The Twins

Everyone rested for a while as the clerics exhausted their energy into healing everyone's wounds.

One of the twins tended to Colton. He could partially see the twin's face, he was young but tainted by the injuries of magic casting with a few small scars similar to Calliope.

As the rest of the team was getting healed, both clerics became more tired. One sat next to Colton, heavily exhausted but managed to heal Colton of any wounds.

He pulled back his hood, revealing short dark blue hair.

"Colton was it?" He spoke, turning his head to him. His voice was young, similar to Celestine.

Not wanting to cause awkwardness or be rude, he replied. "Yeah, head of the dungeon."

"Good to meet you. I heard of you times from Calliope. I should actually give thanks, for making my life easier. Far less injured people I need to heal from stabbings or disease." The cleric laughed.

Colton never had a time to meet the Clerics, thus he was shocked at the demeanor of a revered healer of the kingdom.

"Apologies for my lack of formality. I just never went on a mission that required more than just treating people. Now i have to read texts and be near the fight all the time." After talking, he got up, putting his hood up again.

"Well, I should head back now. My sister would probably smack me with her staff again or Calliope needs me to translate some text." He extended a hand to Colton.

"Come, maybe we can continue talking while on the move, I heard Calliope found something useful from the book and I sense we might have to start heading off again." Hearing this, Colton grabbed his hand and got up on his feet.

Calliope was busy reading the book that spawned the mage, staring deeply into it as if she found something extraordinary inside it.

Celestine was busy with talking to the other twin, her hood down as well revealing dark red hair that reached down to her shoulders. She seemed more cold compared to her twin, talking with a constant serious expression.

While walking back to the main group, Calliope stepped in the middle of it, holding the book with one hand, calling for everyone's attention. Once everyone turned to her, she began to speak.

"If what this text says is true. There lies a unique type of book in the middle of each bookshelf path. And the one we walked on has this as well. We would need to start walking again." Before anyone could react, a portal formed behind her, beyond it was the spot they rested in before returning to the desk area.

"Fortunately, we need to walk a shorter distance now." She finished.

Everyone started to walk towards the portal, the twins had their hoods on again and the rest of the group was fully healed, prepared for another fight.

The portal vanished after everyone stepped through it, everything was the same as it was. The knocked over books, the cold wind, and the eerie silence. With no delay, Calliope ordered everyone to start moving. Colton stayed behind them.

He simply viewed the nearly infinite lines of books, mesmerized and confused at the same time.

"Walk faster, we need to stay together as a unit." A voice suddenly ordered, catching Colton off guard. He realized that the other twin was walking next to him, despite being similar in age to her brother, she had a tone of strictness that made Colton stand at attention for a second.

"I'm sorry." He quickly replied, now walking faster to catch up with the main group. The girl looked at him, only the bottom part of her face and a small lock of hair was visible.

"Good, be prepared. We have little time to rest and must keep moving forward." She continued. Colton felt irritated but kept it to himself, she reminded him of the strict army commander he once fought for in the past, just without the motivational speech or desperation of the battlefield backing his words up.

"Sister, you don't need to be so loud. We're in a library after all." The other twin chuckled, slowing down to walk side by side with her.

"This is the first time we do something like this, at least show some discipline and tact." She started walking faster, getting ahead of the main group to Calliope and leaving the two. The other cleric turned to Colton.

"I'm sorry for her behavior, she's normally not this strict. But I guess a new mission made her triple as serious. Even on diplomatic missions Clarissa prefers to keep to herself."

"Clarissa?" Colton asked, confused.

"Yeah, Clarissa. That's her real name. Oh right, my name is Oliver. Nobody really knows our real names and just calls us the twins or some other title." The new information caught Colton by surprise.

Before Colton could respond, Calliope ordered the group to rest for a short while. Everyone started to sit down close to one another on the side of a bookshelf, tired. But Clarissa continued to stand up straight next to Calliope, whispering something to her.

The group sat close, each were locked in their own conversations with one another.

"So, where did you get that outfit?" Oliver asked, staring at Colton's black coat.

"They gave this to me when I became a warden head. Never asked where it came from, but it is quite comfortable." Colton replied. Oliver sighed after hearing the response.

"I wish we had that kind of clothing, this cloak is pretty boring and simple."

While the two started to talk with each other on their outfits, Calliope ordered the group to get up and move again.

Everyone returned to walking, their footsteps echoing down the hallway. From the front, Clarissa started to walk slower until she was next to Oliver.

"Move to the front, we need to lead with Calliope. There's no time for talking." She instructed. WIth a sigh, he joined with his sister in walking to the very front of the group.

Colton started to walk faster, getting nearer to them. The sense of not being close to the main group had him on edge.

The library continued on, and with each passing minute, Colton became more cautious. He repeatedly looked behind them, expecting an ambush or something else.

The fear kept on, forcing him to walk closer to the front. He was now walking just behind the twins and Calliope.

The group was purely silent, all focused on the task at hand.

While walking, Colton could hear the twins quietly arguing to one another.

He could hear their voices becoming more exhausted, using most of their energy beforehand healing the others.

"They don't seem to have a good dynamic." Celestine whispered from behind, watching the two argue as well.

"What did you talk to her about?" He whispered back, wanting to gain more information on Clarissa.

"Well she barely talked about anything other than the mission, when i asked her a few questions she simply just declined to answer. She sounded very uptight, reminds me of my teachers." She explained, Colton looked back at the twin. The two stopped arguing, walking silently with each other.

An hour had passed and Calliope ordered them to rest again.

Calliope finally sat as well to rest, Colton sat down close to her, taking deep breaths and resting his legs.

She turned her head, noticing Colton's presence.

"This place is interesting…"

"How so?" He asked, with nothing else going on he preferred to have a conversation with the only person he truly knew in the group.

"It says here the book that will bring us to a different world is protected by guards, special guards." She explained, the book was already halfway finished by her.

"Guards? Just like the ones we fought?"

"Yes, but these guards are different. Meant to be able to repel numbers of fighters, even knights." She continued, she had no sign of being tired from the walking or the reading.

"Once we kill the guards, we can enter inside. Perhaps gain more knowledge there."

She stayed silent afterwards, reading to herself instead. The twins both looked very tired, sitting across from Colton, Oliver was on the verge of passing out. The other members of the group were also quiet, inspecting their weapons or looking around.

Colton took the time to relax, taking a few deep breaths and staring blankly at the books in front of him.

His time of silence was broken by Calliope ordering everyone to start moving again.

Everyone went on the move again, moving down the path once more. Calliope continued to read from her book while the rest seemed to not want to speak at the moment.

In the middle of the walk, Calliope turned around while walking.

"Once we reach the book world. Be on your guard. I do not know what we'll face there." She spoke, turning her head towards Colton

"Didn't know you also practiced defensive magic." Colton replied, with the memory of her fighting the mage back at the tables and desk area.

Although they were still tired, he hoped a conversation could make time pass faster.

"It was a new type of magic I learned. A few weeks ago actually." She explained.

Defensive spells were typically casted by prayer to a deity. Normally requiring true worship of it to be able to manifest protection such as a shield or even a wall. Mostly used by mages deep in worship to their gods.

Though it is rare for non worshippers like Calliope to conjure such magic. Needing honor and valor rather than worship.