Another Life in The Grand Library

Chapter 16. Stairs to the Hell

"So..." Dervin the cat stretched and purred, then curled up in relaxation. "I will grant your first request. You want me to find someone, right? Male.. female..?

"Male," Dryad answered.

"Human body?" Dervin asked.

Dryad frowned, "what? what do you mean by that?"

"Well... I did find a human body. Two, actually. I ate one of them. Ah! Right! Let me show you!" Dervin disappeared with foggy wisps of smoke surrounding him. He came back in less than five seconds with a bloody bare human's hand dangling from between his fangs.

"Geez!!"
"O my God!!"
Everyone was shocked!

Dryad screamed at the horrifying sight and Brilliant quickly pulled her to his side, holding both her arms tight around him.
"Don't look," Brilliant warned.
Dryad swallowed hard and closed her eyes against the gruesome sight. She was trembling slightly.

Dervin dropped the hand, "there."

"Y..you are a crazy cat! W..who.. who's hand is that?" Haze asked with a shaky voice.

"Ah. I don't know who he is. I believe someone hid the body here. But... I found it, and since I was so hungry,  I devoured his flesh and bones, which helped me regain enough energy. And here I save the hand. For later."

Haze swore his stomach churned at the thought of the cat eating human's flesh and bones.

"You.. are telling me that you ate the man?" Haze asked slowly.

Dervin nodded, "Yes. A human. A male human."

Haze shook and held his breath. It's disgusting to think about it. He felt sick just by imagining such a terrible scene. He gulped. He had a hard time gathering his courage just to ask one question, "d..don't tell me... is he.. S.. Sir Alvard?"

Dryad felt she could pass out any second as she heard that question. Well, Haze nearly fainted at his own words too.

"Alvard?!" Dervin laughed heartily.
"I said, I don't know who the man I ate was! But No! No. This is not Master Alvard!"

The three of them let out sighs of relief and Brilliant released his grasp on Dryad's arm.

"It seems you guys have finally calmed down. You don't need to worry!" Dervin comforted them. "The body I found is an old man."

Old man? Dryad's eyes widened. Could it be... Zaard? She thought.

Now the line is clear. Through ritual, Vlad seperated Zaard's body and soul, then hid the body here in Another World. But one day, Dervin found out about the body and devoured it. If that was what really happened, then, Zaard would never come back to life. He would become a wandering soul forever.

"I know Sir Alvard," Dervin said.

"You know?" Dryad asked again.

"Yes. Alvard is the Master of Lesath. And Lesath is my friend, though, sadly he is dead! I don't know what happened, but I can feel that Lesath has already dead." Dervin's ears down.

"Lesath? Dryad frowned. So that is not a word, but a name? That was what written on the first page of this grimoire", she whispered to herself. She had no idea yet that Lesath was Virgil and that he crafted the grimoire purposely for Dryad to find.

"Dervin, you know where Sir Alvard is now?" Dryad asked.

"o.f. c.o.u.r.s.e!" Dervin grinned while
twirling his whiskers. "Of course, I know."

"Alright, cat! Back to business. Put that 'hand' away, and tell us where the person we are looking for is!" Brilliant ordered.

"For gold whiskers! You are such a bossy boy! Fine!" Dervin bit the hand and disappeared to hide his leftovers somewhere. In two seconds or so, he came back again.
"Follow me! Come, follow me," Dervin turned around and walked away. The trio followed behind. Dervin pointed to the right door with his paw, and Brilliant opened it.