章 13: Chapter 13: Abandoned Library (2)

I stepped forward. My footsteps echoed in the hushed, timeless silence. I reached out and carefully touched one of the books, feeling its cool, worn cover beneath my fingertips. The title was written in a language I didn't recognize—a script that twisted and curved in ways I couldn't quite grasp, like ancient runes designed to repel unworthy eyes.

If I searched this entire library, would I be able to find a book in my own language? Or just a book about this language will do. What's the use of this discovery, if I can't even understand anything?

I walked around. There was something unnervingly peaceful about this place. Despite the absence of monsters, a sense of danger still lingered, like an unspoken warning woven into the very walls.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't alone, that the library itself was somehow… alive.

No. Let's not scare ourselves, Jade. I'm this close to singing one gospel song loudly to scare any evil entity.

Each row of bookshelves seemed to shift as I moved, as though guiding me, or perhaps, luring me, deeper within. I was already used to them moving on their own, but I couldn't shake the feeling of a pair of eyes monitoring my every movement.

Is it a monster?

Why isn't attacking? A monster with human intelligence? Now, that's terrifying. The hairs on my neck stood, and I could feel cold sweat trickling down my back.

As I continued walking, I noticed other things too. Flickering, ghostly lights… shit. Something ominous was lying where they flew. These bookshelves and these ghostly lights hovering around me were pushing me to go on further.

I glanced back, hoping for a way out before I peed my pants, but the vortex… I don't even know where I came from. I fell, but when I looked up, even the space above had shelves spanning endlessly until I couldn't see the books anymore.

Panic finally surged within me. I can't see the exit, but what about the entrance? When will the Seekers arrive? I'm beginning to think that I might be trapped inside this strange place. There was no escaping, at least not by conventional means.

If this is a library, surely there will be a door, something that leads outside. I must find it. I turned my back to go back to the starting point, thinking of going in the opposite direction to where the ghostly lights were guiding me, but… the passage I came from, was blocked by another shelf.

And it feels like it's closing up on me.

"Fuck… don't do this. I don't want to have a panic attack every time I enter a library."

This is traumatic. How do Seekers cope with these experiences?

I have no choice but to move forward. I love books, but I don't want to be crushed by them to death. I walked and walked, the passageway opened by bookshelves and illuminated by the ghostly lights turned out to be much longer than I expected.

Finally. I reached a round space, with nothing inside except a casket. There were no books, no shelves, no ghostly lights. Just four torches lit with fire attached to the wall, surrounding the casket.

I rubbed my arm. The room was cold. There were no windows, no doors except the one I came from. The ceiling was as high. It was as if I entered a tower where no levels were inside, just a ridiculous open from the ground to the top tower.

I couldn't even see the roof.

Inhaling courage and exhaling my fear, I bravely approached the casket. Don't tell me it was the last resting place of a vampire. Or a mummy. Or… whatever. I'd better look to find out.

I peeked. But what the hell? I almost jumped from seeing my own reflection. There's fucking mirror inside. Just a mirror as large as the casket. Nothing else.

What kind of joke… I mean, vortex is this? Is this an escape room? Do I have to find clues to find the exit?

I was expecting a prison of winged creatures or a land of killer tornados since the vortex type is Zephyrix. Did I… get thrust into another world?

The answers must be in the books. Maybe, just maybe, if I unraveled its secrets, it would one day show me the way back home. But I hope there's a pantry here somewhere.

I left the room and began searching for another door.

---

Terrius Herdt frowned as soon as he felt the humid air of the country. As someone who awakened with an ice element ability, standing directly under the sun was too hot for him already. He felt like melting, so he abandoned his descending team and quickly walked inside the airport building.

Not only did he feel the urge to freeze the moisture in the air to cool his surroundings, but he felt like summoning the snow in the summer if only he could. His head was throbbing as well, and he really wanted to lay in a freezer.

"Terrius."

Terrius blinked. He found himself inside the frozen indoor fountain, lying under the frozen splashes of water like an ice elf in centuries of slumber. Terror flashed in his eyes. He quickly stood and grabbed his head.

What did he do? What else did he do besides freeze the fountain?

Claude sighed. He briefly glanced at a Minder who came with their mission, who already looked gaunt and exhausted. "He's about to explode. Hang in there before someone from the NMA sends another."

The Minder looked frightened. If he agrees, he'll risk his own health. But if he refuses, he might be killed. By the terror captain or by the mutated vice-captain. After receiving another glance from those obsidian eyes, the Minder scampered away and took Terrius on his shoulder.

The people inside that part of the airport were all stunned. They all ran away when the fountain froze. Allen scratched his head staring at the masterpiece. They don't have anyone who can thaw the ice, so they just left it like that.

It might soon return to normal since the weather is so hot.

Just in time before the Minder fainted from sucking dark energy from Terrius, the vehicle to pick them up arrived. Inside was another Minder, who quickly did his job. Before long, the dark patches that appeared on Terrius's fingers had disappeared.

On the other hand, the Minder who helped him began sweating, turning red, and panting heavily. Claude looked away, and so did his whole team of five.

Allen cleared his throat and asked the Minder, "Can you hold it until we reach the NMA?"

The Minder shook his head. Allen glanced at Terrius who pretended unconscious. He threw a bottle of water at his face, which he immediately caught with closed eyes. Terrius gave it to the Minder and the latter quickly drank all of it.

Allen, the most kind and friendly on the team, asked again, "Do you feel like peeing now? We can stop the van if—

"Not enough." The Minder still looked pained.

Allen whispered, "What to do, there's no more water." But everyone heard him.

Claude finally moved. From the rearview mirror, he gave Terrius an intense glare. Terrius began sweating coldly. He gulped and slowly opened his eyes. Next to him was the Minder who was having a hard time due to the side effects of Counseling.

Terrius sighed. "Need help?"

His sharp tone made the Minder tremble. He shook his head repeatedly.

Noir, another member of Alpha Team – 03, chuckled. He was sitting behind Terrius. He kicked the seat and said, "You sounded like you're going to bleed him out to help him. Of course, he'd refused!"

Terrius ignored Noir. "Let's just buy him a gallon of water."

Noir replied, "Unfortunately, I don't see any convenience store within a 5000-meter radius. That's half an hour if we drive 100 km/h."

"Drive faster," Terrius ordered the driver, an employee from the NMA.

The employee gulped and looked nervously at Allen as if asking for help. Allen then commented, "That's overspeeding. Just helped him release it. Do you want our team to be banned from NMA if you let him absorb your contaminated energy rather than helping him jerk off?"

Terrius groaned. He looked at the Minder with a complicated expression. Noir laughed behind him. "Now you're looking at him like you're about to snap his dick!"

The Minder shuddered. He shouted, "I'll do it alone!" he hugged his knees and squeezed himself to the corner, away from Terrius. That's the downside of being a Minder. They sucked the dark energy accumulated inside a Seeker's body—a process called Counseling, then they had to release them before they got absorbed in their own bodies.

To release the contaminated energy, the Minder had to release it through body fluids—peeing, shitting, crying, sweating, bleeding, or anything else that allows them to flow it out of their system. The higher the contaminated energy is, the more intense the process shall be.

Terrius Herdt is a Seeker in the top rank, so usually, the Minders who counsel him resort to the extreme.

Terrius looked away. They're all men inside, but hearing and seeing someone masturbate still makes him uncomfortable. Noir teased the Minder and attempted to peek, but Claude shot him a murderous glare.

He leaned back on his seat with a pout. But then something came up in his head, and he leaned forward again, peeking in at the captain through the mirror this time. "Captain! What happened to the Minder who helped you back then? I just remembered! He was an amazing one, isn't he? I really thought you were a goner, but he managed to counsel you. But I wonder how he dealt with the side effects. I don't think just doing all of the ways to release the contaminated energy can help him. Right, Allen?"

Allen just smiled. Noir kicked the seat again, so Terrius froze his feet on the vehicle's floor. "Argh. I'm just curious! Why are you acting all mysterious? Tsk."

They all went silent when they heard the Minder moan loudly.

"That was fast."

Allen shot Noir a warning look. The atmosphere became weird and awkward, and as soon as they arrived at the Minder's Association, Terrius's Minder dashed away and disappeared. The team then entered the building and was guided to their counseling rooms.

Terrius just waited, since he was already done, but as he did, he recognized another team from the NSA's 1st Division entered to get their counseling sessions.

The leader of the Kilo Team – 01 spotted Terrius and he stopped to greet a higher rank.

Terrius nodded at them. But he was also curious. His team did not receive a Class C vortex appearing, so why did the Kilo Team come in for counseling? Is it because they were abroad?

"Which vortex did you come from?" Terrius ended up asking.

The leader replied politely, "ZT Class C. The same location as the ZT Class A that appeared a month ago, sir. It reappeared, but we already closed it."

"What… did you just say?" A dangerous and suffocating aura enveloped them. The Kilo Team leader gasped, and Terrius broke into cold sweats. They all looked back and found Claude approaching them with a darkened face.