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lillaxtrigger · 4 years ago

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Young Hope: Chapter 30

The afternoon sun glistens through the clear blue sky and shines down upon a calming suburban neighborhood, one of its rays piercing through the small crack of a window that leads straight into a dimly lit room. Within this very room does the purple merc lay bed ridden with half of his body broken, medical cast layering his three remaining limbs; the boy doing little but stare upon the glow of his television from across the room. With nothing to do but simply wait for his injuries to heal, a bored sigh escapes from Roy’s lunge as he glares up and away from the television; a familiar voice soon echoing in his head with: “What’s wrong Roy, I thought you’d be rather ecstatic on taking this little R&R. I’d know I would it after the beating you took.” “Well, Hera. Some people probably don’t wanna be left stuck in their bed for a week straight only to get up to take a piss. Binged about ever show on my list while I’m stuck here and I’m getting antsy.” “At least it’s only been a week now. You’re doctor said that you only have another to go before all your bones heal. I’d take my time to enjoy this respite if I were you.” “But I’m not you, am I. Just like how I wasn’t you when I went and fought your possessed granddaughter on your behalf. And look how that shit turned out.” “And I remain grateful for your help, but what do you want me to do about it?” “I don’t know. Maybe use that bit of goddess energy you got flowing in my body and fix it. Or does that how your almighty godly powers operate?” “No, but I believe she might have some news on how you’re doing.” “Who are you...Oh right, her.”

Right after that very moment does the mercs bedroom door quietly creak open, the light from the other side leaking through the darkened room along with the site of a blue haired head poking out the crack. “Roy...you’re not asleep are you?” this head whisper. “I’m fine Maurecia. You can come in.” Upon the purple boys words does the blue haired woman fully open the door; her body overshadowing the flooding light as she proceeds to the merc’s bedside. “What’s up?” “So I just got the call from the doctor. We can finally remove the casts on your right arm and left leg.” “Ah finally. About damn time.” Hearing the blue woman claim this, the merc rises from the comfort of his bed and stamps his left leg right onto his bedroom floor; the cast that swathed the limb shattering into pieces and exposing his bare leg to the open air. After the leg does Roy thrust his only arm down towards the floor, reducing the cast that envelopes it to bits and freeing his arm from its binds; flexing his fingers as soon as the limb is free. “Ahh. Feels good to finally air them out. Starting to think my skin was gonna mold under them.” “Before you try anything stupid. The doc said that it’ll take another week some of your ribs and your other leg to fully heal.” “Come on, Maurecia. It’s been a week already. I’m sick of being cramped up in my room and just wanna punch someone’s privates already.”

“Like hell you are! Not while half of your skeletal structure has yet to heal!” the woman reinforces with a threatening demeanor. Her sudden aggravation causes the merc to stumble back a little while state that: “Alright, fine. Jesus...” Calming down from her little outburst, a small sigh escapes from the woman’s mouth; soon to apologize to the boy with: “I’m sorry, Roy. Me being so forceful and angry like this. Ever since what happened with Tore. It made me realize that you and Mally might be all that I have left.” “Uh, give your son a bit more credit then that, Maurecia. You know the countless times he and I’ve been stabbed, shot, beaten, bruised, burned, and blown up; and yet we always turn up fine and have ourselves some ice cream by the end of the day.” Hearing the merc claim such, the blue haired woman can’t help but lock her eyes upon the boys left side; Roy glancing in that direction himself to find her staring at where his left arm once was. Grasping the spot his arm once stood, he quickly corrects himself with: “I mean…for the most part.” “But you said yourself that you couldn’t sense him anywhere in the city when you came to, and its been like that for a week now.” “Pfft, so what if he’s outta my range, that don’t count him as dead yet. You and I both know the raw reality that Mally and the both of us have survived way worse.” “I know...but that’s what scares me.” The merc certain glare deflates when hearing the woman claim such, his purple eyes shifting from determined to concerned.

Before Roy could press her for anymore, both of them soon hear the sound of rushing footsteps nearing; soon witnessing the orange skater burst through the door with phone in hand. “He’s alive! He’s alive!” Mally screams out. Her eyes widening by this sudden news, the skaters mother sucks in a sharp gasp as her hands clamor; asking her daughter: “Tore!? How do you know that!?” “He sent me a voicemail last night while I was in the shower. Can’t believe I didn’t notice until now.” In that moment does the mom notices Roy giving her a smug ass grin, the mom turning her attention back to her daughter and requesting that she: “Well, what are you waiting for? Play what it says.” “Alright. But, I played it when I first noticed it was there, and some of things he says are...strange.” “You mean more then our usual bull or what?” Roy adds. “Just listen.” Tapping her finger upon the voicemail that her blue brother had left them all, all three of them listen as Tore voice rings out from the speakers with:

“Hey, Mal. Sorry I missed. Just wanted to let you and everyone know that I’m alright. The explosion was a little shaky, but I’m fine for the most part. I tried calling Roy to start, but I couldn’t get any sort of answer. Figured that his phone must’ve been smashed up during the scuffle. Guess you should’ve spared some cash for the warranty eh Roy, doesn’t seem like much of a corporate scam now, does it?” Hearing her sons justified snicker ring out from her daughters phone is more than enough to draw out tears from the mothers eyes; her muscles relaxing as she lets loose a relieved breath while the message continues to play.

“You guys are probably wonder where I’ve been for the past week now. Well I’ve been kinda traveling somewhere with a guy who calls himself Mall. He’s that one guy with wings like mine and Roy’s who attacked us while Kingsley and Cayenne we taking Renee home; I told you about that, right? Apparently, the reason we can do all those things is cause we’ve awakened to be what he call’s “Kybr”. Don’t know what that mean’s, but that’s what he calls himself and us. I’ve always wonder what else we can do with these powers, and now I can get some pointers on how they work instead of just having to wing it. Beats having to wait for dad to come home for once in our lives.” This small complaint from her son causes the blue haired woman’s gaze to lower towards the bedroom floor; her relieved eyes shifting to remorse.

“I don’t think I’ll be back in town for couple more weeks or so. Mom and all my friends must be worried sick already. Can you apologize to them all for me and tell them thanks for helping us out with Circe.” After requesting this do all of them hear a second voice sound off in the background of the call; the voice proving to muddled to make out any sort of words. “Oh uh, I gotta go. See you guys soon.” Its then that the tone of the phone sounds off, a single click ending the voicemail.

“So, what do you guys think he meant by all that?” Roy then questions. “I’m more worried about the guy he’s with. The fact that he convinced my boy to leave town without any kind of warning. I don’t like it.” the mother responds with. “And what was he said that Roy and he were; Kybr? What does that even mean?” “You try calling back?” the purple merc wonders. “Of course I did, but I couldn’t reach him. Must’ve turned his phone off.” Mally explains. “Is there anything about the call that could tell us where he’s heading?” the mom asks. “Not sure. Couldn’t really hear anything else outside of that man’s mumbling. But I think going off of what he called himself might give us a good clue where to start.” “And where do you think we can find out what these “Kybr” are? Doubt the internet has anything on it.” the merc questions. “No, but I think I might know somebody who might. Imma go head out.” “Hang on a sec, Imma go with.” the purple merc claims as he starts to approach the door. Before he could go any further, he feels somebody grasp his shoulder and glances back to see it be the blue haired mother; who stares upon him with a rather upset glare. “What did I just get done telling you?” Pulling him away from the door, the mom repeats to Roy how: “You still have a broken leg, slight skull cracks, a few ribs broken and a fractured torso. You’re not going anywhere out of this house until you’re fully healed. Do I make myself clear?” “Alright, fine. Christ. Wouldn’t be stuck in here if our white mage hadn’t decided to run off.”

Down in the glowing depths of a suburban basement, an olive hand reaches out towards a lone bookcase filled with strange tomes; the soft finger gliding its tip across the myriad of titled spines and unsettling the small collection of dust. “Ah. There we are.” The olive palm soon grasps one of these spines and slides out the book it belongs to from the shelves; those hands carrying the book over and sitting it right upon the table that Mally sits at. Presented with the front cover of the tome, the skater reads the title out as: “The bestiary of mythical creatures and beings from magical history.” Breaking her site away from the cover, Mally gazes to her graceful host and asks: “You sure that this might have some answers Serena?” “I’ll be honest, I’ve never really heard of these so called “Kybr” myself before; but that might be cause I’ve mainly dabble in potion brewing. I’ve never really took a good look at the other books in my collection. Thankfully I decided to keep the rest of them that my mom’s side of the family had collected over the years.” “Um, thanks a bunch for helping me out with this little search. I really didn’t know who else to turn to.” “Don’t sweat it, Mal. Just tell me where to start first.”

“Mmm...Maybe “C’s” might be best to start off with.” Hearing her guest suggest this, the potion witch cracks the bestiary wide open and flips through its contents until coming to the start of the “C” section; soon following up with: “And how might you spell “Kybr” for me?” “Not too sure. Not like there’s a point of reference. Try the “I’s”. “Right, Ci Ci Ci Ci’s” Serena repeats while flipping through a couple more pages. Stopping right at the suggested section, the witch reads out the following words to her guest: “Hmm...Ciguapa, Cihuateteo, Cikavac, Cinnamon bird, Cipactli, Cirein croin...Can’t really seem to find anything here.” “Try the “Y”. After flipping through a couple more pages, the potion brewer reads out the listed creatures to her with: “Cyclops, Cyhyraeth, Cynocephalus; still nothing.”

“Mmph. Maybe we’ll have better luck in the “K’s” the skater then suggests. “Right.” From this suggestion does Mally’s host flip through the tome��s pages until stopping right at the “Ki’s”, where Serena reads the beasts listed with: “Kijimunaa, Kijo, Kikimora, Killmoulis, Kinnara, Kin-u, Kirin, kishi, kitsune, Kiyohime...nope.” “Guess it’s on to the “Y’s” and hope for the best.” Turning a few more pages, the witch stop right at the very end of the “K” section, soon reading out the list to her guest with: “Kye-ryong, Kyourinrin, Kyubi-no-kitsune, kyu...kyuketsuki?...Still no Kybr anywhere.”

Slamming her face down against the wood of the table, the orange girl lets out a disappointed sigh; Serena shutting the bestiary and apologizing to her with: “Sorry for wasting your time. Wish this wasn’t the only bestiary in my collection. As the witch picks the book off the table and head back towards the shelf, the gears in Mally’s head begin to turn; the small spark that comes from them jolting her head back up and urging her host to: “Wait a sec.” Moments before Serena could slide the tome back where she pulled it out from, she turns back to her guest and asks: “You thought of something.” “Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong. Kybr isn’t that well known of a word, so how about we try looking up Angels instead.” “You think that might hold any water?” the witch wonders as she ventures back to the table with book in hand. “Not too sure. But its worth a shot.”

Cracking open the tome once more, the witch flips only a few pages past the table contents to search for where “Angels” would be, but what she fails to suspect is what awaits them at where the subject would be; both of them gasping in utter astonishment when coming to the part of the bestiary. “What!?” the witch exclaims. “The hell?” the skater adds. Both of them gaze down to the bestiary to find that the page that would contain the subject of “Angel’s” has been ripped out from the very spine; nervous sweat running down the witch’s face as she trembles from the site. “So, how old is this book?” the skater calmly asks the frantic witch. “It’s thousands and thousands of years old! This entire collection has been cared for by my family for generations! Each book passed down from ancestor to descendant! How could anybody have torn a page out from them!” Upon this discovery does the witch then zip straight back to her bookshelf filled with magical tomes; pulling out volume after volume and flipping through their pages in a distressed panic. “Um...Okay...” the skater utters as she stands out from her seat. Slowly waltzing away to the exit, Mally turns back towards her panicking host and adds: “Um, thanks for the help...” Despite the witch proving to busy rapidly looking through her collection to even respond to her; Mally simply opting to make her leave.

Wandering through the quaint suburban neighborhood, the young skater girl continues to ponder on how to go about continuing through her research; thinking on what exactly her brother had called himself and how to figure out where he may be going. From the voicemail, he didn’t exactly elude to where he could be; but a couple of interesting notes could be made when listening to the background. A couple of birds could be heard chirping as he was talking; that and the sound of rustling leaves echoing out. All that at least gives the hint that he’s in a forest somewhere. And then there was that other person that he was talking to. It was kinda muffled, but it was definitely a masculine tone. On all that, what could convince him not to leave a voicemail for several days; figured the first thing anybody would do after surviving a point blank explosion with almost no injury was to tell everyone that it was all good. Just what is this Mall guy convincing Tore of anyway?

Its in wondering of all this do her eyes catch site of the local library standing at the very end of the street, the site of the small library causing an idea to begin forming in her head. Just as the thought fully forms to her, a wayward, but familiar voice sounds off from right behind her; asking the young girl if: “You think a local suburban ass library like that’s gonna tell us anything?” The unexpected tone makes the young lady jump back as she takes out her hockey stick; brandishing her weapon with a fierce and ready gaze. This determined glare quickly deflates when she finds the voice behind her to belong to none other than her purple brother; the merc hovering inches from the ground with his black wings unfurled behind his back. “Relax sis. Just me here.” he assures, sliding the tip of her weapon aside with a single finger. “Roy?...What the hell are you doing here?” “Think that should be obvious. I’m here to help in figuring out where our blue dumbass of a brother wound up being dragged to.” “Does mom even know you’re here?” “Mally, come on. Let’s be real. How long have we known eachother?” “...You snuck out.” “Of course I did. The hell do you take me for, a saint?”

After roaring out a frustrated groan, the young lass takes in a calming breath before requesting that: “Fine, whatever. Think you can fly me over to Townsvilles grand library while you’re here?” “Hells yeah.” he complies as he grasps Mallys overalls. Taking a tight hold of the skaters garbs, the purple merc casually tosses his little sister up in the air with but his only arm; leaning down towards the ground to give her a place to land. As soon as Mally lands right upon her brother, both of them could hear a tiny crack coming from his backside; a small hiss escaping from between the merc’s teeth. “You gonna be okay? I can just skate there if you want.” the girl offer. “Nah, it’s alright. I’m good.” Upon claiming this to his sister, the black angel takes off from the suburban neighborhood and soars through the cloudless blue sky; both of the gliding out towards the towering city ahead.

Soon enough could the duo be seen flying through the open city skyline; the girl riding upon the black angel’s backside hearing her phone get a notification to see what it may be, left unsurprising to see it from her mother. Pulling up her messages, she finds that her mom had left asking: “Is Roy with you.” And in turn does the daughter respond with: “Yep.”

“Why am I not surprised? Tell him to get his purple butt back here ASAP.”

“Mom, if he didn’t listen to you when you said that, what makes you think it’ll be any different when I say it?”

This question garters almost no response from the young girls mother, Mally breaking the moment by offering: “Since he’s here with me, Why don’t I watch him for the time being? He could be a big help in my research trip.”

“Alright. Just make sure he doesn’t push himself too hard. His bones still have to heal.”

“Mom, its the library. What kind of trouble could we get-”

Before Mally could finish typing this out to her mother, she deletes the message before she could send it. Best not to tempt fate with that kind of crap anyway.

Crossing through a pair of giant twin doors, both the merc and the skater behold the vast and towering inside of the majestic Townsville library; shelves of countless books as far as either of their eyes could behold, with the glass dome above letting the sun shine down its soft glow. “So, what’s getting ya to think that this library might have something in here that the internet doesn’t?” the purple angel can’t help but question. “Cause these giant libraries always got a couple of books lost in the shuffle of countless stacks and hardbacks, just nestled away somewhere within these shelves waiting to be uncovered. The could be one book in here that could give us the clues we need.” “And how long you suppose that could take us?” “Don’t know. Might burn away the rest of the day before we could even come close to finding anything.” “Whelp. Can’t really do anything else with my skeletal structure on the brink of being reduced to pieces. Might as well just roll up the sleeve and get digging.” “That’s the spirit.” The merc then ascends up towards the top of the library to begin his search for any leads; all while Mally deciding to start her end of the search upon the very bottom.

About half an hour in, the orange skater surrounds herself with a myriad of open books and tomes; each one of them pertaining to the biblical and mythical history of angels throughout the ages. In her little read through these texts, her focused gaze starts to morph into a disappointed glare the further she reads through; soon noticing a shadow that glides right over her figure. Breaking away from the tome’s words, Mally’s eyes drift upwards to find her brothers winged figure passing right under the glass dome above them; his shadow sliding across the bottom floor of the library.

After she watches her brother reach the other side of the top floor, Mally casts her gaze down towards her lap; reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone and tapping over to her messages. Tapping upon Kingsley’s name, Mally decides to check in by texting to him; the conversation going like: “So, how’s Chloe been doing ever since she broke out of being possessed?”

“She hasn’t been taking it well. Still hasn’t bothered coming out of her room other than to use the restroom.”

“Has she at least spoken to any of you at all since then?”

“Occasionally, but not about what happened? Figured it would be in poor taste to bring it up so soon.”

“Has she talked to anyone else?”

“She hasn’t texted her friends as far as any of us know. It’s starting to worry us.”

“I mean losing control of your body like that has to be really fuck you up mentally. Wonder if Chloe was aware of what Circe was making her do the entire time.”

“She said that she was. She saw almost everything that happened; even when she couldn’t hear anything. Can’t really imagine what she must be going through. She even demanded us to keep the Amazon crystal as far from her as possible.”

“Where exactly did you stash the stone then?”

“We got it stowed away in a vault somewhere. Circe shouldn’t be making any sort of moves anytime soon. I know you’ve been worried sick about Chloe since all this had happened.”

“Of course I’m worried. She’s my friend, isn’t she?”

“I doubt that’s the only reason.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I know how you feel about my sister.”

As soon as she reads this little response, the skater fumbles her phone down to the floor as her face turns beat read; quickly snatching her device back and continuing the conversation with:

“What the hell do you mean by that!?”

“Mally, I’m not as oblivious to these kinds of things as you might think. How long do you plan on drawing this out for?”

“With everything that has been happening lately, I haven’t found a good chance to go for it. And besides, she’s dating Melvin now; end of story.”

“You know that it isn’t healthy to stagnate this. Either tell her how you really feel or move on.”

The last remark sinks right into the very depths of the skaters mind, knowing that what Kingsley advises is something that must be done sooner or later.

Upon this very thought, Mally notices a shadow suddenly spreading across the table before her, the shade making the young lass jumping of her seat and fall onto the hardwood floor. As the people around her shoosh her disruptive behavior, the skater pulls herself off the floor to discover her brother hovering right beside her. “Hey uh, got more books for ya.” he whispers to his sister. “I’d wish you’d stop sneaking up on me like that. Like seriously, what’s wrong with being in front of somebody to grab their attention?”

With his gaze locked to the pile of open books spread across Mally’s table, Roy sets the freshly gathered set of tomes aside and states how he: “Guessing that you haven’t had any luck in finding a lead.” From her brothers words, the lass sits herself back down onto the seat while letting out a disappointed sigh; the merc hovering to her side and further stating how: “eesh. Really hate to be in your shoes right now. Reading all these books on your own just for the slim chance of finding what as well be a made up word.” “The hell do you mean by my shoes? You’re helping me trudge through all these books too, ya know.” “Come on, Mal. Sitting down and read isn’t exactly my ideal situation on being productive.” Roy claims, hearing another set of shushes from nearby. “It ain’t mine either, Roy, but we gotta work with what we have; and right now we need to read up on anything that these books can give us.” “Can’t I just go and look for more books?” “No, dammit. Now sit your freshly healed pelvic bone down in that seat and get reading.” With someone nearing them as they closely shush the pair, Roy puts pushes the shusher aside; then hovering over towards the chair on the other side and complying with: “Fine, jeez.” As soon as the merc sits his ass down on the hardwood chair, he swipes one of the books that he had gather and cracks it wide open; staring at the text for a brief moment before swiftly falling asleep. “Good.”

About another hour of toiling through the countless pages passes for the two of them; the afternoon sun beginning to set towards the horizon behind them. With her end of the search going nowhere, Mally shuts the book she has in her hand and sets it aside; reaching out for a fresh new tome to search through. When feeling nothing but the tables hard smooth surface, the young girl looks over to find both of them have exhausted the pile of books that Roy had brought over; a small groan escaping from her lips upon the site. Drifting her eyes over to her brother on the other side, she finds him entranced in a neigh peaceful slumber, a site which she decides to leave untouched as she gets off her seat to venture back through the shelves of the library. He seriously needs the rest anyway.

In her search for more research material, the skater opts to climb to the very top of the grand library, where she comes to behold in awe dozens upon dozens of towering bookcases that rival the height of several stacked suburban homes. Holy hell, these shelves are massive. How is anybody meant to reach the top of them just to look through? Scaling up to the top would be one option, but that’d be one that could get anyone’s sorry ass booted out in record time. Nah, they had to have set something up to help people look through them all; like a ladder or lift. But where to find one around here. Her eyes wonder to the other surrounding shelves for any way to reach up to their peaks, venturing to the very end to find a lone rolling ladder attached to the line of curving bookcases.

After the last guy calmly descend down the wooden ladder, Mally zips right past him and starts racing up towards the very top; stopping right when her head reaches inches from the library’s ceiling. Taking a peek down below, the young lass could see almost everyone waltzing along through the grand library’s shelves and cases; even seeing her purple brother continuing to snooze away. From the top of the ladder, the skater kicks off the wall right beside her to take off towards the other side; the library goers breaking from their books to witness the young girl surf along the faces of the shelves. When finding herself closing in towards the other side, Mally reaches her arm out to the opposite side and clasps her fingers onto the wood of the nearest shelf; attempting to slow her approach before she could crash over to the other side. Despite her fingertips burning from the polished woods friction, her breaking grasp proves enough to slow the ladder down; her rolling rush reducing to a steady crawl and stopping mere moments before she could collide with the wall.

When coming to a complete stop before the wall, Mally flails her hand about as she blows on her friction burned fingers; shaking the pain away and gliding her index finger up towards the spines of the books before her. Sliding her fingers across the countless hardback spines, the skater notices one of the books from the collection tucked all the way to the back of the shelf. Curious of what tome could be hiding between this discovered nook, the young girl reaches her arm between the books and into the dark recesses of the shelf; surprised to feel the back of the shelf being deeper than she thought. Eventually does she manage to feel something stuck in the very back of the shelf, clasping what her fingers have felt to attempt to pull it out; caught off guard when feeling something grabs hold of her arm instead. Before she could attempt and pull her limb out from the bookcases grasp, the shelf that holds her arm suddenly twirls inward and flings the young girl out to the other side; effectively vanishing without a single trace. With almost nobody having noticed her bizarre disappearance, someone from the bottom of the bookcase casually rolls the ladder away from where Mally had disappeared.

Along the other side of the twirling bookcase, the skater’s eyes see little as she feels herself descending down a pitch black shaft; greeted with nothing but dust and cobwebs during her unexpected drop, most of which she spits out of her mouth. Moments of the young girl plummeting deeper down into the darkness pass before her little fall comes to an unexpected end; feeling the shaft curve out as she witnesses a hatch at the end crack open. Flung straight through this hole, Mally finally tumbles right onto solid ground; countless years of dust wafting through the air as soon as she hits the stone tile. Hearing the hatch behind her close back up, the young girl pulls herself off the dust ridden tile to find herself surrounded by yet more shadowy darkness; not even a single hint of light anywhere for what seemed like miles on end. Reaching right into the depths of her overall’s pocket, the skater swiftly pulls out her phone and unlocks the screen; the light of the device already piercing through the darkness as she navigates through the menu and to the flashlight tool. As soon as she presses the switch to turn the built in flashlight on, the phones front lets out a gleaming light that permeates through the pitch black void before her; the glow letting her discover what looked to be stone shelves filled with dusty ancient tomes. Aiming her phones light to the rest of her surroundings, the young lass finds dozens of other stone bookcases filled with even more books; the dozens of insects that crawl along their spines scurrying from the sudden luminescence. Curious of how where exactly she had dropped down to, Mally braves through the stretching dark up ahead; a deathly musk wafting through the air as she proceeds.

Moments of continuing through the abyss pass as she waves her light around for any sort of changes in scenery; eventually discovering a piece of railing set between a couple of shelves ahead. Gauging a closer look out beyond the railing, Mally’s flashlight fails to reach past the waiting void beyond; closing in towards the rail as much as she could in hopes of finding anything else. While taking a closer look to the abyss in front of her, the skater suddenly feels the floor underneath her foot start to give way; quickly backing away and pointing her light to stone that she had stand on and finds one of the tiles she had stepped onto. Expecting the pressure plate to have sprung a trap, Mally readies herself up and prepares for anything that could appear out from the void around her; tensing up when witnessing a soft sky blue light appear from the darkness beyond the railing. Soon enough is this lone light joined by countless other’s of its kind, all of them washing away the shadows that make up this mysterious underground dwelling. Returning to the very end of the railing, Mally gazes out to the freshly illuminated site before her to discover beneath her dozens of floors filled with bookcases much like the ones surround her. A vast collection of countless volumes all dwelling underneath Townsville’s own library. A truly amazing discovery to be sure. Sheer size of this collection nearly rivals the one that hangs above. But what kind of books make up this giant underground library is another question.

Wishing to answer this, the young girl grabs a book from one of the shelves closest to her and takes a little look at the title on the cover; the front of the hardback claiming it to be: “Several unique uses for everyday spells.” Pulling out another tome from the shelf on the other side, she discovers the hardback to hold the title of: “Magical dishes that hold temporary bodily improvement.” Reaching out for one more of these tomes, Mally pulls another out from the previous shelf to read the title etched onto its cover: “How to keep your abode pixie free with just simple household items.” Seems like a good chunk of this hidden library’s contents seems to deal with mostly supernatural subjects and phenomenon; a rather unusual place to compile such a collection. Still, uncovering an archive of supernatural material such as this beats having to painstakingly flip through pages upon pages of crap that’s already posted on the internet; willing to bet none of this stuff’s even been discovered by anyone in countless centuries. As much fun as it would to read up on all the weird shit that these records have in store, we gotta stick to priorities; maybe flipping through the pages of these tomes could provide some feasible scraps of info on what Tore claimed he was. But before any of those questions can be answers, there’s still one big one that’s on the table; where the hell does a place like this have a directory?

Taking another look beyond the railing, the young lass aims her gaze down towards the very bottom floor and finds something that grabs her attention that awaits below; a rather massive table with odd markings etched upon its surface which almost resembles a sort of map from where she stands. Wanting a closer look of the tables surface, the orange girl vaults right over the stone safety railing and drops down through the countless floors that make up the underground library; feeling some of the cobwebs that remained smack themselves along her body. Once beginning to close in towards the very bottom floor, the skater swiftly pulls out her trusty hockey stick and jams the bent end right between the stone guard behind her; grasping the handle of her weapon tightly as she suddenly stops her plummeting descent. Pulling herself back up on the floors railing, the orange lass takes another peek down towards the table place at the bottom floor; able to make out the details much more clearly from where she stands. She finds each of the floors of this underground archive to each pertain to a different subject, each of their subjects labeled beside the overall design of the carved map. Whipping out her phone once again, Mally thinks it best to take a picture of the entire table just to be safe; zooming closer into the photo she had just taken and sliding it up through the many labels and their floors. Let’s see here...Astrological events, doomsday cults, naturalist spells, fiction, necromancy, potion recipes, demonic sing a longs, dictionaries, ancient gods and deities, haunting harmonics…History…That could be a good place to start...But where are they stashed? Glancing to the corresponding floor, Mally’s determined smile deflates when finding the history section to be almost back at the very top of the library; the crushing fact being all the more apparent as she glances up to the countless floors that she had dropped down from. A small groan escapes from her lips as she treks over towards the stairwell; dreading the thousands of steps she has to climb to get back up. Really starting to miss the grapple yo here.

Back above this ancient hidden library, the skaters purple brother could still be seen sleeping on the very table that she had left him at; accompanied by piles of stacked books that surround his slumbering head. Soon enough does a curious librarian start to approach the slumbering merc, softly poking the purple boys body from his head, to his torso; each poke causing him to slide a little further off towards the edge of the table. Despite giving the peacefully slumbering young man plenty of taps, none of them prove disturbing enough to get the merc to move himself and awaken from his sleep. They do prove just enough to tilt the purple merc over the edge of the table and make him drop to the hardwood floor; the slam of the drop causing the stack of books left on the side to all spill right on top of the boy’s body. With almost no one but the librarian having witnessed all this, he slowly kneels down and aims his ear down towards the pile of books that had buried the young boy; eventually hearing the merc’s slumbering snoozes past the piles of hardback. When hearing the young man was still breathing under all those tomes, the librarian simply slinks away from the mound of books and continues down the library; acting causally so not to raise any suspicion on his part.

Back down the underground archive of mystical texts below, Mally’s harrowing climb up the dozens upon dozens of steps fairs to be as tedious and monotonous as she had predicted, the constant dull walking starting to wear on the young girl. Not through any physical means by any stretch, but rather more in a mental sense. Just when the seemingly endless steps start to bore her to near literal tears, the orange girl breaks out from her bored trance as she feels one of the steps under her feet softly give; Mally instantly glancing down to discover herself having just stepped on another pressure plate. In that moment does she hears a sharp clink from above and swiftly aims her site up; an alarming jolt courses through her body when witnessing a set of barbed spikes beginning to descend down from the roof of the staircase. The mere site of these blood stained spikes urges her to race up the rest of the steps as fast as her legs could move; scuttling up the stairs by her hand and feet as she swiftly climbs upwards. With the end of the staircase in her sites, Mally glances back towards the rusted blood spikes above her to find them starting closing in; making one incredible lunge out towards the end of the stairs moments before the trap above her drops. Leaping over the last set of steps, Mally slides right across the aged stone tile just before the set of spikes over the stairs slam straight down; meager moments before her body could be skewered.

Taking the moment of calm to breathe, the young lass turns back towards the stairs she had frantically just climbed up and finds the rain of spikes that had nearly crushed her start to lift themselves off the stone step; the rusted metal trap retreating back into the shadows it once fell down from. Fantastic, death traps. Just what any sort of hidden underground study establishment needs. Only need a couple ghouls and gargoyles hovering around and we got ourselves a full on mystic crypt down here.

Slipping her phone out from her pocket once more, she unlocks the screen to review the picture of the map that she had taken; counting up the number of staircases that she had taken in her dull ascent up towards the near top. 26, 27, 28...Seems that there’s only a few more floors to go at this point, just need to watch where the feet go while continuing up and things might turn out okay.

Moving right onto the neighboring set of ascending stairs, the young lass keeps her eyes locked to her feet as she cautiously continues forth; tiptoeing over any sort of awkward step that seems suspicious to her. Can’t be so reckless at this point anymore; even something as minuscule as an offset shadow could very well could lead to a bloody end by the hands of an ancient trap some jackass from long ago set up in their spare time. Practically anything could pop out from the darkness and put an end to this pro rollerblader in the makings short life.

Once having reached the top of the staircase, Mally pulls out her mobile device once more to take another peak at the map; again counting over the number of floors that she had past in her numbing climb up. Let’s see here, 28, 29...30! This is it! Historical records, right here! A clue for what Tore called himself should be right on this very floor. Best start with the A’s, C’s and K’s here.

Proceeding onward through the floor of archived supernatural history, the careful young girl continues to slink her way deeper into the section; her eyes constantly zipping all over from the shelves that surround her all the way down to the tiles beneath her feet for any of them to hold a lethal trap waiting to be triggered. While her site drifts over to the bookcases that stand by her side, Mally could tell of what alphabetical order she stands in by the titles etched in their spines. Looks like all the titles here start with “P” and go up from there. If that’s the case, then the “K’s” shouldn’t be that far off. But the titles of these tomes isn’t the only thing that she notices about their spines, as she notes the pieces of red that splatters across the books; some of their stains stretching down to the bottom of the shelves. Okay, we got blood here. But where could have the bodies have wound up? With little signs of any sort of bodies surrounding her, the orange lass’ eyes trail up towards the roof above her; the girl’s pupils shrinking when discovering the site of numerous molding corpse pierced through the pikes that hang over her. Oh...well, guess that explains the smell...God, some of them don’t look to be older than teenagers. Wonder how many people wound up coming down here by accident? All to be never heard from again. Pretty sad when you think about it.

Breaking her eyes away from the collection of bodies stuck above her head, Mally takes another several careful paces through the historical section as she keeps her eyes onto the floor she walks through; all the while peeking at the titles written on the book spines beside her. N, M, L...K! Right here, This is where the “K’s” should be. Now just to slide through the titles to try and find...What!? Standing before the collection of tomes is she alarmed to notice a couple of empty spaces left between the books; the few books in the “K’s” historical section left missing from these archives. Fucking kidding here!? Who the hell went up and stole from a library as old and as hidden as this!? The rest of the shelves here so far seemed to be full from side to side with tomes and books; what the hell makes these any different!? Reaching out to one of the books that neighbors one of the empty spaces, the young girl finds their titles to start with the letters of “Ky”; an ironic hint of what sort of name she seeks. Ky-br...Seems like somebody or something doesn’t want anyone to dig too deep into this whole matter, but why? What makes the very word something so special to conceal from any prying eyes? Well whatever the case, this little search may not be as much of a dead end as they might have wanted it to be. Angels are still a pretty widely known mythical creature. Maybe this massive archive could have something that connects the two of them.

With this in mind, Mally puts the books she had grabbed back on the shelf and readies to continue towards the very alphabetical start of this history section to further investigate; a hint of dread creeping through her when soon feeling something press against her foot. Slowly glancing down, the orange girl finds her foot having just unwittingly stepped on a nearly invisible wire that stretches just inches above the floor. Realizing another trap was coming, the skaters frantically scan through her surroundings for what sort of contraption may spring and attempts to snuff out her mildly short life. In her little look around, Mally witnesses a set of descending axes that swing down in her direction; leaping right towards the flurry of sharp weapons rather then away from them. Lunging right through the storm of dropping axe’s, the limber and agile skater twist and spin her entire body to evade their razor sharp edges; Mally feels the rusted steel streak just centimeters across her skin as she does a god damn 360 pirouette around the set of deadly weaponry.

After making it straight through the flurry of axes without so much as a scratch, the agile young lass lands right beside the very end of a bookcase; failing to relax as she feels the tile she landed upon give way. Knowing full well she had just stepped right on another pressure plate, she frantically looks through her surroundings once more and preparing for any sort of traps that might spring. From the dark shadows of the library does she witness a set of arrows gliding straight in her direction, the barrage flying ankle high above the stone tile. Seeing the volley of low hanging arrows incoming, the skater leaps up through the air in a graceful front flip to dodge their piercing sharp heads. As she lands back onto the tiled floor, the orange lass finds the next flurry of arrows firing out much higher then the previous set; their deadly tips threatening to pierce right through her orange haired head. To evade this oncoming salvo, the young girl immediately does the splits to lower her head down and away from their path to instead glide straight through her locks of hair. Watching as one more set of arrows flies her way, Mally lowers herself further down with her back to the floor; witnessing the sharp barrage pass right above her entire body. Finding not another storm of deadly arrows firing out from the shadows, the orange skater pulls herself off the floor as a calming sigh escapes from her lungs. Thank goodness for years of rollerblading training and sparing with the bros. Made the body limber as hell.

Tip toeing a little further way through the dust ridden archives, Mally finally makes to the very alphabetical beginning of the historical section. Right at the very end of the “A’s”. Angels are already such a broad subject; this dusty library of the supernatural has to have something to them. From the end of the shelves, the skater glides her finger down the countless spines that stand within the ancient stone shelves. The tip of her index finger sliding against the etched in titles as she continues going down. Right as soon as she spots one of the titles holding the word “Angel” along the spine, Mally swiftly pulls the tome right out from the bookcase and takes a gander to the title plastered on the cover. “Angelic society of the lost” This has to be it. Somewhere in this book there could be a clue for where Tore might be going. Having seemingly found a lead to her little mystery, the young teen gently sits herself down on the dirty stone tile beneath her and cracks open the cover of the book; shining the light of her phone upon the text within. Let’s see here…

From the beginning of recorded earthen history, few findings of these angelic beings have been put into focus and documented as of this books creation. While many of the other primordial creatures saw these powerful beings as nothing more than another creature, one race in particular have adopted them as holy figures for their culture; revering them as messengers to their acclaimed gods and deities. This strange race of worshiping people would hold themselves to a single unifying name: Humanity. Though few interactions of these angels and humans have been scarcely documented, those few events that have managed to be recorded shown the angelic beings offering humanity their blessing for their proof of commitment and loyalty. And though theories have been crafted, what this so called blessing that humanity has been bestowed with has remained a mystery since this tomes publication.

Nonetheless, these angelic people have clearly formed an alliance with early humanity, even going as far as taking on bipedal forms like theirs. Despite their true forms being largely unknown, the angels would gladly take the form of their ally’s to deepen their relations. For nearly the first 5 million years that humanity has kept in contact with the Angels, they were instructed to send one of their young into the caverns of the ascended upon the beginning of every decade to prove their loyalty; a location which is commonly referred to in these days by humanity as Carlsbad Caverns. Even when potential billions of children have descended into these Caverns, none have ever returned to the surface and to their families. When questioned what occurs within these very rocky caverns, all the angels could answer with was that they have ascended with them; an answer which as of this day still has yet to have meaning.

Humanity’s contact with the angels all halted in a single instance, when the Angels suddenly vanished without even a single trace to follow; as if they had left this very plane of existence. Despite the communications between them and the angels seemingly having been cut off for good; some sects of humanity still worship these mysterious powerful beings as holy figures through many ongoing religions; forever seen as messengers to their holy figures.

Once having read all of this for herself, Mally at last shuts the tomes pages to process on all that she had discovered of this once unknown chapter of angelic kind; slipping the book right in her backpack as she rises from the stone tile. Wow...its honestly screwed up how far some pieces of humanity are willing to go for their ideal practices, even sacrificing their own kin to please a mysterious race. Can’t imagine how many bodies are stuffed in those caverns, all of them so young... But still, those cavern in New Mexico must hold some sort of clue to all this; to what Tore called himself, to where that mysterious man is taking him. Though one immediate question still remains to be answered...how the hell doesn’t anybody exit this place?

Once again does the young girl pull her mobile device out from the depths of her overalls, unlocking the screen and taking another look at the map that she had snapped. As she gazes through the every single inch of the entire map, drips of nervous sweat start running down her head when failing to find where exactly the exit of this underground archive may be. The whole place looks to be an isolated from the surface above; with almost no way to climb back up. How the hell is anybody supposed to get out of here then? Do they expect people to just warp in and out of their own will?...Actually, given the shit that’s been seen so far, that might just be it. So that just leaves the question on how a regular person is supposed to break out of here? … Guess there really is just one option here.

Returning to her phones main menu, Mally clicks to her contacts list in hopes of getting through to somebody up above; the sudden bright flash of the contacts pure white background causing the young girl to cover her eyes and tumble backwards. The orange skaters manages to stagger back straight onto a stone wall decorated with an arcane insignia etched within its surface; the markings emitting a powerful glow as soon as she hits herself against the stone. Turning back towards the illuminating mystic symbol, Mally starts to back away from the wall as she witnesses something starting to bulge past the stonework; the bulge growing out a set of triad eyes with a gaping mouth set right in the middle of them all. With all three of the heads eyes staring upon the young lass, Mally takes this site as a more than clear queue to book it the hell away; darting in the opposite direction as the ghastly beast starts to pursue.

Having so little time to see any sort of traps that may lay out before her, the best that the orange girl could do while fleeing from the beast behind her was to take leaping skip after skip over the stone tile ahead; all the while hoping that she doesn’t land on any sort of pressure plate beneath her feet. Its when noticing herself approaching near the “M’s” of this historical section that an idea springs into mind, soon gazing up ahead for any sort of tripwires or plates to trigger. Taking a look back to the ghoul that chases after her, Mally slams her foot straight onto a pressure plate up ahead and leaps back before she could be caught in the trap she had triggered. Right as the monstrosity was but inches from catching its prey, the ceiling full of old corpses above starts to close inward and clasp the pale specter between in its spikes.

The beast that bared its teeth to her seemingly having been vanquished, the girls smile beams bright upon knowing that she just outwitted the monster; a righteous snicker escaping from her lips and echoing through the rest of the library. Its in the midst of claiming victory that the young lady’s jaw suddenly drop when witnessing stretches of white squeeze itself out from the cracks of the pinching ceiling; the beasts three eyes staring at the girl as it starts to escape from the trap. Mally bolts away moments before the ghastly beast could free itself, continuing its feverish pursuit towards its fleeting prey, the ghouls fangs bared as it pursues after. Dammit! Why the hell isn’t Roy awake yet!? Can’t he sense all this happening right below him!?

Back at the library up above, several people causally pass by a mess of books all piled up beside a table filled with more tomes; some of them jumping back when witnessing somebody burst out from this pile of knocked over texts. With a soft yawn escaping him, Roy pulls himself right out of the mound of books that he had been buried in and right off the floor; cracking his eyes open as his lips let out a couple smacks. Well, that nap managed to do fuck all. Barely learned anything about that whole Kybr shit Tore was yammering about. All that came out from that little snooze was just on how Abraham Lincoln lead a secret organization of underground steam work revolutionaries. Cool shit to read about, but nothing usefully relevant. Wait a sec, where the hell did Mal go? His question is swiftly answered when the merc senses his sisters life force trailing beneath his feet; sensing the girl rapidly moving with something else pursuing after her. Oh...oh I get it… Just leave me to do all the studying while you go and do fun shit? Like hell you’re hogging all the action for yourself.

Realizing where his sister wound up, the purple merc quickly ascends to the very top of the grand library; the people around him drawing their attention away from their books and towards the rising black angel. Once reaching the glass dome hanging high above the library, Roy starts to rapidly plummet down towards the bottom floor with his single fist aimed towards the ground; those witnessing the young man rocket downward all fleeting from his suggested point of impact. Just one slamming strike is all that Roy needs to quite literally punch straight through the polished wood floor, the entire library engulfed in a puff of sawdust.

Continuing to flee from the pursuing ghastly monster, the young skater turns along another bookshelf to find the path ahead leading to what seemed like a dead end; nothing but the stone guard rail splitting the dusty library air over. Without an ounce of hesitation does the orange lass vault right over the stone guard and begin plummeting down towards the bottom of the supernatural library; the pale beast that tails her dropping down in its chase. Mally swiftly brandishes her trusty hockey stick and thrusts its bent end right into the stone railing beside her; her weapons caught between the pillars that make up the guard. When she witnesses the triad eyed beast dropping down overhead, the skater quickly pulls herself up to the top of the guard and rolls onto the floor on the other side. A clever smirk stretches across her face when beholding the monster that pursued her continuing to plummet down; that same smile diminishing when watching the ghastly pale head looping through the air and darting back in her direction. With the strange beast continuing to tail after, the skater dashes away in turn deeper through the floor of the library; continuing to skip along the stone tile as the monster pursues.

The roof of the ancient supernatural library suddenly collapses as a purple and black streak punches straight through, soon to crash right on the bottom floor and reducing the etched table below to splinters. When the untouched dust of the broken table finally begins to settles, its reveals the purple merc pulling himself off the table maps remains; a sharp hiss drawn between Roy’s teeth as he grasps the side of his rib cage. Cutting through the pain does a familiar voice reach the purple angel’s ears, hearing his sister call out to him with: “Roy, up here! Mind lending a hand!?” Pushing the pain in his ribs back, the merc swiftly ascends to the floor where he senses his sister; Roy vaulting over the railing to discover Mally being fiercely pursued by a three eyed ghoul ready to bite down upon her. With a lunge straight towards the two of them, Roy shouts out for his young sister to: “Jump aside!” Mally does what her purple brother demands and leaps out behind the nearest bookcase, left to watch as Roy tackles the ghastly monster straight into the shelves off to the side.

Just moments before the pale beast could slip out from the merc’s reach, it soon feels the very end of its tail being tugged back; the monsters triad eyes glancing to its backside in a cold sweat to discover the purple angel keeping a tight grasp on it with but his single arm strewn in threads of black. “He he he he. Bet ya didn’t think there was anyone out there that could grab a ghost like you, did you? I can practically see the panic in those three pupils of yours. “Holy shit, how the hell can he touch me!? What’s he gonna do!?” is what they’re telling me. Those cemented thoughts of how you could just chase around and eat whoever came down here are probably crumbling at the seems, aren’t they? You like watching people squirm for their lives as you chomp down on them, I think its you’re turn to feel the same kind of fear you’ve been inflicting on them first hand, you blobby son of a bitch.”

Finishing this remark, the purple merc thrust his teeth straight into the ghastly spirits pale white flesh; the beastly ghoul letting out a terrified yelp as its body from the tail up start being consumed by the black winged angel. Desperate to escape from the jaws of its newfound predator, the ghostly beast darts through the library while flailing about in hopes of freeing its tail from the chomping merc; Roy refusing to let go of his meal despite being repeatedly smashed into bookcase after bookcase. “You think I’ll let go that easily!?” the merc muffles with his mouth full, continuing to devour the ghostly beasts body. With the beasts bottom half swallowed by the purple young man, Roy punches through the stone tile beneath him to anchor himself to the floor; continuing to vore down the ghastly monster as it struggles to escape from his jaw. The best that the poor spirit could at that point was to claw the bookcase beside them with its circular mouth in the vain hope to keep from being consumed, an endeavor which serves the fearful beast little as the merc consumes the monster further down his throat. Eventually does the ghostly beast teeth loose its grip upon the bookcase’s stone, the monster having little left to hold onto as its vacuumed down Roy’s throat; the merc swallowing the entire beast in just a single gulp like a ghostly noodle. After letting out a satisfied exhale, small hiccups start to pop out from the bowels of his stomach; cursing out how: “God dammit! As if I need this hiccuping shit with the condition my ribs are (hic) in now!”

Just a single hiccup is all it takes for the mercs sides to painfully ache; Roy kneeling down to the stone tile as he clutches his ribs. Seeing her brother in this sort of pain draws her to approach the downed merc and question: “Roy, is it your ribs!?” “Yep, pretty mu- (hic) much. Guess I really need about another week before I’m back in (hic) top form. Fuck, this hurts. What the hell were you even (hic) doing down here anyway?” As she reaches into her backpack, the young lass attempts to explain how: “I kinda wound up in her by total accident if you can believe it. But I did manage to fi-” Moments before the girl could pull the tome out from her bag, both her brother and her hear somebody up above shout to them: “Freeze!” Gazing up towards the hole in the roof that Roy had left, both of them bare witness to a dozens officers aiming their firearms at the two; one of them ordering to: “Both of you get back up here, now!”

Surrounding the cracked grand library be countless police cruisers and vehicles, with dozens of officers on the scene and helping people out of the archives. The officers could be seen passing by both Roy and Mally, who rest at the bottom of the library’s steps as their blue haired mother stands before them and sharply question: “Just what in the hell were both of you thinking doing this? Do you know the kind of trouble you two could have been in?” “Mom, we were just-” the orange girl attempts to explains, but is cut off by her mom. “I know that both of you are desperate to figure out where your brother ran off too, but that does give you the excuse to just mindlessly destroy public property. You two are incredibly lucky that the library drop the charges for uncovering all those books underneath them.”

Right in the middle of getting this earful, the sitting merc suddenly clutches his side as a sharp hiss is drawn between his teeth. “And as for you, I imagine that you managed to get roughed up while both of you were down there and made you’re injuries worse, didn’t you?” His mothers guess proving completely accurate, all that Roy could give as a response was a groaning moan while he averts his gaze from the blue haired woman. He immediately returns his eyes to her and scoots back as the mom gets inches in the mercs face and reiterates on how: “I warmed you that this crap would happen if you wound up getting into trouble and look what you did to yourself. I bet your ribs will have to have another week before they fully heal.” “Alright, fine. I fucked up. Ain’t the seething pain from my broken ribcage enough of a punishment?” “Hell no!”

Hanging off to the side of this furious exchange, Mally reaches into her pack as she decide to pull the conversation back with: “Well despite the mess, I’m at least glad I fished out some clues out from all of this.” “Oh yeah. You find something down there?” her purple brother questions, both their mother and him watching as the orange girl pulls out a book from the depths of her backpack. “I found this book on angels while I was wondering around and read a lot on their relationships with humanity. I think we might be able to fish more info out on the place this book had mentioned. Carlsbad caverns.” “But those caverns are all the way down in New Mexico, how are you planning on getting there quick enough.” the mother asks. When their eyes trace over to the injured merc, Roy iterates on how to: “Don’t look at me. I haven’t gotten much cash in since you two forced be to stay in bed.” “That’s fine, Roy. I don’t think we’ll be needing that much cash anyway. I might know of a couple other friends that can help me get around.”

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Well, I'm back. Took all this time to catch up and start making the season of Young hope I had in mind for a long time now, all to reveal the mysterious nature of Tore and Roy's powers and its mark on history in this world. Hope you stay long enough to see where this all goes.

#lillaxtrigger #younghope

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