Shiori Novella One-shots

The Apple of Forbidden Knowledge

You find yourself standing in uneasy stillness, observing the archiver engrossed in a peculiar activity - playing with an apple adorned with fleshy, watchful eyes. A smug smile plays on her lips, her gaze fixated on you as if you were nothing more than a specimen beneath her analytical scrutiny.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to snoop around?" she inquires, the question hanging in the air like an unspoken warning. Her eyes remain trained on you, dissecting you with an intensity that feels unsettling.

"You never know what knowledge you'll find in these books," she continues, her tone laced with wisdom. "As they say, curiosity killed the cat."

~~~~~

You glance around the dimly lit chamber, walls lined with ancient tomes that seem to whisper secrets long forgotten. The air is heavy with the scent of must and decay, and an oppressive silence settles in as the archiver cradles the apple in her hands. The eyes embedded in its flesh seem to follow your every move, creating a disconcerting dance of gazes.

As you shift uncomfortably under her scrutiny, the archiver chuckles, a sound that echoes through the labyrinth of knowledge surrounding you. It's a low, haunting laughter that seems to vibrate through the very air. She leans in, and you catch a glimpse of the unnaturally luminescent eyes that burn golden with an otherworldly intelligence.

"Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in here, curiosity only unveils the truth," she murmurs, her words carrying a strange melody that resonates with ancient secrets. The archiver's fingers trace patterns on the apple's skin, as if she is unlocking hidden knowledge encoded in the very fruit. You find yourself captivated by the surreal scene unfolding before you.

Without breaking eye contact, the archiver's slender fingers pluck a book from the shelf. Its leather-bound cover bears strange symbols, and as she opens it, a miasma of forbidden knowledge wafts through the air. The words on the pages seem to writhe and twist, forming images that stir both fascination and dread in the recesses of your mind.

"Do you know," she begins, her voice a whisper that caresses the edges of your consciousness, "that this apple holds the essence of forbidden truths? An echo of the original temptation, a fruit that transcends mere earthly desires." Her eyes glint with a mixture of amusement and something darker, something that sends a shiver down your spine.

As she gestures towards the apple in her hand, a strange revelation dawns upon you – a parallel to the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. You can't help but chuckle nervously, attempting to diffuse the tension with a feeble joke. "Hope you washed off the original sin before playing with it," you say, trying to mask the unease that coils within you.

The archiver's laughter echoes through the chamber again, but this time, it carries an unsettling resonance. "Original sin, my dear interloper, is but a pale reflection of the eldritch truths this apple contains. A mere ripple in the vast ocean of forbidden knowledge."

She delicately places the apple on a pedestal, surrounded by arcane symbols etched into the stone floor. The chamber seems to come alive with an eerie glow as the symbols pulse with a malevolent energy. You watch, transfixed, as the archiver begins to speak in an ancient language, her voice rising and falling in a rhythmic cadence that resonates with the very heartbeat of the cosmos.

As the incantation unfolds, the air becomes thick with an otherworldly energy. The eyes on the apple glow with an ethereal light, and you can feel the boundaries of reality bending and warping. The archiver's eyes lock onto yours, and for a moment, it feels like you are suspended in the void between dimensions.

Suddenly, a wave of knowledge crashes over you, overwhelming your senses. Visions of eldritch landscapes and unfathomable entities flood your mind, the end and the beginning, and you grasp at the edges of sanity as the archiver's incantation reaches its climax. Reality itself seems to fracture, revealing glimpses of a tapestry that defies understanding.

And then, just as quickly as it began, the ritual concludes. The archiver's voice fades, and the oppressive energy in the chamber dissipates. You stumble backward onto the cold stone floor, disoriented and gasping for breath, the weight of the forbidden knowledge pressing upon your fragile consciousness.

The archiver looks down at your collapsed form, the light of loneliness peeking through the golden glow of her eyes. "Too bad... I was hoping you'd be different," she sighs, her voice carrying a mix of disappointment and resignation. The surreal chamber fades into darkness as you succumb to the overwhelming weight of the truths you've glimpsed, your mind unraveling in the face of the forbidden.