Chapter 2: The Grimoire

The Journey to the library was a short one, and I was soon standing outside the grand entrance of the great stone building. I glanced at my watch, it read 11:50.

Perfect, I said to myself, still angry at the missed opportunity, i'm just on time.

I shuffled into doorway that towered a good 20 feet above me, and walked over to the front desk.

I had been to the town's library ever since I was a little girl, and yet I couldn't help but be amazed by it every time I visited. The building must have been at least hundreds of yeas old, while the interior would have to be slightly younger. A labyrinth of book shelves, columns and staircases, the library was both vast and endless. I had never been unable to find a book that I needed here and had never had a problem finding it either. Everything was kept in perfect order, with the more uninteresting genres, such as the classics, located at the bottom floor, and the more exciting ones, such as fantasy, on the very top.

"Hello," I said, "i'm here to return a book."

The librarian on duty was an elderly lady long, snow white hair that cascaded down her back. She had an odd, almost distant, air about her that perturbed most people, however after numerous visits the library, I started to find her unusual disposition more fascinating than strange.

I handed the book to her, which she received with her thin, pale hands.

"Ah, Great Expectations," she responded as if she knew the book well, " I wouldn't have thought this to be your preferred type of book?"

The question was normal enough, but the wry smile that appeared upon her asking it was anything but,

"It's not, I had to read it for a book report at school,"

She nodded in an acknowledging manner and continued to speak, while scanning the book and placing it in the returns box.

"If you ask me, there are far more interesting things for a smart girl like you to be reading."

On any other day I would have been interested to hear her recommendations, but today was different, and I didn't have the time. I began to scratch my head in an impatient manner. The librarian noticed this and realised that I was in a rush.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you to long, but..." she paused, and glanced fleetingly around the room, "but if you were ever to want some more challenging reading, I happen to know of a particularly wondrous book to read," and to this she raised her eyebrows and stared at me, intently.

"Honestly miss, I would love to but there's somewhere I really need to be right now and I really don't have the time, maybe tomorrow?" It felt rude to so blatantly decline her offer, but I had no other choice.

"It will only take a moment to get it dear, and while I usually influence children against this sort of thing, I can assure you that it is worth missing whatever commitments you have already made"

I was starting to feel uncomfortable. Why is she so eager to get me to take out this book, what's so special about it anyway? I decided that repeatedly refusing the librarians offer would take up more time than than simply complying with her request.

"Well, if it will only take a few minutes," I answered, already regretting the decision I was about to make, " I suppose I could take a look at it."

"Excellent!" she screamed, her eyes ablaze with a excitement. She then leapt of her chair and glided several meters behind her to back of her desk. Once there, she opened one of the draws and extracted a key from it. Her breathing was fast and uneven, as if she was gasping for air.

She fluttered back towards me, barely able to contain her elation, said, "follow me."

After opening the side door to her work are, the librarian set of on a fast paced dash to the back of the first floor of the library. I was surprised that a woman of her age (which I assumed was greater than about 65) was able to maintain such a speed, and I liked to think that this amazement was the main reason that I was unable to keep up with her. After passing what must have been dozens of rows of books, we finally reached the back of the library. We approached a large intricately carved door, made of a dark, glistening rosewood.

The librarian advanced towards the centre of the door and place the key within the lock . A large clunk sounded and as the door knob was turned, the great wood doors swung open, revealing an extravagant downwards-leading staircase.

"Come along," the librarian exclaimed, the fire in her eyes still unextinguished. I followed somewhat cautiously behind her as we descended down towards the depths of the library.

We soon reached another doorway, this one was far smaller than the previous one, although what it lacked in size it made up for in decoration. The door was mad entirely of what appeared to be solid silver. The frame was made of intertwining rivers of flowing water and lengths of coiling vines. The doors themselves depicted a great tree, towering over the others, in a vast forest.

"What is this" I asked, childishly

"It's called adamantite," she replied, "but that's not important, its what's behind the door that is."

She pushed the doors forward forcefully, and entered the room, with me trailing behind her.

The room itself was the weirdest I had ever seen. To start with, it was circular, with white alabaster columns sporting a dome shaped roof. Also, there were five strange statues situated at different places along the side of the room. One of a boy holding an oversized great-sword skyward, to the left of that, a strange lizard stoop with open jaws, in the midst of a fearsome roar, to the left of that, a dog-like creature swamped in robes with long, spread out, ears held a staff aloft, and to the left of that, a small fury being with bat wings and a small ball supported by a wire from the top of its head.

The last statue was, to say the least, beautiful. It was of a young woman, no older than myself perhaps, holding two adamatite gilded knives in her long, slender hands. Her hair was thick and flowed heavily down to her ankles in undulating curls. From the top of her head protruded two rabbit ears about two feet in length. These ears were adorned with silver rings and loops at their tips. Her feet wore no shoes nor footwear of any kind, but they were structured in a way that meant the girl was constantly on her tip-toes. Unlike the other statues in the room, this one's clothing, (or rather armour) was not made of the same stone as the statue. Instead the rabbit-girl's attire was made of the same material as the doorway to the circular room, adamantite.

The librarian gave a sharp cough, breaking the trance I was in and returning my attention her.

"Sorry," I said, apologetically, "I got distracted."

"I dont blame you," she replied, "she's stunning." I nodded in agreement.

She strolled over to the centre of the room, which was raised on a circular dais of alabaster, and placed her hands on the lectern in its middle. From the lectern, she retrieved a large, brown, hardback folio. The front was covered in an intricate metal pattern which seemed to extend across the side of the cover in order to form a lock. The metal was silver in colour, much like all the other pieces of metal in the room.

She held the great tomb out towards me, "what is it?" I asked.

She flashed me a devious grin and said simply, "I think it would be best if you found that out for yourself."

I took it from her attempted to open it, without any success.

"How am I supposed to open it?" it felt like a silly question but my mind felt rather dazed at the moment and it was one that I needed to ask.

"You should probably wait for a time when you're not in such a hurry," I look up from the book to the librarians face with a quizzical look on my face.

What on Earth is she talking about? I then suddenly remember my shopping trip. Shit! I thought to myself.

"Oh no! Do you know what time it is?"

"Why of course," she said, and without even checking her watch, replied, "it's half past twelve dear."

Damn! The shop opened 30 minutes ago, where had all the time gone?

I set off in a jog towards the exit and turned around at the last second, all of a sudden remembering my manners,

"Sorry Miss, I forgot, don't you need to scan this?" I questioned, eager to be on my way.

"Don't worry about it, i'm sure you're trustworthy," she smiled sweetly while saying this, "now run along! You don't want to be late for whatever it is that you're doing."

"Thank you" I said, and with swish of my hair I was gone

* * *

The shopping trip went well and I managed to find the last top that I wanted, in my size. After arriving home at 5 and having my dinner at 6, I felt completely shattered and went straight to my room, dumping my shopping bags on the floor next to my bed. My limbs felt heavy and lethargic, and my head felt dizzy and jumbled. I had no idea why as I had done no exercise.

I must be pretty unfit if i'm wiped out after a trip to the library and a quick shop.

While still lying on my bed, I reached towards my shopping bags and pulled out the folio that the librarian had given me. With my head propped up on a few pillows, I placed the book on my stomach and began to fiddle with the lock. Surprisingly, it clicked open with hardly any difficulty. I flipped open the front cover and looked at the first page, it had written on it in big, cursive letters, the word: Ivalice

Ivalice? What the hell is that?

I continued to look through the folio, paying close attention to everything. The first double spread had a picture of a strangely dressed man and woman, with the word Humewritten next to them. I read on a little bit, and found nothing that I didn't know about humans already. Instead I flicked forward a few pages to the pictures of the two lizard like creatures standing next to each other. Next to the picture the word Bangaawas written.

Bangaa? Hey!they look like that statue I saw in the library today, I wonder if...?

I moved past the pages with the dog/elephant creature which I found out was called a NuMouand small mousey thing called a Moogleuntil I finally reached what I was looking for,

"Viera," I read onwards, into the night until I fell asleep.

That night, with the book open,and lying on my bed, everything changed. Light erupted from the pages of the folio, and obliterated everything it touched . The walls, celling and floors all disappeared. I saw it hit the outside world and annihilate everything it touched until finally it touched me.I didn't even have the chance to scream, my lungs had vanished before I had the chance to. I tried to close my eyes but they were forced open by some unseen force. Everything was shifting, the world was warping before my eyes. The light was fading into darkness and as it departed, glimpses of what was left over became visible. Small flashes of cities, deserts and mountains. I reached out for these sights but I was now fading, just as the light around me was. The last thing I saw was a vision of a jungle before I completely faded away into the darkness.