Chapter 10 - Library

The next day, Ruby and he acted like nothing special happened.

Thoughts of the feeling that welled up within him still bothered him quite a bit, but today, it mysteriously vanished.

Instead, when talking to Ruby, it became much more effortless.

One breakfast later, he bid goodbye to everyone.

The entire way home, something kept bugging him as he stared at the retreating island.

At home, he didn't find the old man.

So, he left him a note before leaving for the library. His mind was too cluttered at the moment.

Just two people in the library. Him and the librarian.

He had no strength to read something complicated today and decided on mythic tales and stories.

Through his observation. A lot of these tales have a great chance of being true.

One being mainly the story of the two knights that reflected history. Although many people doubted the credibility of such impossible feats.

He didn't doubt for a second that it might be possible.

A higher form of power must have existed. Be it in the past as it vanished or now, lurking somewhere in the darkness, playing a chess game.

Twin Gods, maidens and the potential creation of the Faunus kind.

These might have the biggest potential of being true. Of course, he might be wrong and the highest power were just Grimm and nothing else.

In that case, it wouldn't hurt him at all.

If he couldn't defeat something much weaker than he was preparing for, then it wouldn't matter if the higher form of power existed.

He'd get floored by just the weak.

Moreover, the way Grimm acted didn't make sense. If they were truly feral, then people would experience the Grimm tides at least.

But something like this didn't exist.

Although historians and scientists deducted that Grimm could 'feel' the power within human civilization. Red found such logic flawed.

No matter how much Grimm didn't conform with normal life forms. To have the power to feel something intangible that didn't exist, such as technology, etc. Should already represent a higher form of power.

Not to mention that even if they only felt aura and deducted that a lot of auras meant strong power.

They would raid small settlements. Yet, every single small settlement that survived for decades didn't have more than a group of huntsmen.

A larger tide could easily form and decimate it.

In fact, he didn't doubt for a second that the style in which Mistral operated would result in extinction in no time.

The tradition and need to migrate meant low resources and an unstable environment. Plus, the bandits that thrived there as they decimated more settlements than Grimm.

Everything should have crumbled there a long time ago. And yet it is one of the more prosperous places on Remnant.

Something, someone must be playing a game of chess.

Complicated one that he couldn't comprehend at the moment, but the odds of the Twin Gods being the masterminds looked high.

Maidens aside, the creation of Faunus kind intrigued him.

Although the race was quite oppressed by the wealthy in the darkest corners of the continents, he couldn't deny the truth behind their acquired freedom.

Grimm and Faunus. Two things that he didn't understand the most in history and myths he read so far.

No matter how much Faunus had. They had no business winning the Faunus Right revolution in the slightest.

He didn't care what anyone said. Just their status today proved that they had not used the resources in Menagerie to the fullest.

If they couldn't now.

How could they have such a long time ago when technology didn't have such power?

Just the sheer number of huntsmen could crush the Faunus movement without a problem and he didn't doubt for a second that humanity mass awakened soldiers.

A clear no brainer.

Were the extinction event come. Humans could awaken other humans to the point where maybe even children could awaken the auras of adults.

It all depended on the training that could be targeted solely to awaken other humans. Just like that, entire humanity could awaken in no time.

Faunus would never win under any circumstances. They had nothing.

No technology, lack of food, small population, and unaccomplished generals. He couldn't contain himself and picked some history books.

Midway, he realized he already broke the purpose as to why he came here in the first place. Helpless, he continued stacking up the small mountain.

The more he read, the clearer it became.

He'd be damned. Where the hell did the great generals of the Great War go?

Just one of them from any continent, be it the victorious or the ones that lost, it didn't matter at all.

One could decide the fate of the Faunus kind.

Yet, they weren't dispatched with most retiring due to 'injuries', with very few having detailed records of such injuries.

Although the library he was in wasn't the largest. It stood in the capital of the largest city in the world and already held some level of heritage.

Even the arc family didn't interfere.

Something must have held them back or instructed them not to do anything.

A show, one big show created by someone in the shadows. It decided the fate of the Faunus kind and let them exist amongst humans.

Either coincidence played a trick on him. Or the mastermind does exist.

What he had done now didn't matter. All of this might be wrong, and all he could do was to get ready and prepare.

Both for good and bad.

Gods meant that he might have the option to find a way back to the pokemon world. Or not…

Red blankly stared for an unknown amount of time.

"Ah."

A grunt escaped out of his mouth. Checking the time, he quickly swapped out his books and started to read again.

This time he grabbed 'The girl who fell through the world.' And 'The man who stared at the Sun'. The words flowed endlessly as he read through the first book at some point.

Except that he didn't remember almost anything from it.

Something that had never happened to him before. No matter what he read, his memory always retained the bare basics.

Annoyed, he took out the second book.

The time wouldn't wait for him to read it again, and he didn't see much of a reason to know about this specific tale.

Once he opened the book, he felt his heart beat. The text before his eyes began to move.

Red watched as the surroundings transformed into a field. Endless crops stretched across the horizon. Before him stood the Sun.

As if it was a few kilometers away from him, it burned with vigor.

Entranced, the Sun continued to burn its image inside his own retinas. No matter what kind of disturbance appeared, he couldn't move his head.

Grimm appeared in his peripheral vision, before they vanished. The crops began to burn, hell descended.

Yet, he only had one thing in his eyes.

The Sun.

By the time everything burnt to crisps, he only saw light. The blue skies vanished and he couldn't see the ground anymore.

Whenever his will wavered, his heart would drum in a cry of defiance.

Burning sensation gradually overtook all of his senses. He burned for a few minutes or days before a single sigh disrupted his concentration.

It vanished.

Both the burning pain and the light that kept him standing.

Now thrown into a sea of darkness, he found himself back in the library. The lights came on as night came.

The last page laid in his hands.

He flipped back to the first page and tried to read again.

Such sensation never came back, no matter how hard he concentrated on reading. He began to doubt whether it was his own hallucination or not.

The time to close came. He bid farewell to the librarian and left.

Walking home, his head turned into a turbulent sea of emotions. Unfamiliar waves crashed with the ones he knew.

The feeling of learning so much and yet nothing at all.

Both enlightened and blinded.

He found the old man sitting at the kitchen table. He looked at Red and grinned before bidding him goodnight.

When Red wished him goodnight and went to sleep, a glint appeared in his ash eyes.

Not silver, but ash. Burned to crisps by something incredible.

The moon began its marathon across the sky.

Red couldn't fall asleep at all. Tossing around, his head kept wandering everywhere. From the day he spent at Patch to the unknown reason why Faunus won and much more.

His mind somehow became much more clear and awake than during the day.

Every touch, itch, and the position he tried to sleep in. It kept making him more awake and alert.

Light appeared in the room with a click. He took out a notebook and noted down everything that happened today, his findings and thoughts.

Following his guts. The words took away the thoughts inside his head and absorbed them into the letters.

Time flew and sleepiness finally creeped in.