Two disheartening gong sounds came from my status, showing I was losing knowledge.

"So- I am glad to see you are still able to read," the tome said. "Now onto the job at hand. You will assist me in repairing all of the damage that has been done and in booting out the squatters."

I gazed at the tome then around. "Aren't you all-powerful? Why would you need my help?"

"What? I don't need your help! This is your punishment for the first time you were here and tarnished my tables with your doodles!"

It took me a few moments to figure out what he was talking about, but then I remembered how I had drawn on the tables when I'd been here during my first extended stay. My first reaction was to tell him he could do it himself, but I managed to stop it. If this thing had absolute power, that could prove a big mistake. If that was. It could be this thing was just playing with me.

"How do you propose we kick out those other Primes," I asked after weighing my words.

"I don't care how you do it. That's your problem," the anoyed voice snapped.

Right, I thought. I was getting a strong feeling the text I had just read might not actually be the truth. Then again, without knowing for sure… Pondering for a bit, I shrugged.

"So. How am I supposed to call you? Librarian's tome is a bit of a mouth full."

"I couldn't care what you call me," the tome said, but then it snorted. "Well, I could, I guess. Fine. Call me Fnip."

This thing must be joking, I thought. The longer I talked with it, the less likely it seemed that what it had shown me was the truth.

"Oh, and Est. Don't do anything stupid," the book hissed.

The hair on the back of my neck rose as I stared wide-eyed at the star-filled book. "How do you know my name?" I asked lamely.

"I know everything," Fnip stated matter of factly. "Now to the matter at hand. I have locked the doors, for now, so nothing will come back in. Your first task is to kick out the four remaining things or kill them. I don't care either way."

Four? That hopefully meant Bastian was still alive. Either that, or there was something else in here with us.

"You wouldn't know how to kill a giant Sarcouzia, would you?" I asked.

"Of course I do," Fnip said, sounding annoyed. "I know everything! Are you dense?"

Well, if you know everything, you would know that. Wouldn't you? I thought.

"Care to share?" I asked, trying to keep my annoyance from my voice.

"Bah. Can't even do this? How far have Primes fallen in this era," Fnip said.

The leather tome shook in my hand, and the pages flipped forward. To my surprise, all the pages beyond the first were plain white with infinitely small scripts on them. A few pages further the book stopped, and I stared at the page. Again, everything was far too small to make out, and the only reason I thought it was text to begin with was that it was a book.

"I can't read this," I said after a moment.

A weary sigh came from the tome. "Put your finger below what you want to read," Fnip said, sounding as if he was tutoring a small child. As it did, something about the way it spoke sounded familiar. I'd met someone before who spoke like this! I tried to remember, but when Fnip rasped a throat he didn't have, I quickly placed my finger on a random spot on the page.

The area directly above my finger magnified, blowing up so far that I could easily read it.

"That's English," I blurted out.

"No. It's not."

I blinked, about to tell the book it was, when I realized English didn't have any letters that looked like heads with triangles for eyes. It also didn't have squiggly lines that moved as you read them. With a sigh, I focused my attention on what was above my finger. I was about to read it when I instinctively closed my eyes.

"Reading doesn't work so well with closed eyes," Fnip said, sounding confused.

I looked up and opened my eyes again. "I know, but I can't read too many new things," I said.

"Oh. Right," the tome said, making me doubt it knew what I meant. I wondered why it kept going from all-knowing to odd at the drop of a hat.

It took me a bit of asking, but it eventually told me where I needed to put my finger to read the bit about Sarcouzia. I skimmed over it, trying hard to read as little as possible and just search for the bit I needed to kill it. A few gongs showed I wasn't as successful as I wanted. I wondered if I would even notice if I forgot something. When I found the word giant, I stopped skimming and decided to gamble on it and read the bit. Three lines and a gong later, I cursed.

"What?" Fnip said.

"They don't stay this big, but revert back in a few hours…" I said, wanting to slap myself for not just asking this of the tome. It might not have answered, but I sure as hell hadn't tried.

"Yes, and they can't turn big again for a few days," Fnip added, sounding sage.

Resisting the temptation to slam him shut, I gently closed the tome and looked around.

"So. As you are all-powerful and all that, you can probably tell me the quickest way to them?"

Fnip was quiet for a while before answering in a dangerously soft voice.

"Don't try to make me do your work, mortal. Just retrace your steps and be glad I helped you at all."

My heartbeat rose at the dangerous vibe from the book, but I knew one thing for sure. Either there were two entities in that book, or Fnip had a dual personality. The change just now was far from normal. Deciding not to risk antagonizing evil Fnip, I held the book below my arm.

"Right you are," I said before summoning my map and heading back along the path I came.

I was quiet for a while, wondering how I could get more information from the tome without getting myself killed or worse when we moved through one of the paths with the huge colored tomes. These were pink.

"Why didn't that shadow let me read these?" I asked, pointing at the pink books.

"Because they will devour you if you touch them," Fnip replied in his more gentle, grumpy voice.

Deciding to get a bit more information from him if I could, I asked some random questions that popped up in my head. The first was fine, but when I asked why the bookshelves weren't made of wood, Fnip suddenly snapped again.

"Stop bothering me with these useless questions, or I'll remove your mouth," the tome hissed, the evil vibe returning as suddenly as before.

"Yes, Fnip," I said, trying to sound like I meant it.

There was no reaction, but the sense of danger increased a bit before it finally subsided.

A few hours later, I had figured out part of what was going on. As soon as I asked two questions in a row, the tome turned nasty. Me answering questions or just stating things were fine, but two outright questions resulted in the sensation as if a devil was about to devour me.

Luckily the sensation was all there was to it, and the tome didn't actually do anything. Yet.

When I closed in on where I had left Bastian, I still wasn't sure what to think of the tome. I decided to just leave the book here until I had found Bastian. To the side was a row of white, leathery books that seemed easy enough to find again, and I placed the tome on top.

"What's the meaning of this?" Fnip demanded, much too loud for my liking.

"It's probably going to get dangerous soon," I said, moving forward without looking back. "It's too dangerous to take you with me. You might get damaged in the upcoming fight."

A soft hiss of anger came from behind me as I quickly turned the corner. My vision blurred, and when it cleared, I was facing the corridor I had just exited, the book in full view.

"Pick. Me. Up."

My hackles rose, and I slowly moved to the book, carefully picking it up.

"Until I tell you not to, you are going to bring me along," Fnip said in the same dangerous tone.

I didn't dare object and just held the tome in my hand as I silently moved towards the hallway I'd just tried to move to. For the remainder of the trip, Fnip was silent, and I didn't feel like talking either.

A muted scream was the first thing that showed I was almost there. It came from a bit further to the left, in a region I hadn't traveled yet. Sneaking forward, I hoped Fnip would keep quiet. I held him in my lower left hand, not feeling comfortable putting him in a pocket. With my battered backpack on my back and my ax in the other hand, I crouched to the next corner.

"You will tell me what I want to know!"

The soft gurgling voice was accompanied by the sound of something slicing through something or someone.

A muted grunt was the only answer, and I took a quick look around the corner.

A small, humpbacked woman stood in the next hallway. Two bleeding and naked shapes hung from mottled green vines across the bookshelf in front of her. I couldn't see the furthest one, but the nearest one was Bastian, and long deep wounds covered his torso and neck. The ones across his lower body were puffy and red, and I saw small things wriggle around in them.

My eyes widened, but I was already drawing back into the other hallway. As I gazed at the floor, I took a soft breath. Anger bubbled up from deep within, anger at how she was hurting Bastian, but also at myself for having taken so long before heading back.

Dammit, he seemed so sure of himself, I thought. If I'd known he wasn't able to handle himself, I wouldn't have gone and run around this long. For a moment, I thought about withdrawing and preparing, then I decided against it. I hadn't seen the Sarcouzia yet, which made this a good opportunity. The fact that the Prime had gotten the jump on Bastian had me slightly worried, but not enough to wait.

I kept my ears perked, listening for any indication that the Prime had heard me, and carefully put my bag on the ground. I managed it without making any noise and took hold of the two insects I had attached to my leg armor. One in each hand, Fnip in a third, and my ax in the last I drew in two vengeful spirits. Two excruciating minutes of listening to the hag slice into flesh later, both insects wiggled.

For a moment, I waited, thinking about what I was about to do and if it wasn't better to wait. Another soft groan from Bastian made me shelve the idea and step around the corner. Without waiting, I threw both insects at the hag while rushing forward. Something flashed from the top of the shelf, intercepting one of the two insects, then a brown lizard landed on the ground with an insect between its jaws. A surprised cry came from the hag, and I saw her slap at her neck before beginning to scratch.

"Eat her brain!" I shouted, but I was almost drowned out Bastian's roar.

"Est, behind you! Invisible de-"

A fit of coughing stopped his words, but I had heard enough. I turned around, slicing my ax from low up high in a diagonal path. Halfway I felt resistance, and a splurt of red blood flashed out of nowhere. A second later, a black leather garbed figure with white flaxen hair fell on her knees. The woman had a surprised look in her muddled blue eyes and a deep gash across her chest, shoulder, and throat. She croaked twice before flopping over.

"Behind you, you fool!" a soft, strained voice groaned.

I spun around, slashing again. A dark blur hit my ax, then the lizard slithered across the blade, heading towards the handle. In a reflex, I dropped the ax, and stepped sideways. The lizard leaped through the air I'd been in, and I ducked, grabbing my ax just before it hit the ground. I didn't have time to be impressed by my feat as the lizard struck the bookcase and rebounded back. Now I had enough time, and I smacked him with the flat of the blade like a baseball. Bones cracked loudly, and the lizard skidded across the floor.

Loud howling came from behind me, and I took a quick look to see the hag with the fingers of both hands halfway up her own leather neck, writhing and digging to get to the insect. Her eyes were bulging out. As one of her hands slid fully inside, I saw hope surge in her eyes.

Not happening, I thought.

I took two steps forward and decapitated her. As her head bounced on the floor twice, the sound of gas escaping came from the leather garbed assassin's corpse. Her body evaporated as I watched, turning into swirling columns of fog that rose up in the air.

"Not bad," Fnip said.

The tome's voice startled me, but I ignored it and looked around. The lizard was lying unmoving on the ground, but I wasn't assured. I moved towards it and, without giving it a chance, sliced it in two. Only then did I take a deep breath and looked at the two figures hanging from the bookshelf.

"What took you so long," Bastian said, his voice strained. He coughed again, and a bubble of blood came from between his lips. Beside him hung Richal, his body covered in wounds, old and newer. He was thinner than I remembered, and heavy bags sat below his murky eyes that stared daggers at me.

A minute later, Bastian sat on the ground, carefully touching the wounds on his chest. He hadn't taken a single look at Richal yet, nor had the fire-haired Prime said anything.

"So. One more thing to slay. Unless you plan on killing these two?" Fnip said.

"I'm not killing Bastian," I hissed.

The stonites head snapped up, and he looked at me in shock. "I'd hope not! What is wrong with you?" he said, trying to climb up.

"You didn't hear that?" I retorted.

"Of course he didn't hear that! Did you forget what you read already?" Fnip said, sounding annoyed. "Only you can interact with me because you are holding me!"

Seeing Bastian's worried glances as he struggled to get up, I decided against trying to explain. Instead, I tossed Fnip to Bastian. "Catch," I said.

The Stonite automatically caught it but seemed ready to drop it when his eyes widened. They turned to the book, and after a second, he swallowed. Then, with great effort, he rose to his feet and handed me the book.

"He says to give him back to you and tell you that if you throw him again, he will turn you into one of the tables here for the rest of eternity…"

I took the book and nodded. "Sorry about that," I said to Fnip.

A dangerous vibe hung around the book, but it didn't say anything, and after a second, I swallowed and turned to Bastian.

"It seemed like the easiest way to explain."

The big stonine took one look at me, then sighed. "Yeah. It told me I had to leave here as soon as I felt better. He said you could help me with that, and… kill two birds with one stone?" Bastian tripped over the saying, but I turned to the book with wide eyes.

"Don't look that surprised. All mortal knowledge, remember?"

I shivered, suddenly feeling very unsure about my future. Then I turned to Richal.

"What do you want to do with him?" I asked.

"Kill him," Bastian said, his voice emotionless.

I nodded. I thought I knew what Fnip was getting at, but as far as I knew, it wouldn't work.

"It's only on vegetation," I whispered to the book.

"Yes, well, if you take a good look at his wounds, you will see there is almost more vegetation in him than flesh," Fnip said, sounding smug.

Following his advice, I noticed small movements inside the wounds. As I bent a bit closer, I realized there were fungi and small brown and green vines writhing around inside the flesh of Richal. How the man wasn't howling like crazy was beyond me.

"Can you keep a secret?" I said as I turned to Bastian.

The big stonite was quiet for a while before answering. "Only if it doesn't harm the Stone," he finally said.

"It won't."

Bastian finally nodded, and I guessed that would have to do. I moved towards Richal, beckoning Bastian. The stonite took a repulsive look at Richal but moved closer, and when he was beside me, I placed a hand on both of them. My other two hands began moving through the motions of Share lifeforce. A few seconds later, Richal began groaning and resisting as a stream of energy and warmth poured from him, through me and into Bastian.

"What…" Bastian looked at me, ready to speak, when he turned to Richal.

"He is dying?" he said with a grunt.

I nodded, wondering if Bastian would force me to stop so he could kill Richal himself. Bastian didn't. He just moved closer and gazed straight into Richal's eyes.

"Die, murderous fire monster," he hissed as he held Richal's gaze. He continued until Richal's eyes fell shut, and he slumped in his bindings. I continued until there was no more lifeforce coming from him. By this time, Bastian was standing straight, his wounds gone and his eyes blazing.

"I'll keep your secret," he said, without looking up. "But the Stone will find out, and he might tell other Primes."

I'd known that might happen, but I still sighed sadly. I had no idea of the exact consequences of me having this skill, but I could only hope the Stone would take kindly to me for saving his Prime.

Bastian turned around and walked towards the end of the corridor, stepping over the lizard's two body halves before turning to look at me.

"That book told me to leave, and I don't think it was playing around. I'll head back and tell Haltir what happened. You take care of yourself, alright?" as he spoke, Bastian's eyes darted to the tome and back quickly, but I’d seen the momentary fear in the others eyes.

"I'll try to stay alive," I said.

Bastian nodded, then turned and disappeared around the corner.