her fairy barflies (cosplaying as bees, even!) would serve a host of beverages, ranging from alcoholic drinks, coffee, and tea. Esi nodded excitedly, in a hype, and rushed out of the door of the house. Ruro quickly thanked the owners of the house for their hospitality and hurried out to follow Esi. "Hey, wait! You can't just run out without a word." Polaris and Sakana looked at each other, bewildered, before sauntering outside as well, in the general direction of Ruro who was busy chasing Esi.

***

There was a knock on the doors of the Library; Roukan and Chaore decided to heft out a large board game in order to keep themselves occupied whilst having a nice cup of tea. Roukan sighed whilst Chaore grumbled and went to the door. "What kind of mongrel would come to us at this time of the day; they know it's lunch bre--" Chaore was ranting to herself whilst opening the large, oak doors to the Library, and quickly shut her mouth as she saw Hime weakly standing outside the door. Roukan stared aghast at Hime whose left eye was literally glowing red. Everywhere Hime looked, Roukan could see a trail of red follow her left eye. "What the heck happened to you? Haven't the others mentioned anything about it?" Hime shook her head in response.

"I'm confident Ruro knows just as well as I do what it's about. Don't concern yourself with such things."

"Um... You know you saying that won't get me to change my mind, right?" Roukan sighed, sipping her tea. Chaore closed the doors and pushed Hime further inside the library. "So you're here to do your research again, aren't you? Go hurry up and do it. I don't like your presence here."

"...Alright." Hime said, walking past the table where Roukan was seated at and went to the end of the Library, toward a door that said [Do Not Enter!]. Roukan sighed and looked at Chaore indignantly. "Did you have to be so rude about it?" she asked. She turned to Hime who had somehow opened the [Do Not Enter!] door and walked in. Roukan covered her mouth in disbelief and gasped, but Chaore shook her head. "Leave her be," she continued. "She has her ways..." she rolled her eyes and sat back across Roukan to play the board game, aptly named "Chaos in the Windy City." It seemed to be a derivative of Arkham Horror, except played with less people. A token of a ominous looking beast magically appeared on the center of the board, and produced a soft roaring sound. Roukan smiled to see that it still worked, it was actually a magical set, for most of the play was automated minus the players.

Chaore and Roukan hadn't played this game for a while, so it was a surefire chance that they'd have some fun with this.

***

Esi had finally reached a reasonably large tavern by a beaten road, the skies above were still clear, but she could see darkness slowly creeping in on it. Looking dejected, she sighed and continued to stand there, head hanging low. Ruro, Sakana and Polaris had caught up to her. Matsuri had jumped from Ruro's shoulder to Esi's, to try and offer some comfort. "What's wrong?" Matsuri chirped, but Esi could only point at the sky and sigh. Ruro sighed and smiled. "Well, Esi, let's go visit Sapz, there? I'm sure a drink or two will get your mood up!"

Esi smiled, her dejected expression quickly contorted to one of genuine excitement, and walked into the tavern, which had a giant neon sign saying "TAISABACHI" in large, capital and stylish font. Ruro chuckled softly to herself before following Esi in. Sakana shrugged. "Well, a drink or two wouldn't hurt..." she said, smiling and also walking in. Polaris was the only one outside at this point, as she turned back into the general direction of the Library, and could sense that something strange was there.

Hime...

Polaris shrugged to herself and walked into Taisabachi. When everyone was inside, Sapz was laughing while talking to one of the random patrons inside, and when she turned to face the Librarians, she let out another loud, hearty laugh. "Hey, everyone! It's been a while since you last visited!" Esi hopped up and down excitedly before dashing to the counter, taking her seat, and demanding for her "usual." Sapz smiled warmly before deftly and quickly preparing a large glass mug of some sort of alcoholic concoction that seemed to be some sort of jager with gold leaf in it. Esi and Sapz began to fraternize with each other about the joys and wonders of alcohols, liqueurs, and spirits, but Ruro and the others seemed content to stay out of it.

Polaris beckoned for Ruro and Sakana to sit on one of the tables nearby. Polaris sighed. "Hime's in the Library again..." she sighed, looking at Ruro. The redhead tilted her head curiously and looked back at Esi before clearing her throat.

"She must be conducting research with the Forbidden Tomes."

"Did you not notice her left eye, Ruro?"

"..."

"You were silent the entire time."

"I did. Hime knows, I suspect, I do not need to mention the particulars to her."

"What is it?"

"...Can't say."

"Why not?"

"The time will come."

"O...kay."

Sakana looked at Polaris, who was very serious at this point. Sakana looked apprehensive and looked outside the window. The sky was completely overtaken by the grey darkness. It wasn't pitch black, but it was pretty dark. Sakana was scared that something was going to happen, but all that happened was that it started to rain. Sakana's expression was one of melancholy, but Ruro and Polaris were too busy with their conversation to notice, and Esi was too busy getting herself drunk to bits. Sakana continued staring outside the window, and saw that the rain was getting harder and harder. The tuna-half started to vibrate and she looked stern and quickly stood up, walking out of Taisabachi and into the rain.

Ruro had noticed Sakana stomp out of the pub, and soon turned around to chase after her. Matsuri had made a comfortable spot on the table, wondering what had happened to Sakana. The two of them were now outside, in the rain. The sky was a bleak grey, and the tear in the sky was in plain view.

"What's wrong...?" Ruro asked with much needed concern.

"...Something really bad's going to happen..."

"What...? We're just here to get a break, you know... There's no need to be so downtrodden..."

"The rain... The rain!" Sakana gasped, her eyes wide open by now, and she dragged Ruro back inside the Taisabachi. Sakana looked at their clothes, and found that it had made clean holes in their clothing where the rain had touched them. "Aah! It's a weird rain! We can't go outside." Sakana said.

Polaris stared at Ruro and Sakana.

"Death Rain."

"Huh...?"

"Death Rain."

"..."

"I... I see..."

Is nothing ever right on the earth?

No, my Lord, I find it there, as always, thoroughly
revolting.
I pity men in all their misery
and actually hate to plague the wretches.

[Esifex]

OOC! ESI IS TOTALLY OOC
I'M SUCH A TEETOTALLER WHAT THE HELL MAN

j/k I expect plenty of hilarious drunken antics from me - or to pass out at a critical time, whichever makes for the best lulz.