Upon arriving at the lift to the underground maintenance access, Leonie, the Private Eye, That-Came-From-Before, and Ailuros pause. The building shakes with hits from magical strikes, and the Private Eye stands in front of the lift call button to prevent anyone from pressing it.
“Let’s not take the elevator, it’s too dangerous. We take the stairs.” Says the Private Eye, who points in the direction of the stair access door down the hall from the lift.
The crew walk to the stair access and begin their decent into the underground. As the crew circle down the stairwell Leonie asks aloud, “Where is the scroll in the Academy exactly? It was never advertised we had it all this time. The Egyptologists in the Northern School alone would have. . .”
That-Came-From-Before speaks, "It was once held by the Academy’s Council in secret in their Council Chambers. I kept a close eye on it and them through the walls.
Leonie makes a quick head turn to That-Came-From-Before, “How did they get the scroll from you? It must have been difficult to infiltrate the Academy, never mind get into Home Region and the Council Chambers themselves.”
“Over the many raids the Academy and their Private Owners made into my mountains, they did one day manage to get to the cave in which I stored the scroll. I did not stop them from taking the treasure, for me it mattered not where the scroll lay. I am extant throughout the Library.”
That-Came-From-Before continues, “My spores exist everywhere and anywhere. I was in the walls of the Council Chambers before they were even sealed during construction.”
Leonie side eyes That-Came-From-Before, “So you can turn anyone at any point? Why haven’t you then? Why let the Academy stand and continue their assaults on your home?”
Without ever blinking and breathing only to speak That-Came-From-Before answers, “You assume much about my powers and abilities that are simply not true. It is only with great help both inside and outside the Academy that I now move to recover what I once lost.”
Leonie holds their next question, and That-Came-From-Before answers the unspoken, “I will render the scroll to your Witch, worry not. The scroll itself means nothing to me. The magic it contains is of no real use to me here in the Library. I have everything I need here.”
The Private Eye interjects, “What magic is contained within the scrolls?”
That-Came-From-Before answers, “You will have to wait and see. I gave my oath to Ailuros I would not answer that question. You must ask her.”
The Private Eye looks at Ailuros, and all Ailuros gives is a smile.
The Private Eye asks a second question, “Where is the scroll right now? It will do us no good to wander aimlessly in dark tunnels under the Academy for the rest of our lives, which will be very short if we do not have a plan of action.”
That-Came-From-Before answers, “It is with the Council’s Lead Man. He takes possession of the scroll whenever the Council conducts official business. Even just the radiant magic that bleeds off the sealed scroll is enough energy to perform the spells they use to sign and seal their contracts.”
The Private Eye grimaces at the word contracts. The contracts generated by the Private Owners and the Academy Council that serves them are of a particularly nasty sort. It was very early on in their undergrad academic career that the Private Eye learned to always keep an eye on the contract.
The words and energy contained within all contracts, as the Private Eye learned, have a funny habit of shifting and changing from time to time, always to benefit the Private Owners.
Without the adequate power to do anything about stopping this, the Private Eye kept the lookout so as best to prepare following changes. Their ability to adapt and overcome these capricious alterations got them noticed in the lowest, darkest rooms. It was how they got the job to hunt for the Witch.
Leonie breaks the silence, “Then we have to chase the Lead Man down. He can be anywhere, he may not even be in the Library.”
The Private Eye answers quickly before any other can speak, “No, we are already hot on their trail. They came down into the underground this way not long before us.”
“And you know this how?”
The Private Eye levels their eyes at Leonie, “I always keep an eye on my bosses and managers, current and former alike.”
From the lift the Lead Man and two Agents 5 and 17 exit from the maintenance room through a door into the rail tunnels beyond. Down in the tunnels underground light is sparse. The Lead Man casts a lighting spell, a ball of pale light gets thrown from a wand up into the air for the three Magic Men.
The concrete tunnel stretches to their left and right, and the Lead Man speaks, “All train service to the Western Campus Between the Walls is secured, let’s get a move on as quickly as possible. I do not want to be caught down here when the ants start pouring into these tunnels.”
Agent 5 asks, “Where are we going exactly? What’s left for us to even do? Given the nature of the situation, shouldn’t we get out of the Library altogether and back to Earth?”
The Lead Man smiles, “Yes, we are going to get out of here, but not via portal. We are going to find a different way out.”
Agent 5 speaks again, “If we aren’t going to portal back to Earth, then how? Where? What are our orders, sir?”
The Lead Man’s smile disappears, a serious look falling onto his face, “We are going to find the Witch. She’s fast on her way to the Southern District, and we are going to follow her. Your orders are to follow me in following her. Now move.”
The two agents give a quick glance at one another and take the lead down the tunnel towards the center of the Academy.
A few minutes after the lift arrived carrying three suited men spilled its contents into the maintenance room and train tunnels below the Academy, the door to the staircase nearby the lift opens with Leonie, the Private Eye, That-Came-From-Before, and Ailuros now tracing the steps of those men.
As the four stand in the maintenance room for a moment gathering their thoughts, Leonie turns to the Cat gliding between their legs and asks, “Why did you let the Private Owners and the Academy Council take and use your scroll?”
The Cat answers in a rolling purr, “I didn’t, they stole it from who I gave it.”
Leonie thinks for a moment and presses, “This doesn’t add up, something is going on here. When did they steal it from That-Came-From-Before? Have all the Academy and Witch contracts been made with the scroll in hand?”
The Private Eye hangs on the edge of the conversation as Ailuros speaks, “For you Leonie, I give the world. I shall answer your questions.” The Private Eye spies a glance from Ailuros but for a moment.
Ailuros continues, “The forces of the Academy, at the behest of their ownership stole the scroll only a few decades ago. I moved to recover it as soon as it was stolen. My plan to retrieve it now comes to fruition.”
Leonie crosses their eyes, “Decades? It took that long? Why?”
Ailuros smiles, “One does not simply walk into the Central Council Chamber in Home Region unannounced and uninvited, and That-Came-From-Before needed time to recover their devastated forces, so assault was out of the question for the time being.”
“Theft and subterfuge required extensive time and planning equal to that for the plan I now use. This plan provides for more probable and more beneficial outcomes for the most number of people. There were and are many considerations that lead to this very point in time and space.”
“I needed allies, and the allies I needed think of time a little differently than a human such as yourself. For them a few centuries of rest and relaxation is as a lunch break is to you. For those that suffered greatly in the meantime, I mean to give them what I can, their worlds back to them.”
“But you’re a god, aren’t you?”
Ailuros stops circling Leonie’s legs and stares into Leonie’s eyes, “There are rules and limitations even gods must abide in this and in all worlds. You will learn this in time.”
Ailuros breaks the eye contact and wanders over to the door to the tunnels. It’s been a long time since I’ve hunted, I think I prefer a different form.
With her back to the rest present Ailuros transforms, the diminutive Cat growing and stretching into human form, a form wearing the robes of a Academy Librarian.
The Private Eye’s face grows long in shock, “You!”
“Me!” Says the woman in Librarian robes still facing away from the crew.
“Who!” Cries Leonie.
A woman wearing glasses turns and looks at Leonie, “Me! I’ve already told you.”
The Private Eye cannot believe their sight. Standing there before them is the former Head Librarian of forty-two years fame.
Leonie looks between the Private Eye and the woman wearing glasses as both stare the other down, the Private Eye with a look of shock and the once a Cat now a Human Ailuros delighting in the shock.
Leonie breaks the silence speaking to the Private Eye, “Is she not Ailuros? What is going on?”
Leonie’s words shake the Private Eye from their stupor, “No this isn’t Ailuros, well maybe. . . This is the former Head Librarian. She served forty-two years in that role, one of the few to make it that far, much to the seething consternation of the Private Owners.”
The Private Eye keeps both eyes on the former Head Librarian, continuing to speak to Leonie, “She disappeared on the forty-second anniversary of taking the job, as all those who make it there do. None have ever reappeared, until right now.”
The Private Eye changes conversation partner to the woman in glasses, “Leonie has a very good question, and if you do not mind my repeating, what is going on?”
The former Head Librarian’s smile fades a bit, but remains full in her gaze towards the Private Eye, “A lot is going on.”
Leonie asks another question, “Are you not really a Cat then?”
Ailuros answers, “The life of a Cat is just one of the lives I’ve lived and forms I’ve taken. There are more things in heaven and earth, Leonie, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The Private Eye, in a sudden movement strides forward to the woman in glasses, “Ailuros, if that is truly your name, we still need your help as you are well aware I’m sure. If you do not wish to tell us the truth right now, fine. So be it. I will find out, but more important is your scroll.”
“Yes, the hunt is on, and I always catch my prey. The Lead Man has the scroll and I mean to give it to the Witch. The most likely course of action the Lead Man will take is to engage in a hunt of his own, a hunt for the Witch. All we have to do is strike from the rear when the time is right.”
“How do you know this?” Asks the Private Eye.
“The Lead Man is well aware of what magic the scrolls contain when all four are gathered, and he is also well aware of who has at least two of them, though he will be thinking the Witch has the other three.”
“You being here with me with the scroll given to you is insurance.” Says Ailuros.
“Will you even answer my next question?”
Ailuros smiles broadly once more, “The scrolls are the only guaranteed means of escape from the Library right now. Well them and myself, of course.”
The Private Eye scoffs, “There are portals all over the place, and new portals can be made with the right resources, what can the scrolls or you do that anyone here with said resources cannot?”
“Who owns and subsequently controls the portals in and out of the Library?” Asks Ailuros.
The Private Eye thinks for a moment, “Whoever owns the patent to the spells needed to open the portal, so either the Academy and its Ownership or the Catholic Church, for us here in this room at least. I doubt anyone has knowledge of any other source for portal magic.”
“Unless the Mold has a different way in and out of the Library.” Says the Private Eye.
“I have no need, I arrived here in the Library through a natural portal long ago, before even the trees graced the Earth. I am suited to my home here, and none have stopped my spores passing through their portals in small enough numbers. Ownership means nothing to me.” Answers That-Came-From-Before.
The Private Eye looks to Ailuros.
Ailuros says, “I shall answer your question with another question inspector, who owns your True Name and consequently your contract?”
The Private Eye takes a large breath, exhales and says, “Macha, daughter of Ernmas. But that does not answer my question.”
“It is the beginning necessary to answer your question. The point here is the previous owners are no longer on the contract. If your contract is no longer owned by those private brigands, what of the magic behind the Academy portals?”
The Private Eye thinks for a moment, then answers slowly, “We are all stuck here unable to use or open portals safely. We have no idea where they will go, or who will be waiting on the other side when we get there.”
“Unless you have the magic contained within the scrolls.” Ailuros says.
“And we will just have to wait and see what that is, correct?”
“You are beginning to understand, yes. Knowledge is a hunt, and the hunt is no fun if you are handed the answer.”
The Private Eye wracks their brain, the magic from the scroll used to alter contracts on demand speaks to high magic.
Leonie, during the pause in conversation, walks up to the Private Eye and says, “I think its best we drop the issue for now. We can figure this all out later. It’s obvious Ailuros will play games with us, and I want to get back to the Witch, I don’t want to leave her unsupported.”
The Private Eye looks at Leonie and smiles, “Don’t worry about games. I’ve never met a problem or mystery I didn’t solve.”
And you’re my ticket to solving this one, figures the Private Eye. The Witch and company did not portal into the Library, they slid interdimensionally, that much is already known. So the scrolls must be related to sliding or some other interdimensional magic.
High magic indeed. The Lead Man looks to survive not just the Library but what lies beyond, the Private Eye thinks.
The Private Eye offers his hand to Leonie, and Leonie takes it walking to the door and exiting into the train tunnels beyond. Ailuros and That-Came-From-Before follow along closely.
“Have you given any thought to your past, where you came from, the people and place you once called home from before you came to the Library?” Ernest asks Bishop Clement.
The Witch, Ernest, and Bishop Clement flew into the Academy having touched down amidst the chaos and carnage of battle between the ants and Academy defenders. Plasma bolt shots and acid stream through the air, and entire buildings of the Western Campus Between the Walls now creak and crumble.
The Witch had cast an invisibility spell over the three to lower the risk of detection, a spell made more useful when prying eyes are too busy to look to closely at three moving, shimmering mirages. Quickly the Witch had led her crew to a manhole cover to get down into the Academy underground.
Eager to escape the war zone on the surface, the three descend the ladder in the narrow trunk where Ernest asks his question from below the Bishop on the ladder.
The Bishop answers Ernest, “I haven’t been able to give much thought about myself in recent moments, no.”
Ernest continues, “I don’t mean to bother you about it; I’m interested in where you came from and who you once were. I’m also trying to keep our minds off the fighting and dying if at all possible.”
“I cannot remember, and have not been able to remember for quite some time. I am keen to take the Witch up on her offer for help remembering.” Says Bishop Clement.
As the three descend the ladder, the Witch calls out to Ernest, “When you get to the bottom, don’t go far. There is a secret door to the larger underground train yard from this sewer access point.”
Ernest wonders aloud, “How do you know all of these secrets here in the Western campus? I get you got caught up in the fighting against the ants, but to be this informed on every nook and cranny. . .”
The Witch answers, “I don’t know every secret, but I know a lot, and I absolutely know the ones I put in place to get work done under impossible conditions, and to escape from overbearing management from time to time. You got to do what you got to do to survive and sometimes thrive.”
“But sewer access to the underground train yard?”
“There are entire networks of secret accesses and passageways all throughout the Academy, made by thousands of others just like me all for our own, often interrelated reasons. I’m just glad we are in the West and not the East or North, I do not know nearly as many secrets there as I do here.”
Ernest thinks on the Witch’s words, he doesn’t know half the number of secrets in the Eastern Campus as the Witch does in the Western one, and the Eastern Campus was his home school.
“We are very lucky we are in the West.” Murmurs Ernest to himself.
Once down in the sewer proper, Ernest casts a lighting spell as he and the Bishop wait and watch while the Witch casts the key spell to open the passage she talked about. The bricks rearrange themselves here as they did in the wall above, and all three exit, the opening then closing behind them.
Once on the other side of the sewer wall, the three find themselves in a drainage pit, above them old machinery sits. Water leaks from many unions and joints, piping and equipment rusts, and everything is silent in the room as the muffled pelting drum of war echoes through the ground from above.
The Witch leads her crew to a ladder out of the drainage pit and onto catwalks above, the grated steel decking passing through and around the old machinery. From the catwalks the Witch walks to a set of double doors, and she uses her staff to bust the lock and blow open said doors.
The underground train yard opens before the three, though the size of the place feels constrained by the repeated arching ceiling above and regular support columns dotted throughout the yard.
“So, what’s the plan?” Ernest asks the Witch.
“The plan is to hitch a ride to the Southern District. There are regular freight runs to and from the districts to one another, and even as fighting goes on above the freight trains will run. They’ll run priority to keep the defenders supplied. Empty trains have to go back, so we’ll go with one.”
Ernest looks out and scans what he can see, and the yard is full of trains. He asks, “How do we know what is leaving to where and when?”
The Witch begins to move, prompting Ernest and the Bishop to follow. She says, “Simple, we ask.”
A frown screws onto Ernest’s face, “Can we trust the train crews?”
The Witch continues to walk and talk, “I know who to trust.”