A/N: Content/trigger warning: Mentions of death and related descriptions. Not too graphic, but present.
"You're a- But what exactly is a Tomewalker?" Wes asked, speaking both in the forest around Faust and the Doorless Room, so Jazz could hear him too (they were in a spat, but that didn't mean she should be left out, too).
"We use the books to insert ourselves into their magic worlds." Byrnhilda replied, puffing up her chest. "You're in the Sealed Sanctuary, yes? With the books? You know of what I speak."
"I call it the Doorless Room."
"Fair. Is it just the two of you? Where is Jazz now?"
"Yeah, just us. What about you?"
"I had a partner. She is no longer with us." Byrnhilda did not break eye contact. Wes would have if he were talking about losing- "She has moved on to the next life. I honor her every night! Join me, you and Jazz, in celebration of her and of new friends, Tomewalkers no less!" She raised her fist to the sky. Wes half-heartedly raised his.
Jazz had been listening, still upset, but too curious to ignore this opportunity. Another Tomewalker? And "Tomewalker"?
She touched the open pages of The Curse of St- and appeared beside Wes and Byrnhilda.
"Huzzah! We will celebrate at once!" Byrnhilda cheered.
"Wait! We have to check on the people of Faust!" Jazz interrupted.
"Fine. Then we feast!" she relented; they ran to the Faust's last stand.
Wes's stomach wouldn't handle any more of this. The smell of charred- you know- was one he wished to never smell again. The sight of the Faust crying over their fallen was a wretched, somber one, made even worse over the fact that one couldn't tell which corpse was which person. They were unrecognizable.
As Wes, Jazz, and Byrnhilda approached, they saw that the fallen Faustians had sprouted little red flowers.
"Spider lilies," explained Byrnhilda. "They foretell impending death."
"But they're already…" Wes couldn't say it.
"Yes. It is a sign of what is yet to come. This is only the beginning. The end is grim. The middle, horrendous."
Faust cried and Wes could barely stand it.