LSRO: Chapter 138 - Runes around her (Patreon)

Tadaaaa next chapter is done. We are getting some locations. Awwww yeah.

It's not a cliffy I don't think.

~~

Chapter 138

Runes around her

This time, Quinn couldn't even blame the weird premonition on having said it out loud and jinxed herself. No, this time the bad feeling came from the thrumming she felt through the floor, as if it was trying to shake her loose, get through to her bones, maybe shake her meat suit off. 

It was an angry throb, like something had gone inherently wrong in the entire process. 

And then it faded.

Quinn paused and took a couple of steps toward the cavernous ritual room they'd been given. Jasper looked up at her, a frown on her face.

"That wasn't supposed to happen. I haven't even activated the circle yet," Jasper said. 

Quinn glanced at the runes that were sketched onto the ground. "Well, I can see that you're not even finished yet."

"How do you know that?" Jasper asked. "I thought you didn't know about rituals."

"Because it looks incomplete and if there's one thing I've understood about magic since I got here, you can't leave any type of magic incomplete. That's just a recipe for disaster." Quinn shrugged. She'd begun to understand more of the intricacies of magic ever since the synchronization. Or at least the wheels and cogs.

Jasper chuckled. "It would be nice if people who grew up with magic were as logical as you in that case."

Quinn shrugged. "It was either learn fast or die. Kill the entire universe with me. Had to, you know, take my wins where I could."

Quinn reached out with her senses. An uneasiness permeated the entire Library. As if something had shifted and was out of place.

Is everything okay? She asked the Library. There was no response. That wasn't a good thing. Not when she spoke directly to it anyway. She double-checked that her shields were down and tried again. What was that? What happened? Is everything okay?

I need to concentrate. Just let me deal with it. 

You know, we can stop if what we're doing is causing... Quinn offered.

It's not exactly what you're doing. Just… I will deal with it. The Library interrupted, as Jasper continued drawing runes on the ground. 

The charcoal practically burned into the stone from what Quinn could see. Jasper was chanting under her breath words that Quinn couldn't decipher and yet they looked so achingly familiar that she thought she should be able to.

"Okay," Jasper said, her voice slightly strained with exertion, "getting there."

Quinn leaned against the doorway looking out toward the sliver of the mana Lake that she could see. It was serene being so far underground and yet being able to see an ocean of power in front of her. A vast body of churning power that she'd helped reestablish. That felt good. Maybe Kajaro had been right about one thing. Subterranean worlds were pretty cool. She shook her head, clearing that thought out of it and turned to watch as Jasper drew more.

The Alyenarvor had just begun to sketch one very complex rune when the ground began to shake again. It rumbled this time like there was something trying to bubble up from underneath, explode out toward them and wipe everything out. Quinn moved in toward the arch at the other side, closer to the lake, watching it. 

The mana began to boil as if somebody had thrown a heater into the mix, increased the temperature and caused the liquid within to literally boil. It bubbled and spurted and crashed against the shore. Even the elements of chaotic sludge still visible here and there seemed to scatter off as if they were scared of the power of the mana underneath it.

"Uh-oh," Quinn said as she felt the very foundations of the Library begin to tremor. This didn't bode well. "Aradie?" She asked but the bird just shook her head, bewilderment coming across their connection. Library? Quinn asked, suddenly feeling ever so slightly frantic. Not completely, but this defied logic and the Library wasn't listening to her.

"Uh, Quinn, should I stop this?" Jasper asked, a tremor in her voice. 

"Might be an idea. I don't know if it was that rune you just finished in particular, but better be safe than sorry."

The thing was, this time, the ground's heaving didn't subside. She wondered if it extended above to the Library as a whole. And as she reached her senses out, she realized that, to her relief, everybody upstairs was doing just fine. It was only them down here, stuck in the bowels of the earth, where the entire Library could crash down on top of them, who were having difficulty standing in the tremors underground.

Maybe that was just another portion of the Library magic, protecting the patrons and books for as long as it could. Cushioning impact really.

She told herself to breathe, to be logical, to search for the reason. She reached out again and this time, she reached down with her senses. And that's when she realized they were almost directly above the dungeon the Library created to contain Tenejo. 

That couldn't be good.

Yes, you found it. Stupid damn Serpensiril's making it so I can't even put a ritual cavern where I want to put it without double-checking that there won't be magical interactions, the Library grumbled in Quinn's mind.

"What do you mean, interrupting something?" Quinn asked softly in her head.

I didn't foresee that the runic magic Jasper was invoking would interfere with the completely polar opposite runic magic that is keeping Tenejo tethered in the dungeon. They are clashing and I am currently... The Library actually sounded sort of out of breath, which was extremely strange given the fact that it was an ancient Library being and Quinn hadn't realized it needed to breathe.

So are you moving it? She asked softly.

Yes, I'm relocating the dungeon currently. Far enough away so that Jasper may finish the ritual. We need to find those books.

We need to figure out something to do with Tenejo, Quinn said.

Well, you're the one who didn't end him when you could have, the Library snapped. There was a pause. I apologize. I didn't bring you here to start killing people.

Quinn shook her head. No, no, you're making a pretty good point. All he's done since I spared him is cause us trouble. Maybe I need to switch those emotions off more often.

No, Quinn. Maybe you just need to keep being yourself.

Quinn didn't answer that. She did reach up and scratch her bird behind the ears as the tremors beneath them began to lessen slightly. Aradie snuggled into her face and slowly the tremors in the ground subsided, leaving the people above completely unaware as to the disturbance that had been caused downstairs.

Jasper eyed Quinn warily. "Was that me? Did I cause that?"

"Not really." Quinn smiled. "Inadvertently. And there was nothing you could do about it. It's okay. I think the Library has settled things now."

"Oh," Jasper said, "that's good, right?"

"Yeah," Quinn said. "Now let's see if we can find those books."

Jasper nodded. "Did you have that information I needed?"

Wordlessly, Quinn shared the names of the books and their approximate duration in the Library using the date DeKarlyle's book was checked out as a rough guide, just like she'd done with her abilities and Malakai so long ago.

Jasper grinned. "Thanks for that." and went quiet for a few moments as she took in all the information.

Is everything under control now? Quinn asked the Library mentally.

It's about as under control as it's going to get, the Library said. We sincerely need to sit down and have a chat about removing Tenejo from this location. I cannot in good conscience keep him here, Quinn. He is volatile and dangerous and frankly wants to see yours and my head on a platter. I don't have time to mollycoddle somebody who wants to kill me and destroy everything I've worked for.

Quinn could feel herself pale and she felt lucky that Jasper was engrossed in finishing the runic circle she needed to engrave around the entire cavern. I'm sorry, Quinn said. I should have been more decisive. I think I'll take Uncle Hal up on his offer. I don't know if we can retrieve anything else safely from Tenejo.

Given that those memories are, at worst, a definite trap and, at best, going to infect us with something again when we're only just digging ourselves out of that hole. Please visit Hal as soon as you can.

Quinn sighed mentally. Aradie snuggled up close to her head. Quinn wondered, just for a second, how she'd gotten so used to such a massive owl sitting on her shoulder all the time.

I lightened my weight, Aradie said to her in her mind. It's simple magic. It's a displacement theory.

Quinn side-eyed her bird. "Simple, huh?" She chuckled.

At least, the Library said as if the owl hadn't interrupted their conversation, try and get to see Hal as soon as you can. I know you have a lot on your plate. As soon as we've got Lynx back to his usual form, he should be able to help you more, shoulder some more of the burden. Usually, my manifestation and my Librarian work in such close proximity and in such synchronicity that it's like a well-oiled machine, and then there are the assistants who should lighten your load further. I'm terribly sorry, but none of this has gone to plan, Quinn. The system's still fried, and we're finding more and more holes. Hopefully, that just means it will help us know what we need to do to fix them."

Quinn could hear a very slight undercurrent of frustration from the Library. Regardless of everything else, the Library had rarely been actually frustrated, perhaps annoyed, perhaps a little bit irritated. But this was something the Library couldn't do anything about, and Quinn wasn't entirely sure how to help.

We'll get there. She tried to reassure the Library but was pretty sure it fell flat.

As if in answer, Lynx suddenly stood directly in front of her. He'd been solid for quite a while now, and she could appreciate the magical being that he was. He was very human in appearance, with slightly pointed ears. His purple sclera eyes were fascinating to watch, especially when he sometimes plugged into the system and had to multitask too many things at once, and the way the runes danced around in his hair, constantly rotating. 

Magic.

She was definitely going to figure out how to charge her phone with mana and how to text her friends. Surely that would be cheaper to go through with a text than a whole person. Could they maybe open a hole? A little wormhole? She didn't understand how that sort of physics worked.

"Quinn," Lynx said, looking directly at her.

"Sorry," she said. Not sure why she'd suddenly started thinking about adapting earth technology. It was probably the runes in Lynx's hair. 

"Are you okay?" He asked gently, peering at her with concern.

"Fine, I just had about 17 stray thoughts," she said.

On the bright side, it appeared that Jasper was about finished with her preparations. "Did you come down to help?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Lynx said. "I can easily locate or translate the locations to the actual map system, and that way we will have definitive locations on the books that Jasper finds."

Quinn smiled. "Excellent. How are you feeling?"

"I feel isolated from portions of my functions. But otherwise, I'm glad to be mostly whole, and I'm glad to be here."

Quinn knew what he wanted to add was that he was glad that the Library hadn't sought to completely disengage him. That'd be almost worse than death itself for him. Being suspended in a stasis of nothingness. Horrible.

"So what do we do now?" But Quinn was cut off by Jasper's massive grin.

"Just you watch, Quinn." She sounded so excited. "This is how you do magic."

Jasper was tall and slender and ethereal-looking like all Alyenarvor, especially in the glowing light of the runes that completely encircled her which had to be at least 20 feet in diameter. All around the edges were filigree shapes and beautiful runes practically etched into the rocky floor. In the center, stood Jasper, her hands under her chin to start with, and then she spread them to either side as she gazed up at the ceiling another 15 odd feet above her.

Quinn couldn't understand a word the woman chanted. Nothing. But she could feel the magic coursing through the runes as they began to light up, as they began to swirl, as they continued to move and almost vibrate with a frequency that she could practically feel against the hairs on her skin. 

A black glowing blue mist luminessed around each individual rune as Jasper rotated from side to side, chanting, never stopping.

Aradie made a low coo in her throat, and Quinn patted her absentmindedly as she couldn't tear her eyes away from the spectacle in front of her. Jasper glowed with the same blacky blue as the runes around her. It gave her this otherworldly quality like she'd come from the other side. 

She chanted, she called out, and then she stopped. But the runes continued to glow, and Jasper grinned widely.

"Now, all you need to do is speak the name of each book that you want to locate. If we can locate it, we will find it."

~~

Oops gotta be careful of that pesky runic magic right? Always clashing.

Much love

KT