Zoé is a young immortal. She is only 186 years old. Currently, she works in an incredible library of the occult, located in Budapest and curated by a very old immortal called Ikshan. Unfortunately, one day she stumbles upon a terrifying monster in a...
My mind phases out. I totally lost track of what Ikshan's talking about. I'm sure it's a fantastic story. All of Ikshan's stories are amazing. But they have so many of them. And they loooove to tell them. In fascinating but time-consuming details. And Ikshan is a name-dropper. So there's always that one time when they debated with Isaac Newton about apples or attended the first Gabrielle Chanel fashion show, or whatever. They're not bragging. They're just so enthusiastic.
Maybe I'll be like that after more than a thousand years of life. Or maybe not. I'm definitely less enthusiastic about... well, about everything.
Don't get me wrong, there are things that I like. I do. But it's just I'm less... loquacious about them. I like books for instance and dusty archives. I always thought about libraries as inspiring and soothing at the same time. That's the reason why I thought it could be great to work with Ikshan. I mean, their collection is unrivaled. It's the most comprehensive library of the occult in the entire world. It occupies a whole building, and it's not just about books. They have archeological objects and ancient weapons. Walking across the rooms and the hallways is like entering a museum. I love it. What I didn't expect was that there would be all that talking involved. And I cannot really shush the librarian in their own library, right?
Today, it's kinda my fault, though. I asked them about this beautiful sheet music I found. I was honestly curious, but then this sheet music led to another sheet music, and then another, and then this very rare version of the first sheet music, and how it is funny how it had been lost for decades, but then was found in an attic, and somebody wanted to buy it but then it disappeared again, and... And thirty minutes later, I felt I was on a rollercoaster of words that would never end.
"Incredible, right?" Ikshan finishes.
I savor the silence. "Right," I say, nodding with as much conviction as I can.
They look at their phone. "Oh! It's already 10 o'clock. So my train leaves in two hours, and I will be back tomorrow. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."
"I'm going to index the content of the boxes we talked about. I should be fine."
"Great. Have a nice time!"
I will have a nice time. I love indexing stuff. I know, sounds boring, but really for me, it's not.
"You too," I say.
Ikshan hugs me and waves goodbye with a giant smile. They're going to retrieve a very rare manuscript currently in the hand of a vampire friend of theirs. They've been talking about that all week. They are so excited. And I must say that I am too. It is such a precious piece. Ikshan asked me if I wanted to come with them. But I prefer to leave the social aspect of the job to them. Honestly, I prefer to index stuff. Alone. In silence.
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