Library of Rain

One Less Loose End

Rain wandered the greenhouse admiring the flowers, glad that she was able to come here now that her confinement to her rooms was over. For some reason, when Lucus and her were caught sneaking back into the Manor, Lord Estom had decided it was all her fault and ordered her to stay in her rooms for three whole days!

She had naturally not obeyed those orders and instead spent most of that time reading in the Mid Ring library. They had storybooks in there! As a result, Rain thoroughly enjoyed her ‘confinement.’ 

But now she could roam freely again. More than that, it was the day for Isster to give her the information she had asked for. Even as she walked the garden admiring the bounty of colors, beautiful shapes, and wonderful smells so different from the ash and mold she was used to, Rain could feel her connection to Isster. He was sleeping, and now would be the perfect time to contact him. 

A bright blue flower caught Rain's eye. Rain looked around to make sure no one could see, then gave in to her curiosity. It was a mistake. She spat and grimaced as a bitter flavor coated her tongue. How could something so pretty taste so nasty? This was the third flower she had tried, and all of them tasted foul. It made no sense; shouldn’t something colorful like that taste sweet? Even though everything Rain knew told her it wouldn’t, she couldn’t force herself to believe it. 

Rain took a long drink from her flask to wash away the taste in her mouth. She had delayed enough. She sat down on a bench and slipped into Isster’s dreams.

***

Isster stood atop a pile of gems, dark shimmer wafting off him in lines and connecting him to the gems lying around his feet. Rain was curious about what skills and class he got, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter.

“Hello Lord Isster. It appears you’re enjoying my gift.”

Isster snapped out of his dream trance as Rain spoke to him. But he didn’t bother turning to face her as he spoke.

“Yes, this truly is a power fitting me. Thank you for bringing it to me. Those ash lickers at the academy were wrong to deprive me of it.”

“I’m glad you’re finding your place. Are you ready for more? Do you have the information I asked for?” 

“I am.”

“Good, show me the information.”

A slightly panicked look crossed the portion of Isster's face Rain could see. 

“I do not have the information here in my dream! You will have to allow me to bring it to you in the real world.”

Rain was disappointed but not surprised. 

“Very well, then leave the information in the hollow of your dresser where you found the gold. Then go to the Crown Ring guard house. You will find another tome in a wooden box hidden underneath the ash between the guard house and the scribe's hutch beside it. 

I will allow you to read from that book once. Once you stop, it will vanish, and of course, the more you read, the more power you will receive. If you can handle it.”

The truth was that Rain needed to get rid of Isster now that he had served his usefulness. That said, she refused to lie to him about the effects of her books. Pressuring him into taking more than he could handle however, that was perfectly acceptable to her. 

The fool in question looked overjoyed at the thought of gaining more power. 

“Now wake and do as you were told!” Rain said with her best flourish before leaving the dream.

***

It didn’t take long for Isster’s link to fuzz, indicating to Rain that he was awake. Now, she just needed to wait for the notifications. 

Rain pulled some dried fruit from her pockets and had a snack while she waited for Mr. Purple to give her the good news. 

[Reader Lennart Isster has attained the skill: Pillow Step.]

[Creating class around Pillow Step for reader Lennart Isster.]

[WARNING: Reader Lenart already has a class. Adapting Pillow Step to fit existing class.]

[Notice: Reader Lennart Isster’s mental corruption has risen 73%. Current mental corruption 89%.]

[Notice: Reader Lennart Isster’s physical corruption has risen 90%. Current physical corruption 100%.]

[Congratulations: By raising another human’s mental corruption, you have reduced your mental corruption. Mental corruption has fallen 7%. Current mental corruption, 14%.]

[Congratulations: By raising another human’s physical corruption, you have reduced your physical corruption. Physical corruption has fallen 9%. Current physical corruption, 1%.]

Rain stared at that last message in confusion. Her physical corruption had already been at one percent. How could it still be one percent after falling by nine percent?

She shook her head. There would be time to figure that out later. For now, she was on a timer. Isster had likely just gone insane and mutated right in front of the Crown Ring guard house. 

Rain had placed the book there for a reason. If Isster became violent as she suspected he would, then he would be right next to a building full of armed people and classers ready to put him down. 

The problem was that if he was still recognizable, then guards might come to search his residence to figure out what had happened to him. Rain needed to extract the information from him before that happened.

She reached out with her mind, grasped onto the coin she had hidden under Isster’s bed, and warped to it. When the world unfolded around her, she was lying on the dusty floor under his bed. The coin writhing as it consumed itself.

She crawled out and hurried over to the dresser. Prying up the loose board, Rain found it, the piece of paper this had all been for. Briefly scanning it, she confirmed that it was what she was looking for. 

Before she warped away, Rain realized there might be some kind of evidence here to implicate her, such as an entry in Isster’s journal. She couldn’t allow that to see the light of day.

She ransacked the room, looking for anything that might implicate her. She didn’t find anything that might hurt her, but she did find an antique box full of old-fashioned jewelry. That, of course, went into her pocket.

Rain felt the thread connecting her to Isster snap and vanish. She stumbled briefly at the mental backlash. She had done it. She had led a man to his death. Rain may not have killed him directly, but unlike with the bandits, she had sought him out. She had attacked him, not simply defended herself.

Rain didn’t know how she should feel right now. So she added the incident and emotions to that area in her head where she kept the things she couldn’t deal with, and returned to the task at hand. She needed to get out of here.

Deciding not to take any chances, Rain poured out all the oil from the wall lamps onto the wooden floor and set the puddle on fire. Better to make sure there was nothing she hadn’t found. 

She waited for the flames to take hold before warping back to the servant's room beside her own. Looking through her new treasure, Rain quickly entered her library to place it with the rest of her hoard. 

With a moment to think, she plopped down on her old bed. It was harder than she remembered. 

Her mental corruption was back down to fourteen, which was a huge weight off her shoulders. Back when it had been at nineteen, she had hallucinated having things living under her skin. Twenty-one should have been worse, but she didn’t seem to be affected this time. Unless the voice she had heard when out with Lucus was corruption. If that was the case, it had been pretty mild. She certainly wasn’t going to question a good thing.

The physical corruption was more worrying; why wasn’t it dropping? 

“Hay, Mr. Purple, what's going on with my corruption?”

Nothing.

“Are you still angry at me for not exploring the library yet?”

Still nothing.

“I’m sorry.” Rain’s head drooped a little at Mr. Purple’s silent rebuke. “I know I should prioritized you. I’m just… scared.”

Her words fell on deaf ears. And why shouldn’t they? Rain had prioritized her own safety over Mr. Purple’s. That wasn’t how you were supposed to treat your first friend. 

Rain placed her pillow over her head. She needed to explore the Library soon. Surely, once she freed enough slaves, one of them would be willing to make a deal?