Gods And Gunners

As the two of them walked by, Emil couldn't help but to ponder about what that clown just said. It was bizarre, out of place, but it's right. Emil, becoming more nervous each step he takes. The chattering of the people in the square slowly hazed, and faded from his mind. Each step echoed in his mind— his vision began to blur. 

"You don't quite belong to this page, do you?" The clown's voice creeped in through Emil's brain again. He placed his hand on his head. He felt dizzy, he does not know why, but it seems that the clown's words triggered something. Maybe Lugira's consciousness's still here? Emil thought to himself. But that can't be, can it? I'm already here. He screamed in his mind, no words can come out of his mouth. He feels like his head is splitting in half. Barely hanging on, he heard Lumier's voice.

"....Lugi….Lugi!" Lumier's voice started to be heard by Emil. He opened his eyes slowly, the blur in his vision was slowly getting put out. He smudged his eye area. Lumier was a few steps away from him, standing still. Oh, I had already passed her. Emil opened his eyes completely, realizing that Lumier was calling him from his back. 

Emil looked back at her. She's at least 7 steps back from where Emil is currently standing. "Huh? What happened?" He whispered. "I'm coming to you, wait!" Emil said, trying to brush off the unsettling feeling he had. He dragged his heavy feet towards Lumier. 

Emil looked around where Lumier was standing. It was a building, two-storey high. At Emil's first glance it didn't look much. Rather, it looked modest, the building was about 30 feet, with a stone structure that had Ivy crawling up the pillars. 

But the closer Emil got, the more the building felt… wrong. It exuded presence. The kind of quiet gravity found in mountain monasteries or deep caves.

The iron handles on the doors bore runes he didn't recognize. The windows were stained with deep blue and violet glass that made the light shimmer as though the walls breathed.

"What in Vireon's name are you going on about?" Lumier exclaimed, as her brother stepped in front of her. "Really. You've been so different since earlier."

"Hm," Emil let out a big sigh. "Well, I've been seeing the 'dream' even if I'm awake today." Emil obviously lied, but it didn't matter. It was half of his truth, he just didn't have to say everything for now. He looked at Lumier, giving her a wide smile.

"Okay, if you say so." She pouted her lips smoothly. "Come on, let's go! Mr. Herbert's probably waiting for us inside." She said while being all jumpy, she looks so excited for someone who'll go to a library to read.

Emil stepped forward, grabbing the cold metal handle of the library door. The door was heavy, he had to use all his strength to push the door all the way through. Just as he opened the door, he let out a cough, it wasn't that loud, but the silence of the library made his cough sound like a nuclear bomb dropping.

The moment Emil stepped inside the library, an odd sensation washed over him—a pressure behind his eyes. The air shifted. It wasn't like stepping into a building, but into a preserved silence, as if the library were a slumbering creature that now stirred to acknowledge his presence.

The doors clicked shut behind him.

 Despite the worn look outside at the entrance, the library's interior was magnificent, shelves of books that smelled like pancakes, lounges for people to stay, and the books themselves looked very polished— radiant, even.

Bookshelves rose in elaborate tower-like structure, far taller than what should have fit within the dimensions Emil had seen outside. The shelves stretched far beyond the second floor, looping in staircases of brass and lacquered wood.

The scent in the air was strangely comforting. The old pages, aging leather, and even the scent of pastry like pancake is in the air.

To his side, Lumier beamed in joy. She tugged his right arm gently. Her footsteps, though light, echoed in strange patterns on the floor. She led Emil across the library.

Emil's eyes scanned the library, the bookshelves. A lounge of chairs with velvet sheets rested in the corners of the library. People sat in hushed groups or alone, their heads bowed toward glowing tomes and whispering scrolls. He noted that a few wore robes embroidered with runes.

Heavy, black-iron chains secured an aisle of deep violet books. They hummed faintly, like dormant engines or half-tamed beasts. Hanging from one of the posts was a sign etched in copper and sealed with wax: 'Designated Restricted: Thought-Bound & Flame-Sealed.'

Another bore a single word, old and stained like dried blood: FORBIDDEN.

Emil's brow furrowed. The air felt colder near those shelves.

Lumier gave his wrist another tug, snapping him from his trance

They turned left, deeper into the heart of the library, toward a corner obscured by rows of spiraling shelves and low-hanging lanterns.

As the sibling turned to a narrow corner, with bookshelves towering, a path to a narrow desk appeared in front of them. Behind the desk an elderly man sat.

"Ah,if it isn't the twins," the man said, his voice low and raspy like a dry tree bark scratching to the floor. A faint smile rose across his face. He adjusted his monocle that rests upon his right eye, the brass rim catching the lantern's light. 

Mr. Herbert. 

The man appears to be in his sixties, though his posture is not frail nor fragile. His gray hair was slicked back meticulously, his vest was sharp and clean, buttoned tight under a brown robe. Golden threads embroidered symbols across the cuffs and over the shoulders— symbols that Emil instinctively knew were not just for decorations. 

"Good day, Lumira," Mr. Herbert said again, clearing his throat. His gaze passed over Lumier with familiarity. Then, his gaze met Emil's. "And you too, Lugira."

Emil gave him a slight nod, with a tight smile from the corners of his lips. "And good day to you too, sir."

"Mm." Mr. Herbert leaned back against his chair, eyes narrowing. "You seem… sharper today."

Emil froze for a moment, Mr. Herbert noticed. 

"There's something different about you, he added. "Not in posture nor in tone… but your aura, you've always been so timid. But today, you appear to be— hmm. Alert. As if something new had happened to you. As if you've fought in a war."

Emil's eyes flickered. He coughed slightly, forcing a breath out of his mouth. "I… I didn't get much sleep last night.

"Ah, is it the nightmares that bothers you again?" Mr. Herbert asked, his tone is different. It was more calculated as if he's testing to find an answer rather than a concerned tone. 

Lumier interjected, smiling as she leaned towards the desk. "He's a bit off today, but I'm sure it's nothing serious. We're here to find new readings, sir. I want something light, I don't know about Lugi though."

The old man let out a dry but soft chuckle, leaning forward and tapping the small leather-bound ledger from the table with his thin fingers. "You'll find plenty of those here. The stacks have a way of offering what one needs, not always what one seeks."

Then his eyes locked with Emil's once more, his monocle was gleaming like a coin in the dark. "Be mindful of what you open, Lugira.Not every book in this place wishes to be read." There was no threat in his voice. Just a calm reminder, that brought shakiness in Emil's spine.

Emil gave him a polite nod. "Of course, sir."

With that, Mr. Herbert gestured with his slow hands, "Then go on. Follow where the books take you."

As Lumier tugged Emil's arms and led him deeper in the maze of the bookshelves, Emil threw one last glance to the old man. Mr. Herbert was no longer watching them, instead scribbling something quietly into his old ledger.

The scent of old pages of the books thickened as Emil and Lumier stepped deeper into the archive's maze. Books whispered from their shelves, some bound with cracked leather, some looked like it had a wooden case, and others in material Emil couldn't quite name yet— silken to the touch, some glows, some were just outlandish. 

"This is it!" Lumier exclaimed in a hushed but excited tone. She pulled out a medium-sized book whose spine was adorned with a rose-gold sigil of interlocked hearts and vines. "The Golden Hymns of Mynus. It's said to be about the goddess of love—her tales, her miracles, her forbidden prayers."

She held the book as if it was a relic, her eyes sparkled. "They say Mynus once cried, and from her tears the first red flower bloomed."

Emil gave a faint smile, but his attention was elsewhere. He turned away slowly, eyes scanning a section deeper in the library where the light dimmed and dust hung thick like mist.

"I'll just look around a bit," he said to Lumier quietly.

"Don't disappear," Lumier said, half-aware of how quickly one could get lost here.

Emil walked toward a corner shelf barely touched by foot traffic, where even the spiders dared not rest. The books here were layered in soot-gray dust, stacked unevenly and leaning like forgotten memories. His fingers brushed along their spines—some bore glyphs instead of titles, others were so aged the text had faded entirely.

Then his hand paused.

A book—neither ornate nor grand—rested at the topmost corner of the shelf. Bound in dusky, matte green leather, its cover was unassuming but marked with three precise words that shimmered faintly beneath the dust:

Magic Theories.