CHPT 56: The Library

Wednesday Oct 18, 2240

Claude spent a little over a week at the University since he woke up as a Lupine. Not much has changed, he's been getting acclimated to the fairly strict life at the Uni again which involves; training, studying and more training. During this time he's spent a good portion of his free time repairing his friendship with Ursula and Warren— what he hasn't noticed is Ursula's watchful eyes studying him whenever he wasn't aware. Even though she knew it was Claude, she still felt like there was something different about him, more than the trauma they all gained from the Deviant.

***

Claude headed to the library after dinner. He'd never been there so he was fairly excited, but he was even more excited— nervous about why he was going, he was finally going to get answers about what he fought in the Redwoods. He hoped.

Briskly. He walked through the main hall and headed up the steps. As he climbed the final set of stairs that put him on the level where all the first years' rooms were, he bumped into someone who was coming around the corner.

"Ugh!"

"Ohh!"

Claude quickly backed up and looked down at who he ran into. Ursula wiped her forehead saying, "This is kinda nostalgic, isn't it?"

Claude looked at her oddly before the memory hit him like a cannonball. They ran into each other like this before, when he lost to Samuel in the sparring event at the C.S Academy.

"We were both still human back then." Claude thought to himself before answering.

"Hehe. Yea."

"So, where ya' going?" She asked happily.

"Uhhhh, Library."

"Library? Most first years don't have a reason to go there, why are you going?"

"I just have some questions that need answering that's all."

Ursula leaned in close and side eyed him suspiciously. "Yo-"

"Hey guys. Where are you headed?" Warren asked as he appeared from behind Ursula's bulky frame in a casual shirt and pants that were navy blue.

Ursula hesitated for a moment before she jumped beside Claude saying, "We're going to the Library, and so are you."

Warren looked at Claude with a confused expression and all he could do was raise his shoulders confusedly before they both followed Ursula upstairs to the Library.

The third level of the University was an area none of them had ever been to before, this level of the University housed the 2nd and 3rd years as well as the vast and heavily informative Library, according to Prof. Raizen.

The level looked similar but also different to their own, with a long hallway to the left that held the students' individual rooms and a longer hallway to the right that held a number of different rooms. The biggest difference was the giant wall of windows right in front of the students rooms giving them a nice view as soon as they opened their doors in the mornings. The doors to their rooms even looked better, having a professional shine and a bright Phoenix insignia right in the center designed to outline there names.

"Man.. how come our rooms look like prison cells and theirs look like..... this??" Warren asked.

"I kinda like our rooms." Claude responded as they turned right and headed down the hallway full of unknown rooms.

"Woah! Look at the bows in there!" Warren said while looking through the door window to the room titled; The Armory. Claude peeked through the windows from behind Warren noticing the deceptively large room had to have an array of weapons and supplies that rivaled even Bergrin's Blades.

They continued down the hall passing a storage room, Armor room and a couple others that they didn't pay attention too due to finding the Library entrance.

At the end of the hall to their right lied another, shorter hallway. The hallway led to a large double doored entrance with the word "Library" written above it in a stylistic orange colored font that stood out from the black framing around the doors.

"Well, let's go." Claude said, still feeling the urgency to get answers to his questions.

He led the group down the hall towards the large entrance of the Library.

***

Claude pushed the doors open and was immediately hit with the wholesome smell of old paper, leather and wood. As they surveyed their surroundings, one look appeared on all their faces, astonishment.

The Library's walls seemed to be made out of completely filled bookshelves that fit the architecture of the room perfectly and stood at incredible heights of at least twenty feet. The floor was a refreshing change from the usual black and orange tiles, they instead stood on beautiful high polished dark wood floors. The was as impressive as the rest of the Library, it held art of one of the first and most famous Heroes ever.

"That's the Hero, Gloria." Warren said while looking at the ceiling.

"How come we barely ever hear or read about the very person who was the first to be Reborn and save the Old Worlds United States?" Ursula asked.

"I'm guessing it's because not much was known about her, do you know much about her, Claude?" Warren asked.

"Uhh, no. I know the story everyone knows about how the first Tangent opened and and released a S ranked horde of goblins that severely damaged the entire west coast. Once they entered New York, a mysterious woman showing incredible strength and supernatural abilities killed them all, then kind of disappeared. Allegedly, all that was left of hers was a leather jacket with a damaged ID inside that had the name Gloria on it."

"Yea same." Ursula said.

Claude took his eyes off the ceiling and noticed the large amount of mature and poised looking students seated at desks and chairs around the Library.

"This must be part of the transition from first to second and third year. You no longer focus on your own abilities and progress, instead you focus heavily on the monsters in the Tangents and their behaviors once they get out." Claude thought.

"Well, didn't you come for books?" Ursula asked.

"Oh. Right." Claude said and approached the front desk.

A woman with pure white hair that looked to be in her late 50's sat comfortably behind the front desk. She was incredibly attractive for her age due to her lack of wrinkles and shapely physique.

"How can I help you guys?" She said with a bright white smile.

"...."

Ursula looked at Claude and saw that he was staring intently at the Librarian. She punched the side of his leg whispering, "Wake up, your drooling!".

"erhm...sorry, I'm not sure how to navigate this Library so do you think you could point me in the direction of books on Demons?"

After Claude said the word Demon, the librarian lost her smile and looked at him with a raised eyebrow of suspicion.

"Demons?"

"Yes ma'am."

The librarian held his gaze for a while longer before saying, "Behind me, towards the very back end, last row on the left."

"Thank you."

As Claude rounded the desk, Ursula sped up to his side.

"Why demons?" She asked.

"Remember that snake in the Redwoods?"

"The big one?" Warren chimed in.

"Yea that one. After we killed it the name it displayed for me was weird."

"What did it say?" Ursula asked.

"Well, we were only supposed to be fighting Plated Snakes, but that one was called a (HellBred) Plated Snake Mother, and it had some weird scorch mark on its neck."

"What....the...he— never mind." Warren said as they traveled past rows upon rows of bookshelves and quietly reading students.

They reached a jet black bookshelf that was darker than the rest, Claude could feel the mana that permeated from the shelf like a thick and murky fog. Suddenly he saw overlapping markings and words that glowed and pulsed bright red like they were alive. As they pulsed against the dark exterior of the bookshelf, a fresh wave of powerful mana brushed past his skin.

"These books must have some type of protection placed on them, probably by a HexBlade." Ursula said.

"Uhh...what's that?" Warren asked.

"It's a powerful swordsmen class that uses curses/buffs and magical traps, its actually a pretty powerful class, I'm surprised you don't know about them."

"That sounds badass." Claude whispered while he looked over the books on the shelf.

"Hmmmm....what are we looking for?" Warren said.

"Anything about Demon types or uhhh variations. Maybe something about passing on Demonic traits to something that isn't a Demon." Claude responded.

Warren shivered before he stepped closer to the bookshelf and began his search.

After about three minutes of searching, Claude found something promising.

"Hmmm. I think I'll check this out."

"What is it?" Ursula asked from a squatted position while she looked at the books down lower on the bookshelf.

"Demons: Physiology and Variations of the Most Malevolent Race."

"Sounds intense, grab it." Warren said.

Claude reached up for the book and felt the flow of mana reach out and touch his fingers, sending chills and heat waves through his hand as the energy intertwined and mingled with his own.

He pulled the book out of the shelf and felt it pull slightly like it was bound by an invisible rope. "It's tethered somehow." He realized.

They headed away from the shelf in search of a table to sit at. They found a free table on the right side of the Library near a giant window that gave them a view of the beautiful starry night sky. As Ursula and Warren sat down with Demon books of their own, Claude went still and began acting strangely.

Ursula watched him stop and sniff the air like an animal.

"Claude what are you doing?" She asked in a worried tone.

"I smell something odd." He said.

Claude noticed the smell was getting stronger to his right, down towards the bookshelves a few feet away from them. Seemingly on queue, a student emerged from behind the bookshelves sniffing the air just like he was.

He had hair similar to Claudes that was a very light shade of brown—almost sandy blonde, and it hung down to his shoulders. As he got closer to Claude, he realized they were the same height at around 6'3. He had a long and lanky build like he didn't lift weights and strong hazel colored eyes that were very visible against his relatively pale skin.

"Can we help you?" Ursula said as she rose from her seat and stood beside Claude.

The student ignored her and continued to stare at Claude while his nostrils flared from constantly smelling the air.

"You smell like....wolf piss." The student said.

Claude sniffed the air in return before responding, "You smell like....pigs bloo-"

Claude stopped mid sentence and realized why the student said that. "Does the name Fenrir mean anything to you?"

The student raised an eyebrow and responded, "Cern said something about that being a stupid oversized mutt."

"Cern?? Would that by any chance be a god who chose to share its power with you?"

The student suddenly looked proud and arrogant as he responded, "Yes, the mighty Cernnunos, God of the Hunt, has chosen me as his disciple."

He suddenly stopped and looked like he was thinking deeply. "Wait...Fenrir...you— your Fenrir's disciple?"

"Uhh yea." Claude said with a nervous smile.

The students eyes lit up and a smile slowly grew on his face. "Well....my names Chase Greenwood." He said. Once he introduced himself, his finger shot up to Claudes face and he blurted out.

"Disciple of the Wolf, you will be my rival!!!"