Prologue
It's tucked away in the back of a library that he stumbles upon it. Shelves and rows of books looming over him, watching with whispers, the promise of secrets untold. And yet this book isn't on a shelf, and his foot catches on it, sending him sprawling between the shelves with a thud that's far too loud in the silence. He groans, pushing himself up with both arms, one mechanical the other flesh before he peers around trying to find what tripped him.
It's a book.
Like all the ones on the shelves around him, and yet.
The cover is plain, brown material somewhat leathery beneath his hands and the pages, bits of parchment uneven and some extending just a bit beyond the cover. There's small indentations on the cover, inlaid with faded crystals. Seven of them, and he can't help running the fingers of his mechanical left arm over them wonderingly. There's a buzz and a hum beneath his hand, a familiar crackle.
He snatches his fingers back from the book, amber eyes going wide as he takes a rapid step back, right arm moving to clutch at his left. He eyes the book warily, the feeling still around him, making his fingers twitch and he almost wants to reach out again.
There're whispers in the air, and a scratchy itchy feeling crawling up his back. Some other presence is right there and yet he can't quite place it. Can't get a grip on it, so he just shivers clutching his arms around himself, eyes darting around. There is just something off about this place, and nervously, he takes another step back. His gaze returns to the book for just a moment and the whispers increase, causing him to wince.
It's not anything close to normal. Yet it is something, natural.
Supernatural, and paranormal really. Honestly, something has just seemed off ever since they stepped into this library. And now, he is here staring at this strange book and hearing whispers. Voices. Why does this stuff always happen to him?
He forces himself to take a shaky breath, amber eyes keeping their focus on the book. His grip tightens on his wrist and he momentarily looks away.
Apparently a mistake.
The books around him seem to come alive, floating up off the shelves with their pages all rustling, and turning. Great. It's a haunted library then, just what they needed to find. At least his companion will be thrilled. Once she realizes. None of the books fly towards him but the whispers increase in volume and there's a strange wind that blows across him making him shiver, and fight the urge to clasp his vest closer to himself. As it is his right arm clutches tightly at the wrist of his mechanical left arm and he haunches over just a little bit. Wary of any of the books potentially flying at him.
None of that happens, but the whispering increases, and he notices a bright glow. Covering his forehead automatically to shield his eyes, he lets out a small gasp. The glow is coming from the book he tripped over. Red, orange, to yellow, green, blue, to indigo, and violet. One after the other in a rainbow glow. As the book floats in the air. Pages whipping themselves around. Flicking through at a speed he can't fully register until it slows, and floats open to a page.
There's an impulse to read the words written beneath the picture.
An impulse he can't fight.
And his mouth opens against his will, reading out the words as his arms reach up and his hands curl around the cover of the book.
"Rubei, aurei, flavi, viridis, cæruleus, indicus, & violaceus, unus post alterum in Koch, inter tam magna quam alter, quisque potest ad sanandum. Adhibeo iridis singulis coloribus seriatim." As the words fall he notices each gem light up. One by one, finally shining, with their own inner glow. "Sic ego nunc beatos vos, o Iridis! Monstra te coloribus ita ut possint cura! Ita ut non amplius tota simul." The winds and the whispers around him increase, whipping around him as if he were standing in the very eye of a hurricane. A hurricane of paper and pages, books that he can't read, but he's sure that his companions would have wanted to. "Rubei, aurei, flavi, viridis, cæruleus, indicus, & violaceus. Qui vocat te O admirabile Iridis!"
As the very last of the words fall free from his mouth everything just stops.
It just stops, and he's left standing there with a strange book in his hands. For a moment, there is only sheer relief as whatever the spirit had been trying to do, it had obviously failed. But the relief is only for a moment. The ground shakes, trembles and he actually yelps as he's thrown off his feet and back to the ground. There's a rumbling and books fall from the shelves around him, and he's almost sure he can hear someone talking. Asking why nothing happened.
Give it a week...
'Give what a week?' he has to wonder, before he's forced to move. Just move, as the ground shakes again and the image of the library around him crumbles, falling to pieces before his eyes. Obviously, the entire place was a construct of some kind, it's served its purpose now. Whatever that purpose will turn out to be. Hopefully nothing too bad.
Considering his luck though.
Yeah, he did not think that anything good would be happening in a week.
But right now that doesn't matter. He has to move, dodging falling books, and crumbling, rotting boards. Racing his way through the construct that's rapidly falling apart around him. Or rather, his mind corrects him as he spots a flash of blue, around them. He's not alone here after all. And now they're all in danger, because he stepped into the spirits trap, read the words on the page.
He grits his teeth together, shoving the book away, into his vest before taking a deep breath. He can worry about what that done later.
He needs to find his companions now. And get out of this building that's crumbling, falling apart around him.
He takes another breath, before moving. His mechanical arm coming in use to remove several of the obstructions in his way before he ducks beneath some falling beams and darts around others. There's a bit of smoke filling the air now, a familiar scent of paper burning. His eyes widen, and he jumps, just in time as fire flares where he'd stood a mere second ago. Flaring all around as well, fallen candles and the books lighting up like kindling. The wind picks up, howling once more, and he can hear the ominous creaking and cracking of wood around him. But there's something interesting.
The way it's crumbling and falling, burning around him.
It seems to be making a path. And while he really, really doesn't want to... he's kind of forced to follow it. Because it's clear from the destruction around him, and fairly straight forwards. Broken boards, chairs and piles of books blocking sections force him to turn when necessary and he soon finds himself back in the main room of the library.
Where his companions are. Both of them staring around as the construct shakes itself apart.
Crumbling without the spirit's energy to keep it together.
"Arthur!"
"Vivi! We need to go!" the women in blue doesn't argue with him. She just grabs him by the hand and drags him. Moving. Fleeing from the crumbling and collapsing building. Exiting just in time as the building seems to let out a sigh before collapsing with a puff of displaced dirt and the creaking of many pieces of wood. There's the distant crackling of fire and flames, but looking over the remains he can't see any flickering flames.
And even the sound of them dies out pretty quickly as what's left crumbles to dust within seconds as they watch.
"Arthur... Arthur what did you do?" Arthur's head snaps around at the somewhat unfamiliar voice, before he settles his gaze on their dog. Mystery. Who just tilts his head, before barking.
"Vivi..?" But she's already over by the van. Looking rather upset as well... probably because now she won't get to read any of the books that were in the library, discover... wait! "Hey Vivi! Not everything was lost..."
He can worry about magically talking dogs later. Mystery is a mystery after all. Though he does shudder feeling the canine's gaze on him.
Give it a week...