The troll is back and imitating me and others in the reviews, this time trying to make it look like I'd attack my own reviewers because obviously that's a thing I'd randomly do from a guest account. Ignore the nonsense.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 44

Ruby had long since lost track of their location and the time when Merlot called for them to stop. With light penetrating down unendingly from a ceiling that couldn't be seen, it was hard to tell if a day had passed at all, only that she was tired, hungry and desperate to relieve herself and suddenly aware that they were stuck in a library.

"Do your business behind a shelf," Merlot said dismissively. "Just be sure to burn it after it the thought bothers you. I'm sure a Wildmage can think up a way to do so."

One short trip and an embarrassing moment later Ruby came back to find a small camp having erected itself. Two small tents, a cooking pot without wood for burning and a few small packages of food stacked by it.

"The pot will heat itself when you tap the side. It will turn off once it is empty."

"Uh." Ruby looked down at it and then back at him. "Okay…?"

He sighed. "Must I explain everything? Cook, girl. You're my apprentice."

"I don't know how to cook."

"Then I suggest you learn quickly."

He left it at that, walking away to explore the shelves with Nora's prototype Rubricator. Their camp had been set up between two towering bookshelves and halfway between the end and beginning point. There were no signs of human life having come before, and no sight or sound of those they'd left behind. Ruby's stomach grumbled unhappily, and she trudged over to crouch by the pot.

Fortunately, the cooks at the Collegium had planned ahead – or maybe they'd just known nobles wouldn't know how to cook. The food was wrapped in paper with twine sealed around it and contained little labels on how to prepare it. Most of it was relatively simple. Cook this until brown. Heat until bubbling and wait two minutes. Empty contents into boiling water and stir. Serve when soft.

I wish Yang was here, she thought, upending some water into the pot, and pressing the side to start it heating away. Yang was old enough to remember mom and the cooking lessons Yang assured her they'd both sat through.

It wasn't often they had food that needed to be cooked, only after a bumper harvest when the farms would flog off the produce they couldn't fit in stores. You could buy potatoes and carrots for cheap then, and Yang would make a hearty stew that'd have them both lounging around with warm tummies and luxurious smiles. Other times, they'd pool lien for some bread, which could last longer if you didn't mind it going hard, and that would fill you better and cost less. Even wood for a fire was problematic in the slums. You either had to peel it off somewhere or brave the outskirts.

The water began to bubble and Ruby toppled the chopped cubes of beef in, watching them splash away and start to sizzle. Instantly, she was hit by the smell of it and had to wipe her watering mouth clean. The vegetables went in after, and she took to pushing it around with a heavy wooden spoon, stomach rumbling as she juices ran out to turn the broth thick and meaty.

Merlot came back minutes later and accepted the bowl she offered, not even commenting on the fact hers was empty and she was already dipping it in for a second helping. The Arcanist sat on a rolled-up pack of blankets and set the Rubricator by his feet. He spoke between bites, letting her scarf her food down in silence.

"I wager that few have travelled this far since the Archive's initial discovery. The books here should be free from tampering. What surprises me is their state, however. No dust on any of them, or the shelves or even the floor. Is it magic that keeps it clean or is the Archives kept to secure that dust cannot settle?"

Ruby mumbled past the wooden spoon, slurping her tongue around it to chase every bit of broth. She even topped the bowl back, drinking the remnants before looking imploringly at the pot. Merlot sighed.

"Help yourself. We are well stocked."

"Thank you!" she chirped, diving in for a third bowl.

"We will need to be cautious about what we find," he continued. "Anything this prototype reports back to the original Rubricator will be known by the White-Azure Arcanists, who will undoubtedly move quickly to locate and deal with any offending tomes."

"Mm. Can't we not scan them?"

"We could, and we could then manually write down their location for our own use, but then we would be unable to use the Rubricator to hasten our search. Even if you can look through the books quickly, I cannot, and neither of us can work faster than the scanning tool levitated up and down the aisles."

"Maybe if we hide the book?"

"Yes. That's possible." He flicked a hand toward her. "However, that would then alert the White-Azure to the fact someone is looking for them. You may as well announce our Wildmage's presence within the Arcana. You – we – cannot afford for that to happen."

"Then -hm." Ruby swallowed and set the bowl down, finally full. "Then we need to read through anything we find before they take it away."

"Indeed. We shall have to place them back where we found them and act as though we didn't care. That shouldn't be a problem. Once we bring the prototype back it will have memory of thousands of books. No one could accuse us of ill."

"Can we make copies?"

"If you wish to waste ten or twelve hours transcribing one, yes."

Ruby winced. "There's no magic for it?"

"Your Wildmage is showing," he said snidely. "Do keep in mind that for every other Arcanist, the requirement to make a quill write would be to control every aspect of its movement, angling and applying pressure when you wish to write, relieving it when you need to stop and then redirecting the force – perhaps wind – to move it to the next letter. Each page would be agony, almost certainly taking more time than it would to write it out by hand. To say nothing of the mental strain of having to concentrate that hard."

"I was only asking…"

"Yes, and you were asking a question that would have any Arcanist scratching their head. Do remember that you carry both of us now, Initiate. Reveal yourself and it shall be more than just you who suffers the Sanctum."

"R-Right." Ruby looked down. "Sorry."

"Apologies mean nothing without action." He set his bowl down and stood. "Ensure it does not happen again and I shall have no complaint. Now come. We have work to do before we might rest."

/-/

Wildmagic swirled through her veins as she swept her hand back and forth, whisking the scanning device from one end of the aisle to the other, across the level of a single shelf and passing over each book in line. Once it reached the end, she pointed her hand down a level and then swept it back, scanning the gargantuan units shelf by shelf.

Behind her and sat back at camp Merlot held the memory box from the prototype in his lap, scribbling occasionally on the plaque to read through its contents. He hadn't leapt up or called out yet, so they hadn't found any books relevant to their interests in the last hour. Sighing, Ruby swept the scanner along the bottom shelf, summoned it back to her hand and trudged glumly onto the next. The process repeated.

"We have passed by over a thousand bookshelves in our travels," Merlot called to her as she finished another shelf and stomped past him. "And there are surely over one hundred thousand more if there is a limit at all. This will take time."

"I'm aware of that!"

"Then do stop sulking."

Do stop sulking, Ruby mimed the words at the air, tossing her head and hurling the scanner out. Her Wildmagic took hold of it before she could damage it, sending it spinning off to the edge of the new bookshelf. I don't see you doing anything useful. Carrying bags, cooking food and now doing all the work here, did I sign up to be an apprentice or a servant?

"If there are that many books here, is there even a chance we'll find the ones we want?" she called back.

"There is always a chance, though admittedly it is small. What would you prefer to do?"

"Isn't there a better way?"

"Of course." He didn't look up from the prototype. "You can complete your study in the Arcana, earn your gemstone and then join the White. I'm sure they have the answers you're looking for. All you need to do is earn their trust without being discovered, incarcerated or killed."

Ugh. Ruby scanned along another shelf and down a second, reaching the ground and turning to repeat the process on the huge case behind her. They're all identical. Aside from the books on them, they're the exact same height, the exact same wood and perfectly clean. It's unnatural. The stupidity of thinking that in an endless library hidden under a building occurred to her a second later.

Everything was unnatural about the Archives. The shelves were the least of it.

On hour passed into two and Ruby's hand started to feel like it was about to drop off. Her head was hurting too, not from any lack of magic but constantly having to look left to right, right to left, left to right for all the shelves. Finishing the one she was on, she began the trek back to camp. Two hours of scanning had taken her a good two hundred metres away.

"Finished?" Merlot asked once she returned.

"Tired. My head hurts…"

"I should think so. Aside from ease of casting, it appears stamina is another advantage inherent to Wildmages. Even an experienced Arcanist would have given up after an hour."

Ruby glowered. "That was a test?"

"No. We needed the shelves scanned. Consider it more a bonus observation." He flicked the page in the book he was reading. "We may not have found any tomes on Wildmages, but we've learned something. It's better than nothing."

"What book is that? Did you find one on Grimm?"

"Alas, no. This is a study of the Archives itself written by someone of the Azure over sixty years ago. It's rather patchy – more guesswork than fact – but it's interesting enough and there's little else for me to do." He looked up briefly. "You may sleep if you wish. There's no need for either of us to keep watch in here."

"Are you sure? I felt… This place feels ominous…"

"I am sure. I've camped out alone before, and no watches are kept on the rest points off to the east. As for ominous, I expect that has more to do with how strange this place is. The human body rebels at such wrongness and we create terrors in our own mind, like when exploring a graveyard late at night. Ghosts do not exist, and yet the atmosphere has us believing it all the same."

The Archives didn't share much in common with a graveyard, she felt like saying. There was definitely something off with it, though. The tall cases were claustrophobic and the unceasing and undimming light made her uneasy. Maybe it was just her mind. If the Archives was an enchanted object made by some Black Arcanist in the distant past, then it would be like what Nora made – an object that did its job and nothing more.

"I'll go to bed then," she said, crawling to the closest tent and untying the cloth knots. Inside, her bedroll was waiting for her, less comfortable than what she had back in the dorm, but still warmer and softer than the tatty sheets back home.

Merlot continued to read as she tied the tent flap shut.

/-/

The second day passed as similar to the first. They travelled for eight or so hours, set up camp and then scanned the shelves, this time with Merlot chipping in a little, though still managing so much less than her. In the space of two hours, they'd still found nothing and Merlot had them eat before marching again, covering another four hours before they stopped, repeated the process and made slept the second night away.

It was easier than the first. The lack of any interruption or problems took her fear away, and although the archives were deathly and uneasily silent, having another person nearby helped, even if it was just the sound of his breathing, footsteps and the way he hummed when reading something interesting.

Without it, Ruby wasn't sure she could have coped. The absolute lack of all human life was terrifying, and more so when she had to roam further to scan shelves. The feeling was hard to explain, only that the air would close in around her and leave her shaking. The sound of her own breathing would become louder, even her heartbeat drumming in her head, and she'd panic and hurry back to Merlot to remind herself she wasn't alone.

"There are those who have gone insane when imprisoned in solitary confinement," Merlot told her when she brought it up. "Your reaction isn't too worrying."

Nothing worrying about potentially going mad? That was Merlot for you. He'd probably trade his sanity away for knowledge, and he reminded her of the mad scholars in those old tales Dad would tell her and Yang, the ones who found `forbidden knowledge` and were driven insane by it. If he could bring himself to get that worked up, that was. He continued to read the book on the Archives itself, occasionally offering little bits of wisdom.

"The Archives moves on its own when no one is looking."

Ruby froze, sandwich hovering before her mouth. All of a sudden, she didn't feel quite so hungry. "W-What…?" Silver eyes flicked to the shelves on either side of them, waiting for them to lunge. "W-What do you mean it moves…?"

"Hm?" He looked up. "Oh, not the shelves," he said, closing the book with a soft chuckle. "The books move. I expect it's a feature of the magic involved in this place, that books are sorted and moved to shelves. How else do you imagine so many shelves were stocked? By an army of a million librarians?"

"I guess? I mean, yeah, that wouldn't make sense." There were just too many, and with the entrance so far away from here, it didn't make sense to travel so far. "Does that mean books are just teleported in here, then?"

"Perhaps. The Archives might include a copy of every existing book. Or perhaps it takes them. I can't say for sure. Clearly, it's controlled or limited in some form or we'd end up in a world where books don't exist because the Archive has eaten them all." He laughed, not noticing her panic at the word `eat`. "The Archives also keeps its books in order, retrieving and moving them back to their shelves."

"How do you know?"

"This." He hefted the book he'd been reading for over a day now. "The final excerpt detailed how the author intended to leave the book by the portal for further researchers to work on. However, it's all the way over here. It was moved."

"Maybe someone put it back here."

"Why?" he asked. "Why would an Arcanist or Initiate move it against the author's will? And so far, too. That's quite a trek to hide an unassuming book."

"But the White Arcana does it. You said they steal books. How could they if the books always go back to the right spot?"

"The Archives magic clearly doesn't extend outside of it. They must have removed them entirely." He smiled and sat the book down. "It's only a theory for now. I may be incorrect, though I doubt it. Haven't you noticed how every shelf is perfectly maintained? I doubt in all the time the Archives has stood, no one hasn't knocked a shelf over by accident or lost a book, and yet they're all neatly stacked."

He had a point. Most of the Azure respected it enough to take the books back where they'd found them, but it was hard to imagine everyone was that way. Some must have tossed them aside or made a mess they didn't bother to clean up. Unless the Librarian was doing all that, someone else – or something – was.

"We can do a simple experiment," Merlot said. He approached the closest shelf and began taking books out, tossing them on the floor around their camp.

"W-Wait. Is this a good idea? What if you upset the Archives!?"

"It's not alive, Initiate. It's a magical creation."

"Yeah, but, what if it decides the best way to fulfil its goal of keeping the place clean is to kill the ones making a mess? We don't know who made it, why or what they gave it the power to do." All of which Merlot was ignoring as he swept his hand along tumbling books to the floor. Ruby cringed and brought her knees up to her chest, looking around worriedly.

"There. A nice mess. Oh worry not, if it's still a problem come morning, we can clean it up easily enough." He headed to his tent, stooping low to crawl in. "Make sure to go to sleep early. We're two days in without anything to show for it."

Ruby waited for him to close the flap and tie it shut, and even then she kept looking around them, feeling the oppressive silence of the Azure Archive closing in. Watching. "Sorry," she whispered, unsure if she should talk at all. "I tried to tell him."

No answer. Nothing. Not even the distant sound of an insect. There were none to be found here, only books. Books and silence carrying on for eternity. Intimidated by it, Ruby scurried into her tent and pulled it shut.

The books were gone by morning.

All of them.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Merlot enthused.

"More like terrifying," she mumbled back. "Someone – or something – came into our camp last night and we never heard it. How are you not worried by that?"

"It's magic, my dear. There's no need for it."

"Fine. Then magic happened in our camp right next to us and we didn't notice!" If she snapped, it was only because of how on edge she was. "What if that magic decided to take us onto a shelf as well? Squash us into one or crush us or sweep up away?"

"It doesn't work like that. The Archives was made for a reason, and considering we've been using it for well over a hundred years without incident, I doubt that reason is to murder people. A library exists to be used." He turned away, waving a hand for her to follow. "You have more pressing problems to concern yourself with than imagining enemies here, Wildmage. Now pick up the equipment. It's time we move on."

Growling, Ruby willed all the tents and bags and equipment into the air, hauling them behind her.

"And do remember to look like you're struggling with that. No Arcanist could look so bored carrying so much."

"Yes sir…"

/-/

"Well." Merlot for once wore an uncomfortable expression as he looked down on their latest findings. "I suppose my telling you not to worry isn't going to have much effect now, is it?"

Ruby didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on the bleached skull propped up on a shattered ribcage attached to a skeleton hunched at the foot of a bookshelf. It was a human skeleton, one that looked to be sitting down for a rest. One its owner hadn't awoken from.

"D-Do people die down here?"

"Yes." Merlot's answer was immediate. "It's rare but it happens. Getting lost and starving to death is the common cause, though we've also found people who have died due to other accidents." He eyed her. "Mostly falling and cracking their heads open. Usually Initiates who don't have the control to levitate a book down but want something from an upper shelf. Broken backs and legs as well. Sometimes we find them in time to render treatment. Other times…? Well, it depends how far out you are when it happens."

"We're three days out…"

"Yes. This poor fellow might have gotten lost. No amount of shouting would reach the portal and I'm not convinced anyone would see a spell cast into the air either. Whether he came with limited supplies or burned through them we'll never known, but the poor fellow must have lost his strength and sat here."

And died.

Ruby looked away, the uncomfortable feeling in her gut growing stronger still. They'd taken a straight path and getting home wouldn't be a problem, but she couldn't help but imagine the bookcases moving, sliding shut like a trap behind them. One of them grated suddenly and they both whirled.

"Ruby!" Merlot barked.

"I – I don't know. I heard it too-"

"No. It's you!" He took and shook her shoulder and the bookcase behind them stopped moving. Merlot sighed and pushed her shoulder away. "Your magic works on instinct, you silly thing. Did you imagine the shelves moving?"

"I… I…" The shame showed on her face. "Yes…"

"You willed it and your magic responded. Keep better hold of it." He sighed and shook his head. "For a second there you even had me on edge. We are safe here. Our route is clear, our supplies more than a day in our favour and all the shelves we've passed by tagged with the plaques we brought for the Rubricator. Even if we had lost our bearing, all we'd need to is follow the numbered shelves home."

Right. Because this part of the Archives as unexplored. And because the plaques now showed the number based on how far away they were from the portal. Aside from helping people find the books they wanted, the Rubricator would also guide people back home. Maybe so that a tragedy like this wouldn't have to happen again.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said. "I let my imagination get the better of me."

"You did. Make sure it doesn't happen again."

Merlot knelt and touched the blueish robes clinging loosely around the skeleton's pelvic bones. They'd slipped down as the body's mass deteriorated. Ruby winced as Merlot's hands pushed into the robes without any concern for the fallen Arcanist.

"What are you doing?"

"My duty," he replied. "We are told to bring back identification to the Collegium. Don't you think this one's family deserve to know what happened?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

"He's one of us," Merlot said, pushing the robes away. Dusty as they were, faded with age, there was no mistaking the blue tint that marked him as one of the Azure. "If you ever find an Arcanist fallen, either within the Collegium or without, your first objective should be to bring their Arcanum home. The Collegium gets rather upset if you don't. Unless it's a threat to you, of course. No one is asking you to risk your life unnecessarily. Common sense is yours to exerci- Ah." He tugged on something heavy, dragging robes up with him. "Let's see now. Oh…"

The silver Arcanum slipped free, glistening as though it hadn't been laid on a dead body for however knows how long. The circular emblem was different to what Merlot wore, however. Instead of the entwined snake forming two sockets, the silver was formed into the snarling head of a wolf, one of its eyes glinting blue and the other a murky grey.

"Azure-Shadow. From Menagerie." Merlot stood, inspecting it with wide eyes. "Could this be a traveller from that Collegium? There are other portals into the Archives, though we shouldn't be anywhere near even the closest of them. He must have strayed far in his search for food."

Ruby knelt and pushed the robes down, racing heart allowing her to ignore what she was touching. Something else had caught her eye, a glint of metal that any thief would notice. A dagger that had fallen by his right hand and been covered by fabric.

"What's that?" Merlot asked curiously.

"A weapon."

"Hm. Mayhaps he took his own life."

Ruby swallowed fearfully. "I… I don't think he did…" Her hands drew the robes lower, revealing the horrifying crack that ran up his right leg and hip bone, along with the huge puncturing holes driven into it. They hadn't noticed with the robes about its legs, but one was missing, all but torn away. "I don't think he was looking for food. I think he was running away from something. And that something caught up with him."

"Impossible! The Archives would not harm someone!"

"But you said there was a portal for each of the Collegiums. Wouldn't that include Menagerie?"

"Yes. Of course. What would-" Merlot's eyes widened. "Menagerie fell to the Grimm…" He pulled away suddenly, yanking on the chain connecting the Arcanum to the skeleton's neck. It pulled up and off, knocking the skull loose.

It struck the floor with a loud and echoing clack, bouncing twice before coming to a stop.

Ruby held her breath, as did Merlot beside her, the two of them frozen and waiting, listening. Nothing. No response other than the silence of books and the overwhelming emptiness of the Azure Archives.

"We should leave," Merlot whispered, voice so quiet she had to strain to hear it. "It is no longer safe here. We must return to the Collegium and warn-"

He cut off, going still. Ruby crouched, eyes wide and breath held, listening for that tell-tale sound that had cut through the Arcanist's words. There! She heard it again. A slow padding from close by, a huff like an indrawn breath followed by a long and powerful snort.

Silence.

Not even their breathing.

"Skreeeeee!"

The bookshelf to their right exploded, books flying inward as a huge black shape tore through. Red eyes flashed past Merlot, paying no attention to him, fixed only on her, as a giant lupine shape lunged for Ruby's throat claws first.

QA: I've had a few people express confusion over the Schnee family's position. A lot of the confusion seems to come from the fact they're both a) not respected and b) still in line for the throne. Jaune did explain this in an earlier chapter but maybe people forgot so I'll say it again. A LOT of people are in line for the throne. In Jaune's own words, it matters not at all. Some people boast about it but short of a plague wiping off nine tenths of the population he (and Weiss as someone even further away than he) would never get near the crown.

Weiss' mother is in line (thus where Weiss inherited a claim from) but that doesn't change the fact that the Schnee, a once respected family, have fallen on hard times and tanked their reputation by marrying below their station. Now they're `tainted goods` to other nobles. Their blood is less pure.

Inheritance is just numbers. Whether Weiss was a noble or a pauper, she'd still be Xth in line for the throne as her mother was before her. That has nothing to do with the family's social standing or reputation. They could literally roll in the mud and still be Xth in line by virtue of birth right. The reason Weiss boasted about it earlier in the story was because she was a) defensive and b) it was meant to hint at the fact Weiss feels she has to defend herself and that she has to rely on that fact, the only good thing she has, because without it she has nothing.

Because apart from that weak boast, Weiss Schnee is a low-class noble with few options in life. Much of her self-confidence is coming from having Ruby to rely on, Ruby's complete lack of shits given bolstering Weiss. That's also why Weiss was so on Ruby's case about what a noble "should" be like, including manners and all. It's because Weiss has been desperately trying to emulate the perfect noble.

I know this was all said before in the story and plenty of people figured all that out, but quite a few didn't judging by some PM's expressing confusion as to how Weiss could be bullied if she technically has a line to royalty.

Next Chapter: 14th June

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur