𝔖𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔚𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔉𝔬𝔲𝔯: 𝔖𝔢𝔠𝔯𝔢𝔱𝔰

Marcus and I walk back to the dining hall together, chatting idly about our lives before now. Marcus wasn't as intimidating now that I knew him a little better. He seemed to trust me, at least as a friend.

"I would have become a Woodchopper, climbing trees and chopping wood." Marcus said, on the topic of careers we would pursue if we weren't here. "I would have liked to become an inventor, as I've always thought about making people fly." I say, and Marcus lets out a short, bark-like laugh. "Really? Wait, no, I see it now." Marcus spread out his hands, mimicking a giant sign, "Felix Icarious, inventor of the thingymabob."

I burst out laughing, and Marcus chuckled as well. People in the hallway gave us strange stares, especially at Marcus. But I didn't care. I was having a great time.

"Hey! Felix!" I hear a familiar voice call out to me. I turn to see Camille grinning at me, and she sidled in between Marcus and me.

"Hey guys!" Camille said, and I was surprised to hear Marcus respond with a cheerful, "Hey Cam!" Camille looks just as shocked as I feel. "What's got you feeling all happy, hm?" Camille says, elbowing Marcus, who shoves her back playfully. It's surprising to see Marcus acting this way, when this morning he was stone faced and grim.

Suddenly, there was a roar behind us, and someone with black hair barrelled through us, closely perused by many other champions. A light explosion burst into effect further up the tunnel, and the person with black hair turned and ran straight into me, knocking me over. She was a girl, her long hair falling onto my face as we tumbled to the floor. Her purple eyes gleamed, and her black hair had a metallic shine to it, making it shine purple.

"Sorry!" The girl whispered, climbing off me and standing in the hallway, hands outstretched. I heard a hum of power as the girl's eyes glowed pure white.

And then she multiplied.

At least twenty copies of the girl filled the hallway, and I couldn't tell which one was the original. They all looked identical, blinking and moving in unison. The crowd of angry champions start attacking the nearest clone of the girl, only for it to explode into smoke. A hand pulls me up, and one of the figures of the girl blinks at me. "Come, before they attack you too!" Marcus and Camille look at me, and I see Marcus nod.

We all follow the girl as she dashes down an empty corridor and runs into the wall. But instead of hitting it, the wall absorbs her. Her combined momentum and the hand on my arm make me stumble into the wall, where I disappear.

I appear in a huge library, the walls lined with books of different sizes and topics. There were two floors of the library, ladders lining the walls for easier access to the higher up books. I gasp, in awe of all the books. I hear footsteps behind me, and Camille and Marcus gasp in unison. The library is beautiful. "Welcome to The Library!" The girl calls, laughing at our shocked faces.

"How- how-" I'm lost for words as the girl walks forward, hand outstretched. "My name's Cerci. Champion of the Illusion Goddess, Whispa. This is the library, a magic Library of the Gods that I found one day."

Marcus walks over to one of the bookshelves and pulls out an old looking book. I glanced at the cover as he opened it, The Atlas of Atera. "Atera is the land which we live in, from the rolling oceans to the peaks." Marcus trailed off, scanning the page. "This place seems like a nice hideout." I say, scanning over the Library. There was an empty bookshelf that Cerci seemed to have filled with food, and a chest full of empty notebooks. There was a cabinet of art supplies nearby a pile of unused canvases. There was an alchemy station next to a blacksmithing station.

"If you would like to make it your hideout, you can." Cerci said nervously, filling with her hands. She clearly wanted us to use the area, and I wanted to accept, it had a lot of potential.