The crimson moon bled across the night, staining the ruined world in its silent glow. Yet none of it could reach the deep, devouring silence inside Lucian. It was too deep. Too hungry.
He straddled the man and drove his fists down, again and again. His knuckles split; the man's face broke. His dark eyes seemed to take on a dark, empty, and faintly tinted blue hue, as if searching for something unknown even to him.
Maybe it was peace he was reaching for… Or perhaps relief? Or just the numb quiet that came after violence?
Or perhaps it was a deeper silence, one capable of devouring the first eerie, soulless silence.
Whatever it was, he hoped to find it at that moment. The answer he had been seeking for three long years. Maybe it hid in those fearful, agonized eyes. But in the end, he failed.
'What's wrong with me? Why do I feel so anxious all the time? What is the problem?'
He had searched for the cause before. He first believed it was something in his life, the same things everyone else complained about. But he failed to realize what it was. His life was perfect. He had a job, a home, even a friend, although lazy but still a friend. None of that was the problem.
For years now, something had felt wrong. The world felt wrong. The people felt wrong. His life felt wrong. A lie. A terrible one.
And that feeling had taken shape as rage. A rage whose true target he did not know.
'Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.'
The more he punched, the more the anger grew instead of fading.
Then, suddenly, an unholy stench forced that silence out of him. His senses snapped back to reality. The man beneath him lay on the verge of death, his nose shattered, teeth broken, blood flowing like a waterfall.
He realized the other two thugs had already fled. As for the last one…
'What is that awful smell?'
A harsh, burning stench filled the air. Something like melting rubber, or burning hair. It was familiar, yet he couldn't place it. He turned toward the direction it came from.
What he saw froze him.
On the ground lay a charred corpse. Its skin had turned black and shriveled. Half its flesh was burned away, smoke rising from the exposed tissue. The bones had darkened but not crumbled into dust. The blood had boiled dry.
Lucian's hair stood on end.
Beside the unholy corpse stood a creature that had long lost its humanity. From a distance, it looked almost human, a man burning alive. But up close, its skin was gone, replaced by rotting flesh burning endlessly. Its face was scorched beyond recognition, its blackened skull visible, and its eye sockets empty.
In pure horror, Lucian staggered back. He grabbed a nearby rock and hurled it at the thing. It did nothing. Only left a faint dent, like striking a fire pit.
The half-dead man on the ground used the moment to crawl up and run for his life. Unfortunately, that movement made the creature leap toward the nearest target. Lucian.
He rolled across the ground, barely escaping as the creature's heat scorched the air. Even being near it dried his skin. He scrambled up and ran at full speed.
"So… this is an Unread. Damn monster."
He glanced back, praying it would go after the weaker man. But no, the creature was chasing him. Despite looking like a man dragged back to life from a cremation pit, its speed matched his own.
"Damn it."
Lucian ran with everything he had, trying to recall the public safety instructions printed in the emergency manuals the government distributed for Unread encounters. But in this situation, they were meaningless.
Especially when only a Librarian could stop such a creature.
Right now, he was utterly powerless.
*****
As he ran as fast as he could, he finally understood, there was no way out.
He pushed forward with every last ounce of strength, but his legs were giving out, his speed faltering, his resolve crumbling.
The Unread closed in behind him, its burning presence licking at his back. Just as it was about to turn him to cinder, a sudden boom slammed into the air and knocked him sprawling to the ground. For a moment, he truly thought a hill had collapsed.
Coughing in the dust, he looked back.
Three figures stood between him and the monster, the same three he had met before.
"Finally found you," the younger-looking of the two adults said with a short laugh.
The other turned toward Lucian. "Stay back," he ordered.
He looked to be in his late twenties, though the tension carved into his face made him seem older.
And then there was the boy his age. He wore a proud, brave demeanor, but Lucian could see the fear trembling beneath it.
The older man slipped a hand beneath his long coat and drew out a gun.
'A gun? They have guns?'
Fear prickled across Lucian's spine as the man took aim and fired three shots in quick succession.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bullets struck the Unread, leaving only bright red scars across its burning flesh, only a bit deeper than the marks Lucian's thrown rock had made, completely ineffective.
"Bullets don't work on it," he muttered, clicking his tongue as he adjusted his hat.
"You stay back, Silas," the other adult warned.
"Be careful, Jasper," Silas replied.
Jasper raised his left palm. In an instant, a book bound in glowing, ethereal leather manifested like a spirit.
The sight of it sent a sharp headache crashing through Lucian's skull.
"Agh…!"
He clutched his head as words rushed into his mind like a whispering wind.
One Ghost. Seven Shadows. Fire. Codex.
One Ghost. Seven Shadows. Fire. Codex.
One Ghost. Seven Shadows. Fire. Codex.
He ground his teeth and pressed his fingers into his skull, trying to silence the echo. He barely managed it before a hand shoved him backward.
"Stay back, or die."
It was the boy his age, urging him to hide.
"Get ready, newbie," Jasper called to the boy behind him. He spread his hands apart, and the codex's forgotten pages fluttered open. Bringing his palms closer, one above the other, a sphere of water formed between them.
In the next instant, he launched it at the approaching Unread.
Silas fired more shots, but the water struck the creature's burning body and burst into steam, obscuring the air and rendering the bullets useless again.
"Idiot, you're giving it the advantage," Silas growled.
The two continued their assault in sync, refusing to give the Unread any room to move.
Behind them, the boy also manifested a codex, opened its pages, and began to chant.
'He also has a Codex. They are Librarians.'
In its moment of weakness, the creature sought the easiest target, and lunged straight at Lucian.
"Damn it, stop it!"
Silas fired again, but the Unread had already closed the distance.
Lucian shut his eyes as he felt its heat bearing down on him.
And then, the boy leaped in front of him.
As he came too close, the codex hovering over the boy's palm brushed against Lucian's hand.
That was the last thing he remembered before darkness swallowed him whole.
*****
Lucian found himself in a dark world, one where bookshelves, filled to the very last spot, rose all the way into the sky.
He knew it was a dream, yet he was unable to wake up.
A creature had been guiding him through this dark land. It had told him many things over the long years of their wandering. But Lucian couldn't remember any of them now.
The creature, a ghost, a spirit, or perhaps a god, wore a long white robe of intricate craft. It was taller than any human could possibly grow, and thinner than any noble lady could ever imagine. Upon its narrow, pointed head rested a pair of beautiful golden antlers, branching like the limbs of an ancient tree.
Lucian tried to speak, but no words came out. Yet the creature, as if aware of his question, answered in an ethereal tone,
"I am the librarian of this library."
Such simple words, yet the word "Library" alone sent shivers down his spine.
Lucian looked at the books on those endless shelves. They seemed to be made of human flesh.
The librarian ran 'His' long black fingers across them. "You Lysanders are always a hassle when it comes to finding your Codex."
Then 'He' chuckled as 'He' found what 'He' was seeking.
"Ah, here it is. Would you look at that, we found it in just seven hundred and thirty-two years."
'He' drew out the Codex, though Lucian couldn't see it, and smiled from beneath His veil.
"In return for this story, I shall take your—"
*****
Lucian woke up in a strange bed. His head was still killing him, and he couldn't recognize his surroundings.
He tried to move, struggling a little, until the door opened and a woman in a white uniform stepped inside.
"Oh, you're awake now. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Wh-What happened? Where am I?" Lucian forced the words out.
"You're in a hospital. In Sapphire Town. Three strange people brought you here this afternoon. They said you passed out. You've been out for five hours."
She adjusted some equipment Lucian didn't recognize, then placed two capsules and a glass of water beside him.
"Take these. And don't worry about the bill. They already paid."
With that, she left.
"How generous," Lucian lampooned.
He tried moving again, but the pain made him stop immediately.
'Afternoon? But it was last night… Wait—what were they doing all that time?'
Strange thoughts circled in his mind as he checked his stomach for fresh cuts. There were none.
He took a deep breath and thought about the strange dream he'd had. Opening his left palm, he remembered how the Librarians were able to summon their Codex.
He had always been a fan of Librarians, beings with godlike power, fighting monsters. Sometimes he even dreamed of becoming one himself, though he often woke up because of his dog.
It was said that at the age of sixteen, a person might awaken. That was why he feared his birthday. Tomorrow, he would turn sixteen. The age of awakening.
"What if I awakened? Everything I know will change. Or maybe… maybe…"
He sighed.
"I hope nothing changes. Fighting thugs is easy. But an Unread… I almost died today."
As he stared at the center of his palm, a sudden dark light flickered. In an instant, a Codex manifested and smacked him across the face.
"What? What? What?"
Lucian jumped in fright, shaking his hand as if a snake were crawling across it.
"Why?! I'm not even sixteen yet!"
The Codex flipped rapidly through its pages, then vanished from his palm. Lucian tried to breathe, but panic was stronger.
"What's going on…? The boss—he must know something."
Lucian pushed through the hospital doors and stepped into a city washed in a thin, cold mist. People moved along the cobblestone streets in long coats and dark hats, their footsteps muffled by the fog. Nether pipes climbed the red-brick buildings, exhaling soft bluish smoke that curled into the air.
A clock tower rose from the nearby plaza, its metalwork glinting faintly. Farther out, two dark towers stood like silent sentinels, joined at their midsection by a narrow bridge.
Then Lucian looked up.
Above him hung a pale, silver moon.
Not the crimson moon he had lived under for the past three years.