Chapter Three - Chaos That Silences Calamity (Part One)

"WHAT?!" Shiori screeched so loud I was reminded about my hangover. "That has to be the most batshi-"

"Shiori, it's worth a try." Nerissa paced back and forth, as if wondering what would actually happen if her crazy idea were to be executed. "Now how do we convince her to not just turn us in on the spot? I mean, Priestess Ina'nis is her best friend, and it would be difficult to tell her the situation without backlash..."

"Maybe the Bookmark has answers?" the slow head turns and odd looks told me they weren't on board with my even more insane plan, if you could even call it a plan, as it was just a half-baked shot in the dark. "Look, if I could see an event from the future after touching it, then I'd probably get some answers, too. If this leads us back to Nerissa's plan, so be it."

They looked at me with wide-eyed expressions, turned to look at each other, then nodded at me. Shiori handed me her black book so i could use the Bookmark. "Well, here goes...- ACK!!" More knowledge flooded my mind, I saw things such as rituals, entire solar systems collapsing in on themselves, as well as ones bursting forth from a singularity, even entire civilizations risen and fell throughout a timelapse of centuries, but one thing stood out the most - the theft of Priestess Ina'nis' book.

"Shiori, Nerissa. I've seen what we need to do. You won't like it though, as it involves Priestess Ina'nis' book."

"Oh God... does this involve stealing it?!" Shiori was conflicted between wanting to add that book to her massive library and wanting no part in such an act as this.

"Yes. Wait. Something else came up that is going to throw a hitch into our plan. The book is already aware of what I've seen." I sighed, knowing full well that our plan failed before it was put into action. "Are my eyes okay? they feel... off."

"Babe, I think you've had too much exposure to the Bookmark. Your eyes are all black with white irises. And they're bleeding what looks like ink." Shiori handed me a mirror. She's right, and my hair is all white, too.

"I'm hearing whispers... different languages, different tongues... telling me to go beneath the Sands of a Lost Empire. The key to solving this crisis is to cause another..." I quickly rummaged through the many shelves, finding scrolls, pages, manuscripts, field journals, and research notes.

It all made sense. "We have to return the Bookmark to the ruins of Al Sothos."

"To where?" Nerissa asked.

Shiori gasped. "The Lost Fourth Kingdom of Egypt."

"The Savior Crisis, as it's called, requires something of immeasurable value - a human soul. It's up to me to change our fates. Shiori's death, the Wrath of The Ancient Ones in the form of Priestess Ina'nis, my revival. we must look for the Guardian of Civilization so she may let us pass through to the Lost Kingdom.

"We must act fast, the Priestess is becoming corrupted."

Shiori stared at me in abject horror. "Sam... please... come back to me... this isn't the Sam I met yesterday anymore." She begins to cry.

"Shiori. I'm still here. It's okay if you don't agree with my plan, but you can't stay here while Ina'nis is running rampant." At that point the windows broke and in came a large mass of dark energy. "Change of plans! Shiori! The Bookmark!"

Nerissa distracted the mass of darkness with a song, and Shiori handed me the Bookmark, which i plunged into my chest. It was time to rewrite history. I swooped down into the primordial evil and ripped the book out of its grasp. "You're coming with me, Aonomicon."

I was too late. Nerissa and Shiori were impaled by the tendrils of dark energy created by the damned book.