Arc 1. Chapter 12. Horror in the face of the man.

He was sitting on the floor of the gray library in The Castle of Motions.

In front of him was a pile of books he had quickly looked through but without any result.

In his lap, a new book lay, opened in the middle as he was currently searching through it.

He had realized long ago that he had underestimated this mission.

Not only were there thousands upon thousands of books in that library, but they were in no particular order at all.

He sighed deeply.

It seemed like he had gotten stuck on a chapter about the history of the world, not that he didn't find it kind of fascinating, but it didn't tell him anything about how to escape this world.

"–"

"Found anything?"

"sigh, no, nothing, sorry."

Phil came out from between two bookshelves standing side by side, facing each other.

In his arms, he carried another pile of books, significantly bigger than Han's, which he had probably read.

Han sighed.

"No worries, it's not like I'm in that much of a hurry…"

He bowed his head down and tried to think.

Where could a book telling him how to escape that world be hidden?

He had no idea, and neither did Phil.

They had been searching for hours now and Han felt like he wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again.

His back hurt and his butt was once again cold because of the gray floor which almost seemed to be emitting cold.

He sighed again, something that he had started doing a lot since he met Phil, and stretched his back before lifting the book in his lap once more to see if he could maybe find something at the end of it.

"You're still hanging out with the outsider?"

The door to the library opened as a girl, Sayora walked in.

After she came Finn, anxiously looked around and quickly sprinted up to his friend Phil.

It had almost been a day since he was last here, only this time, without Cloudia or Meno, and with the biggest disadvantage of all the gray children forgetting him and his name.

He didn't know what had happened, only that no one in that world seem to know or recognize him.

This had shocked him at first and then saddened him a little.

He had been able to gain some of their trust before, which hadn't been difficult, but it felt awkward to do it again when the only thing that seemed to have changed was their ability to remember him.

In his previous visit, Sayora's cold attitude toward him had quickly melted away, maybe because she saw Phil giving him a chance and letting Han do whatever, maybe because she thought Morris the Cyclops dog would protect Phil if Han tried to hurt him in any way.

Either way, her cold demeanor towards him made him a little disappointed in himself for not being able to regain her trust like his previous visit to this place.

Han gave Sayora a bitter smile while Finn gestured some signs to Phil.

Han quickly took notice of this and asked.

"Hey, why are you making those weird signs?"

Finn turned around and Phil quickly explained to Han.

"sigh, uhm, you see, Finn is deaf, kinda."

"Deaf, kinda?"

"sigh, yeah, those headphones he has blocked all sound from reaching him."

"What?"

The way he said that made Han think, Why don't you just take off those headphones then? but Phil answered him without him even asking.

"sigh, so, there are not only wishes in this world but curses. curses come off as wishes but work like a disability instead. Finn's curse is that he can never take off his headphones, ish."

"Wow, that sounds shitty."

Phil translated to Finn what they had said and Finn signed back to Phil something.

"sigh, he says, 'Yes it is, I wish I could take these off as much as anyone, but I'll have to use this sign language for now', sigh."

"That sounds awful, but hella cool that you can use sign language, Finn!"

Phil and Finn exchanged signs and Phil translated to Han.

"sigh, he says 'thank you'."

Han looked at Finn, who was smiling adorably.

From what Han could tell, Finn was younger than Phil, probably around fourteen while Phil was maybe fifteen. This would make him the eldest in that room since Sayora didn't look much older than Phil so he guessed she was fifteen, maybe sixteen too.

Han stood up and looked at the children.

"Exactly how many of you are there?"

"What would you do with that information?!"

"Chill out, I'm not a creep or something, I just wanna know if there are more than just you five."

Something in Phil's look changed after he said this and Sayora, who already was suspicious of him, looked like she was ready to attack for some reason.

"What?"

As Han questioned the situation, Phil gave a smile to ease his heart and said without a sigh.

"it seems you are curious, huh? Well, there are eleven of us, you already know us five so, Geo, Meli, Carl, Hild, Hana, and Kay. And if you are curious about the castle, try reading a book?"

"Like that isn't all I've done today! Eleven of you, huh?"

When he thought about it, he had only seen twenty-two eyes yesterday, twenty-one if he didn't count Sayora's patched eye.

When he thought of it…

"Why is your eye patched?"

"You're asking questions about me now, huh? What are you planning?"

"Didn't you listen to what I said?!"

This new version of Sayora got on his nerves.

She was constantly suspicious of his every act, taking all of it the wrong way entirely.

Phil seemed to signal for her to calm down, and much like the other gray children, she obliged, but hesitantly, still on her guard.

"Even I couldn't know that."

"Then what was the point of hiding it?!"

He sighed and crossed his arms.

The two of them didn't seem to like nor dislike him, but Sayora acted in a strange, almost threatening behavior like a mother warning a predator not to come close to her cubs.

But Han's intentions were not like that, at all.

Phil, whose curiosity seemed to be strong, no matter if he remembered Han or not, had helped him search through the library, and once again spoke his depressing view of the monotone world and how much he disliked it.

Han tightened the scarf around his neck as he looked down on the ground.

"Can I… somehow confirm that I am no danger to you."

Phil sighed.

"if you wish no harm, you wish no harm. that somebody sees you another way is their mind telling them that you are a threat. Even if you aren't, even if your actions show that you are not a threat and they still see you as one, that is their problem. you can not fight imagination or delusion."

"Hey now! I'm not that cruel, am I?!"

Sayora interrupted Phil's words, but Han didn't listen to her.

Phil was right. If the gray children saw him as a threat even if he wasn't, there was a possibility that he could not change that view of himself.

The first thing people see you as is what they will continue to see you like.

A first impression is important after all, and showing up at their doorstep telling them that they previously knew each other, maybe wasn't the best first impression ever.

But to Han, these people were familiar. No way that this could change for him.

In his mind, Sayora was way goofier than she acted, Phil was as tired and serious as ever and the other gray children were mysterious but each of them unique in their way.

He shook his head.

After all, they were all just like him.

"So, who are you anyway?"

The four gray children were now sitting beside each other.

Finn had decided to join Phil and Han's search and so had Sayora, to Han's surprise.

He hadn't told the two of them what the actual goal was, because Phil had whispered to him that there is always someone who tells The Housemaster about the events of that day, and people like Sayora, who trusts The Housemaster deeply, wouldn't hesitate to tell him about Han's plans.

Instead, Phil had told the two to search for books involving all sorts of stuff, which Han couldn't understand why.

Phil had practically told them to search through all other books but those that they needed to search through.

Han didn't know if this was intentional, but Finn and Sayora hadn't made any objections, probably because the two were bored out of their mind, he didn't know why though.

//their ball is broken

Either way, piles and piles of books were being stacked atop one another.

Each book where thick and contained many pages of information which added to the height of the tower Han and Sayora were now building.

It was a race to see who could place the last book atop that giant tower.

The two of them held the determination to not lose this silent battle as they quickly flipped through the pages of every book they could get their hands on.

Sayora had the upper hand since she could practically read any book she wanted but Han was using all of his brain power to skip through the various chapters about Gando, Umbara, and great deserts.

What slowed Sayora down was Phil asking her what the book was about every time she was done quickly skipping through one.

But this didn't stop her as she quickly explained and then got back to reading as fast as she could.

The two of them were in a silent reading battle to see whose intelligence was greater, and in the end…

"Krasch!!"

The great tower of books came down onto Han's side, creating a wave of books that covered him from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head.

"Ah-! Help!"

Han was laying under the many books that had fallen on him, leaving him stranded in a sea of paper and leather.

"Whoops! Here, I will help you!"

"–!"

A hand grasped his own and he was dragged out of the debris.

Han was quickly dragged up from under the books, saved from a very strange way of suffocation.

He thought he was lost, however, Sayora, now standing before him with a half-worried look, mainly because of what she had caused rather than because she had possibly hurt Han, but it didn't bother him.

"Thank you…"

He bowed down and steadied himself with his hands on his knees as he panted a little.

"No problem, sir outsider."

"Never mind then!"

The seemingly friendly act was all a scheme as Sayora quickly went back to her usual coldness, only that she wasn't cold towards him anymore, but rather like she looked at him more like a rival or maybe an acquaintance.

He smiled at her and got up, stretching his back.

"So, who won?"

"Me of course!" Sayora exclaimed but Phil interrupted.

"sigh, the final score goes to Finn, he read more books than both of you combined."

"Wha-?!"

The two of them, Sayora and Han looked at Finnm who was sitting beside a tower of books. This tower didn't rival the length of their own, only because it was more than twice as big!

Han stared and Sayora grimaced.

"That's it, I give up! Goodnight!"

"Hey, wait a minute! It's night?!"

There were windows around the library, but they showed the outside corridor with its many lit-up torches instead of the light from the outside, even though they were both white.

"Yeah, I just feel it, IN MY BLOOD!!"

Sayora yipped herself and made a victory pose before running over to the door at the entrance of the library.

"Phil, you coming?"

"sigh, yeah, I need to use the bathroom. Finn, are you?"

Phil signed up to Finn to ask if he was also coming, but Finn signed back something that made Phil sigh in displease.

"sigh, alright, he is staying here. Han, take good care of him, okay?"

"What is he, an unsupervised child?"

"yeah, can you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I will."

Phil nodded appreciatively before following Sayora out of the library.

"Cya!" Sayora waved.

"It's 'see you', loser."

Sayora stuck out her tongue at him before the door closed behind them, leaving Han and Finn alone together in the library.

Han looked at Finn, who seemed enchanted by the book he was reading, not looking back as he browsed the pages intensely.

Han sighed.

It couldn't be helped, huh?

He had started to care about these children more than he thought.

The door to the library opened anew.

"bad news, Han!"

"What?"

Han put down the book he was reading as Phil came sprinting in with a look of fear in his eyes.

"What I feared would happen, has happened!"

"What has happened?!"

Han and Finn had continued browsing through various books, Han searching for a specific thing while Finn hadn't.

The two of them had been there for an hour or two more than Phil and Sayora.

Sayora said she was going to sleep and Phil was going to the bathroom.

But it had taken longer than expected and Han had thought Phil also went to bed, so his now panicked state made even Han nervous.

"Morris has come!"

Han's eyes went wide.

Morris, the Cyclops dog that had been the reason for his death, had returned.

When Han first entered the library, it had been guarding over it, but today had been different and Phil had told him so.

Where had that dog been?

Why had it come back?

Finn looked at Han as he rose from the floor.

He signed to Phil and Phil signed back something that made even Finn looked stressed.

"it doesn't know you, does it, Han?"

"N-no I doubt it- ah!"

Phil grabbed his arm and quickly dragged him out of the library and into the corridor.

"Now listen to me!" Phil said with a much more serious tone of voice.

"Escape to the caves in the gray mountains, there you will probably be safe. Don't look back and do no turnaround!"

"Wha- Okay-!"

Han started sprinting toward the stairs but Phil exclaimed.

"You have no time! Use the windows!"

"What-?!"

"Use the damn windows!!"

Seeing the extremely serious look on Phil's face made Han's doubt disappear.

There was a reason why all the gray children had such respect for him, and he would know why.

"Krasch-!"

The window he jumped at, broke, and he fell down fifteen feet before rolling on the ground.

He hadn't done it correctly and from his shoulder came a loud Crack that echoed through his bones and made him feel nauseous.

Despite this, he had to run, because if he didn't, Morris would catch him.

He knew how dangerous the dog was when interacting with faces it didn't recognize, but wouldn't it recognize Han's face as someone that it killed?

No, if the gray children had forgotten about him, then maybe Morris had too.

He barely had time to think as a roar was heard as well as the front entrance of the castle exploding, making big stone bricks fly all over the grassy plain.

Han ran. Ran for his life as a colossal dark beast threw itself on the plain where it had left a great mess of stone blocks.

"What the hell is that-?!"

Han continued running with all his might, ignoring the shoulder he had just hurt badly.

He had broken into a fast run, sprinting over the plains quickly, evading the big blocks of stone still raining down on the area.

Pant, pant, his breathing went and dub-dub went his heart as fear enveloped him while he ran for his life.

Long shadows stretched over the plains and Han could feel the sense of hunger creep up on him, like gluttony itself was watching his gray back as he ran into the darkness that had fallen over the gray lands.

He just had to reach the cave and he would be fine.

Phil had suggested hiding there, but his intentions were different.

If he reached the cave, he would be able to get back to Cloud's library.

Maybe then would he be saved, maybe then would he survive.

Then he heard something that made him almost collapse. The sound of a tree being easily broken down into nothing, a tree just like himself.

"Death is upon you, yet again, Eternal Han."

And then, his body was crushed in a second.