The weight of Raven's words hung in the air long after the shadowy figure had disappeared into the depths of the library. Lumumba stood still for a moment, his usual cocky grin fading into something quieter, more thoughtful. Raven was right about one thing—there was a cost to every action. But the difference was, Lumumba didn't care about the cost. He never had.
"Even chaos has its limits, huh?" Lumumba muttered to himself, shaking off the lingering chill. "Guess I'll just have to find where those limits are."
Jon came stumbling down the aisle, a few thick books clutched awkwardly in his arms. "You okay? I thought I heard voices."
"Yeah, just another run-in with our buddy Raven," Lumumba said with a shrug, his tone light but his mind still racing. "Don't worry, though. He's just doing that thing villains do where they try to sound deep and mysterious."
Jon's eyes widened in concern. "Raven was here? Again? What does he want?"
"Same as always," Lumumba replied, walking past Jon toward the more shadowy part of the library. "To prove he's smarter than everyone else. And maybe spook me a little."
"Is it working?" Jon asked nervously, following him.
"Not even a little," Lumumba said, though there was a flicker of something darker in his eyes. "C'mon, we've got books to read and dimensions to figure out."
The restricted section was filled with forgotten tomes, their spines cracked and titles faded. Dust covered everything, and the silence was broken only by the faint flicker of candlelight. Lumumba ran his hand along the rows of books, his mind focused on one thing: getting home. The playful arrogance that usually coated his words faded into a sharper determination. He might joke around and improvise, but he always had a goal—find a way out of this mess and back to his world.
"Alright, Jon," Lumumba said, scanning the shelves. "Start looking for anything on dimensional travel, portals, or whatever else might sound vaguely magical."
Jon nodded, clearly relieved to have a task that didn't involve fighting. "Right, I'm on it."
They split up, each combing through the dusty, ancient volumes. Lumumba flipped through several books with titles like The Nature of Portals and Crossing the Veil: A Study of Dimensional Rift Energies, though none of them seemed to offer any immediate solutions. Most of the texts were theoretical, filled with diagrams of magical runes and arcane formulas that required far more patience than Lumumba had.
"Why do all these books have to be so... wordy?" Lumumba muttered under his breath as he tossed another book aside. "If I wanted a headache, I'd've just stuck around for Raven's lecture."
Jon, meanwhile, had found something more promising. "Hey, check this out," he called from across the room, holding up a thick, leather-bound volume. "It's called The Weaving of Worlds. Looks like it's all about different dimensions and how they connect."
Lumumba walked over, peering at the book over Jon's shoulder. "Yeah? Does it have a chapter on 'how to get home without messing up the universe in the process'?"
Jon scanned the table of contents. "Uh... not exactly. But there's a section here about 'dimensional anchors.' Says something about how certain objects or places in one dimension are tied to others, like... keystones that hold the fabric of reality together."
Lumumba raised an eyebrow. "Keystones, huh? Sounds like the kind of thing we might be looking for."
"Could be," Jon said, flipping to the section. "It says these anchors are often guarded by powerful magic or... beings that protect the balance between worlds. The idea is that if you control or destroy one of these anchors, you can open a rift between dimensions, but doing so risks tearing apart the natural order."
Lumumba snorted. "Yeah, Raven and the Sovereign probably love that part about tearing the natural order apart."
Jon's face grew more serious. "Do you think that's what Raven's after? These anchors? If he or the Sovereign get their hands on one, they could—"
"Mess with a whole lot of dimensions, including mine," Lumumba finished, his voice suddenly grim. "Yeah, sounds like Raven's style. Control the chaos. But I'm not gonna let him."
Jon hesitated, then asked, "Do you think one of those anchors could be your way back home?"
Lumumba paused, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Maybe. But if it is, it means Raven's got a head start. And I'm not a fan of playing catch-up."
They continued to sift through the book, reading passages about ancient rituals, artifacts imbued with dimensional magic, and ways to manipulate rifts. The more they read, the clearer it became that the key to controlling the fissures—and possibly returning Lumumba to his world—lay in finding one of these dimensional anchors. But the book was frustratingly vague on the specifics of where or how to find them.
"Great," Lumumba muttered, snapping the book shut. "All this tells me is that I need to find a magic rock or some kind of portal guardian, but it doesn't bother to say where any of these things are."
Jon looked up, a little sheepish. "Well... we are in a library. There are probably a few more books about this."
Lumumba sighed, leaning against a nearby shelf. "Yeah, and Raven's probably sitting somewhere, two steps ahead of us, already sipping tea with one of these 'guardians.'"
Jon opened his mouth to respond when suddenly, a loud creak echoed from the far side of the library. Both Lumumba and Jon froze, their hands instinctively moving to their weapons.
"Was that...?" Jon whispered, his voice trailing off.
Lumumba's eyes narrowed as he gestured for Jon to stay quiet. He slowly unsheathed one of his katanas, the sound of steel sliding against leather barely audible in the heavy silence of the library.
They moved cautiously toward the source of the noise, stepping lightly across the creaking wooden floor. The further they went, the darker it became, the dim candlelight barely reaching the corners of the library.
Then, they saw it.
A door, half-open, leading down a narrow set of stairs they hadn't noticed before. The air that wafted up from the stairwell was cold, almost unnaturally so, and carried with it a faint, metallic scent.
Jon swallowed hard, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't remember seeing that door before."
"Yeah, neither do I," Lumumba muttered, tightening his grip on his katana. "Which means it's probably something important."
Without another word, they descended the stairs, the stone steps slick with moisture and worn smooth by centuries of use. The walls grew closer, the air colder, until they reached the bottom and found themselves standing in front of a large, iron door—its surface covered in strange, glowing runes.
"This... doesn't feel right," Jon said quietly, backing away slightly. "Maybe we shouldn't—"
"Exactly why we should," Lumumba cut in, stepping toward the door. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when something feels wrong, it usually means we're on the right track."
Jon looked unconvinced but followed as Lumumba pushed open the heavy iron door.
Inside was a small, dimly lit chamber. At the center of the room stood a pedestal, and resting on it was a crystal, pulsing faintly with an eerie blue light. The runes on the pedestal matched those on the door, and the air around the crystal seemed to hum with energy.
Lumumba approached cautiously, eyeing the crystal. "Now that... that looks important."
Jon moved closer, squinting at the runes. "It has to be some kind of anchor. But... do we touch it?"
Lumumba shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
Just as he reached for the crystal, the air in the chamber grew colder still, and a familiar voice echoed from the shadows.
"Lumumba," Raven's voice called, as smooth and cold as ever. "Always so quick to act without thinking."
Lumumba spun, his katana raised, his eyes scanning the shadows. "You again. Don't you have anything better to do?"
Raven stepped into the dim light, his expression unreadable. "I told you before. Every move you make, I'm already two steps ahead. And now, you stand before one of the most important pieces of this game... completely unaware of the consequences."
Lumumba's grip on his sword tightened, but his grin never faltered. "You keep talking about this game, Raven. But from where I'm standing, I'm about to make the winning move."
Raven's eyes gleamed, and for the first time, his voice carried a hint of amusement. "Then by all means, Lumumba... make your move."