Bastian stepped through the rubble, kicking at some books. He was wearing a massive backpack stuffed with rations and other things needed to stay here for a while.

"You two made a mess of things," he said before bending over and examining a book.

I snorted. "This was all his doing."

"And you are sure he is gone now?" Bastian asked.

"No. I can't guarantee anything, but Rathica said this should work," I said.

Bastian tossed the book away, and as it thudded on the ground, another bookshelf came crumbling down.

I flinched at the sound, which didn't make sense after the noise we made previously.

"Let's go find Richal. I've got a score to settle with him," Bastian said.

We began heading further into the library, taking a different path than I had the previous time. Bastian was slower than me, and so I gazed at the map as we jogged forward.

The dot that represented me was roughly halfway to the center when I heard something. I slowed down, stopping at the end of another intersection. Looking left and right, the narrow bookshelf lined corridors were empty, and I tried to pick up what I had heard before. Bastian's heavy thudding footsteps were the only sound.

What was that, I thought, cocking my head and listening. Bastian must have seen my actions, because his footsteps slowed down, then stopped entirely. All of a sudden it was quiet in the library.

I still didn't hear anything. Had I made a mistake?

"What's wrong?" Bastian whispered as he snuck up beside me. I was astounded by how light on his feet he could be if he wanted to.

"I thought I heard something," I said.

Bastian's eyes narrowed and he nodded. To my surprise, he didn't ask if I was sure, or what I had heard. Instead, he seemed to ponder something and then made a decision. His hand blurred as he cast a complicated spell. It took almost half a minute and he looked strained at the end. When his fingers stopped a glow appeared above his hand, coalescing into a small glowing rune. It reminded me of ancient Chinese scripts I'd needed to learn in school, and it was similar to the ones Bastian had used in Ulderion's realm.

The rune hovered in the air as Bastian flexed his fingers absently, looking around. "Do you have any idea where the sound came from?" he asked.

"None," I said. I was glad Bastian didn't doubt me, but in hindsight it made sense. He was a seasoned warrior, and we were in dangerous territory. If anything, I was the one who was out of place, even after having been here before.

Bastian pointed at the rune, and it flew up until it hovered above our heads.

"Stay close this time," Bastian said.

"What does that thing do?" I asked, looking at the rune.

Bastian followed my gaze, staring at the rune, seeming uncomfortable. I was about to ask again, not interested in running around here with what could potentially be a proximity bomb above my head, when Bastian sighed.

"It is one of the special abilities I gained when I became the Stone's main Prime," he said. "I know you haven't been a Prime for a long time, but usually we keep our gifts to ourselves. It's how we stay alive…"

I looked at the massive man that had been so relaxed the first time I had met him. Back then, his daughter had been the one to keep him in line. Now? Now he seemed careful and weary.

"That's fair, but what kind of ability is it? Detection, proximity explosive?" I asked.

"Nothing that can harm either of us," Bastian said with a slight smile. He began moving forward, the rune hovering above his head.

We continued forward at a slow pace, stopping every so often to find out what I had heard.

It took an hour before the sound came again, and this time we both heard it. It was a scream of pain that lasted only a split second before it was cut off again.

"That way, and still far off," I said, pointing to our left. Without waiting, I moved towards the corridor that led that way.

"Do you think it's wise to go there?" Bastian asked.

I turned and shrugged. "I've been here before, and for a very long time. There is almost never anything or anyone here. That means the chances that whoever made that sound is related to those Cinderage followers is large."

Bastians eyebrows rose, and he came my way. "Why did you come here before? There is nothing useful in here, at least nothing that we can find."

"What do you mean?" I said, pointing at the books beside us as we moved towards where we had heard the sound.

Bastian grabbed a random book from a shelf, flipped it open and held it out. "You can read this?"

I looked at the pages that had an assortment of random dots like on a dartboard and shook my head. "Not this one."

"Not any! They are all like this…" Bastian said, looking around. "A few hundred years ago, all three of The Stone's Primes went in here for almost two years, trying to find something useful. They were being hunted and killed by Preyatar's goons and hoped they would find something, anything to give them an edge. They never found anything."

Nothing? I frowned as I recalled the almost infinite amount of books I'd found in the center pillar.

"Did they try the central room pillar?"

Bastian nodded. "The one that can be moved up and down? They did. One of them stayed there for most of a year, scrolling it up and down. As far as they have found there is no end to it and nothing is understandable."

I was quiet as I thought back to the books I had found. Even before reaching the central bookcase I'd come across a series of books I could read. Had I just been lucky? That made no sense. Those Stonites can't have been the only ones to have tried… Why were there no more people here? Even if they couldn't read the languages now, they could try and learn them, couldn't they?

"Est, did you find books you can read here?" Bastian asked, interrupting my train of thought. He looked at me with barely disguised interest.

I blinked and continued walking. Should I tell him? He hadn't told me about his abilities, but months ago he had been willing to let me stay at the Stonite camp. During that time we'd had some fun, and-

A ping came from my status, and I almost cursed at the interruption. I quickly pulled up the status.

> Your title, 'The deliverance', was used to describe you

> You've gained karma: 1

"What's wrong?" Bastian asked as he slowed down.

"Nothing," I sighed, deciding it couldn't hurt to tell him about the status message. I would at least buy myself some time to answer the other question. "Someone just keeps using one of my titles, and these notifications keep popping up."

Bastian grinned, and his eyes twinkled. For a moment the happy, easy going guy who loved to rile up other Primes was back. "The Deliverance?" he asked.

I blinked in surprise, and then waited for the ping. There was none. I was confused, and for the first time in a while, I realised how little I knew of this world and all its intricacies.

Bastian laughed softly. "Confused? Haltir mentioned this was your first title, but no matter what the rumors say, you should really stop underestimating them. Especially your class one."

I was about to ask more about it, when I recalled my maxed out knowledge stat. Shit! I thought, quickly raising my hand. Not interested in telling Bastian about my knowledge trouble, I tried to make up a reason to delay him teaching me anything.

"I really want to know, but let's kill those Cinderage fools first, alright?"

Ugh, not your best attempt, I thought.

Bastian's face twitched, and an angry look came to it as he turned to the corridor. For a moment I thought he was angry with me, but then he grunted.

"You are right. I can't believe how easily I get distracted. Valaria would have scolded..."

As he uttered his daughters name, the anger faded and a pained expression came to it. It lasted for only a second and then his face turned cold and calm again.

"Let's find them," he said, moving forward again.

I quickly followed him, staring at his wide back and feeling sad for him. I'd not meant to remind him of his deceased daughter, and seeing the pain in his eyes reminded me of all the things I'd lost in my life. Not a happy thing.

We continued on in silence, and after a few kilometers of boring and unending bookshelves, the scream came again. It tore through the silence like a knife jab, lasting for barely a second but making my hairs stand on end.

I shared a look of worry with Bastian and we continued on, diverting our course a bit. We now had a better idea where the sound came from, and we weren't that far. A few minutes later, soft groans came, accompanied by the sound of something splattering on the ground. Then I heard the whispers. Soft and full of spite, and too soft to make out individual words.

Bastian was looking at the end of the corridor, frowning. Then he made a hand gesture, and the small symbol flew up and forward. Seconds ticked by, and then the symbol came back, flying straight to Bastian.

Some kind of camera thing? I thought as I looked at Bastian with interest.

The massive stonite went pale as a sheet, and his jaws clenched. He slowly turned to me and motioned back. Whatever he had found had spooked him more than I had thought possible.

We snuck back, and Bastian was so careful it started to get me on edge. What had he seen that freaked the massive warrior out this much?

A good distance away, I turned to him.

"What did you-"

Bastian whirled around and shook his head, motioning me to shut up. He drove us further until we were at least a few kilometers away before he would answer my whispered questions.

"We need to get out of here," he muttered as he sat down.

"What the hell did you see?" I hissed.

"Demons," Bastian muttered as if that answered everything. He was looking back from where we came with disgust and fear.

I thought back to the demons I'd seen in the Shallow Gale mountains and frowned. Although I'd seen some dangerous things, I couldn't picture one that would make Bastian act like that. He couldn't be talking about those massive ones I'd seen around Rathica's realm…

"What kind of demons?" I asked.

Bastian took a deep breath.

"At least we don't have to worry about Richal and Ellis anymore. There were four Sarcouzia and one of Lichen's Primes… slowly cutting them to pieces."

I had no idea what Sarcouzia were, and I wasn't going to ask. I did wonder what they were, though, that they could make Bastian this afraid. Not that it mattered. I needed to get to the central library, and I might have to be here for a while. That meant they would have to go. I was about to ask Bastian if we could kill them when a soft giggle came from the bookshelf above our head.

Startled, I looked up to stare into two beautiful big brown eyes. Bastian audibly swallowed, but he didn't move.

"Five, not four," a childlike, sweet voice said.

Both the eyes and the voice didn't seem to belong to the gaunt being that perched atop the staircase. It held on with spindly arms and legs with claws that looked at home on a bird of prey. However, its posture and body reminded me of an insect, and the wide mouth twitched on occasion, revealing razor-sharp mandibles.

"Lucky, so lucky! Two fat primes for Gwea to feast on… all by herself. No shaaaarrrring," she sang the last word and began climbing down. As she did, something seemed to push against the barrier around my mind-scape. It wasn't anywhere near as strong as what I'd felt before, and I pushed back without really paying it any attention.

I scrambled up and took a step back, inspecting the creature. My hand tightened around my ax handle. Although she seemed creepy enough, I didn't get why Bastian was so afraid.

Wait, why isn't Bastian doing anything? My eyes flashed to the Stonite quickly.

Bastian's eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open, a bit of drool dripping down his lip. He lay slumped against the staircase. The push against my mind-scape became a bit stronger, and I turned my attention back to the Sarcouzia. It had stopped climbing down and now hung a meter above the ground and almost within arms reach.

"Gwea doesn't understand… Why are you still moving?" the childish voice seemed annoyed, and the pressure increased again.

I didn't need any more hints to see what was going on. These Sarcouzia used some mental trick to cause their victims to fall into a slumber. What I didn't know was if they had any other tricks up their sleeve. As the pressure increased even more, Gwea, or whatever she called herself, began panting. A look of fear came to her brown eyes, and I decided immediately that this might be the best chance I'd get.

I bent through my knees and pushed myself forward, ax to the side as I shot towards my target.

"No, nono!" Gwea shrieked, and she tried to climb up.

I sliced at her midriff, and the Sarcouzia let go, falling down and just below my swing. She landed on all fours and sliced at me with one of her claws. The speed startled me, and I barely managed to block the claws with my ax blade. A screech of metal against metal sounded, but I barely felt the impact. Before I could think of the lack of power behind the blow, Gwea shot forward, the claws on her legs digging deep in the floor as she propelled herself forward, slicing at my legs. I raised my left leg, blocking the claw with my leg armor while slashing downward. Like a spider, Gwea scuttled out of the way. She pressed her back against the bookshelf as my ax slammed into the ground between her legs.

"Gwea will just do it the hard way!" she screeched, pushing away sideways and running across the side of the wall. Books flew left and right as her claws ripped them from the shelves.

Shit, she is fast, I thought as I jumped after her. I couldn't let her get any distance. As I sliced at her fleeing form, the narrow corridor impacted my attack, and the blade slammed into the wall. Gwea jumped to the other side of the corridor's wall, flipped around, and jumped with both of her claws outstretched at my face.

Knowing I couldn't get my ax around in time, I just released it and stepped into her incoming form. My lower two arms grabbed her legs and my upper two her arms, but her limbs were so long that her forward motion continued, and her gaping mouth shot at me. I moved my hand aside, and she bit down on my shoulder. As her razor-sharp teeth punctured my armor and my skin, I slid my arms from her wrists to her biceps and pulled sideways. With a sucking sound, she ripped her mouth free and screeched in pain. Blood streamed down the inside of my armor, and I felt a fiery pain flare-up.

This little shit, I growled as my anger flared up from the pain. First that snake, now this. I'd had enough! My growl intensified, and my muscles bulged as I pulled harder and harder. The screech became panicky, and Gwea began flinging her head left and right. Then something ripped like a wet towel, and one of my arms shot sideways as hot black blood sprayed across the bookshelf. I dropped the arm and began strangling the Sarcouzia, cutting her screeching off.

A loud screech came from far away, similar to the one Gwea had uttered, followed by another childlike scream.

"Nooo, Gwea!"

The realization that more of the things were coming cleared my mind, and I looked for my ax. It lay to the side, and I stepped towards it, dragging Gwea along. As I bent down to grab it, Gwea's feet found a hold on the ground, and she tried to drag herself away. She wasn't strong enough, and as soon as I had my ax, I jabbed the pointed ends at her lower body. They pierced through with little resistance and more blood sprayed on me. Two more jabs, and the Sarcouzia stopped moving, just twitching slightly in my hand. In one motion, I let her go and swung my ax at her neck, severing her head cleanly.

"Noooooo! You will pay for this," a choir of voices screamed at me.

Dammit, how many of those things are there, I thought as I staggered. I took a look at Bastian and saw he was blinking and shaking his head.

"Dammit, wake up!" I snarled as I stepped towards him and kicked his leg. The burning from my shoulder was increasing, and I felt my mind grow foggy.

It took two more kicks before he started and scrambled up, looking around.

"Where is the Sarcouzia?" he said before seeing her dead form on the ground.

"No time to admire my handiwork," I said. "The others are coming, and we need to flee!"

Bastian blinked, looked at my tottering shape, and grabbed me around the waist. Without another word, he dragged me away. I was about to say it wasn't needed when I felt my legs buckle underneath me.

"I don't know how you managed to do that," Bastian muttered as he began picking up speed. "But we need to get out of here so I can cure you. A Sarcouzia bite has some of the strongest Demon poison I know. If we don't get that out of your system, you will be dead before nightfall."

I wanted to mutter that my Demon blood resistance was really high, but my tongue was thick and lolled in my mouth. At the same time, I was beginning to see bright spots in front of my eyes, and then I felt my body go numb. Bastian stopped, unstrapped his backpack, and dumped it on the ground before housing me on his shoulder. Then he sprinted away.

As I lay, bobbing on his shoulder, my body alternating between burning hot and numb, I felt unconsciousness creeping up.Why does this keep happening to me, I thought as I vaguely remembered the time Barry had carried me to safety. Then my mind blanked out.