Archive Ch.12

Nic couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t for lack of trying, certainly not for lack of wanting. His exhaustion had only increased since he first sat down, limbs growing downright leaden and useless as the evening wore on. It had taken everything he had left just to crawl into his bedroll, and he doubted that much could willingly haul him back out again. A long, deep sleep was about the best thing he could imagine right now.

And yet it would not come. Long minutes dragged by and Nic remained stubbornly conscious. No matter what he did, whether he lay on back, side, or stomach, held completely still or forced his breathing to be calm, sleep simply would not come. Eventually he gave up trying and just lay awake, turning his head to stare out into the Library.

It wasn’t dark per-say, the floating crystals continuing to glow, but they had dimmed notably, going from bright white to a more muted blue. They cast just enough light for him to see by, not that there was much for him to see beyond the aisle their campsite lay within. Even that was limited, the dim light casting everything to long, creeping shadows.

Sounds echoed in the air from all directions. Creaks and groans for the most part, the sounds of wood settling in the distance, though sometimes joined by the shuffling of paper or the clatter of stone tiles. Rarely, such that they always surprised him when they happened, Nic heard noises that sounded unnervingly like roars. Just his mind playing tricks on him. He hoped.

Maybe that was part of the reason he was having trouble sleeping, this place just felt weird. He’d known that from the moment he’d set foot in it, but with everything going on he hadn’t had time to really dwell on the specifics. How despite this place being firmly indoors, Nic did not feel secure in the slightest. For all the artifice surrounding him, this place felt more like wilderness than anywhere else Nic had been in his life.

“Can’t sleep?”

Nic turned his head to look over where Jordi’s voice drifted over from the other alcove. He couldn’t see him on account of the angle but could hear him shifting deliberately in his bedroll. Apparently Nic wasn’t the only one having trouble drifting off.

“Not really,” Nic said. “Another newbie thing?”

Jordi chuckled quietly. “Nah, that one hits vets just the same. Not everyone gets used to this place.”

“Does that include you?” Nic asked.

Jordi laughed. “Well, unless I’m so good at talking I can do it in my sleep.”

Nic snorted at the joke, though stopped as another strange sound echoed in from the distance. This one was loud enough to break through the muting of distance, becoming a definite shriek but not of any creature. It sounded more like the scraping of metal upon metal.

“Something’s lively tonight,” Jordi said.

“You know what that is?”

“Few guesses but no way to know for sure.”

Nic paused, digesting that little revelation. It joined the ever-growing list of questions that wound its way through Nic’s brain, though was quickly shunted down the list in favor of the one question that had sat at the top ever since the geist attack. He’d been hesitant to ask it but something in this moment, possibly sleep deprivation, gave him the courage to speak.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Jordi said.

“Why…” Nic hesitated before pressing on. “Why are you helping me?”

“Would you rather I not?” Jordi replied, laughter in his tone.

“No! No, not that, it’s just-” Nic grasped for the words to phrase this. “I get this is what you do but there’s got to be more important stuff you could be doing.”

“You don’t think this is important?”

“I mean, it’s interesting, sure. But like, you knew exactly where all the books we needed were kept, so we’re not exactly unraveling a riddle of the ages here.”

“And that’s bad?”

Nic paused, raising a hand to gesture randomly, grasping for more words.

“I mean, you got hurt because of it,” Nic said, a burst of guilt blooming in his chest. “Is finding out the first spell ever cast worth that?”

There was a long silence, enough so that Nic worried he’d offended his companion somehow. It was a palpable relief when Jordi’s voice came again, this time sounding serious in a way that reminded Nic of Master Orlin.

“Do you know where redstone comes from?”

“Uh, what?”

“Redstone,” Jordi repeated. “The material they use to anchor casting grids, do you know where it comes from?”

Nic thought about it for a second, recalling the list of uses he’d memorized years ago and the half dozen bins of it he’d seen during his misadventure in Gibson Scrapyard. To his mild surprise, he realized that he had no better answer than ‘the people who sell redstone’.

“I guess not,” Nic said.

“Neither did I,” Jordi replied. “At least not until I found out on a delve that almost all of it comes from a cluster of asteroids that routinely fall over the south pole.”

“Huh,” Nic said, genuinely interested.

“There’s entire civilizations that have sprung up around its trade. City states built up around the largest chunks, nomads that follow the meteor showers, even aquatic peoples who dive for the bits that fall into the sea. Dozens of groups, each with their own distinct cultures, beliefs, and overlapping histories.”

He paused, possibly for dramatic effect, before continuing.

“And that’s to say nothing of their interactions with us, the people who buy the stone. All branching off from a material that I’m guessing you hadn’t thought twice about since learning its name.”

He had Nic there. While he vaguely remembered reading something about the history of redstone, Nic had never once thought to check where it came from. Until now, it had been as Jordi had said, just a part needed to use some kind of magic.

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” Nic said. “But what’s your point?”

“My point,” Jordi continued, emphasizing the words. “Is that by asking questions, you learn answers. Maybe not the answers you were expecting but either way, you know. And in knowing, you realize how much more there is you don’t know. Knowing leads to more questions, leads to more answers, leads to more knowing and onwards and onwards.”

He paused, an arm appearing from the alcove to point out from their camp. Nic followed it, though there was nothing but the endless bookshelf to see.

“Do that enough times and, well, who knows what you might end up knowing?”

Nic considered the words for a long moment, turning them over and over in his head as he pondered. He considered the endless questions that usually occupied his mind, though perhaps not always at its forefront. He remembered the genuine annoyance he’d felt at the two works they’d gathered so far, how they’d both come so close to giving answers only to deny them right at the finish line.

Most of all, he considered just how much he really did want to know what the first spell ever cast had been.

“I think I get it,” he said at last.

“I’m glad,” Jordi said.

There was another pause, during which Nic briefly considered trying for sleep again before something else popped into his head.

“Do we know where the asteroids came from?”

Though he could not see him, Nic felt Jordi’s smile radiating from the alcove as he began talking again.

*

Nic awoke slowly, his eyes cracking open like eggshells to admit just the barest sliver of light. Instantly, everything hurt, a dull ache that radiated out from his bones like a cold fire. He tried to raise a hand to rub his eyes, only to find his arms didn’t feel like moving, a sentiment shared by the rest of his body as every muscle resisted even the slightest twitch.

With persistence, he eventually managed to sit up, though he did not enjoy the procedure. A symphony of cracks and pops sounded from his back as things settled into place, gradually returning control of his own body. Didn’t do anything for the ache but that was manageable enough even as he groaned at the discomfort.

“Morning,” Jordi said, his tone far too chipper for Nic’s current state. He turned to look, finding the delver standing next to Dewey, busying himself the stove. Whatever he was cooking smelled delicious.

“Mm,” Nic managed, raising an arm to rub the back of his neck. “How long were we out?”

“Six hours, I was just about to wake you.”

“Six hours library time, you mean?”

Jordi nodded. “Should be getting towards mid-afternoon on the outside.”

It still boggled Nic’s mind to think about that, so he elected not to, instead returning to the task of getting his limbs to obey. He was not met with great success, his legs feeling shaky as he threw them over the side of the alcove. His first step was unsteady, though he managed to keep himself upright at least.

“Feeling rough?” Jordi asked.

“Like I’ve been through a tumble dryer,” Nic replied.

“Yeah, thought you might.” Jordi stepped away from the pot he was stirring and walked over to where Nic stood. “Here, do what I do.”

Nic watched, curious as Jordi spread his feet to shoulder width and began twisting at the waist. Hesitantly, Nic copied the move, encountering instant protest from his back but finding the pain beginning to recede as he held the position. Just as he got used to it, Jordi moved again, twisting the other way and Nic moved to follow in kind.

Jordi took him through a bunch of different stretches, twisting and turning his body every which way and sideways. Though it was uncomfortable, Nic couldn’t deny its effectiveness, his everything slowly popping back into place and rousing from its numbness. A scholar and a master of physical fitness, Nic was really starting to wonder if there was anything Jordi didn’t know.

“So, I don’t know where the book we’re after is.”

Nic looked over at Jordi, a bit awkward as he was in the middle of trying to touch his toes. Jordi didn’t seem to care, keeping his eyes fixed on his own feet.

“That’s it then?” Nic asked. “We’re done?”

“That’s one option,” Jordi began. “But there is another one if you’re feeling a bit adventurous.”

“…Define adventurous.”

Jordi rose briefly, twisting so his arm went up over his head.

“The book we found wasn’t supposed to be where it was, I looked it up last night to confirm.”

He paused, gesturing for Nic to switch arms, only resuming once he’d done so.

“But I also managed to find where it was supposed to be. It’s a long shot, but there’s a chance they got switched somehow, put in one another’s spot.”

“And if we go looking in that other spot,” Nic finished. “We might find what we’re actually looking for?”

“Precisely.”

Nic cast him a look, made only mildly awkward by the angle.

“What’s the catch?”

Jordi stood to his full height, drawing a full breath in through his nose and exhaling it through his mouth.

“Technically,” he said. “It’s just over the line into the second depth layer.”

“You mean the place the Director explicitly told us not to go?” Nic asked.

“Now see, that is entirely fair, but hear me out.”

Nic crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow as he waited to hear where this was going. Jordi took it in stride and kept right on talking.

“When I say just, I mean it. We probably won’t even lose sight of the boundary. Ten minutes at most, we go in, grab the book then come back. If its not there, we turn around come back, no words, no-”

“Done.”

Jordi stopped short, seemingly at a loss for words, possibly for the first time since they had met. He opened his mouth, then shut it again, only managing words on his second attempt.

“Pardon?”

“Done,” Nic repeated, a smile spreading across his lips. “I don’t know about you but, I want an answer to my question.”

In the span of a blink, the familiar Jordi returned, a smile of his own spreading across his face as he clapped his hands together.     

“Well,” he said. “Shall we get underway then?”

*

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