Eternal Beasts

Unlikely Pursuit

Only to stop dead when the whispering abruptly intensified several fold, becoming distinct words thought still just beyond his ability to make them out. Indistinct, yes, but no denying they were words. Another step up and the whisper intensified yet again while remaining indecipherable.

Swallowing again with a suddenly tight throat, Jared slowly looked over his shoulder back into the basement. The whisper growing stronger as he ventured to step out of the space was leading him to one conclusion and one only: someone or something didn't want him to leave.

"Okay, if that's how you want this," he husked in a low voice, turning to drop back into the library, only faintly intrigued by the fact the whisper didn't drop in intensity as he did so. If anything, it now seemed as if it actually was coming from one direction, its source the left side of the space.

Strengthening his resolve, he began to move in that direction, using the whisper's slowly growing strength as a measure of how close he was coming to the source. Slowly but surely his search through the racks brought him closer and closer until finally he stood at what he thought was the sound's center. At least it faded each step away from the rack he now faced, leading him to think this was the source.

But where was it? As he had grown to expect, this rack was just like every other one here, its shelves filled to capacity with book after book. Stepping closer, he made to start moving the books out of the way to see if anything was behind them, like a hidden speaker. And in doing so had his hand fall on the worn-smooth binding of a particularly large book, easily as tall as his forearm was long and a hand span thick, barely fitting into the space provided and easily dwarfing its neighbors.

As his big hand touched the soft leather, the whispering stopped.

"What?" Jared rasped out loud, looking down with a frown at the book his hand had brushed. And felt his eyes flying wide as he saw a flicker of light dancing down along the book's spine. Before he could react, it touched him.

With a snarl of discharge, a blast of energy slammed into Jared's chest, throwing him roughly backwards. He hit the rack behind him with enough force to make it shift uneasily in place before he dropped to the floor dazed. Gasping he tried to fill suddenly empty lungs as he looked back up at the book that he had touched. And felt a chill race through him as he watched first one, then another and finally a third golf ball-sized knots of light ooze their way free from the book's spine to hover unsupported a finger span away from the book.

Jared swallowed convulsively. This couldn't possibly be happening! In that instant he became aware of the whispering. It had returned upon the arrival of the small globes of light.

"No way," He hoarsely exclaimed as the balls danced lightly in place as if caressed by a soft spring breeze.

Adrenaline was cold fire that returned strength to his limbs and sent him scrambling to his feet to stagger along the rack and away from the book with its glowing balls of light. When he reached the end, he twisted to look back, morbid curiosity spurring his glance. And he felt his heart lurch drunkenly in his chest at discovering the balls had followed him down the corridor between the racks. They had stayed about a metre or two away but with every step he had taken, they moved that much closer.

As his trembling hands touched the wall now behind him, one of the balls suddenly darted forward, streaking directly towards him.

"Shit." Then he was throwing himself to the side.

Hissing as it darted past, narrowly missing his side, the ball slammed into the wall and punched right through it, leaving a smoking crater in its wake. Jared blinked rapidly as he watched the smoke rise lazily from the hole, its edges glowing redly as if superheated. It was enough to galvanize him back into motion: twisting hard to the side, he scrambled past the next rack's end and sprinted hard between it and its next neighbor towards the stairs.