— Aeryn —

‘Erri’.

The burning word hovered at the top of my vision, accompanied by a red vignette at the edge of my sight.

I felt this… energy… surge through my body; starting at my eyes and invading every corner of it. My vision lost focus as the force of the energy multiplied and condensed.

‘Ffwumph’

The energy rapidly dissipated, and the spiked touch of embers brought my unfocused vision back to clarity, as an aura of warmth disturbed the feeling of emptiness that this place radiated.

I glanced up to his face, his expression a mix of curiosity and evaluation.

Lewis was… not what I expected.

He was young, around nineteen? And gave off conflicting feelings; calculating, yet unsure; powerful, yet vulnerable.

“Unsure, it doesn’t seem to drain sparks after it’s formed… I’d say that it lingers until it burns the sparks that formed it..” I said, guessing his next question.

“I see.” He replied, trailing off into thought.

“How does it feel?” He asked, his green eyes now focused on me.

“I could feel this… energy… coursing through my body. It started around my eyes, and condensed there. I lost focus and felt it dissipate. Next, I felt the fire’s warmth, and my eyes regained their focus.”

He picked up one of the books laying near him; it was a white book, glowing with a silver binder. Symbols ran across the cover; they flowed into each other, as if written with a single stroke.

World Arts - One.

“So, you can read these?”

“Surprisingly. I can’t recognise the individual symbols, but the words present themselves in my head. Although… only in the lighter shaded books. The silver ones have the most I can read… but I can’t read any of the midnight coloured ones.”

“Odd…” He stated.

From his reaction, was it dark coloured for him?

Would they be based on the knowledge of the person viewing them? An understanding of a concept? Or was it a matter of relating symbols from the light books to the dark ones; a cypher?

He set down the book, releasing a heavy sigh as he pushed himself off the ground; walking towards the room labeled as ‘Life’ as I walked towards the room labeled ‘World’.

--~~~~--

How long had it been? Had it been hours?

I eyed the stack of soundless silver books that shimmered dimly in the dark. There were only three that shone with a bright light. One or two were dim and the rest were just black outlines against the darkness.

A fizzling noise invaded the soundless void my ears had grown accustomed to, their sudden usage making them whistle and sting. My eyes were drawn over to the other side of the room, searching for the source of the interruption. It was coming from the gray construct that Lewis was lying on; a bed he had formed to test his arts.

‘Tink’

The bed dissolved to mist faster than my eyes could follow.

“5 minutes and 32 seconds.” He said with a sigh.

“An improvement of 20 seconds, impressive.”

“I doubt it’ll be the same when we get out of this… place.” That same thoughtfulness displayed across his face like an artwork in a museum.

Had he come to the same conclusion I had?

“ We can only use these arts as long as we have enough sparks in our body; is what I theorize.” He stated.

“I agree. This place seems to replenish our sparks as we use them… like it’s a training ground for Art Users.” I replied, already formulating my next statement.

He grunted in agreement; he seemed to care more about thinking than replying.

“Outside of here, your 5 minutes will probably only be a minute or so.” I continued, wondering about the true nature of this place.

“Mmm…” He mumbled again, retreating back to his pile of books, returning to read for a time.

“Have you noticed it?” He eventually asked, standing up.

“Only just. I assume you noticed it a while ago?” I replied, digging up the creeping feeling within me, a feeling that felt like time itself was being drawn out of me.

“No…” He started, letting the word float in the air for a moment.

“I had been so caught up in reading and thinking that I only just noticed it.” He finished, an unexpected chuckle echoing off the walls.

“Well, have you finished reading then? Can we talk about our new abilities~?” I said, the feeling of excitement rose within me.

“Mmmm… not a bad idea.” He replied, walking over and laying down beside me with a thump.

An unnerving coolness swept through my back as I lent against a pillar made of the black substance. I felt it seep into my back and through my skin, yet it stopped a few centimeters in.

I subconsciously curled my legs up, supporting me against the pillar. I wanted to pull away, but I needed something to lean on, so I stayed against the pillar.

“I’m-”

“I’ve g”

We both stopped, pausing for an awkward moment to let the other continue.

“I’ve got the most affinity with World Arts.” I started, wondering how I was going to explain something I didn’t even fully understand.

“My silver books are ones of Erri and Yaerzel, but I can read parts of the other arts in the bookcase labeled as ‘Base Arts’. I believe the lightest unreadable one, Seo, has something to do with Ice…”

I stopped to think, how was it that I could read some symbols as full words, but couldn’t read them in others?

“I see, could you see any lighter coloured books in the other three main rooms?”

“Yea, only a small amount. But I haven’t investigated them.”

“Got it. I’ve got the most light coloured books under Osuuse.”

Had I always been able to understand that language? I heard him say ‘Osuuse’, but my mind automatically told me ‘Life’. Earlier, I had said ‘Flame’, but it came out as ‘Erri’...

“The only readable ones were ones on the concept of Orue and Aewause. I had a few dim ones I could barely make out… Soul Arts and a darker concept called Unnerrue..?

I saw a few glowing books in the other rooms, but none from yours.”

“You think you could make us a house~?” I jeered, earning myself a humorous death stare.

My laughter was cut short as a figure appeared in my vision, although only for a flash of a moment.

It was her. The one in white.

‘Time’s up.’

“It’s you isn’t it? Just who are you?!” I heard Lewis yell; my tired eyes struggling to focus on his figure.

I briefly saw him attempt to stand, only to fall back down, his limbs too heavy to move.

‘Sleep well…’