Spirit Speaker

The library was dead. 

I could sense it. The spirits were silent. 

"Ilargia, what's happening?"

No response. 

"Ilargia?" I looked at the stone. It was clouded. He was gagged. Trapped. He couldn't talk. 

"So, no magic," I muttered. "Just like the end of the battle."

And when Raethan killed Tila.

I began searching the shelves. I started on one end of the room and made my way down. 

The library, which was just one of many on the campus, was massive, and finding something among the thousands of silent tomes was a daunting task. 

But…there was something cold, about the library. Something sinister, and I could feel it, near the back. 

I followed the feeling, becoming more and more afraid the closer I got to it. 

And I saw it. Like a shadow in the corner of your eye that disappears when you look at it. 

There was something dark, a black book on the shelf. 

I reached out, every cell of my body screaming at me to run. 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

The voice knocked me to the ground. I covered my ears, my head ringing. 

"Weaver?" I shook my head. "I found it. I found the thing."

"WHERE ARE YOU? I CAN'T SEE YOU!"

"Why are you shouting?"

"LUKAS!"

I turned to the book, then to the door, then back to the book.

I swore and ran out of the library. 

*

The moment I stepped out of the library I felt a massive weight lift from my shoulders. 

"There you are." The Weaver stepped out from the shadows and punched me in the stomach. Hard. The blow winded me.

"Where did you go?" She asked, letting me catch my breath. 

"I was just in the library," I said pointing to the door behind me. "I found it. The thing that corrupted Raethan. It's a book"

"You vanished from the weave." The goddess raised her hand to hit me again. I flinched, waiting for the blow. 

It didn't come. 

Instead, I felt her hand on my shoulder. "You vanished from the weave, Lukas. Not even the dead do that. It was as if you never existed."

I swallowed. "Something silenced the spirits in the library. They're bound, gagged. Even Ilargia couldn't speak to me and we've been together for decades. In two lifetimes."

The goddess grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me to the door. 

She kicked it open. 

"Show me." She said, throwing me into the room. 

I stumbled forward, caught myself from falling and straightened. 

I turned to find the goddess still standing outside of the room. Her eyes were wide with worry. 

"What's wrong?" I asked. 

There was no response. 

I left the library. 

She raised her hand to hit me again. "Where did you go?"

"You know where I went." I protested. "You threw me into the room!"

She lowered her hand and walked over to the door. 

"It…won't let me in. The weave won't let me enter the room." She held her hands up to the empty doorway and pushed. "It's like there's a wall here. I can't pass the threshold."

Her face paled. "And everything beyond this door is gone. Absent. Missing. The threads are fraying at the seams." She turned to me. "What is this?"

I thought for a bit. "I think it's the book. There's something in there that's blocking you." An idea struck. 

"Wait here," I told her. And then dashed off. 

I grabbed the first apprentice I could find. 

"Find me a spirit prison," I commanded. "And find it now." 

The apprentice looked at my face, nodded and ran. 

"Bring it to the library!" I shouted after him and then returned to the impatient goddess. 

"You know, no one speaks to me like you do." She said, tapping her foot. 

"I don't worship you, Weaver," I replied simply. 

"You're a very hateful little man." She said, but there was that half-smile again. "What did you do?"

"Spiritstone nullifies and pacifies spirits. I wonder if it will do the same thing to the book. I sent the apprentice to get a spirit prison."

"And if it doesn't work?"

I shrugged. "Then we try something else.

The goddess sighed. "I hate this. All this uncertainty. The weave in the other timeline was so orderly. Everything got all jumbled up when the Spirit King sent you to this one." 

She looked past me and grinned. "This should be interesting. Your apprentice is coming, with the Archivist in tow."

It was true, the princess was heading towards us, with the Archivist walking beside her. He was pointing out various focuses, explaining what they were, and where they came from. 

Anna was enthralled. 

She saw me watching her and waved. 

I waved back.

"Can she see you?" I asked. 

"If I want her to."

"Do you want her to?"

"Call her over and find out."

I gave the goddess a withering look but did as she told me. 

"Anna, come here," I called. 

The princess turned to the Archivist, bowed slightly and walked towards me. 

She was looking past me, at the goddess. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Weaver," I whispered. "I was afraid I'd have to introduce her to empty space."

The Weaver laughed. "I considered it, but decided to be kind." She studied the princess for a moment. "Though I don't believe I could hide from this one. She's a firm believer in the gods, which tends to thin the veil. She would have seen me in an instant. Whether she recognises me or not is a completely different story."

"Master Lukas." She said, bounding up to me. "This place is fascinating!" 

She turned to the goddess. "Hello…ma'am?"

"Hello, Anna." The goddess replied with a gentle bow. "I understand you're here looking for a focus?"

"That's correct." Anna looked at her, confused recognition in her eyes. 

"Well, I just might have something that could help." 

The Weaver reached into her pocket and pulled out a beautifully carved silver spider, with a large red ruby embedded in the abdomen, and eight smaller rubies for eyes. 

It hung from a delicate silver chain, and as it glinted in the light I caught a glimpse of the spirit inside. It was ancient. Powerful. 

"May I, princess?" She asked, unlocking the chain. 

Anna looked at me, cautiously. 

I nodded encouragingly. "It's okay Anna, you can trust her."

Anna turned around and moved her hair out of the way. 

The Weaver fixed the clasp behind her. And let it go. 

"There, how does that feel princess?"

The princess didn't reply. I stepped aside and looked at her. 

She had her eyes closed, her lips moving gently. It looked as though she was praying. 

"I think it worked," I said, looking up at the goddess. "They're compatible."

"Of course they are." The Weaver said proudly. "This spirit is the original land spirit of her kingdom. He's practically her grandfather."

"You gave the princess a land spirit?" I said, looking at the spider. The red ruby eyes locked with mine. 

- Fear not Mage. 

I almost collapsed to my knees. The spirit was unbelievably powerful. Stronger than anything I had ever experienced, in both lifetimes. 

- She's mine.

I swallowed. "No, spirit. She's mine." 

The spirit laughed, a great, warm, booming laugh that echoed in my mind. - You were right, goddess, this one is fearless. Very well Mage, you may have her. But I will be watching. Betray her and I will crush you.

"Same to you."

Ilargia began to warm on my back. He was waking up. 

I pulled him from his holster and watched as the crystal began to light.

I tried to connect with him, only to have no answer in return. 

"It's okay, Lukas. He's only sleeping. He'll be back to normal in a hours." The goddess sounded strangely sympathetic. 

Anna opened her eyes, breathing in sharply. 

She looked up at me, and then at the goddess.

"Thank you, ma'am." She whispered. "Thank you."

The Weaver smiled. "You're very welcome, highness. You should go tell the Archivist that you found your focus."

The princess bowed again and walked a little unsteadily back to the Archivist, who was watching us with a peculiar look on his face. 

The Weaver blew a kiss at him, and his face turned white, looking away quickly. 

"He knows who you are," I said, pushing down a laugh. "Keep that up and you'll give him a heart attack."

The goddess chuckled. "I think he'll have one when he examines Anna's new focus."

"Thank you for that, Weaver," I said and bowed deeply. "I will pay you back for this."

"That's two favours you owe me now, mage." The goddess told me. "A third and I'll own your soul."

"My soul belongs to the queen and her daughter, Weaver. Once they've taken all they want, you can have what's left."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Master Mage!" The apprentice called, running between the shelves to where the Weaver and I were standing. He held a large white box in his hands.

"I found one."

"Finally." I took the box from the apprentice. "Thank you, apprentice. Why don't you go help the Archivist? He seems to be having trouble."

I took a deep breath. "Moment of truth." I handed Ilargia to the Weaver. "Hold onto him for me."

The goddess took him, solemnly, the playful expression on her face replaced by a serious one.

"I can't help you in there, Lukas. You're on your own."

I nodded. "Not the first time ma'am." 

I stepped through the door, and that same oppressive feeling fell like a weight on my shoulders. 

It was quiet. Too quiet. The books on the shelves lay lifeless. 

I made my way to the back of the room, to the darkness on the shelf. 

I reached out, then thought better of it. 

I took my shirt off and used it as a glove. 

I took the book from the shelf. 

And my arm went numb. 

Using my other hand, careful not to touch the book or the shirt, I guided my arm to the box, and then slapped my wrist, forcing it to release its hold on the book. 

The moment the book left my grasp, the feeling returned to my arm. I looked at the shirt, and it was covered in what looked like black ink. 

Not good.

I dropped the shirt into the box and then sealed it with the lid. 

The moment the lid covered the book, the oppressive feeling vanished. 

It was as if the whole room took a deep breath. 

I looked back at the shelf and found small traces of the dark ink clinging to the wood, though it avoided the other books. 

I concentrated for a second, and a small flame appeared on my fingertips. 

It was weak, but it was there. Which meant that the spirits were waking up. 

I pulled on more of the spirits in the room, and the flame got brighter. And hotter. 

The ink shrunk away from the light. 

I deposited the flame on the shelf, and it spread, engulfing the empty section of the shelf in an inferno. 

A very small, localized inferno. 

It didn't touch the other books, as it was the spirits of those books that I called upon to provide the flame. 

I heard a scream from the shelf and watched in satisfaction as the remains of the darkness burned away.

Once the last of it was sanitised, I inspected it carefully, making sure that not a single drop of inky shadow was left behind, picked up the spirit stone box, and made my way back to the repository. 

The goddess met me halfway. 

"It's gone. The spirits are waking up. It worked." She smiled, and every light in the room shone a little brighter. 

"Yes, ma'am," I said and looked down at the box. "It turns out that spirit stone works perfectly as a shield against it."

She looked at the box distastefully. "I can't sense anything in the box, but it feels like the stone is slowly being eaten at from the inside."

"What?" 

She didn't reply and bent to study the bottom of the box, taking great care not to touch it. 

"Yes. It will take a few decades, but whatever it is that's in this box will escape."

"What can be done?" 

She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know what it is, or how it got here."

"The spirits called it the Rending."

The goddess looked at me thoughtfully. "The Rending. I'll ask the others about this. Keep this box safe, and don't let anyone open it under any circumstances."

"I'm not an idiot, Weaver. I know that much."

There was that half-smile again. She put her hands behind her back and brought out a white, long-sleeved shirt. "You might want to cover those scars, Master Mage." She said, handing it to me. "I'll see you again, Lukas. Good work today."

And she disappeared.