"If you need anything just holler!"
shouting and waving his goodbye's Shana watched as the large man retreated off into one of the many hallways in this estate of unknown size.
But from what she could tell from how it took fifteen minutes to just reach the library, this estate was big.
Very big in fact as the first thing that Shana saw when she turned around was a towering set of bookcases that circled a central book filled pillar.
It was so packed with books that she suspected that even without the bookcases present there would be little difference.
It was just that stuffed with information in the form of books.
But because of the amount of books there, a certain... peace suddenly filled her.
Taking in the scent of books into her lungs, the silence filled her body with an unprecedented sense of peace.
Since there was nothing else the sound of her footsteps and heartbeat banging loudly, Shana stared at the bookshelves at a loss.
As stated previously, the library she was currently in had so much literature in it that it was positively overflowing with it as the dome shaped roof could definitely be held up by the collective pages of all the books.
Which was exactly the problem.
'How am I going to find what I want here?'
Feeling at a loss, a soothing female voice spoke into her ear.
"What are you looking for little girl?"
"Eep!"
Hiccupping, Shana jumped in place before whirling around to see a metallic woman taring at her with the same mask that the others had.
And just like the others, the only difference was the hat and eyes.
However, unlike the others, her lower body was connected to a large mechanism which had came down from the ceiling which made it so that she was like a certain robot from an experimental game about lying cakes.
Round eyes focusing on her, the red dot traced her movements before her voice vibrated in the air
"Like I said little girl, what are you looking for?"
"Um."
Frozen in place, for some reason unknown to her, Shana's heart which had finally calmed down suddenly spiked once again.
But ignoring her heart problems which were probably due to the surprise of someone just appearing directly behind her, Shana spoke up slowly.
"So... My name is Shana miss..."
"Evangel"
"Evangel, I was brought here by-"
"I know."
Interrupting Shana, the woman calmly stared at Shana who paused before awkwardly pivoting to another subject.
"Well... I was hoping that you would direct me to the section with common knowledge or at least history of Dark."
"..."
Red eyes flickering as they stared at Shana in a cold silence, the smiling face that ironically made it all the more colder finally spoke after a few more seconds of unbearable silence.
"The section you are looking for is here, follow me."
Gesturing for Shana to follow her, the ceiling hissed as the unknown robotic woman slowly trudged forwards at a stable pace.
Glancing backwards her tall top hat seemed all to out of place on the robots head.
Soon enough, the mechanical woman led her to a section of the library that was kept away in the corner and would've definitely taken Shana the entire day to find.
"Here you go, don't destroy anything otherwise you will pay for your life."
"You're joking right?"
Turning to look at the woman's face, the mask's red eyes didn't waver a single bit as they stared steadfastly at Shana.
"You're joking right?"
*Pssshhhh
Pneumatics hissing audibly her lower body slowly contracted as it brought her up to the ceiling.
And as they kept eye contact all the while during that time, her red eyes caused sweat to drip down her back in bucketful's.
"..."
Gulping slightly, she adjusted her shirt and turned around to look at one of the many books that were set on the shelf.
Like a good book, they each had well bound and well maintained covers that spoke volumes of how well taken care of they were.
But besides that, where should she even start?
Feeling at a loss once again, the veritable wall of books seemed oh so daunting to her little self.
Gulping down her saliva, she slowly dragged her fingers across the surfaces of the books of blue intermingled with red.
Feet slapping against the stone cold floor, the tiled ground allowed echoes of her foot steps to ring out as they echoed around in the incredibly silent library.
And as she ran her fingers across the book spines, the rough leather soon changed to a different texture.
One that she was much rougher than that of their other well maintained booky brethren.
Turning her head to look at what her fingers had happened upon, she saw a worn out brown book that was significantly out of place in the wall of books.
'What the...'
Looking at the small book that was also severely dwarfed in size by the other books, she slowly brought the book out of the bookshelves and stared at it for a few moments.
'...I guess you're what I'm going to be reading first.'
Realizing that she had a veritable motherload of information that she could be sifting through right now for things about the dark instead of reading this dingy old book, Shana realized again that she just didn't care.
'This is more interesting right now.'
Opening the first page, the first thing that she saw were Chinese characters that told a story through the power of words.
---
I am called Li Shi Zhen
This is the last records of who I am.
To all those who come later, do not make the same mistake as I did.
I hear something, they might be near, I have to go.
.'What the...' Furrowing her brows Shana stared at the first page that was... interesting to say the least as it was covered in a series of masked faces that she recognized.
They were also labeled in the Chinese names of people that she had just met.
Downwards facing crescent eyes and a wide smile had Albert Conningham underneath it.
Upwards facing crescent eyes and a similarly wide smile had Gregory Sanders name underneath it.
Lily Evangel with oval eyes and a smile.
Ellie Evangel with Diamond eyes and a smile.
A mask with three eyes and a smile.
A mask with dotted eyes and a smile.
A smile with thread like eyes.
Seven faces in total, each with their respective names.
Observing the faces that were drawn in startlingly good detail, she ingrained the images in her mind as she recalled the names right before she flipped the page.
And just as she was flipping the page with a curiousity brewing in her heart, she felt her heart jolt when a voice eeped out from behind her.
"Have you found what you are looking for?"
"Hic!" Hiccupping in surprise, Shana instinctively hid the notebook behind her back as she whipped around to stare at Ellie Evangel with surprised eyes.
Red dots staring directly into her own green ones, she quickly recalled the words written in the diary.
Subconsciously moving backwards due to something even she didn't know yet, the woman in front of her stared curiously at her hand hidden behind her back.
But, thankfully she didn't ask what it was that Shana was hiding behind her back despite it belonging to the library.
"Um... No, not yet" Shana vaguely gestured at the motherload of books that were seemingly untouched by anything.
"I couldn't decide on what to start on since there are no names on the spines."
"...I see..." Her eyes stared directly at Shana as the red dots seemed to peer directly into her soul.
It was incredibly off putting.
Shifting uncomfortably, Shana turned to the side while thinking of what to say before a metaphorical light bulb lit up on her head
"Uh... Now that I think about it miss Evangel, can you recommend me some books to start reading from? I trust a librarian as esteemed as you would be able to..."
She vaguely gestured to the bookshelves again.
"Uh... Guide me?... Please...?"
Red dots staring at her through diamond shaped eyes, her smile incredibly off putting seemed to stare into her soul as the red lights in her eyes flickered.
And eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of cold sweat and fiercely beating adrenaline in the heart.
Evangel nodded her head before pulling out a blue book from her abdomen.
"I suggest that you read Earl Gladius's records of the Deep wilds for a start girl."
Handing it to Shana, she stared at the large blue book before grabbing it with one hand.
---
Earl Gladius, an explorer of much renown that braved dangers that no one had the courage to explore.
Exploring the vast and supernatural areas of Dark and recording them in his notebook, every conceivable piece of land had experienced his legs that yearned for more.
Even until the point that he discovered places of myth such as the remains of the Jade Palace of Gold that were only folklore at that point.
Of course all legends had an end to them.
It was just a really, really, really long time until anyone found out about Gladius's.
At that point all that was left of him was bone and all his belongings.
And in the end, his notes were spread across the entirety of Dark, detailing all of the logic bending and magical biomes that belonged in it.
As a side note, it also had very poor renditions of monsters and what they could do.
And Shana was staring at one of them.
A very, familiar one at that.
A vertical mouth, long lanky arms that were off putting besides its small body and pitch black skin.
And apparently it was called a mouth monkey.
'And I can see why it's called that.'
Staring at the poor rendition of the mouth monkey, Shana closed the book with several questions answered and even more left behind.
'Didn't dad say that this place is the opposite of ours? So why does it have so many monsters?'
Recalling how her Dad seemed incredibly fond and nostalgic when talking about Dark she felt confused.
Because from what she could tell, it was nothing but.
Monsters were a dime a dozen as the biomes they lived in were all the more treacherous.
Constantly active volcanoes that spewed flame every single day.
A similarly active blizzard that froe everything that got caught in it.
Of course that fact could be attributed to factors similar to the one's on her own planet called earth.
But that didn't change the fact that because the sea was held up by magical forces, the only thing that could cause rain here was a battle between monsters.
And since everything seemed to have it out for each other, poisonous blood was literally in everything's blood.
Even the vegetarian one's seemed to have a ridiculous amount of poison in them due to the poisonous plants that they ate every day.
This meant that the very rain which was actually the blood spilt in the battle was poison.
'This is far from a normal world.'
Realising now that her dad may or may not have beautified it several times she wondered what the hell was this world's creator on.
'At this point is this world ruled by an evil God? Does this world belong to Satan?'
Thinking about how hostile this world was to basically anything that lived, she realized how hypocritical she was right now when she started to compare things to her own world.
'Oh my God, this is just Australia, it even fits the down under bill and everything!'
Slapping her head, she widened her eyes in realization right before she glanced to the side where a pair of eyes stared at her
Mask smiling right at her, the woman limply hung her arms as she stared at Shana.
It was rather unnerving since during the entire she was reading the book, she just stared.
It really made it hard for her to focus on the contents of the book that Ellie had handed to her.
Especially since she was incredibly silent and the only signs of her life were the unblinking red eyes that followed her every movement.
Trust her, she tested that last fact a small while ago and it was just... creepy.
"Are you done now?"
Even her damn voice was extremely creepy with how monotone and artificial it was!
Silently cursing her dad in her mind for giving an unrealistic depiction of Dark which was much more violent than that of her own world, she stared at Ellie and nodded.
"I see."
Staring at her, the sound of doors being opened echoed in the large library that reflected the noise to her as clear as day.
"...It seems that you have a visitor, I shall take my leave."
Blankly staring at Shana, the pneumatics on the bottom of her body hissed as it released the pressure contained in them.
Retracting back up into the ceiling a loud boisterous voice echoed out in the library as Gregory shouted.
"Hey! Are you here!? Shana!? I want to show you something!"
Voice echoing through the entire library making it seem as if his voice was right besides her, Shana hesitantly shouted.
"I'm right here?"
"Ah, so this is where you were!"
Jumping out of her skin, Shana felt her heart rate spike up into the hundreds as Gregory suddenly appeared besides her without any warning.
Staring at the large burly robot with down facing crescent eyes and a smile on his mask making it seem as if he was slightly sad yet happy the red eyes joyfully bounced within their confines.
"I want to show you something, would you follow me?"
"Umm... What is it that you want to show me?" Slowly tucking the diary into her bosom, Gregory shouted.
"It won't be a surprise if I told you, just follow me!"
"And if I say yes...?
"Well then! Follow me!"
Grabbing Shana by the shoulders forcefully, the hands acted like metal clamps that held two pieces of wood together so that the glue could dry.
But in this case...
'Fuck that hurts'
The arms weren't made out of wood but instead flesh.
Feeling a pain akin to a pinch being applied on the entirety of her shoulders, she hurriedly tried to get the hands off of her so that she could massage them.
But in a way that could only be called reality since the hands felt like clamps, they acted like clamps.
"Ouch! Hey! Uh...! G-Gregory right? Can you let go of my arms!?"
Feeling the circulation in her arms slowly start to die down, she shouted those words at Gregory who had dragged her far from the library in the small time frame that she was being held by him.
"Not yet"
Legs moving incredibly quickly as it caused the stagnant air in the estate to whip across her face, Shana felt her heart rate spike once again.
Reaching a steady 110 bpm and rising higher and higher adrenaline spikes seeped into her heart.
Stress levels rising Shana felt the sweat pool on her head as panic slowly surged up in her when she recalled the message stated in the diary.
'Ugh, what the hell did it even say?!'
Don't make the same mistakes as I did.
Heart trying to escape her chest, it hammered against her own rib cage as the giant of a robot carried her with both hands in a manner that normal humans could never.
Arms set behind their back so that it could Carry Shana like a back pack, Shana hurriedly fumbled to get the book out of her back pockets.
Swiftly ripping apart the fragile leather covering she quickly adjusted her reading glasses that were on the verge of falling off and flipped a few pages in.
And in incredibly bold and outlined Chinese hanza.
The robots are not friends
They are insane and have a different set of logic circuits
Make sure to NEVER get caught.
Those words were there.
Heart rate now spiking to a very dangerous number of 130 and slowly rising, Shana felt as if her stomach was about hurl it's breakfast contents as Gregory abruptly stopped and nearly ripped her arms off.
Roughly throwing her to the ground, Shana instinctively cried out in pain.
Tumbling on the ground, she noted that she wasn't inside anymore as the sun was out and a forest was before her.
"Ah!"
Feeling the rough stone and earth scratch at her skin, Gregory Sanders joyfully spoke as his arms bulged.
"Hahah! Do you feel the pain Miss Shana!? That is the pain that comes with life!"
"What the hell?!"
Rolling on the ground to disperse some of the remaining momentum, she hurriedly tried to get up but failed in the next second when she saw the item in Gregory's hand.
A chill ran up her spine.
A cold metal barrel that glinted in the sunlight connected to a large stock made of leather.
In other words, a gun
A very big gun that was able to comfortably rest in Gregory's hands and appear like a pistol
"I really do miss that feeling!"
"What are you doing!?"
An incredible amount of confusion welled up inside of her heart as she stared at the man wielding a gun.
Just a few moments ago she was peacefully reading a book albeit underneath the piercing stare of a robotic librarian.
But at the least it was peaceful.
Even the two people she had met upon awakening were nice and kind and had some form of cognitive structure that allowed a functioning conversation.
But so far, from what Shana had seen of the crazed robotic man, he was something akin to a hyper active chihuahua that had poor impulse control.
And his following words confirmed that fact.
"I have always wondered."
"..."
"Ever since I have got rid of the flesh that weighed myself down, I have gained a strength that I could've never possessed before."
"But the price was everything that I thought was a chain."
Mind hurrying to find something to make sure that Gregory wouldn't shoot her head, Shana hurriedly spoke. "So do you regret it?"
"Hah! Fuck no! In fact, I've never felt more free in my entire life!" The red eyes lit up with life as they bounced around joyfully.
"Then why are you trying to shoot me?!"
Slowly inching away from the mad man and slinking away into the underbrush, the grass and stone scratched at her arms and legs.
Something she definitely didn't care about in the face of death.
"Hmm... Well it's because I had a question."
"What is it?"
Inching closer and closer into the dense shrubbery that would hopefully keep her alive even if it was for a few seconds more, Gregory Sanders seemed to notice what she was planning.
"-Wait! Are you stalling for time!? Not on my watch!"
Pulling the trigger, Shana felt the entire world slow down before her as she belatedly realized what the diary meant by when they were insane.
'They really don't think things through.'
Flame sputtering out of the barrel like petals of a flower, the blooming fire spewed out of it a metal fruit.
The bullet whistled through the air as it spun around and created visible shockwaves in it.
Staring at the grey bullet the size of two of her fingers slowly approach her with malicious intent, she witnessed how the bullet morphed into a snake.
'...So the manifestation of death is my greatest fear?'
Recalling how in her youth she became utterly terrified of snakes after having been bit in one, the grey monotone colored snake fell onto the ground.
And as if to emulate the shedding of skin, the grey coloration of it's scales slowly disappeared as the snake grew larger and larger.
Grey scales falling to the ground during the process, the snake, now the size of her entire arm despite previously being a few fingers long, stared at her with crimson red eyes.
Staring at the jade green cobra that slithered its way towards her, Shana felt strangely at peace at the prospect of death.
Ruby red slit eyes staring her down with the standard forward facing eyes of a predator, it's forked tongue tasted the air as it slid towards her.
Triangle shaped head rearing up to her then spreading it's hood, the Cobra towered over her as the mesmerizing patterns that were both eerily attractive yet dangerous caused her still beating heart to rise in beat.
Then it opened up its mouth and swallowed her.
+++
Tree