One second, the librarian was looking at Solomon, the next, he was behind her. She could feel his rushed breath on the back of her neck, it was burning hot and smelled of sulfur.

Before she could get any weird ideas, she could hear metal boots running across the ground in the distance and the rough shouts of soldiers.

She felt something sharp coming into contact with her lower back and a whisper came from behind her,

"Don't move"

She nodded slowly and stood bolt upright.

...

Solomon wasn't sure what to do in this sort of situation. He didn't really want to hold someone hostage, But he still needed to find a book with detailed information on the Shrike.

In the end, he had placed the point of his tail on the back of the woman and she froze. After he told her not to move, his mind started to spin.

He noticed a thick ebony reception desk on the other side of the room and bundled the hapless woman over to it.

"Don't speak, just nod if you understand."

The woman went to open her mouth to respond and he pressed the sharp point of his tail harder into her back. Feeling the pain, she stopped trying to speak and nodded.

"Good, I need to find a book with detailed information on the Shrike. Is it here?"

The librarian nodded. There were such books here.

"Can you get it for me before the soldiers arrive?"

She shook her head. Those books were on a different floor of the library and the soldiers were only about thirty seconds away.

"Damn! Right we'll do this then." Solomon swore. In the end, he barely had time to hide before the soldiers got there.

...

Outside the library, the soldiers were running in a sprint. They couldn't use Solomon's method of going over the top of the house and had to run through the maze-like streets of the city.

Their breathing was laboured, but their steps were strong and powerful. These were hardened military men and women and they had gone through hellish training exactly for things such as this.

They were told some sort of monster that could speak was heading towards the library and had been instructed to apprehend it.

The captain of this troop was grizzled, he had tanned skin and a face full of stubble. He lead the troop round a bend in the street and the library appeared in front of them.

As they ran towards the library, he issued orders to the other soldiers, "Quickly now, Sully you stay outside and guard our retreat."

Sully nodded and the rest of the troop burst through the locked door of the library.

Inside, there was no candles lit and the building was shrouded in darkness. The only light came from a beam of moonlight cascading through a shattered window. Glass shards were strewn across the floor and in the centre of the entrance hall sat an enormous ebony desk.

Behind the desk, a ghostly pale woman with rounded spectacle sat. She was trembling in fear and her hands were beneath the desk. Her face was shrouded in darkness but the captain thought he saw tears in the corner of her eyes.

Seeing her panicked state, he ran up to her and tried to speak calmly and firmly. "Maam have you seen the monster that can talk,"

She began to speak, "Yes.." and then she paused for a split second and looked pained, "He... I mean that monster ran out the back entrance."

"Shit! we were too late. Sorry for swearing ma'am but we really must go." Swore the captain. He signalled to the nearby soldiers and they ran back out of the library and onto the street.

The captain called over his signal bearer. "The monster has already been here. Tell the commander that it's probably heading for the research institution next."

After allowing the signal bearer to relay this information, the troops took off in a dead sprint towards the research centre. They didn't have time to worry about the librarian.

...

Inside the library, the terrified woman behind the desk let out the breath she had been holding since the captain walked in.

Beneath the desk, a similar exhale of breath could be heard, followed by a hand reaching up over the top of the desk.

Solomon pulled himself up from under the desk. He had been crushed beneath it with his tail placed against the librarian's stomach.

He looked over at the librarian guiltily. "Sorry about that," He said apologetically.

She was still frozen in place. She couldn't quite believe what she had just done. She lied to an army captain! Could she go to jail for that? What would this monster do to her? Her mind was a muddle, full of such thoughts.

Solomon would have liked to give the woman time to relax, but he didn't have time for that. Soon, the soldiers would realise his ploy and return here.

He grabbed the frozen woman by the hand and pulled her to her feet. "Look, I really need to get out of here soon so I can't stick about and explain myself. I just need you to take me to the best book with information on the Shrike. Things like their weaknesses and habits."

The librarian looked at Solomon suspiciously, "Why do you need that?"

"I am at war with the Shrike right now. We need to get moving or else it will be too late!" He shouted at the slow woman.

Robotically, the librarian led Solomon up a flight of stairs and onto the second floor. This floor was caked in a layer of dust and clearly hadn't seen much foot traffic through the years. The books themselves looked much older and ancient maps covered the walls.

Solomon couldn't help himself and ended up asking about a particularly large map that was covering the entire ceiling. It depicted a planet covered in water and ice, green forests were dotted around the equator in a ring and sprawling savannas covered the globe. The map was so well drawn it looked almost life-like.

"Where is that planet?" He asked the librarian who was going through various tomes that were wrinkled with age.

She took a break from looking through the books and looked up at the ceiling wistfully. "That is this planet... before the Shrike anyways."

Pointing towards an enormous river that stretched from the centre of the globe to the north pole she added some shocking information. "This is a map that was made 1000s of years ago when the planet was prosperous and full of life. That river was called the Styx and is where we get all our water from to this very day."

Solomon looked up at the river and realised that it did run all the way to the north pole. Presumable where this city was.

"But why don't the Shrike walk up the river then? it should be easy for them to get to your people if they just follow it." He asked perplexed.

"In the great war, many years back, tectonic plates shifted and the continents moved. In the chaos, the river was buried beneath the earth becoming an underground river. That enormous stone cylinder in the centre of our city is called the [Well] and is the only known entrance to the river."

She didn't know why she was telling all of this to her kidnapper. Maybe, a small part of her was just happy that there was someone to listen to her theories. These days, nobody much cared about the past. They were too busy trying to survive one more day.

Solomon listened blankly to all of this, he got the feeling that this river wasn't as secure as she thought.

The librarian's fingers were a blur as she skimmed over the spines of various books. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she let out a whoop and pulled a particularly old and dilapidated book from the shelf.

The paper was worn and yellow. It looked like if it was exposed to the sun it might just crumble to dust on the spot.

On these incredibly fragile pages was information that was worth more than the weight of this book in gold.

...

The book read:

[The Shrike, A study.]

Day 1. No changes today. I have created a living miracle. By combining cells found on meteorite 76 with a native species of tree, a conscious plant was born.

Day 3. No changes today. I have named the first intelligent tree the progenitor. It has yet to eat anything and seems uninterested in any of the types of fertilizer I present to it.

Day 5. No changes today. When handling the progenitor, I accidentally pricked my finger on its branch and it absorbed some of the blood. I will see how this progresses.

Day 7. No changes today. I believe this creature to possess great intelligence, recently, it waits for me at the door of the room it is kept in. I believe it is able to tell time and knows when I will be returning.

Day 12. It has grown exponentially. Out of curiosity, I threw a dead lab rat at the roots of the plant and it was gone after 5 minutes.

Day 15. The plant can no longer fit inside the room I gave it. I will need to bring it outside for further observation.

Day 20. I believe this plant to be highly carnivorous. The lab assistant I sent to feed it yesterday never reported back. I fear for my life.

Day 25. I am too afraid to go and see it myself. I haven't sent anyone to feed it since and can only wait in hopes that it will die.

Day 27. I plucked up the courage and entered the room. When I entered the room the plant was meant to be in, I found it empty. A gaping hole was carved into the floor. I believe it has tunnelled out but I'm not sure when.

Day 35. Several people and pets in the neighbouring area have gone missing. I alerted the authorities but they didn't believe my concerns

Diary end.

...

Beneath the diary entrees, lay a jumbled mess of notes and dates. They were interspersed amongst scrawling sketches of Shrikes that were labelled with various descriptions.

Reading this in the moonlight, Solomon and the librarian were both thoroughly terrified. In the end, they worked together to organise and compile all of the information in the book. It was clearly written by a mad man and jumped from place to place with no real structure.

The information they had gathered was plenty and varied but Solomon wasn't super interested in the history of this planet, it's not like he would be staying here in the long run.

He focused on the key information. The types of Shrikes there was and Their weaknesses. In his hands, he held a page full of information that would make all the other demons hear froth at the mouth.

[Types of Shrike]

Worker - Most common variant (15m height) caution advised.

Warrior - 1 in 10 (25m in height) Remain in groups when targeting.

General - 1 in 1000 (50m in height) Only attack with large groups.

Lord - 1 in 100000 (100m in height) Run. away.

Progenitor - There is only 1 (Height unknown) Advice - pray.

[Weaknesses]

Fire - acid - Slower at night or when not in direct sunlight

When fighting, it is important to target the roots so they don't regrow.

...

Looking at the information he had gathered, Solomon didn't look happy. The only thing he had that could target their weakness was the venom in his tail and that was pretty weak right now. He doubted whether he would even be able to kill a worker by himself.

Now that he knew all of this, his plan changed. He turned his attention toward the other book he had found earlier. This book detailed information on the monsters that lived in the desert. He was looking for a specific type of monster... the scorpion.

Since he wasn't strong enough right now, he was going to go grind some scorpions before fighting the final boss.