After numerous calls to Lucius and other servants, Jack's Library now had taken on a more... Mad lab vibe than an actual library. Gone was the bright reflections off of the gold shelves, and now was the dark glow of numerous experiments. Tanks full of green imp-like creatures, blue mass like slimes in another, and an odd fog hung in the air with the luster of greenish blues of some otherworldly color.
All the while, Jack's eyes flickered in the darkness of his Library with that same strange hue within those golden flames. After much trial and error, Jack was able to open the tome provided by Yoggi, as he stood before it on a podium, he made of pure glowstone. With this podium, one would think the Glowstone would illuminate the dank darkness within this mad hovel, but perhaps it was dampened by the bleak and ever-growing chaos of the Tome.
"Finally! Got this open..." Jack looked around the room and remembered Lucius' last words that Court was to be held within the next five hours... Was that four hours ago he said that?
Jack shook his head, as he looked back to the first page of the meatloaf and ooze book. He observed as the unknown runes upon the page shifted and changed, never resting in a state that was readable. Upon Jack's brow bore a pain, that shot through his head, in much the same way that it did when he saw Yoggi's true form... Or what he thought was Yoggi's true form.
Jack turned his head quickly, as the pain threatened to break his concentration over the myriad of voices within his God-Soul, as he huffed.
"Haaa, Haaa, Haaa?" Jack heaved without lungs. "Soul, haaa, Fatigue? Haaa?"
Jack felt a pulling inside his soul that felt more like he had been hit by a sledgehammer, than anything that pleasure could be said.
"The... fuck." Jack shook his head again.
Slightly angered, Jack went back to the tome in an attempt to do nothing more than stare it down and comprehend what was on the page.
He continued to stare, watching the runes shift change and morph into different characters, maybe even different languages. Most of the time they were written in different parts, but all should be the same?
At some points, it looked like a written form of morse code, others even had a brief Chinese letter, before it shifted into a rune, he had no idea was... Other times a roman letter appeared that looked like the letter "A."
Watching the runes, the pain within Jack's mind lessened, but at the same time, Jack felt something was missing.
"What happened here?" Leslie's charming voice issued.
"I think-I think I'm about to understand." Jack's monotoned voice issued from his podium in the middle of the Library.
"Jack, you've been cooped up in here since yesterday. It's time for court. Did you at least get rid of that soul of the Spider Goddess?" Leslie continued, as she floated over behind Jack, as she came to this room in this form, as only she could.
"Yes-Yes. Things are starting to make a bit of sense. Oh! OH! That's it! That's how it works!" Jack's monologuing continued.
"Honey, are you alright? You seem way more distracted than usual." Leslie approached over to the side of Jack, who was nodding his head up and down as he poured over some unknown tome.
As Leslie floated to the side of Jack, the pages of the tome Jack was reading suddenly flipped rapidly as purple and blue tentacles emerged from the pages, as nightmare gained life in an attempt to grasp Leslie
"Aah!" Leslie shrieked, as she dodged the first three tentacles, and found that another set darted from that damnable tome.
"Jack! JACK!" Leslie howled, and as she did Jack finally shook his head. Upon seeing that Tentacles were spreading from the tome on his podium, He waved his hand in a chopping motion.
Condensing from the light, a large golden cleaver sliced through the air over the tentacles.
Cutting them all, but one. Odd sounding high pitch squeals issued, as the last tentacle was pulled back within the tome, as it slammed shut, exposing that meatloaf like exterior, as the pages, now collapsed together foamed a green ichor.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Leslie now in a corner of the room pointed her clawed talon to the tome upon the podium, Jack had just left.
Jack was now holding Leslie in her banshee form, in an attempt to comfort her.
"Shhhh, Shhhhhh, Shhhhhhhhh. It's going to be alright. I'm here, I'm here. Everything's fine."
"J-Jack, what the fuck are you doing in here. What is all this!?" Leslie now starting to calm down took in more of the sight in front of her. At first, she thought it was good that Jack cleaned up a bit, but now upon further inspection found that this was a place of madness.
"I traded Neith's Soul for that tome over there." Jack soothed.
Leslie unconsciously clutched onto Jack, "What were those tentacles, and what's in those tanks?"
"I-Errrrr... It seems that I found the answer to my question from Death." Jack nodded.
"What?" Leslie's ethereal eyes opened wider.
*******
At the second largest port of The Republic of Stonedge, an odd-looking little girl left a darkened ship in the Bay of Murg. As she took a step off the plank that led from the Ship, the ship, itself, dissolved into a green ooze, as it bubbled atop the lava ocean in the harbor. Soon it bubbled away, not leaving behind who's ship it was or who was left.
The Little girl proceeded down the docs almost unnoticed. One could tell she was a girl by the figure she cut in the hot gusts of air vented from the lava ocean's currents around her cloak. If not for the wind, telling what she was might have been harder for the harbor's inhabitants and workers. With her head covered, one could just make out thick rope-like hair from out of her hood.
Most of everyone that seen her, simply looked the other way, not wanting to be caught up in any trouble, or seen as something they weren't. They simply let her pass by, as long as she didn't harm their business or interest, who cared?
"Oye, ya bloke. Look there. Some 'er child's playing on the docs." A large zombie undead called to his partner in crime.
"Ole' Hank... She ain't no one's child I ever seen." The other thin geist stood up from where he and Hank had hunkered down. They had been placing dice or rolling the bones among the harbor mates, as a popular pass time... Though these two enjoyed swindling monies through the dice far more than they played.
"Think We 'ought to find the lil' one's parents, or?" Hank asked in a gruff voice.
"Kidnap the squirt and make 'er daddy pay for 'er?"
"That's what I was thinking. You go to the side and offer. Imma' go around up ahead and wait for yous two to come back. I grab dah head."
"I grabs the feets. Take 'er to see the candy man, aye?"
"Aye."
The two split up, as one went straight to the little girl, the other went ahead.
"Oye. Lil' tot. Girl-child! Oye, I'm talking to you!" The thin geist good made haste to the little girl, who he had finally made known his presence too.
"Lil' one, you be hard to catch up too... You loss ya mummy or daddy? I can take ya to 'em." The Goon bent down to look at the little girl at eye level.
A strange voice unlike the age of the girl in front of him issued in a whisper, "I'vaah been sent by my daddy to look for his baaah-estfriend. Do you know where to find the God of this land?"
"Oye... Girl... I can find anyone. Say... You look to be a fine zombie undead... Looks almost perfect, you must have a rich parents." The goon continued.
"You're not here to help me find my daddy's Baaah-estfriend, are you?"
"How about this girl child. You come with uncle bone up ahead, and I'll help ya find this bestahfriend. Aye?"
"I don't think my daddy would want me to go with anyone baaah-tah his baaah-estfriend. So, no." The little girl shook her head, as her rope-like hair slipped into her cloak.
"Say, look 'er lil' girl, who's your daddy, and what does he do?"
"You really want to know?"
"Sure, lil' girl."
"Come closer to me, and I'll whisper his name to you." The little girl giggled, with an eerie air, but the goon thought nothing of it, as he got closer to the child.
"Closer, put your ear to me... I'll whisper it."
Doing as told, a harsh metal scraping, goat bleating, and guttural sound issued, as some otherworldly nonsense made manifest just under the notice of anyone present sole for the one listening... The goon kept crouched where he was, as the little girl giggled again, and then walked around him.
Ole Hank watching from the side saw that the little girl left his partner. Seeing as his Partner didn't make a move, she must have told him something that was worth not bothering her for...
Leaving his place, after the girl passed, Hank walked up behind his couched friend.
"Pawn... Oye, Pawn... What-sa matter with ya?" Hank patted the shoulder of his friend, who was still facing away from him, but as he patted the figure of his friend collapsed, with the head of Pawn rolling off his shoulders.
"the 'ell!?" Hank looked in horror as the head of Pawn was distorted in terror, and his mouth was filled with wiggling purple tentacles, the remains and clothes that should have been Pawn's body was nothing more than slime on the floor of the stone harbor.
Crying in fear and terror, it would be a long night for the authorities of Stonedge, and the case of the slime of Murg's bay would never be solved.