"Newbie, I saw you run off, are you ok?" A concerned face that I was glaring daggers at spoke as I glanced at the doors of the library one last time with gritted teeth before I let out a huge, frustrated breath through my nose.
"Yep, totally fine," I answered through gritted teeth before facing Gary who still had that same dense face, which annoyed me even more.
'He helped the guy who's been trying to get him fired, unintentionally!' I felt like ripping my hair out as I stared at him, not knowing how to not cuss him out right now.
'Is this what Greg feels like with this guy?' I thought back to the first time I saw Greg chew Gary out.
'I'm starting to get why Greg was close to firing him now,' I looked deeper into Gary's eyes and could only see the mental equivalent of a clock that was always too early or too late.
"Oh, wait were you trying to-" I watched the clock in his brain finally catch up, metaphorically striking 12 before he saw my clothes again and shut up.
"Sorry, I was just worried since I'm supposed to supervise you," He nervously smiled as he stepped out of the way before I gave up on being angry or annoyed as I sighed again, feeling defeated.
"It doesn't matter anymore, the guy I was chasing got away," I said as I stared at the front doors of the building.
"You were chasing someone?" I heard the previously concerned voice of Gary turn to confusion as I realized what I'd just said.
"Oh sh-oot, I uh…" It was my turn to be nervous now as I knew I just revealed something that might get me in trouble, remembering how Gary tried to hide the ghost-finding function on the crystal ball.
"Can you explain why you were doing that?" I turned to see Gary's eyes turn more serious as I smiled in a way that was just as nervous as his smile was previously.
"He was carrying a haunted book and I followed the… ghost?" I gestured to the glass ball as he sighed before rubbing his forehead, his brow knitting together with what was probably stress.
"I was just angry and I tried chasing it," I tried, attempting to stop whatever potential punishment was coming, but it didn't seem to work.
"Look it was probably my fault for what happened but you still did something you shouldn't have so I'm going to have to-" Time slowed for me as I felt doom loom over me, knowing what he would say next would probably be the end of my chance to get help for my problem, but at the last second I remembered what I was really doing here, the idea that started this whole thing and gathering my breath I said something that was my last chance at stopping what was going to happen.
"Someone's trying to get you fired!" I yelled out, interrupting Gary's words as he took a moment to process my words.
"Wait, someone's trying to fire me?!" Gary suddenly looked panicked and confused before he suddenly- "Noooo, I can't get fired, this is my dream job, please!" I took a step back at the outburst, watching tears start to well up as I didn't know what to think.
I watched on for a second as he took a knee like he was about to beg the world for forgiveness, sounding fake yet having a sincerely panicked look in his eyes.
"I- calm down," I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to be reassuring as Gary froze and looked at me.
"Y-you won't report me?" My eyes widened in shock at the absurdity of the idea.
"Report you- who said anything about reporting you?!" I stared at Gary, confused as I processed everything that just happened.
"W-wait, so why did you say that then?" Gary wiped some mucus that leaked from his nose as I sighed for the third time in this conversation.
"I said it because some guy is using the ghost I mentioned to get you fired," I pointed over to the door.
"He just ran away and I was chasing him until you blocked me," I saw the previous nervous look that Gary had return with renewed vigor as he looked at me guiltily before his eyes turned to look away from mine.
"I'm sorry," He lingered for a minute as he kneeled there in silence before he looked back at me with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry about freaking out like that and what I was about to say before," I felt relieved at his words as I saw his three eyes looking at me like he had more to say.
"Moving on from that uh... odd situation, can you tell me what that person looked like please?" I stood there in silence as I thought about how bringing another person in on this might complicate things.
'I mean he's a chatterbox usually and he's pretty unaware of his surroundings but he could help with his better magic, right?' I groaned mentally at the large pro but with the two cons...
'This is why I wanted to do this by myself this time, it gets complicated or weird with other people involved,' I thought as I remembered every time I was around people when a problem appeared.
'Like losing my balance when I carried Hunter or when I helped Brown and Green hair which made Josh and his acting chops chase me to "complete his role"!' I sighed yet again as I glanced at what I now could see was a few eyes that were focused on us from farther away.
"First, let's go somewhere more private to talk," I saw Gary look toward the place I had glanced before turning back and nodding as he stood up, and with a pace that I could keep up with, we walked to the break room.
**********
"So wait, this witch with three eyes just like me, is using a hazy-looking haunted book to sabotage me by playing pranks on others while I'm nearby?" I nodded as he paced a bit before stopping in front of me as I sat on the counter of the break room.
"-and you can see this hazy ghost because of some visual ability to see magic that you've always had?" I nodded again as he looked at me thoughtfully.
"Don't forget the brown hair and the crazy-looking red eyes, he looked like he hadn't slept at all," I added as Gary's seemed to tighten at that.
"Thanks for that, just needed to also remember that he might be insane too," He rolled his three eyes before he froze while locking his eyes on me.
"How are you not concerned about this?" Gary gestured to the door of the break room as he looked at me irritated.
"You're like 7, you should at least be nervous about an insane man trying to hurt you!" I shrugged as I stared at him awkwardly.
"I mean, I've seen scarier stuff than just a crazy demon," I explained, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal only to get a concerned look instead.
"What kind of stuff are you doing for you to see scarier things than that!" I thought back to my previous experiences and smiled in what I hoped looked lighthearted.
"Being me I guess?" I cringed as I watched incredulity leak into Gary's eyes before he groaned and held his face.
"Fine, if that's what you say!" Gary raised his arms, moving on from the question as he began to pace again only to stop and face me.
"So what's the plan again?" I explained my idea about the soul-sensing spell and using it to track the crazy guy, but that I needed to learn how to draw a full circle before meeting Malphas.
"So you're telling me that the plan relies on you drawing a circle?" He looked like he was about to laugh.
"Ok then, why not!" I watched the gleeful face turn from happy to sad before it turned happy again as he seemed to realize something.
"How about we tell Malphas what happened?" Gary suggested with a hopeful glimmer in his eye before he saw my reluctant look.
"What's the problem?" Gary stared at me in confusion, "It's the easiest way and probably the best!" I shook my head.
"I need to learn that spell, it's not just for this, it's for something else that's important," I explained as Gary let out an exasperated sigh, his body slumping with an annoyed look on his face.
"Fine, I'll help you and then we can go to Malphas," I turned to him with a surprised look that soon turned into a grin as he only rolled his eyes and began to channel magic into his finger.
"Just as a test, can you channel magic into your finger?" I followed his instructions and closed my eyes before rotating my magic to gain enough momentum to push through my channels and out into my finger as I opened my eyes to see the interested look of Gary.
"Hm," I felt anxious as he kept staring at my glowing finger before he looked up at me.
"What kind of method are you using to draw magic?" I explained the visualization that I was taught by Malphas and he looked at me strangely.
"So you just spin it around a bit and send it out?" I nodded, thinking back on how all of yesterday evening I tried to improve the speed and the amount of magic I could draw on.
"Why didn't you practice keeping that current's momentum instead of just sending magic out in bursts?" I looked at him for a second as I processed what he said before I froze.
"What, is there something wrong?" I kept staring for a second before I covered my face with my hands.
"I… didn't think of that," I said hesitantly knowing how stupid that sounded as I looked away from him.
"I can't believe that the only person who tried to help me is some kid with good eyes," Gary chuckled in a self-deprecating way before turning back to me as I felt a pang of annoyance.
"So Newbie, why not try it out now?" I lowered my hands and closed my eyes as I started circulating the magic in a circle only this time I pulled out a stream of energy from it like a piece of thread from yarn and sent it to my finger while I constantly kept my focus on the now easier to control magic ring in by my heart.
"There you go Newbie, now just hold that and draw the ring," I followed his instructions as I split just a bit more attention to my finger and started tracing.
"Almost there, almost and- you got it!" I opened my eyes quickly in excitement, hoping to see my hard work only for my focus to suddenly waver as I felt the thread I made snap and the tiny ring fade away.
"Wait, why did it snap?" I looked at my finger confused before looking at Gary who only shrugged before grinning wide for some reason.
"You can do that again right?" Gary questioned as I looked at him strangely and nodded before I realized where this was going.
"Then let's go talk to Malphas!" He helped me down from the counter before he let out a relieved sigh as he walked out of the room with me in tow.
**********
"-so that's the situation, can you help me sir?" Gary explained as Malphas looked calmly at Gary with his white glowing eyes.
"…Gary," Malphas floated closer as Gary kneeled again for some reason.
"Yes, sir" Malphas looked at him with an impartial as he placed a hand on Gary's shoulder.
"You need to deal with this before it inconveniences actual strangers, ok?" Gary slowly stood up and nodded before Malphas motioned for him to go.
"-and as for you my apprentice, let's see if you can draw that circle now," I watched as the old bird floated up to me as I closed my eyes and repeated the steps from before.
"Hm, good job, you figured out the simplest part of the next step of my spellcasting method, now I'll teach you that spell," My face lit up at that and Malphas smiled before waving at me to calm myself.
"I know it's exciting to finally cast a spell, but you need to be careful with this or you might hurt your eyes and will have to get them healed, now watch me," I observed Malphas for a few seconds as he drew a circle before he seemed to stop and slowly play out the steps he took to cast the spell and what he was thinking while doing it.
"You see, just like how you created the ring of magic and transport energy, you need to visualize the spell you desire and it will be conjured with your will," I felt disbelief at what I just heard, I had thought I needed some chant or a magic circle to use the spell.
'-But it was that easy?' I thought as I observed Malphas who looked at me annoyed almost like he... read my mind.
"Kid just because imagination is a big part of a spell doesn't mean it's easy," Malphas continued his demonstration with the spell and as he cast it I watched closely only to see nothing happen.
"As I said, it's not easy because, unlike most other spells, soul magic doesn't have some colorful visual component or a distinct impression of how it should happen," I looked on feeling all my previous giddiness fade as he continued talking.
"That not even counting the understanding you need to have usually when you don't have a talent for magic like this," the giddiness was completely gone at that point as he seemed to be coming to the end of his lecture.
"-so you need to find your own impression of the soul and how you detect them, got it?" I looked at Malphas for a second as he finished his explanation, reflecting on what he had said as I sighed.
"Oh, and one final thing, try to inject those impressions into the magic so the spell will work," I nodded before looking around Malphas's office, noticing that Gary was gone.
'Maybe I should get going too?' I glanced at the door, feeling eager to start practicing as soon as possible.
"Well thanks for the help, I'll get going-" I was cut off as I felt a hand land on my shoulder before I was turned around.
"I never said you were done, you still need to work on your magic sensing and control," Malphas pointed over to the circle from yesterday.
"So we'll be doing the same exercise as yesterday until those two abilities improve, ok?" I reluctantly nodded before I made my way over to the circle with a sigh and practiced just like the day before.
**********
"Now tell me if you can sense this," I felt a small wisp of purple energy, smaller than the previous as I nodded.
"Good, you can go then," I opened my eyes as I looked at Malphas confused.
"What, did you expect that you'd stay here as long as last time?" I stayed silent as Malphas sighed.
"Last time was a coincidence, I only meant to keep you there for as long as today's lesson, so go and do kid stuff or whatever it is you like to do," I stood as he said that and walked to the door, feeling my increased control and sensitivity to magic to have increased to about what I'd say is beginner level.
'I can grab blobs of magic now instead of slivers but compared to my control with the slivers, the blobs are just as hard to control as slivers were before now,' I reflected as I walked to the lift and pressed the button to go up.
'Well, my control's better than before, which is kind of odd,' I thought back to the experiences I've had to go through to gain the abilities I have now and compared it to this.
"Isn't this too easy?" I started to think about it but was interrupted as a dinging noise quietly rang out, indicating the lift had arrived.
"Whatever, I can worry about it later," I shook my head and stepped onto the lift.
"For now... let's work on the soul-sensing spell," I smiled as I stepped on the lift, my excitement from before my lesson re-emerging as I looked forward to the next few hours of practice before Raine picked me up.
"So what should I visualize first?" I thought of all the possibilities that I could before the lift door opened and walked out into the library looking for a table to think.
"No, not that one," I glanced around, looking at tables in the distance as I threw an image of a yarn ball away, somehow feeling that the image wasn't right.
"Maybe a regular ball?" I kept walking, thinking it over only to bump into a larger person before falling onto my butt.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry young man," A smooth deep voice spoke as I looked up to see a man with an amiable-looking expression in odd clothes with a black and white hood.
'Wait, black & white?' I tried remembering where I'd seen something like that before as a sense of familiarity developed in the back of my head like an itch on my skin.
"Here let me help you up," The man stretched out his hand as I looked over it for a second, taking it a moment later.
"Thanks for-" Suddenly the man seemed to lose his grip as I was cut off by my lack of balance before his grip tightened once again all in a moment.
"Hey, what the heck?" I glared up at the man mildly annoyed as he only apologized again before lifting me to my feet.
"Again, I am truly sorry'" He lifted his hand as it started twitching.
"You see, my hand can be unsteady at times," The man explained as I took a quick glance before looking back at him.
"It's fine," I sighed, sweeping any dust off my pants and attempting to continue my walk towards a table, beginning to think of images again only for a hand to stop in front of me.
"Huh?" I looked up to the man before I noticed him smiling down at me, sending a wave of suspicion across my mind.
"I am sorry to stop you again, but you seem troubled," Seeing that I only stood there he withdrew his hand, redirecting it to gesture at the tables.
"May I be of assistance?" He finished as I stayed staring at him.
'What's this guy's deal?' I thought, still wary of him and his 'help' but then I remembered Raine and how he was essentially a stranger a few weeks ago.
'Maybe I don't have to be so cynical with everyone,' I stared at the man's smiling face and let go of my suspicion as I gave my best smile in return.
'Maybe he isn't as bad as he seems,' I nodded at him as I motioned for him to lead the way.
"Yeah, I'm learning this spell and I'm having a hard time thinking of an image to represent a soul and an image to detect them," I explained, walking to the table.
"Hm," the man held his chin, stroking it like a wizard might have as we finally made it to the seats.
"Maybe, try using something living instead of an object," He pulled out what looked like an acorn before placing it in front of me.
"Something like this, do you know what this is?" I looked at him strangely as he asked and I nodded in confirmation.
"It's an acorn I think?" The man nodded in return before retrieving it.
'Weird?' I thought, knowing acorns were supposed to be pretty common despite not seeing them near Raine's house, but again I willed myself to stop my habit of suspicion.
"Try imagining that acorn now," I smiled and nodded again as something clicked in my head before I conjured my magic to inject it only to stop.
"What about the detection part?" The man seemed to stay silent for a few seconds as I heard him hum in thought.
"Try roots and branches," He stated quickly as I nodded again and with another click the image was complete.
'Now to finally inject it,' I closed my eyes, feeling the image resist quite a bit as I tried to slip it into the ring of my magic but eventually, it entered and dispersed before my vision lit up with a large swath of color as I saw souls for the first time.
"Whoa..." I observed the colors stupidly as my jaw hung wide open before something suddenly happened and the colors that looked like a swirl with just as many colors as the painbows that I had read about started separating into smaller shapes that soon formed acorns.
"Did it work?" I looked over to the man who had helped me, but as I was about to nod I saw his soul, or rather a lack of one.
'What the...?' I felt my brows tightening before I stopped them returning my fake smile from before back to my face as I kept staring in the direction of where I thought the man was.
'Is he-' I stopped myself again as I thought of the pitch-black substance I knew was trying to invade my soul, knowing that it might've taken over this guy already.
'Just act casual,' I thought as I opened my eyes only to see that he was actually standing in a completely different place, one that was closer to my chair.
'Guess I was just looking at an empty space?' Feeling stupid, I shook off whatever thoughts bubbled up to the surface that was still insisting that 'he might have been there' and 'that I didn't just miss him moving'.
'I mean he did move closer to me, but isn't that a different kind of suspicious?' I thought, knowing that whatever he was, it probably wasn't anything like I thought.
'But, just in case...' I stood as I turned to him, placing myself on the other side of my chair in preparation to run, trying to seem like I was about to push it in while looking at the man.
"Thanks for the help, I'll remember this," I tried to seem friendly as he only nodded with the same smile from before and walked away without so much as a goodbye.
'Good, he's going,' I let out a sigh of relief, watching him walk away before sitting down again and closing my eyes, taking one last glance at the man as I focused on improving the speed of my image injection for the next few hours.
**********
'Interesting,' I thought as I walked to the doors of this archive of knowledge provided by the merciful world, pondering on the shock I felt when grabbing the child's hand.
'Could he be?' I looked back for a second as I saw the child cycling the blight in a way reminiscent of the Old Archivist downstairs.
'He's definitely the apprentice of Malphas but...' I looked closer and spotted dark splotches in the child's soul.
"It is them," I felt my pious smile turn into a grin of unmatched joy as I turned around and continued on my way, knowing that the chosen vessel was found.
**********
"-I don't know what to say, Raine, he can't just decide without talking to you first," A witch with purple flowing ooze for hair said as a teal-haired witch sighed, slumping as the purple-haired witch rolled his eyes.
"Look if it's that important then I'll call him but I can't guarantee that he'll be available," The purple-haired man soon pulled out his scroll as he tapped on it a few times before putting it up to his ear.
"Thank you, Darius, I won't forget this," Raine smiled as Darius gave him a bored look.
"Make sure you do 'hero'," Darius said sarcastically as Raine seemed to cringe at the title before Darius's back seemed to straighten.
"Hey Eberwolf, it's Darius," A growling could be heard from the other side of the scroll as Darius's expression seemed to become mildly annoyed.
"What do I want?" Darius repeated as he started pacing before stopping as he took a breath.
"Look I'm only calling because the 'hero' of BonesBorough here needs help with tracking down a creature," Darius looked over to Raine before going silent as a few more growls came over the scroll.
"Wait, what kind of beasts appeared?" Darius's eyes narrowed as his focus on Raine became even more intense.
"Yes, I can bring them over," Raine looked confused as he saw Darius turn serious.
"Hey, what's happening?" Raine felt confused as Darius hung up the scroll, unsure about what was happening from just the bits of conversation they heard.
"Today's your lucky day Whispers," Darius called on his magic as he transformed his flesh into an ooze that looked just like his hair.
"It looks like that creature you're looking for might have just appeared," Raine's eyes widened at hearing that before Darius groaned.
"Oh come on, it's not THAT surprising is it?" Darius slid up to Raine as he pointed behind him toward the forest outside of the town.
"We need to go now, Eberwolf just requested back up and that includes you, got it?" Raine lingered for a second as they heard the information before quickly pulling out their Palisman and quickly taking to the air.
"Where to?" They questioned before Darius grinned.
"Follow me," Darius took off as Raine followed quickly after.
**********
"When's Raine going to get here?" I groaned as I watched the sun start to edge below the horizon.
"It's almost sunset," I got up and wandered around the library for a few minutes, looking at the various objects around the place.
"Ok, now I don't have anything to do," I stated as I sat down at a chair closer to the entrance.
"Is there something I can do?" I wondered as I went back on my statement from a few seconds ago.
"Maybe I can just read?" I thought about it for a second before I shook off the idea.
"Nah, I can do that anytime," I smirked as I looked at the books, but as I did I saw a strange book that seemed to display symbols similar to my own.
"What is that?" I started walking towards the book as I felt an odd pull from it like something in my mind pushed me toward it.
"History of-" Suddenly before I could finish reading the title, a creak came from the entrance of the library as a familiar three-eyed man was in the process of sliding through a crack in the doors.
"Come on you useless slabs," He pushed with great effort as he tried to pass.
"I am your future owner just like the rest of this library!" I watched in interest as the supposed owner of the library tried to get in only for me to freeze as I saw a hazy book fall onto the floor.
"Damn it, I will not be disrespected by a door!" The crazed man said as I looked on in incomprehension.
'Is it actually him?' I thought with confusion, wondering why he would come back now of all times.
"Hey, you boy!" I jumped as I realized the crazed man made eye contact with me.
'Shoot,' I observed for a few more seconds before he groaned as if he was expecting me to do something then and there to help him only to look up at me again.
"Come here and help me, or are you just as blind as you are deaf?" I started walking over slowly as he kept struggling.
'What should I do?' I thought over the possibility of calling Malphas for a second before dismissing the idea, realizing the man might get away before then.
'Malphas also said to deal with it ourselves, so...' I looked down at the dropped hazy book before looking back up at the crazed man.
'It would solve the current issue,' I stopped near the door as the man stared at me with a raised brow and an annoyed frown.
'What are you waiting for brat?' He growled as I took one last look at the book before deciding on what to do.
"Oh sorry sir, I was just thinking about how I could help you," I stared at him with an innocent face that I thought would look convincing as I stepped even closer before looking at the ground under the door as I crouched down.
"It looks like there's something in the way," I reached closer to the book in front of the door and the man only sighed with annoyance as he looked ahead at what was probably the hallway where the bathroom was located.
"Got it," I picked up the book before I felt an odd chill travel up my spine as the man started pushing the door again.
"It's still scraping against something," he glanced over to me.
"Are you sure it was-" He and I froze as our eyes met before I saw his eyes drift down to the book in my hands.
"You wretch!" The crazed man suddenly screamed as he struggled with a renewed intensity.
"That is mine!" He screamed as I started to run.
"Fine, if you want to tempt my patience even more then you'll be responsible for this," I turned my head back to look as he seemed to rummage in his robes, pulling out what looked like a wand before pointing at the door, then with a flash of light that forced me to turn my head back around and a boom that hurt my ears, the door flew open, shattering something nearby.
"Shoot!" I mumbled in a panic as I turned a corner that I knew could loop back towards the Forbidden Stacks.
'Wait the magic!' I quickly remembered the purple haze that had burrowed into my skin as I thought of where else I could go.
'...' I thought for a second before an incredibly stupid option popped into my head.
'No way,' I looked down at the book before I looked back the way I came.
'...but it's either that or pass out...' I gripped my azure hair as it fell into my face, making me even more annoyed, seeing the oddly irritating color.
'Fine!' I quickly focused on the book as I opened it and saw nothing happen.
"What? no come on!" I looked closer as I read the pages, almost immediately seeing something useful.
"A summoning spell?" I quickly looked it over as I noticed I was coming close to the corner I needed to turn.
"Ok uh," I quickly drew a circle as best as I could and quickly imagined an acorn before chanting a spell to manipulate the spirit in the book.
"Invisiblis Servus!" Suddenly the haze around the book grew before flying out and covering me like I wanted before I turned the corner to see the crazed man waiting there.
"Where's that little brat?!" He looked past me before leaning close and turning to look down the row I had just run down.
"He tricked me?!" The crazed man yelled before I stepped out of the way as he ran down the row that led further into the library.
'Good,' I started rushing to the door before I remembered that Gary should still be there.
"I should probably call him once I get outside then," I pulled out my scroll and looked over my contacts as I pulled up his number and let it ring before I stepped out of the library with my scroll which clicked as Gary answered.
"Hey, Newbie?" Gary greeted confused as I caught my breath.
"Gary, the crazy guy is in the library," Gary stayed silent for a moment.
"Where?" Gary questioned, suddenly sounding serious as I explained in what area I saw him heading towards.
"Ok got it," I nodded despite knowing he wouldn't see before he spoke again.
"I have to go now, stay safe," realizing what he was about to do, I tried to say something.
"Wai-" I groaned as I heard a beep, ending the call.
"Now what?" I questioned as I looked into the sunset.