LSRO: Chapter 83 - Incineration (Patreon)

There is so much that's going to be revealed in the next 10ish chapters. I am having so much fun mapping it out and can't wait to write and share it with you all.

I really hope you enjoy the ride.

Something has gone strange with the formatting today. I apologize... I can't seem to fix it.

~~

Chapter 83

Incineration

Fire streamed from Quinn's hands in a pure, white-blue light. It hit the books, the covers, the pages, and the infestation contaminating it all -- igniting them immediately and spreading throughout all fifty-seven books in the massive granite crate. The fire burned everything, incinerating it. As it did so, a squeal of high-pitched agony and anger reached Quinn's ears.

It was as if the books themselves, as if the contamination within them, was in pain. It didn't want to go. It didn't want to be dissolved. It screamed.

Everyone could hear it. Even the birds thrashed their wings, hooting and squawking from their perches up above.

Quinn felt like her blood was boiling, but instead of consuming her, it lent her an energy with a strange aftertaste of ice, like heat and ice so cold it burned combined in her veins. The fire continued to stream from her hands. The screams continued to emit from the books, and slowly but surely, every single particle of them turned to ash.

When the last piece of ash disintegrated, the fire stopped abruptly, and Quinn fell to one knee, gasping for breath.

Messages flashed up in front of her face.

Ability to channel Library power increased.

Current capacity increased to 22%.

Warning, overextension has resulted.

Impending Backlash Onset within the next 18 hours.

"Quinn, are you okay?" Lynx asked, crouching down to her current level.

"Great..." she said, gasping for breath again. That took more energy than she'd imagined. She plucked one of the energy balls from her storage and popped it into her mouth, raising her energy up another 200 points. Considering it only brought her to 235, she'd come very close to disaster. "You know, a warning label on using that ability might have been really nice."

Lynx shrugged. "You would have done it anyway."

"True, but it shouldn't be taken advantage of, and it's beside the point because if I had known I could have at least braced myself." It took a lot of effort, but she managed to push herself up to standing, shakily. She felt like her knees were made of jelly.

"Note taken," Lynx said, sounding contrite for once. "Apologies, I didn't foresee quite how much energy that would take. It might have served us better to split the books up into separate groups."

"In hindsight, that's very logical," Quinn said. She took a deep breath and calmed her mind, even though there were still remnants of pain racing through her veins. She moved over to lean against the workbench, watching as Narilin and her sister gaped at Quinn.

"I'm really okay," she said to them.

Narilin's eyes narrowed. "That was a lot of power to channel," she said. "I did not realize that you had it in you."

"Thanks, I guess," Quinn said, not exactly liking the backhanded compliment. But Narilin had always been difficult to gauge, so she'd take what she could get.

"I did not mean offense, I just meant that you have only been here, in this world for a month or so, correct? Connected to the Library, at least. I would not have attributed that much energy to someone still acclimating to their powerset." Narilin might have been clarifying what she'd intended to say, but it still came across as mostly snooty.

Quinn chuckled. She was fast learning that Narilin's default was condescension. "To be honest, I almost ran out of power. Not sure what would have happened then. But it's all good, I'll be fine."

Quinn pushed herself away from the table and focused on Siliqua and Hirish, who were still in the room, talking amongst themselves. She walked up to them, ignoring the shaking of her legs as she moved. "So, is this all that's needed? Was there something else we have to do to get the Library fully operational again? You know...able to accept books, able to lend books out? What else do I need to do?"

The couple looked at each other and Hirish spoke first. "We need to cleanse of the actually contaminated areas, as in the sections where the books belong, the avenues through which they have passed. If there is a way we can condense the cleansing flame down to very specific areas without the need to worry about the fire spreading, that would be most ideal."

"Oh, that won't be a problem," Lynx said. "It can be a very directional flame. As long as we use the correct type of burner to contain it, I should be able to finagle it so that the areas that are contaminated can be cleansed without affecting the rest of the Library."

"That's perfect then," Siliqua said, a smile of relief lighting up her face. "Of course, it would be better to have that available to us sooner than later, if you don't mind."

Lynx flashed her a smile. "It shouldn't take long at all now that I know what to access and how to condense it. I should be able to restrict any strain it pulls from the user's mana. Now Quinn has shown us the way."

Quinn flashed him a slight glare, but she didn't hold it against him because she knew exactly why he was saying that. Sure there had been some pain involved and, what she was fairly certain was going to be a nasty reaction headache, but they'd got the job done. She'd been the perfect test subject. Sometimes, even with magic, it appeared they needed guinea pigs.

Siliqua cleared her throat. "Librarian, just so you know, we're developing a specific scan not only for the books to rid them of any potential threat to the Library, but also for people to be installed in the doorways."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "To rid the Library of people?"

Siliqua blushed. "No. I mean to expunge any harmful elements they might bring into the Library with them. Milaro will go over that with you and with us. It was his idea to protect the Library and its contents from people who come and go, from assistants to potential applicants to even the visitors who come to see the Library. Hopefully, we can use this to avoid most dangers posed toward the equal distribution of magic."

"That's fantastic news," Quinn said, and she meant it. Except there was something that really bugged her and it wouldn't let her alone. "Equal distribution though... How do you mean that?"

The elf blinked at her. "When it's not filtered, it'll tear apart most of the people seeking to use their affinities. That's not very equal."

"Good point." Quinn mused. Still, they needed more than just preventative measures, more than just identification. They had to figure out who, apart from the Serpensiril, was actually behind the whole thing, because she was about 99.98% sure that the Serpensiril were not the masterminds. There was more behind this, and she hoped that her up-and-coming conversation with the Core was going to let her in on a few little secrets, if she ever made it down there.

"So," Quinn asked, another thought hitting her, "does this mean we can start repairing the systems now? You know, the glitches and the gaps in information and whatnot?"

"We can cautiously hope that that's possible," Siliqua said, but the way she phrased it gave Quinn pause.

"That's not your area of expertise, is it?" Quinn asked.

"No, sadly, it's not. That's something that likely the Library, Lynx, perhaps Milaro, and maybe another couple of people, depending on the trust levels and whether they're still there." Siliqua sounded oddly defeated.

Quinn was suddenly very interested in who these other qualified people could perhaps be. And... Why might they not want to help? Still, she was excited that maybe Lynx could start getting his memory back, that maybe they could unlock the different files that were hidden from them, that they could find the memories that had been quasi-deleted.

She smiled at Siliqua in what she hoped was a sympathetic way. "Well, that's cautious hope, at least. So, am I done here for the time being? Is there anything else you need assistance with?"

Narilin shook her head, her silvery eyes giving off a thoughtful aura. Jane was engrossed in a book she appeared to be repairing and barely noticed Quinn's question. Aradie swooped down from her perch to sit on Quinn's shoulder, cooing in her ear in a very conciliatory way.

"We will get started on restoring the incinerated books right away Librarian. They have high priority." Narilin said. She smiled at Quinn, which gave Quinn slight pause, considering their relationship up until now had been marginally contentious. It appeared that Narilin having a sibling with her had allayed some of her pricklier tendencies.

"Thank you, Narilin and Jane," Quinn said as she turned and started walking out of the book infirmary.

"Well, I guess the first part of getting the systems repaired is to give you the window of time that you need to go and talk to the Library," Lynx said as he fell into step beside her.

"That's all very well, but I have some stuff I need to get done first." Quinn said, suddenly feeling tired again. Granted she'd just channeled enough magical fire to obliterate a small town, so it was understandable. It started out as a solid day for her to get a very specific list accomplished, and as of right now, everything had come between her and that goal. Not that it mattered... Such was the nature of life, even here in a magical pocket dimension.

Lynx was staring at her as they walked, like he was trying to read her mind. Quinn was proud of her mental barrier progress and directional thoughts. At least she'd got better at keeping some things to herself.

The manifestation stopped staring and sighed ever so slightly before speaking. "You need to go to the kitchen. I believe Cook has something for you."

"I know." she said. She knew all of the responsibilities and everything she needed to do. Slowly but surely it was starting to feel insurmountable purely because every time she went to do something, another ten things she needed to do were revealed. Quinn decided it was probably best if she magnified her ability to quick think. There'd be a path of books specifically for that. It should help her manage time much better. She liked solutions that were plausible... or at least plausible insofar as a magical Library that could serve her abilities on a platter.

Quinn was lost in thought as she headed toward the kitchen. Lynx mustered up a dose of courage before pursuing his next line of thought. "Quinn, we need to speak about some other things too," he said.

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean the vacation statement I made, right?"

"That, among other things." He agreed. "Mainly, that."

"Yeah, I'm so sorry. I didn't think that after a few weeks of working here, everybody would want to take off." She really hadn't given it a second thought. Frankly, she'd barely thought of her homeworld in the last few weeks herself and had simply assumed everyone else in the Library felt the same way. After all... she knew she practically felt like the Library was akin to coming home for her. At least that had been the case after a few weeks of being there.

"Realistically, once the new assistants have been trained up, we're going to have a lot more time on our hands because we'll have more than enough to fill all the shifts. That way people can swap their shifts. It'll get a lot better," Lynx said. "However, right now, I need you to help me formulate how you would like to bring that across to everybody."

Quinn sighed and thought about the few jobs she'd had as a student, about how things had been worded. Ambiguity was not her friend. "Sure. How about something along the lines of: Vacation can be taken at any time as long as it doesn't leave the library short-staffed and is discussed with the supervisors and approved by the Librarian beforehand. Vacation must be requested with a week's notice so as not to put undue stress on other Library assistants, and may be declined if too many others have already requested time off. All efforts will be made to accommodate vacations where at all possible."

"That sounds reasonable and well thought out." Lynx beamed a smile at her.

They'd made it to the kitchen. Quinn stepped inside. It was mid-morning. A good dozen library patrons were sitting along two of the long tables, eating what smelled amazingly like apple and cinnamon something. Quinn crept up to the counter. "Hey, Cook, did you make some apple and cinnamon stuff without telling me?"

"Very similar to what you would call apple and cinnamon, Librarian. I did not conceal it deliberately. You have been late in visiting this morning." Cook handed her a bowl of what looked suspiciously like an apple pie. Not that she'd turn that down.

Quinn dug in and felt the flavors explode. It was divine. She shoveled in another bite before speaking. "They said you wanted to see me?"

Cook paused as he created another delicacy to hand out to patrons. "The Library has requested that I make a few snacks for you to take with you upon your visit."

"Okay... Is there something special about them?" Quinn asked, curious.

"You will need to eat these only when you are down there." Cook's focused gaze felt heavy. "Do you understand?"

Quinn gulped, the stickiness of the apple-like fruit almost making her choke. "Yeah, sure. Are these foods dangerous?"

"Not for you." Cook finally finished the food line and turned to look directly at Quinn. "But they must be consumed while you are in the presence of the Core."

"Oh, okay," Quinn said. "Nothing else I should know about them?"

Cook's expression softened slightly. "It will help your synchronization. These are specifically tailored foods to assist with such a high-level mental link."

"Perfect," she said, satisfied. "Take me through what they do?"

But Cook shook their head. "That is not my place to do. Your connection to the Library has grown tenuous with all the upheaval and changes. It's not a dire set of circumstances, but this food will enable a smooth resynchronization for all of us."

Quinn nodded, taking her bag of treats. "Consider it done then." About to leave, she was surprised when Cook called her back.

"Quinn." There was a pause, as if Cook wasn't sure if they should speak. "Just remember... This is your place now. You are important to us."

Aradie hooted in agreement.

Quinn smiled, despite the soft hint of caution underlying Cook's words. "I know." She took a deep breath as she left the kitchen.

Now, at least barring all disasters, she should finally be able to get downstairs to the core. "You coming with me girl?" Quinn asked, stroking Aradie's neck.

"Hoot." Aradie said indignantly.

Quinn chuckled as the translation became apparent.

Just try and stop me.

She really liked her owl.

~~

I have to admit. I really like Aradie too!

Who doesn't love owls, right?

Much love

KT