The Third Sunday

Immediately, I opened my eyes in the library. I looked down. My legs were still messed up. After a few moments, the pain returned. Fuck. It was coming back quick, but I was slightly more lucid now that all my hormones had been briefly reset from my transferral to the library. I knew the course of action I had to take before I bled out. It was only due to my enhanced body that I'd managed to survive this long, after all, but my platelets weren't working fast enough. I had been shot from a close range, and I think an artery in my leg may have been ruptured.

"Book… search…"

The tablet appeared in front of me as I lay on the ground.

My hands were shaky as I tried to type.

"Jrsl"

"Jesk"

"Hesk"

Repeated failed attempts. God damn it… my hands won't work… I kept trying.

"Heql"

And finally

"Heal"

I hit search.

I needed healing magic if I was going to survive. Fuck… imprinting a skill in my body with the minute precision required for this wouldn't be easy, especially not in my condition. God damn it. I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, and found nothing. And then I passed out again, my hand hitting the tablet as my torso collapsed. And I was back in the sewer. Once again my hormones seemed to have experience some kind of reset, so the pain was minimal at first, though it quickly grew until I once again passed out and was back in the library. When I arrived, a book was sitting on the ground next to me. It seemed that I'd accidentally selected a book as I was passing out. Whatever. I didn't have time to search for another, so I used interpreter as the characters were foreign.

(3/5)

"Heal"

The cover of the book had a single word: heal. It was bound in faded red leather. Once I picked it up, I realized just how thin it was. Fuck… this better have something good. I opened it up, and inside was a single model. This one was strange, though. Instead of the usual flat woven patterns, elegant and soft, this one was composed of sharp, angled polygons within a spherical prism. I had no time to question its efficacy. This had to be a healing spell. Despite its complexity, requiring 16 strings of mana, I had no choice but to continue with this spell model. I checked the book out, roughly signing my name on the sheet with my blood, and started to memorize. Soon, I was in the sewer once again. Before I was placed back into agony, I used my brief window of relief to start to move the mana into place. This was far more difficult than the previous spells; not only did it require more strings of mana to be finely controlled, but it was also larger and required me to work in three dimensions instead of two. The patterns were complex as well, forcing me to use more mana to create the strings. I soon realized a horrible fact: I didn't have enough mana to create the skill, let alone use it. In my broken, busted body I would have to place another toll on it as I used counterfeit mana repeatedly. My pain was already immeasurable, as the dirty sewer water entered my wounds, and this would only increase it further. Fuck it.

I'd always had to do this. This wasn't new. Every time I scraped my knee, every time I burned myself, every time I got cut since I had to learn to cook for myself, I'd always patched myself up. Once when I was eight I dropped a knife, and as I instinctively tried to catch it, it cut a deep gash in my wrist. I had been forced to burn the wound on the stove to cauterize it, since there was never anybody beside me. Wait… I used the small amount of mana I had left and cast minor discharge. A minuscule bubble appeared on my finger. This was the lowest output possible. I smeared it on my wound, which already hurt like hell before I touched it. And then, without hesitation, I severed the tie.

BANG!

"ARGHHH!"

"GOD! ACKH! SHIT!"

Damn it, it hurt like hell. But my plan had worked. The heat from the small explosion had burned some of the veins shut. My bleeding had reduced. It looked like I'd bought myself some time. And so a cycle began.

I used counterfeit mana over and over again, destroying my body but building a significant pool of mana once again.

[Counterfeit Mana /Active/ [LVL 2]

I used it over and over until I passed out, and then again in the library. With the time that I'd bought, I was able to repeat this process a number of times, passing in and out of the library and building my mana pool larger than it had ever been.

[Counterfeit Mana /Active/ [LVL 3]

I kept on going and going, bones in my body shattering into tiny pieces, skin burning off, muscles tearing, and my head throbbing like it never had before from the repeated use, but this was what I needed to do to survive. This was the necessary path.

[Counterfeit Mana /Active/ [LVL 4]

I noticed that as I went, the damage done started to become smaller and smaller, and the efficiency grew far greater than I had anticipated it could. And eventually, I felt confident. I could cast the spell. I mustered every ounce of will within my body and began creating the mana structure. Miraculously, perhaps due to my desperation, I managed to create it successfully on my first try. I spoke the incantation.

And then it was all gone. I felt it. It had worked. I maneuvered a string of mana to attach it to the empty structure. I quickly felt my immense mana unspooling, and large quantities were absorbed into the rotating structure. This spell was more powerful than I'd imagined it could be. As it started to work. The pain which I'd thought had reached it's zenith increased even more. I felt the fragments of my bones wriggling in my flesh, and my skin stretching over the damaged surfaces. And then I passed out.

*****

"CHAILD OF THE GRATE COHLLECTURRRR."

Primordial Master of the Incumbent Declension,

I hear thee.

"YOO WEEL HUNT THY MAHSTERRR, OR BE TERMINAYTIDDD BY MYNE."

Divine Sinner, how dost thou intend to hunt the spawn of a god?

"YUUR GODLINESSS IS NAY BHUT A FARCE. YU ARH THE CHAILD OF NO MOHR THAN A HUNGRHY BEEST."

Thy voice hails not to mine child, decrepit adversary.

"YU… DAHR TO INTURFEER. THIHS… WHIL NAUT BEE FORGAUTTEN. REEMEMBHUR THIHS, BABBUL- THY NAHME EXISTSSS OHNLY IN THE MAINDS OF FHEW NAUW. MAINE IHS OHNE WHO WHILL NAUT FOREGETTTT."

B̷̡̧̪̫̝̯̭̞͔̝̌̋è̵̛̙̬̯̝̠̝̙͖͊́̈́͐͒̃ͅg̴̪̝͒̋̒̏̀̅̋̆̚̚ö̶̙̦͎̠̱̬̾̄̏̔̐͂̚͜ń̵̮̊̊̑̇͂͑͌͌̚e̸̜͕̞͔͉̊̈͊̎̌,̵̧͇̗̓̃̌͐̄̎́̔ ̸̮̆̿̆͒̓ͅf̵̢̈́̀̎͌̾̾̏́̚͝ï̷̧̛̹͉͍̰̠̟͖̯͛͝ę̴̡͈̼͙͛͒̽̏̃̇̔ṇ̵̘͌̂͑d̷̼̘̹͕̼̬̞͕̃̎͂̀͛͒̓̈́̕.̶̳̩̻͋͆̍

*****

I woke up still in the sewer. I felt like I'd just had the strangest dream… a dream? I didn't enter the library?

But my body. It had been entirely repaired. My joints and ligaments should have been permanently disfigured or destroyed, and my bones should have been broken into such small pieces that they could never have been repaired, but as I tried to move, I found that my body was equally spry as it was before any incident had occurred. In fact, it felt so much better that the entire thing felt like a distant, fabricated memory. The proof lay everywhere around me, though, as I was standing in a thick puddle of my own blood. Also, though I had accumulated a massive amount of mana, almost all of it had been consumed by that single spell. That didn't matter. My strength was mostly regained, aside from a deep hunger in my stomach, and I had to keep moving. I'd already been here for who knows how long, and it wouldn't take a while before the police made their way to me. Dammit. I recalled the events that had passed. I was arrested for… five? Six counts of murder? What the hell was he talking about? And it certainly didn't help that I'd been in the proximity of two headless bodies, both eliminated by a supernatural force. I didn't stand a chance. I had to run. But as I was collecting myself to start to move, I felt something else. Behind my eyes, a sharp sensation. Tears started to run down my face, and soon, I started to sob uncontrollably. Dammit… dammit… why was my life so shitty. Fuck, I almost died. I'm on the run from the police. And I'm alone. God damn it. All my stupid daydreams. Why the hell was I such an idiot, thinking all the time about pretty girls, and ruling the world? I couldn't even beat one shitty dog. These thoughts passed through my mind, but I had to collect myself. So, after a few minutes, I managed to reign in my feelings and get back to the task at hand. I needed to find a secure shelter.

[Name: Calvin Sanchez]

[Title: Librarian]

[Skills:]

[Minor Discharge /Active/ [LVL 1:

Conjures a small explosion.]

[Wind Step /Active/ [LVL 1]:

Manipulates the wind to increase the caster's agility, as well as reducing their weight.]

[Counterfeit Mana /Active/ [LVL 4]:

LEVEL UP- COUNTERFEIT MANA TAKES A SMALLER PHYSICAL TOLL AND GAINS GREATER EFFICIENCY.

Upon activation, your mana will appear to be far greater in density than it really is, attracting greater quantities of mana at a much faster rate and creating a more threatening aura within your mana reservoir.]

[Interpreter (3/5) /Active/ [LVL 2]:

Learn any language recorded in the Library by hearing it spoken or seeing it written and subsequently activating the skill.]

[Book Search /Active/ [LVL MAX]:

Search the records of the Library for a specific book by title or keywords.]

[Body:

A wizard's body, enhanced by magic and the Library's blood.]

[Authorities:]

[Authority of the Library Operator]

[Binds:]