The books that littered the shelves smelled of old dust. With such a large library, it was often impossible to tend to dusting every single book in the building. Such a feat would be impossible for one woman. Solana sighed, running a tired hand through her short fiery red hair as she looked through the section. Dust always made her want to sneeze uncontrollably, the books being conduits for that sensitivity.

Despite that fear, she continued onward through the endless lines of shelves. If one thing annoyed her, it was the lack of a proper filing system to easily find certain tomes. Sure, all of the books were in sections by genre and sorted by author surname, but it didn't make finding out where the sections ended any easier.

"I'm really going to have to clean this place at some point…" Solana said to herself, slowing down and looking at the shelving again. "Maybe some other time though. Still have to find that book."

The reference and research sections were some of the most thoroughly jam packed sections of the building. Research passed down through the ages, making it one of the most thorough collections on the planet. It's a shame most of the books went to waste, gathering dust in the Sacred Library. The red-head's eyes scanned along the spines of several books that contained a very special research that Solana had been long searching for. They came to a quick stop, however, as her eyes lay upon the writing on the spine.

"Ah yes, here we go." Solana took the book off of the shelf, and wiped away the dust that littered the cover. She braced her nose, just as she opened the tome and flipped through the aged pages. Dust flew up as she made sure to rid the pages of anything that would bother her. From what she could tell, the book had the information she was looking for. A sigh of relief escaped from her mouth, turning on a dime back toward her desk while making a mental note of the location of this book.

The near-silence of the library was the sound that Solana had long become accustomed to. From when she was a young child, this had been the role she had been chosen for. And it was the life she had lived for nearly fifteen years, as the Head Librarian of the Sacred Library. Such a title felt far more important than it actually was, after all, all she did was research and compile information and protect a storage of books. Books that no one other than she, herself, had access to. She was more of a Guardian than anything.

"Hopefully he doesn't come to annoy me until…" Her gruff voice trailed off, as she arrived at her desk. Welp, there he was. "Storious. You're early." Now Solana was actually annoyed. The scraggly haired man leaning up against her desk with a book in his hands was the only person she ever interacted with on a regular basis. And oh, how she loathed that creature.

"Time is meaningless to you, Librarian." Storious said, not bothering to raise his eyes up from his book. "You never leave and never do much of anything, how could I possibly be early?"

"Oh you know well enough that even if I have no schedule, you do." Solana briskly walked over to her comfortable seat behind her desk, which sat near the entrance to the building. "I was looking for some research to improve what I've created for you."

"For a human, you are quite useful." Storious's book snapped shut, as he turned around and looked at the woman. Her book was wide open, her eyes skimming through pages in search of something specific. "What do you have for me today?"

"I've distilled for you, Storious, the power of an ancient creature." Her eyes did not leave the book, as she turned several more pages and stopped. "There we go. Just hold on a second longer." Another open book on her desk sat with pages nearly filled, words inked fresh on the pages. Her hand moved toward a beautiful fountain pen, which she used to then quickly complete the line within the book. She closed it triumphantly, causing it to glow brightly. It seemed to shrink down in size as well, becoming something one could hold in the palm of their hand.

9-Headed Hydra!

Storious seemed rather pleased as he picked up the small book, emblazoned with the title alongside a chained cover that bound the book together.

"The work you do is superb, Librarian. Even greater than what we can accomplish on our own. It takes much time for us to form a new Alter Ride Book. But you can do it far quicker than any of us. And by that I mean me, of course." The man pocketed his item, and leaned forward toward Solana. "Now for my payment. Are you sure you wish for information this time? I did finally acquire a book that may be of great use to you."

"Perhaps next time, Storious." Solana replied, rubbing her eyes with her thumb and index finger. She was tired. There was no real way around that. "But I do need that information. Please tell me you successfully located the The Sword of Light?"

"I have not. Though, I have come to believe it does contain something else of interest."

"So basically, your information is completely worthless to me. That's what you're saying." Solana groaned loudly. She did not get paid enough to do this. Though, she didn't get paid in money at all.

"Of course not, Librarian. From what I've heard… a location known as the Fright Zone is in possession of The Book of Ruin." The man dressed in all black smiled as he said the last four words, causing Solana to perk up again.

"The Book of Ruin has been lost nearly as long as the Sword of Light." Her fingers rubbed against her chin in thought. "And it's said to keep the Immortal Swordsman trapped within its binding."

"And along with it… The Sword of the Void." Storious turned around and waved his hand in the air as he walked toward the door. "Though the Fright Zone is rather… militaristic. And its location exists outside the normal bounds of space and time. I suppose for you though, it would be child's play ripping to it through the Wonder World. I shall return soon for your latest entry, Librarian. I request something… animal-related next time. Zooous has gotten rather angry that he hasn't gotten anything new in quite some time."

Despite how much she didn't quite care for those three, Solana couldn't help but snort a bit.

"You haven't had me write an animal legend in over a year. Only stories and mythical beasts." Solana heard Storious laugh back, just as he exited the Sacred Library.

If anything, she was sure her mentor, the previous Librarian, would be rolling in his assumed grave if he knew that Solana had a working relationship with the Megid. Despite being sworn to the side of light, Solana felt as though she had to bend her own morals to gather information on the missing Sacred Swords. Without them and their books, protecting the world was nearly impossible. And because she needed to be at the Library nearly every moment of her life, her best option was to strike a deal with them.

The horrid Megid trio represented books about stories, animals, and mythical creatures. Their leader, Storious, was the one who presented her with the deal which she took. Solana would use her experience in writing to create Alter Ride Books for the Megid and in return Storious would give her a Wonder Ride Book or inform her on any tips regarding the missing swords.

"The Fright Zone, huh?" Solana asked herself, looking down at her desk. Her hands moved several books off of one another to remove one of the oldest books in the library, carefully kept intact since its inception. "The Story of Wonder World…" It was a book given to her when she first came to this place. A pop up story book that to this day continued to be one of her favorites. It made her believe the world could be better in the future. Though at this point, the world was not even a memory to her. Memories of anything prior to the library simply no longer existed in her mind. She was too young to remember anything other than her parents being offered that their child could live a better life if they gave her up.

Tassel, her mentor slash father-figure, always told her that people had to sometimes make important choices in life. That her parents had chosen to give her up in order to give her a better life than the ones they could provide. It never bothered Solana too much. The whimsical blue-haired librarian was a kind and patient man, the kind that Solana assumed didn't exist in too many places. But now he is gone… gone… Shaking her head a bit, Solana stood up and headed back toward her private quarters.

Travel via Wonder World was always a bit trickier than one might think. Unlike in the major pocket of reality where beings lived, the Wonder World was far different. A Book Gate could get Solana nearly anywhere within reason in the outside reality, but traversing the Wonder World was more akin to throwing a dart at a map than actually directing one's self to it. The Fright Zone was only a name, missing much of the information that she would likely need to locate its presence in whatever pocket dimension it lay in. Such places were a nuisance to her and anyone else who wished to travel into them were in deep trouble if they wished to leave. Connecting to a pocket dimension often led to a semi-permanent connection between it and the Library, with severing the connection between the two often taking long periods of time.

Solana soon arrived in her bedroom. The layout of the room where she slept was overly minimalistic. A full-sized bed lay in the corner, with only a single blanket and pillow. It sat next to a wooden nightstand, an off lamp wishing to be lit. When she was younger, she would find herself using that lamp to read past the curfew that had been set for her. Stories, research, all of it was wonderful as she learned. But what she was here for was the Book Gate sitting lazily on her small dresser. Regardless of entering the Wonder World, the Book Gate was needed to enter.

The mostly dim room made the woman frown, sighing into her hands and feeling the heaviness of her eyes. She wished she could get more sleep these days, but with her research into where the Sacred Swords could be, there wasn't much she could do except get the absolute bare minimum rest. Perhaps later, the red-head thought to herself.

She spun on her heel, heading back into the library proper. The lights that swung above near the ceilings were never a great replacement for the actual sun, but they did what they could. For a moment, she simply took in the silence and watched dust float by in the air. Silence was ever present in this library, and leaving for the first time in quite a while would be hard to say the least. No rest for the wicked, she supposed.

The library's center was perhaps the most important location. It was barren of any books and shelves and instead served as an interconnected series of twelve pedestals, meant for twelve swords. Yet, for Solana, only two of those pedestal's slots remained filled.

Inferno, The Sword of Flames…

Abyss, The Sword of Shadows...

These were the two Sacred Swords left in the possession of the Guardian of the Sacred Library. According to her mentor, there were twelve swords in all with twelve warriors to wield them. Over time, however, the guild that protected the worlds slowly became disjointed. Time progressed and the swordsmen no longer worked alongside one another. Not even Tassel knew their exact locations even after nearly one-thousand years. He had only ever been able to hunt down Inferno prior to his disappearance and Solana had seen Abyss sitting there since she was a child.

Abyss was a cursed sword, Tassel often told her. It could only be wielded by a righteous soul that could counteract the power it exuded, though she was never told what that power was. Her mentor had left in search of that soul, leaving Solana behind to protect the library. What was meant, however, to be a short mission left Solana in charge of the library for far too long. She was never much of a social butterfly, but she understood the pain of total social isolation. Maybe that's why she began writing those damned Alter Ride Books in the first place. Storious was supposed to be her enemy, but even speaking to an enemy is better than to no one.

Walking around the raised stone pedestals, she knew each sword that was missing from its proper place by heart.

River, The Sword of Currents

Thunder, The Sword of Lightning

Earthbreaker, The Sword of Quakes

Cyclones, The Twin Swords of Gales

Melody, The Sword of Sound

Radiance, The Sword of Light

Signal, The Sword of Smoke

Chronal, The Sword of Time

Angelus, The Sword of Power

Null, The Sword of the Void

So many swords were missing, but the final one, Null, was her current target. It had the ability to negate the special power embedded in each of the blades. However, it was wielded by the insane immortal swordsman. After his previous defeat in another lifetime, the Immortal Swordsman was sealed away inside the aforementioned Book of Ruin. If she could obtain that book, she would effectively have three of the twelve swords.

If she were to do that then… if Tassel came back someday he would be impressed, right? Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where Inferno sat. Tassel was never much of a swordsman, more of a pacifist than anything. He did much of his protection with the powerful magic at his disposal, but Solana was not very savvy with magic. So she began to train herself just in case it ever came to it. The Sword of Flames was her calling, and she would not let down anyone.

Her eyes darted over to Abyss, and lingered over it for a moment. The Sword of Shadows had the ability to grant whoever wielded it visions of the future. Unfortunately, she would need it for just a few moments to pin down the location of Storious' Fright Zone, or very least narrow it down to the correct planet it sat upon.

With that, her attention turned toward the purple hilted blade. Taking a few deep breaths, she slowly shuffled toward it and held her hand out towards the handle. Her eyes closed tight, with her fingers wrapping around the cold handle. Despite her closed eyes only showing her the darkness, the moment she touched the handle a vision popped into place. It was very short-lived, but she could physically see the horrific location of the Fright Zone in her vision. Storious wasn't kidding about militarism. Another flash showed the planet and its moons, before cutting to darkness.

A gasp escaped from Solana, as she fell back toward the other sword. Just touching it made her feel like she was being surrounded and covered in cold and dark isolation. To her, she would hopefully never have to wield it again. However, she did succeed in marking a visual of her destination.

"Fine… Time to go." With a forceful upward force, Solana removed the Sword of Flames from its pedestal. The sword itself glowed brightly, before encasing the blade within its sheath where it would remain until use. Burning red, the emblem on the sword glowed brightly as a Wonder Ride Book appeared in her hand. That of Brave Dragon. With that cleared out of the way, she was set to recover the Book of Ruin as soon as humanly possible.

A small indentation sat in the wood near the doors to the building. It served to link these doors to any location via the Book Gate and vice versa, meaning the Book Gate could be opened from anywhere and link back to the Library. Placing it inside the wood, it glowed for a brief moment as it set the semi-permanent destination between the Library and whatever this Fright Zone ended up being. She quickly pocketed the book, and looked to the wooden doors. After all this time, Storious finally offered up something more important than a book name. Finally, a step toward her future in regaining protection over all of the Sacred Swords. And with that, Solana firmly walked forward into the darkness.

A/N: I had a few ideas to work through for this, and it will be updated (hopefully) frequently alongside Witch.