Noah had gathered us in the centre of the library, his voice calm but commanding, always the one to keep us steady when everything around us spiralled. Cleo was already there, pacing back and forth, her boots thudding against the endless stone floors. She wasn't just her usual irritable self. No, this time, something was different. There was fear in her eyes, the kind of fear that cut through her usual sharp, biting attitude.

"How the hell did we find that?" she muttered, almost to herself, hands clenching and unclenching. "How bloody big is this library? It goes on for fucking ever, and—boom—we had to find it. How the hell did we find that?!"

"Cleo, you need to calm down," Noah snapped, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Breathe. This isn't helping anyone."

I stood there, unsure of what was happening, but the tension in the air was palpable. I could feel it wrapping around me, suffocating, even though I didn't yet know why. "What happened?" I asked, my voice quieter than I intended.

Cleo shot me a sharp glare, her eyes filled with venom. "Oh, great. The cunt is obsessed with some fantasy land called Gensokyo. He's been useless, Noah. Done jackshit. Our people have passed, and this rat is still sticking around."

"Cleo, just breathe," Noah said, his voice firm but patient. "That isn't fair to Marcus, and you know it. This wasn't his fault."

I cleared my throat, unsure if I should press, but something told me I needed to. "What happened?" I repeated louder this time.

Cleo's face twisted in frustration. "What happened? I'll tell ya what happened. We found one. A fucking Forbidden Tome." Her voice cracked, and for a moment, I saw the raw fear underneath her anger. "You told me they weren't real, Noah. You promised me they weren't real."

"No, I said with how many books there are, they might as well not be," Noah replied, his voice steady. "We were never going to find them."

"Try telling that to Athena," Cleo shot back, her voice shaking. "I'm sure she'd appreciate those statistics! It got right into her mind. Ate away at her and left her a shell."

"Athena is… gone?" I whispered, stepping back as the realization hit me like a punch to the gut.

Noah saw the panic rising in me, his eyes narrowing as he tried to keep me grounded. "Marcus, eyes on me. Boots on the ground. You've already had a few close encounters. We need you here, grounded, within the influence of Alexandria. You got that?"

I nodded weakly, but Cleo wasn't done. "What good did that do Athena, huh?! She was the strongest of us, and you know it, Noah. What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Noah admitted, his voice tinged with frustration. "None of us have come across a Forbidden Tome before. Considering how quickly Athena fell apart and how it drowned her... it had to be Vol. 7: Joy."

Cleo threw her arms up in the air, almost as if giving up. "Great. The worst one. The bottom-feeding tome that would rip us in two. Give me Vol. 9: Freedom or Vol. 3: Love. We can deal with those. We can fight those. But Joy?"

I stood there, confused and lost, as the weight of everything hit me all at once. "I don't understand," I said quietly, glancing between the two of them. "What's so big about Vol. 7?"

Noah turned to me with a sigh, clearly not wanting to explain it but knowing he had to. "The collection of Forbidden Knowledge runs on a basic principle: obsession and greed. Each of the nine volumes taps into our most primal desires. Each one is different, with the lower the volume, the more powerful the delusion. Vol. 0: Wishes can literally transcend our consciousness, creating whole realities to trap us in. But Joy—Vol. 7—is different."

Cleo had stopped pacing, her arms crossed, her eyes dark as she listened.

"Vol. 7 doesn't grant you desire or fuel your greed," Noah continued. "It takes it all away. It cuts away at everything—every emotion, every belief, everything you treasure—and replaces it with one thing: empty joy. Empty elation. Once it has its grip on you, it's nearly impossible to escape. Even if you break the connection, you never come back the same."

I swallowed hard, my heart sinking. "Is that what happened to Athena?"

Noah's eyes darkened, and when I tried to press further, he snapped. "Athena is gone," he said firmly. "Even if we could save her, the library doesn't care. It lost its hold on her and erased her."

Cleo's fists clenched, but she didn't argue. She simply nodded.

Noah turned to Cleo. "You'll need to patrol both your route and Athena's. I'll take Michaelago's."

"And me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"You'll continue as usual," Noah said, his voice softening. "Assist either one of us if needed."

Cleo didn't say anything. She just nodded again, her face set in a grim expression.

I couldn't shake the image of Athena, of how she must have looked as the tome devoured her. "What did you do with the tomes?" I asked.

"You kidding?" Cleo scoffed. "We destroyed it. The last thing Athena did before she lost it completely. Along with the others."

Noah nodded, looking relieved. "Good. Eight out of the nine tomes are gone. That just leaves Vol. 0..."

He paused for a moment, his eyes meeting mine and then Cleo's. "Stay strong, you two. Remember, duty and purpose."

I turned away, my hand trembling as I closed my eyes, repeating the words in my mind like a mantra.

Duty and purpose.

And in the cold, suffocating grip of the library, it was all I had left.


Marisa sat me down on her old, worn sofa, a glass of water trembling in her hand as she tried to get me to drink. I stared at it, my mind slipping in and out of focus, the world around me becoming a blur, like some sick dream I couldn't wake up from. I couldn't even make myself hold the glass. My hands shook too much—no, my whole body did.

"Here, take it. You need to drink, Marcus," Marisa pleaded, trying to push the glass into my hand, but my fingers couldn't grip it. The tome... it had drained everything from me. Even the simple act of holding a glass felt impossible.

Marisa tried again, this time bringing the glass to my lips herself, her voice softer now, almost desperate. "Please, Marcus. Drink, okay? You need to. Please, for me."

I fought it, not because I wanted to, but because I just... couldn't. My body wasn't mine anymore. But after a few moments of struggle, Marisa managed to get a few sips of water down my throat, the cool liquid feeling alien in my mouth. She set the glass aside, then knelt in front of me, holding my hands in hers. Her eyes, wide and full of worry, searched my face as if she were looking for something—anything—that could explain what had happened.

"What happened to you? What happened, Marcus? Please, I need to know."

Her voice trembled, but I couldn't answer. My vision blurred, slipping in and out of that false reality the tome had built in my mind. If it weren't for Marisa grounding me, I knew I would've lost my grip on reality altogether. She was the only thing tethering me to the present, the only thing stopping me from spiralling into madness. My gaze drifted to her, trying to focus, but my thoughts kept fragmenting, breaking apart before I could form a single coherent sentence.

I tried to speak, to say something, but every time I opened my mouth, a lump formed in my throat. I found myself choking, the words stuck, my breath short and laboured. Marisa's face twisted with pain, her hands squeezing mine, trying to pull me back to her. I could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"You've got to promise me, Marcus," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "Promise me you'll never do that again. Please... I can't lose you."

I felt my hands intertwine with hers, and somehow, through the haze, I finally got the words out. "I... I found another Tome."

Marisa's grip on my hands tightened as her eyes widened in shock. "You what?" she whispered, disbelief written across her face. "Another Tome? Already? Who... who was it controlling?"

I looked at her, my voice barely a whisper, cracking as the weight of everything came crashing down on me. "Me..." I sobbed. "It was me, Marisa. This one's... different. It takes everything—my personality, my dreams—everything that makes me who I am... and replaces it with... empty joy. It's burrowed deep, Marisa. Took my powers, took everything. It made me live out years of isolation in my mind... over the last three days. I can't... I can't take it. I can't take it anymore!"

Marisa's face fell, her expression shifting from shock to something much deeper—anguish. She stood up quickly and sat beside me, pulling me into her and letting me lean on her shoulder as I broke down completely. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I sobbed into her, my body shaking as everything—the torment, the isolation, the utter emptiness that the tome had drilled into me—came spilling out.

"I overestimated it," I whispered between sobs, my voice hollow. "I thought I could stop it, like the others... stop the incident before it happened. But I failed."

Marisa held me tighter, her arms around me, her voice gentle but firm. "Hey, hey... it's going to be okay, Marcus. I'm here. I'm not letting that damn book take you, okay? You're here with me right now. Look!" She lifted her hand, gripping mine tightly, forcing me to focus. "We're here. Together. We're going to figure this out."

I stared at our hands for a moment, my mind too fragmented to process what she was saying. "How do we stop this?" I croaked. "Usually, I read the knowledge and cut the connection, and I come out of it... mostly unscathed. It worked against Reimu and Sakuya... but now... now it's different."

"I know you're scared," she whispered, her voice shaking just a little. "I am, too. But I promise you, Marcus, we'll work this out. Together."

I wanted to believe her. I wanted to trust that, somehow, we could fix this. But the weight of everything... the years I'd lived in my mind, the isolation, the emptiness—it was too much. The tome wasn't done with me; I could feel it gnawing at the edges of my thoughts even now. I was on the verge of collapsing, my body barely able to hold itself up, my mind frayed and fragile.

Marisa must have sensed it because she didn't say another word. Instead, she helped me up, her arm steady around me as she lifted me onto her back. I didn't resist. I couldn't. She carried me, her steps careful and deliberate, and took me to her room.

She laid me down on her bed, pulling the covers over me, her face a mix of determination and dread. I could see it in her eyes—the fear she was trying so hard to hide, for my sake.

Sitting beside me on the edge of the bed, she stroked my hair softly, her fingers trembling. I closed my eyes, exhausted, my body still shaking from the aftershocks of the tome's torment. But before I drifted off, I heard her whisper to herself, her voice barely audible, like she was afraid to say the words out loud.

"What am I going to do?"

And then darkness.


Marisa practically dragged me through the Forest of Magic at the crack of dawn, my arm slung over her shoulder, though it felt like I was barely there, just a weight she had to carry. Every step felt heavier than the last. My willpower was all but gone, reduced to mere cinders, fading with each laboured breath.

"Just a little further, Marcus," she whispered, more to herself than to me, her voice tight with desperation. "We're almost there."

"Where… where are we going?" I muttered, barely able to form the words. Everything was hazy, my mind slipping in and out, just like before.

"A magician… Alice. She's my—well, 'friend' is a strong word. Neighbour, I guess. I don't know. I'm pulling at straws here, buddy…" Her voice cracked. I could hear the helplessness in it. "I feel useless, and I can't do anything. But maybe… hopefully… Alice can help. Anything."

She said it like she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince me. But deep down, I wasn't sure either of us believed it.

She kept whispering, saying we were almost there. She said it over and over as if that could keep me grounded, but I could barely hear her. My legs felt weak, my thoughts scattered. All I could focus on was the emptiness growing inside me, the weight of the tome gnawing at me, tearing away at everything I was.

Suddenly, Marisa stopped dead in her tracks, shaking her head, her eyes wide as she stared at an empty section of the forest.

"No… no, no, no… this isn't right. This isn't possible!" she stammered, her voice trembling.

"What?" I whispered, my eyes half-closed, drooping. Everything felt too heavy to care anymore.

"Alice lives here," Marisa said, panic rising in her voice. "Right here."

"Are you… sure we didn't take a wrong turn?" I asked, but even that felt like a strain. I wanted to believe she'd just made a mistake, that we'd somehow missed a path. But I knew that wasn't it.

"I know the way to Alice's house like the back of my hand!" Marisa shouted, pacing around in a frenzy. "I visited her yesterday, for god's sake! It's like… it's like she was never here. Like the last few years never…"

Her voice trailed off, but I wasn't listening anymore. I collapsed to my knees, unable to stand. My head was spinning, and the voices were back, louder now, mocking me, laughing at me.

Worthless.

Waste of space.

You'll never be more than this.

Never escape.

Drown in joy.

Drown in joy.

The words echoed in my mind, and I felt myself sinking deeper into the darkness. My body was frozen, but inside, I was breaking apart.

Marisa screamed, falling to her knees beside me, shaking my shoulders in a panic. "Marcus! Marcus, come on! Please, don't do this! Snap out of it!"

But I couldn't respond. I could barely hear her over the noise in my head.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered, tears streaking down her face as she gripped me tightly. Her voice broke into a desperate sob. "I don't know what to do!"

And in that moment, as everything fell apart, I felt myself slipping further, deeper into the abyss.

To be Continued...