Seraphina sat up abruptly in her bed, clutching her head as the searing pain slowly faded into a dull ache. Sweat clung to her brow, her breaths came in sharp, uneven bursts, loud enough to awaken the others in the room.
Across the room, Samuel was already on his feet, his face a mixture of concern and alarm, while Edwin hovered near the bed, his calm exterior betraying a flicker of worry as his silver eyes scanned her for any visible signs of distress.
"What happened?"
Samuel asked; his voice sharper than usual.
"You screamed like you were being stabbed."
Seraphina shook her head, trying to steady her trembling body as she processed the lingering pain.
"I'm fine."
She muttered, her voice quiet with a hint of hesitation in it— as if she wasn't sure herself if she was fine. The throbbing in her temples begged to differ, but she couldn't tell them what had truly occurred.
"It was just... a bad dream."
"That didn't sound fine."
Edwin said, his silver eyes narrowing as he studied her intently.
"Are you hurt? Did something happen? Is it your..."
His voice trailed off as he didn't continue speaking, fearing that mentioning her illness would cause her to get angry. How could Edwin, a knight of the family, not know of the alignment that had plagued Seraphina from birth.
The common folk wouldn't know about it, but it was impossible to hide it from the knights who had been in the family for years— even some high nobles could find out about it if they searched a bit.
However, he had assumed her alignment had been cured, not knowing the exact details of it. The possibility that she still had lingering effects of it didn't cross his mind until just that moment.
"I said I'm fine."
Seraphina repeated, more forcefully this time— she slowly lowered her hands from her face, her fingers still trembling slightly.
"Just a nightmare. That's all."
Samuel raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall.
"Some nightmare. You woke us both up."
Edwin's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he nodded reluctantly.
"If you're sure."
His tone was calm but still questioning as he returned to his seat at the desk. Samuel, apparently satisfied for now, flopped back onto his bed with a muttered comment about noisy sleepers.
Seraphina let out a long, shaky breath, her body relaxing just enough to ease the tension in her shoulders. She needed time to process what had happened in her mental library, but now wasn't the moment to explain anything— not when she didn't fully understand it herself.
Morning came quietly and even throughout the night she was unable to enter the mental space; whenever she tried to do so she would feel slight pain again.
In the end, she gave up on the thought and just slept, waiting for the day to come. Seraphina sat by the window, her violet eyes gazing out at the still-sleeping city— her body felt rested, but her mind still buzzed with a mixture of thoughts and pain of the previous night.
The image of the shifting words and the newly formed book played vividly in her mind.
"It's not just storage."
She murmured to herself, her voice barely audible.
"It's creating something new."
Her mental library wasn't merely a repository for knowledge that she had previously thought it was— it was capable of piecing together fragmented texts into something cohesive.
Yet the gaps in the newly formed book seemed to imply it had some form of limits. The incomplete texts she had gathered from the library weren't enough— perhaps she needed more books to fill those gaps? But then when she tried fusing so many books before the pain had forced her out; a pain she didn't want to suffer again.
The memory of the headache sent a shiver down her spine— she touched her temples, where the pain had been most intense. The moment the words began to merge, her mind had rebelled, overwhelmed by the strain of the process.
"It must have been too much at once."
She whispered, her voice steady as she came up with a possible reason why the pain was so intense.
"Too many fragments combined... or maybe the library itself strained to fill the gaps."
The first time she was fusing the books, using just two books, she didn't feel any pain. She only felt pain when she tried to fuse multiple books at once— that left her with a simple conclusion.
If she could approach the process in smaller steps— combining fewer fragments at a time— perhaps she could avoid the backlash.
But this discovery also came with new dangers.
Whatever the library truly was, it was tied intrinsically to her violet eyes, and she couldn't afford to push beyond her limits recklessly otherwise it would clearly be harmful to her.
The realization filled her with equal parts excitement and caution. The potential of her mental library was immense, but so were the risks.
She resolved to proceed carefully, but she was going to make the most out of it— without it, she had limited potential and growth, she needed to take advantage of everything she could.
The trio gathered downstairs for breakfast, the warm scent of fresh bread and sizzling meat filling the inn's common room.
Seraphina listened quietly as Samuel and Edwin recounted their plans for the day, their focus still on gathering information about the forest and the hooded figures.
"Someone's bound to know something useful."
Samuel said, his voice brimming with determination as he bit into a piece of bread.
"Even if it's just more rumors, we can't stop digging."
Edwin nodded.
"The more we learn, the better prepared we'll be. We can't just keep chasing shadows, we need concrete leads."
Seraphina sipped her tea, her mind still half-occupied with thoughts of her library.
She knew the potential knowledge within it could be the key to success, but for now, she had no way of entering it again, the library had seemed to be rejecting her since the pain.
She concluded her mental strength was likely recovering from the strain, and she would need time before attempting to reenter the library— so she wasn't too worried about her inability to enter it.
Samuel leaned back, his usual smirk returning.
"So, Seraphina, what's your plan today? Another rendezvous with your noble admirer?"
She rolled her eyes, her lips curving into a faint, sarcastic smile.
"No, Samuel. I think I'll let you two do the exploring today. I'll stay back and focus on my training."
"Oh, taking the mysterious approach, huh?"
He teased, but there was no malice in his tone.
"Fine, we'll handle the taverns and guild chatter. Don't get too bored."
In the end, she decided to not go to the library today and try and store more information— it could potentially add more unnecessary strain to her mind while it was in the process of healing.
That wasn't something she wanted, plus she did need to train more— so spending the day just training wasn't a bad idea.
She returned to her room after the others left, and she got to meditate to feel the aura within her.