Library of Rain

Novice Wizard

Rain loved Ise, but sometimes it was easier not to try and understand what her little sister was thinking; like right now as Ise wrapped herself firmly around Rain’s left arm and glared at all the uffters skipping through the portal into Rain’s library. 

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Rain asked.

Ise only squeezed Rain’s arm tighter in response. Unsure what else to do, Rain patted her on the head. That definitely softened Ise’s pout. And together they entered the library.

Rain turned to look at Runt, who stood mesmerized by the images that faded in and out of the dark wall of the entry room. “Runt, do you want to work for me? I promise I won't force you to wear girl clothes.”

That caught Runt’s attention, a big smile taking over his face before slowly fading. “I can’t. Lady Wervle, Peder, Frans, Diana, they’ve all been so good to me, I can’t turn my back on them even if Lady Wervle does make me dress like this.”

Rain nodded in approval. Not turning your back on your family was a good thing in her opinion. But that didn’t solve the problem of needing a way to stop him from being able to spill all the secrets he’d learned. To make matters worse, Rain owed him for helping the uffters reach her as well as saving her when she was trapped by the water. Just offering to let him read a book didn’t feel like enough.

“Then how about I help you gain a class as a thank you for all you’ve done for me? And if you promise not to share any of my secrets or do anything to oppose me, I’ll use one of my skills to help you find the best fit and I’ll also owe you a favor sometime.”

The word favor left a bitter taste in her mouth after how often the Estoms used it, but Rain needed him to accept. 

Runt looked at Swift-tail for a moment, interrupting the little guy as he pranced around, apparently giving orders to all the smaller uffters. Rain tried not to think about how much she needed Runt to accept this deal in case Swift-tail read her mind, but controlling her thoughts was more challenging than she expected. After a moment, Runt looked back at her before nodding his acceptance. 

Rain sighed in relief - that is, until she saw Ise’s disgruntled look. Grimacing at her own mistake, Rain pulled Ise into a hug, hoping that getting her hair stroked would be enough to make Ise forgive Rain for giving Runt a book while denying her one. While the tactic wasn’t perfect, it certainly helped appease Ise.

Rain used this opportunity to explain the dangers to Runt, making sure that Ise could hear her so she would understand why Rain couldn’t risk her reading one of these books. 

“What kind of power are you looking for?” Rain asked.

Runt frowned for a moment. “I need something that will help me do whatever Mistress Wervle asks me to do, but that is also strong enough to let me protect myself and those around me.”

Rain nodded before using one of the two remaining charges of her limited skill to summon Ms. White.

Rain had decided to use the remaining charges of the limited skill to free up some space on her soul. Hopefully, that would help it heal and free Rain from the searing pain that made it almost impossible to sleep at night. 

She was doing a pretty good job of pretending the pain wasn’t there so she didn’t worry her family, but still, she couldn’t stop herself from wistfully longing for the time she spent sleeping on the grimy stone floor of her slave pen - back when pain and nightmares didn’t keep her up all night. Still, once Ms. White was here, the pain would go away for a little. That made Rain smile. 

As the skill finished and Ms. White formed herself out of Rain’s shadow, the whole room fell silent as the squeaking uffters froze in place, and even Ise pulled her face out of Rain's chest to see what was happening. 

“Are you ready to fulfill your promise?” Ms. White asked, looking at Runt with hunger in her eyes. 

“Not yet. I need to find a book that will give Runt here a powerful and flexible class.”

Ms. White didn’t look pleased at the request, her usually wide smile fading into a small dot. 

“Very well.”

Ms. White turned and floated deeper into the mist room. Rain sighed in relief at that. She didn’t want to leave Ise and the others unsupervised while she looked through the shaft. Though, now that she thought about it, none of the books from the shaft had given skills. Was that only a feature of the mist room?

The whole odd group followed Ms. White except for Moon, who seemed to be reminiscing in the entry room. Rain decided to leave her alone; for some reason she trusted Moon not to hurt herself.  

The journey through the eclectic shelves was short, and before long, the group stood before one of the pedestals in the back of the room, two pedestals down from the Tome of Chromatic Truths. The book Ms. White pointed to with an expression that Rain could only describe as a smirk was covered in jewels and complex runes. On its center was a heart with nine circles around it. Rain couldn’t see any title.

“Thank you, Ms. White.”

“You know how to thank me.” Ms. White said before fading back into Rain's shadow and Rising Rain’s corruption by another point.

Rain turned to Runt before conjuring her contract. “This is your last chance to turn back.”

He looked conflicted for a moment before nodding, and the two of them wrote out the terms of the deal before sealing it with a kiss at the bottom.

Sunrise was glaring at Runt now. Rain wasn’t looking forward to appeasing the angry girl.

“All right, Runt, remember, only read the first page.”

Runt nodded woodenly before opening the book on the altar like it was covered in poisonous insects. 

Rain watched as he started to read, and his posture changed from wary to completely invested. It took him much longer to read those first pages than Rain would have guessed. She tried to see if there was any strange shimmer around him, but since they were in the library, Rain couldn't see any shimmer at all. She should have done this outside. 

After another long moment, Runt looked up from the book with a hungry look in his eyes. Before Rain could ask him how things went, Mr. Purple squirmed into existence with a message for her. 

[Reader Runt has attained the passive skill: First Circle.]

[Creating class around First Circle for reader Runt.]

[Notice: Reader Runt’s mental corruption has risen 16%. Current mental corruption 16%.]

[Notice: Reader Runt’s physical corruption has risen 8%. Current physical corruption 8%.]

Rain felt her own mental corruption drop a bit, relieving pressure on her mind that she hadn’t realized was there. 

“Well, what class did you get?”

“My class is Novice Wizard,” Runt answered, his eyes drifting back and forth in a motion Rain recognized as reading an invisible message.

A novice wizard, Rain hoped it was a good class. It would be horrible if she made him take that deal only for her repayment for all his help to be a bad class and some corruption.

“Rain, can I take this book with me? I think I’ll need it to use most of my skills.”

Rain refocused on Runt. “You can't read much more from it, or your corruption will rise too high.”

“I think if I read it slowly and carefully, I can get what I need without the drawbacks.”

Again, there was a hungry look in his eyes. Rain hesitated for a moment before relenting and motioning for him to take the book. Rain liked the boy, but he wasn’t Sunrise or Lucus. If he wanted to take risks for power, she wouldn’t stop him. After all, if he did get stronger, she would have a stronger tool to achieve her goals.

Runt tried to take the book only to realize it was chained to the pedestal. He tugged on it for a moment, but the chain was too strong. Rain walked next to him and examined the chain for herself. For some reason, she got the feeling she could break the chain if she wanted.

Grabbing the chain Rain twisted it, and one of the delicate links snapped, freeing the book from its place. The moment it did, a gentle wave of white light rippled out from the point in the link, flowing out and away.

Hopefully, that wasn’t anything important. With nothing to do about it now, Rain shrugged and handed the book to Runt.

“I’ll lend you this book so long as no one but you reads from it.”

Feeling her ‘Lend’ skill activate, Rain released her grasp on the book. 

“There, my favor to you is fulfilled.” and it was, Rain could feel the contract hanging over her heart lift as she had already completed her part of the deal. Now that that was all taken care of, all that was left for the night was the uffters.

Rain turned to find Moon right behind her, like a scared child hiding behind a parent. Unable to stop herself, Rain scooped up her new friend.

“Alright, I need to find a place for you and your family.”

“Goddess, I know we failed to gather all the information in the city for you, but I still want to serve you.”

The thought of these little ones risking their lives for Rain was just wrong. Rain should be protecting them, not the other way around. But still, mind-reading allies the size of a fist could be so useful. 

“Goddess, don’t worry about us; we would be happy to die for you!” 

Moon's words were met with yips and squeaks from all her children. Apparently, unlike Swift-tail, who could only speak with one person at a time, everyone could hear Moon.

Rain smiled at her little warriors. “I’ll find you a safe place soon, but for now, I’ll keep you in the room I use to teleport in the Mid Ring. I can take you all to Estom Island later. To be truthful, I could use one of you to help me with something.”

The uffters all started squeaking in excitement and milling around. Rain noticed an exhausted-looking Swift-tail trying to keep them in order. 

“Goddess, I’ll do it!” Rain recognized Moon’s voice. 

Rain had expected Swift-tail to be the first to volunteer, but she was wrong. 

“Alright. Let's get everyone to a safe place for tonight.”

Rain put Moon down and headed for the door but was stopped by a hesitant squeak from Swift-tail.

“Goddess. I want to stay with Runt. He needs me to protect him.”

Rain looked over at the little guy and saw him looking at his siblings with big, sad, blue eyes. Apparently, Rain wasn’t the only one to hear because Moon went over to Swift-tail and gave him a gentle lick. 

Rain watched the mother and son say goodbye, a clawing sensation wrapping around her heart. Swift-tail was lucky to have a mother who loved him. 

She left the two there to say their goodbyes and returned to Tineak. It was time to get everyone home; tomorrow, it would be time to finally get some answers.

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