The Library of Powers

Chapter 1: Book of Flight

Jackson knew he would never be able to dream. Every time he closed his eyes, instead of sleep, he arrived in the library. It bothered him more than he'd ever admit, that such a fundamental part of human existence was forever barred to him. Jackson wondered if he was once able to dream, before he first entered the library. He didn't think so.

Jackson was sitting in a lounge within the library, mindlessly flipping through a book without much care or attention. The lounge was done up with an exorbitant amount of red velvet, hidden lights adding even more of a warm color palette to the room. This entire wing of the library looked like that, polished mahogany and brass fixtures. There was even a marble statue in the center of Jackson's enclosure, a half-carved renaissance piece depicting a javelin thrower. Jackson thought it was just a little too on the nose.

He was alone. Those in the library rarely saw another person, and Jackson hid if someone approached. That was a rare occurrence, mostly due to the large size of the library. Experts argue that it's the largest building in the universe, but Jackson disagreed. He didn't think it was nearly the biggest, and he didn't think the library was in their universe.

It was the sound of footsteps that drew Jackson out of his contemplation. Someone was headed his way. Jackson needed a hiding place, and fast. He got out of his red velvet armchair and walked out of the lounge, into the maze of bookcases that covered the library proper. Jackson paid attention to the sound, determining that the sound was a girl in heels coming from his left. Jackson headed to the right, finding a rolling ladder to reach the upper shelves of the library and climbing it to the very top. What the experts didn't know was how easily traversable the tops of the bookcases were. Jackson hopped from the shelf with the ladder to the one on the opposite side and peered over the edge to keep an eye out for whoever was approaching.

A small girl entered his field of vision, timidly shuffling through the halls below. Her eyes were darting around, scanning the bookshelves, but her arms were to her side, afraid to reach for the book, afraid her choice would be irreversible. She wasn't wrong. She was just about to leave the passage Jackson was hiding above when she abruptly stopped, her eyes drawn to a particular book. He held his sigh of relief. It was an old manuscript, well worn with a leather cover and thick twine binding. Those types weren't as uncommon as one might think, the library did contain every book ever written. The girl started to reach out, then hesitated. This piqued Jackson's curiosity. Was he about to see the girl receive her gift? Steeling her face, the girl grabbed the book, running her fingers over the imprint on the cover. It was a curvy spiral, twisting within and outside itself, no rhyme or reason to it. She undid the clasp and after one last hesitation, opened the book.

There was a blinding flash, and clocktower bells started to ring (Jackson had heard them many times but never found their location). After Jackson's temporary blindness subsided, he noticed that the girl's book had now been inscribed with a name. A copy of it should have also been made in the archives, somewhere far below them. The girl looked herself over, as did Jackson. There seemed to be nothing off, no new body parts, which was good. It took both of them an embarrassingly long time to realize she was standing 3 inches off the ground. Startled, the girl fell to the ground, landing on her butt. After recollecting herself, she stood up and started floating again. After some more trial and error, she started to zip around, doing small circles. Once she had that down she started, very slowly, to ascend.

The church bells may have stopped ringing, but a different kind of bell was going off in Jackson's head. If she ascended enough, she would spot Jackson watching her. Not only would that be very creepy, but he couldn't have anyone see him. The first thing that people do when receiving superpowers is tell their story from while they were inside the library. If someone who looked suspiciously like Jackson showed up in too many stories, that would not bode well. So Jackson, not wanting to alert her to his presence, did the only thing he could think of doing.

He woke up.