LSRO: Chapter 90 - Details (Patreon)

Hi wonderful people

I wrote this with a full on fever, but I think it works. I had notes, I swear. Hope you enjoy it! I also believe this is not cliffy!

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Chapter 90

Details

Quinn followed Milaro to the entrance door, giving a nod to Uno, the Guardian who remained behind, silently observing and managing the crystal on the table. If anything happened they'd be able to enable proper spatial memory recollection. Which was basically just a record of everything that happened in the ... interrogation room.

It was always best to have a back up, just in case.

Aradie accompanied Quinn, sitting very solemnly on her shoulder, her wing mixing with Quinn's messy bun and lightly tickling her cheek. In a way it was soothing.

As they stepped through the doorway, it was like all the air around her had been sucked up, and out. And all it had left behind was this dense sort of fog. Almost like they were flying through clouds.

A ripple of isolation passed through her but seconds later, and it was only Aradie's presence and the quick translation of it into words in her head, that Quinn avoided nerves. Her owl's bond had deepened with the synchronization.

This is the state into which we bring them. Those who would not give us answers willingly.

Quinn raised an eyebrow at her owl, which was promptly ignored. But the words sounded archaic and important, and even regal. Which, Quinn guessed, was how the owl carried herself. She nodded instead of commenting telepathically.

She had to admit, this whole atmosphere in here was calming, soothing even. She could see herself coming somewhere like this to unwind when everything got too much.

Aradie swatted her gently with a wing. That's not what it's for.

Milaro's voice reached her ears like it was tunneling through cotton wool. There was a flat quality to it instead of the usual gentle melody that sounded through his words. "I will do the heavy lifting, but I need you to observe. Use the information you got from Mastering your own Thought Domain, and Detailed Serpensiril Anatomy."

She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. How had he known what books she'd taken out in the first place? But she nodded anyway. From the way he'd moved with ease in the Core chamber where she thought no one else could really go, she realized there were a lot of things she still didn't know about Milaro.

"Excellent. I need you to see if you can sense anything off. Out of place. Something that shouldn't be there... or else, something that is there too convincingly."

Sure, that wasn't clear as mud at all. But, she sort of got it. At least, she thought she could follow his train of thinking anyway.

With that, he nodded once and moved into the sort of cubicle that housed Narajo. From inside it, she couldn't see anything else, not like the fog-like substance outside had helped her see anything either.

But the walls of this were like opaque double-paned glass with smoke and clouds fed through them to conceal what was inside. To give a feeling of serenity of a dream-like surrounding. There was no way for Narajo to know the Tenejo was but feet away from him. No sound got through, no sight. Nothing.

He was completely cut off.

The cubicle itself was maybe twelve feet squared or so. Much larger than she'd initially thought, especially considering they had two of them in this space. Narajo was, quite obviously, asleep.

His slumbering form was oddly relaxed and reminded Quinn startlingly of those little snake videos that went viral for a time back on Earth. She could almost picture him in a little top hat. Almost.

Milaro waved a hand and a stool appeared, onto which he lowered himself carefully. Then he reached that same hand out to Quinn, which she took without hesitation. The man had been in her mind more than she had. She might not know him as well as she wished yet, but his intentions toward her were based largely around the fact that she could help prevent the Library from destruction.

It bought a lot of leeway.

He then locked eyes with her briefly as if to say, we've got this, and touched his other hand's pointer finger to the temple of the slumbering Serpensiril.

Quinn was immediately pulled into a cloudy, even more opaque area. Except the clouds here were more grey than white. It wasn't a troubled sensation, but a resigned one. Where the owner of this space felt that they'd done everything they could and there was no more escaping who they were now, nor what they'd done.

She thought she could even detect just a hint of remorse in the surroundings. It was barely even a thread but it was there.

Before she could think of anything else, she was tugged toward a memory. Her body wasn't solid here, not like Milaro's, but instead she felt sort of spirit-like, ghost-like even. Aradie sat on her shoulder, feathered arms gripping tightly as she concentrated. It was only then that she realized her owl seemed to be a cross between a humanoid and a bird of prey, and it was oddly beautiful.

Just in this space. The voice spoke into her mind, as Aradie gave her a slight smile. Easier to navigate.

The images around them kept changing as Milaro delved into whatever he could to find what they needed to know. There were images of times in school - classes of chaos. Where they were taught the importance of chaos in the history of the Serpensiril and how bad people had taken away their opportunities to prove how strong, how much of a warrior or wizard they were.

Even here, Narajo didn't seem to care beyond doing well enough not to get in trouble. The friends around him constantly changed, flickering in and out as he grew up. Nothing he was taught or shown resonated with him in any particular fashion. But he did as he did because to not do as he was told, was to bring dishonor and shame to his entire family. That was the way he was raised. It was the way they all were.

It continued in such a fashion as they sped through these memories that jumped around. Until there was one glimpse, a very vivid image in what had otherwise been a landscape awash with apathy, of Tenejo.

"Come with me." The other Serpensiril captive had told him. "I've been tasked with something very important. Something we have to verify."

"Sure." Narajo had replied.

"We've been tasked with verifying the success of a plan placed into action millennia before we were born." Tenejo's eyes shone with a fervor that made Quinn shiver.

And then the two Serpensiril moved off, and the memories dissipated, turning into a sigh of white smoke that lingered around until it blew away to reveal the Serpensiril still asleep as Milaro blinked his eyes open.

Milaro grimaced briefly, and Quinn could tell that wasn't what he'd been looking for. Not that she could blame them. None of that helped any of their trails. It left them all cold.

But it did show them that Tenejo was probably the leader. It caused her some relief as she'd been afraid the one who blew himself up might have been leading them.

They moved beyond Narajo's cubicle and were able to speak briefly again.

"Not exactly what we were after." Milaro sounded more sad than irritated.

"You were expecting more?" She asked, speaking out loud in this strange dead space for the first time.

Milaro shook his head, pausing outside Tenejo's room. "No. Not like that. Just... I think, if given different opportunities, I don't believe Narajo would have chosen to be our enemy, or anyone's."

"Yeah." Quinn said. "He seemed very much about survival."

Milaro nodded. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She said.

Another chair was summoned, they joined hands, and dove in. Exactly the way they'd initiated what she'd experienced with Narajo.

Except Tenejo was a whole other ball game.

As soon as she entered as the incorporeal spirit, she could feel the density shift. This wasn't some wishful thinking, I just have to survive lair. No... this was dark.

And dangerous.

No, this mind haze was different. Tenejo's entire presence was filled with elements of zeal, of righteousness. In his classes he was called on, he knew the equations of theories Quinn couldn't even begin to fathom.

The darkness of his clouds, the opacity of his inner sanctum was so many shades of charcoal it made Quinn feel like tinder.

Aradie flashed an image that shot down the bond shared with Milaro.

Truth.

This was reality for Tenejo. He was the one who'd been given the task to come to the Library in the first place. Milaro doubled down, and pushed a little harder than he had with the other subject.

They worked through the memories, the glimpses. From where Kajaro was praised and lauded for his understanding of the Serpensiril culture. To only make friends for one reason: leverage and loyalty.

It was the latter that led him to Narajo, who was unwaveringly loyal to the one friend who had ever stood up for him.

Quinn felt a moment of sadness but knew it belonged to her and not to the mind she was observing. As far as Tenejo went, there was no remorse, no attachment-based emotion contained within the man. He was clinical, he was cunning, and he was ever so fanatical.

She could feel the ice cold that ran through his veins, in more ways than one.

His school life was exemplary, and he'd been conscripted at an early age, from what she could tell because she didn't quite understand how the Serpensiril even aged. He'd served with zeal and fervor.

Flashes of memories to him slitting a throat of a species she couldn't identify, before moving on to the next target or victim. The way the blood bubbled made her gag briefly.

Aradie pushed toward Milaro and the vision changed to the next.

This one involved taking out a few of his own species, and Quinn's blood ran cold. She could have sworn one of them was adolescent at most. Bile rose in her throat, and she clenched her eyes shut, upset to realize that in spiritual form, she could still sense everything.

Another push, and the images changed again.

But this time there was no blood. He sat on a padded bench in a wide hallway outside of what appeared to be a rather ornate door. It was at least twelve feet high, with double door handles and intricate wooden carvings that were accentuated at intervals by iron studs.

He sat, his forked tongue darting in and out, his cloak hood pulled up to hide his face in the shadows.

"Tenejo. You may enter now."

Tenejo started. The doors had opened without their target even realizing it. He stood, smoothed his cloak down and slithered into the room. The vision changed with the entrance.

They now stood in a large rectangular room. Books lined the two sides of the walls, while the back wall was one huge window. But contrary to the gorgeous view Quinn had in the restricted vault, this showed something akin to lava and brimstone. Something that reminded her of the Dibilian homeworld before it solidified into igneous rock formations.

The large desk in front of the window was at least six feet wide and the chair was pushed back as someone stood, gazing out of the window.

"Do you see this?" The sibilant voice said, strong and proud.

And oddly familiar to Quinn.

Tenejo's eyes had taken on that fanatical gleam. The emotional sensations rippled through the dream space, threatening to take those in it, with it. The destruction of chaos right in front of him seemed to get the Serpensiril off. "I see it."

"We're slowly approaching our goals." the man said, "and now that you've proven yourself, my assassin, I need you to check and see just how successful our set up has been."

Tenejo nodded, barely keeping the glee from his face. "I will kill anyone you ask of me. Just direct my blade, your lordship."

The figure waved him away, but the posture had changed, and Quinn could tell he was pleased. "This is more of a reconnaissance mission. And you will need to do it once I have taken care of something myself. You need to be ready to face this within the next month."

"As you wish, your lordship." This time Tenejo bowed so low, he almost scraped his head.

"Enough of your lordship. After all, you should be calling me Uncle."

And they turned around, revealing Kajaro's face, and an evil smirk.

"Then I will do as you command, Uncle. I'll bide my time."

"See that you do." Kajaro said. "And when the time comes, I need you to be a thorn in their side."

Aradie sent out the sensation of truth again, and Quinn suddenly felt very vulnerable.

The vision blanked out, briefly, and turned to Tenejo getting ready with his two accomplices as they prepared to acquire the applications.

Milaro broke the contact and ushered Quinn out of the room.

As soon as they entered the antichamber again, Quinn started shaking. It wasn't out of fear, but out of certainty that there was a lot more to what they were dealing with than she'd thought. "Are we safe?" She asked Milaro as soon as he'd sealed the door.

Milaro didn't answer immediately. He checked the door and the seal and turned to Uno. "Triple-check that they're locked down. That there is no way of reaching their inventories or each other."

Uno nodded and a brief hum echoed throughout the room.

The elf King then turned to Quinn and half smiled. "I wish I could say we're safe. But I can't help but feel I've played right into their hands."

"Would Kajaro know what you can do?" Quinn asked, dreading the answer.

Milaro shrugged. "He knows the Seveshall family generally have very strong Mind Magic Affinities. So... he probably has some inklings."

"How secure is that?" Quinn asked, gesturing over her shoulder at the holding bays.

"Right now?" Milaro said... "They're as strong as we can make them, and considering we got ourselves out of critical power mode, we at least have that on our side. I'm not about to say we're safe, but we're going to bring reinforcements and lock down what we have."

"Great." Quinn said suddenly itching to get out of the interrogation area. "Then I think I deserve a donut."

"He was not what you expected, was he?" Milaro asked quietly.

She shook her head. Because for some reason she'd thought Tenejo might actually not be bad. Perhaps the whole Serpensiril being evil was a schtick. But she'd been wrong. She had to get harder. She had to stop giving everyone the benefit of the doubt because she really wanted people to be nice. "He was definitely not what I expected, and now I can't help but wonder if we've played into a clever trap."

"True." Milaro said. "But we can try to make sure we're at least shielded as best we can be."

"Yeah." Quinn sighed, reached up and pet Aradie. "Let's go grab some donuts. I miss Cook."

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TADAAAAA weeee the thot plickens

I need to sleep

Much love

KT