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Levi led Reven deeper into the Library, past sections that breathed and whispered, through corridors where geometry bent in ways that made Reven's eyes ache. The yellow book pressed against Reven's chest like a second heartbeat.
They emerged into a space that resembled an observatory, except the sky overhead was filled with stars that shouldn't exist. Some spiraled slowly in patterns that hurt to follow. Others pulsed with colors Reven had no names for. A few were voids that pulled at the light around them, hungry and patient.
Reading alcoves dotted the vast floor below, each one a small island of normalcy. Leather chairs. Lamps with warm light. Small tables.
Levi chose one near the edge and gestured at the chair. "Sit."
Reven sank into it, still clutching the book.
Levi pulled up a wooden chair and snapped his fingers. A chime echoed through the space. Golem One appeared moments later, porcelain face blank, head tilted in silent inquiry.
"Milk tea. Two cups."
The golem bowed and glided away.
"Would you like some?" Levi asked. "It helps. Something normal before you start."
"No. Thank you." Reven's voice came out hoarse. "I don't think I could drink anything right now."
The golem returned with a silver tray, two porcelain cups steaming with jasmine and honey. It set the tray down, bowed, and departed.
Levi picked up a cup and wrapped both hands around it. "I'll be watching. Right here. If something goes bad, I can pull you out. The Library will let me."
"What kind of something?"
"You'll see."
Reven stared at him. "That's not reassuring."
"I know. But I'm being honest." Levi took a sip. "Whatever happens while you're reading, you're not alone. I'll be here."
Reven looked down at the yellow cloth cover. The title had faded, but he could still feel it underneath like a scar beneath skin. Twin Blasphemies.
"What if I can't handle it?"
"Then I'll pull you out. We'll try something else." Levi met his eyes. "But I think you can handle it. I think you need to."
Reven took a slow breath. Held it. Let it out.
His hands shook as he opened the book.
The plague consumed him.
.
.
.
Reven opened his eyes in a forest of black trees.
Their bark was charcoal dark, their leaves a sickly yellow-green that glowed faintly. Moss covered the ground, squelching beneath his feet. The air tasted like copper and rot and something older, something that made his throat close.
Everywhere, constantly, goats screamed.
High-pitched bleating that could have been distress or ecstasy or something between. The sounds came from every direction, overlapping into a symphony of animal terror.
Reven turned slowly, trying to understand where he was.
Then he heard a child's voice.
"Help! Someone help!"
His head snapped toward the sound. Through the trees, maybe fifty yards away, a small figure ran. A boy, young, stumbling over roots. His clothes were torn.
Behind him, the trees moved.
Their branches reached like fingers. Their roots tore free from the ground with wet sounds, dragging themselves forward.
The boy was in danger.
Reven ran.
His legs moved before thought caught up. He crashed through underbrush, branches whipping his face, moss gripping at his feet. His breath came ragged and desperate.
The boy was close. Just ahead. Almost there.
Reven reached out.
His foot caught on a root.
He went down hard, face-first into moss. The impact drove air from his lungs. Pain shot through his knee, his palms, his ribs.
And sprawled there with mud on his face and moss in his mouth, that old familiar weight crashed over him.
Failure.
He couldn't even run to save a child. Couldn't manage that simple thing. Everyone he tried to help ended up dead. Always. Twenty-eight souls screaming in fungal flesh because he'd tried to heal and only knew how to kill.
The weight pressed down on his chest.
Then a voice spoke.
"Are you okay, Reven?"
Reven looked up.
The boy stood over him with concern on his face.
Except something about the boy was off.
His proportions were subtly strange. Too tall for his age. Limbs a bit too long. Fingers with an extra joint. His skin was pale, almost translucent, with black veins visible beneath like rivers on a map. His eyes were too large,pupils dilated until only a thin ring of iris remained.
His smile was kind.
But it made Reven's stomach turn.
"I'm okay." Reven reached up automatically.
The boy took his hand and pulled him upright with surprising strength.
"Thank you." Reven brushed at the moss clinging to his clothes. "I saw you running. I thought you were in danger."
"How sweet." The boy's smile widened. "You tried to save me. Even after everything. Even after all those deaths. You still tried."
Reven froze.
"Hello, Reven." The boy's smile grew impossibly wider. "My name is Nug."
They shook hands.
The boy's skin felt cool and smooth, like porcelain.
"Wait." Reven pulled his hand back slowly. "I haven't told you my name. How did you know?"
Nug's smile kept growing.
His mouth opened impossibly far, unhinging like a snake's jaw, stretching until it split his face in half. Inside was darkness. No teeth. No tongue. Just void that went down into depths that couldn't exist inside a small body.
From that void came a stench.
Rotting corpses. Diseased flesh. Gangrene and sepsis and putrefaction. Twenty-eight bodies decomposing in summer heat. Black Fever victims drowning in their own liquefied organs. Plague pits and mass graves and death without dignity.
The smell poured out, making Reven gag, making his eyes water, forcing bile up his throat.
From that darkness, from that impossible throat, came a voice.
"Finally." Nug's mouth stayed stretched wide. "Finally you're able to hear me, child."
.
.
.
In the reading alcove beneath the impossible stars, Levi watched mushrooms erupt from Reven's face.
They grew fast. New growths burst through skin with wet tearing sounds. They multiplied across every inch of exposed flesh. Reven's eyes rolled back. His mouth opened in a silent scream without breath.
"Fuck." Levi set down his tea and started to stand. "Reven, I need you to—"
Reven's body split apart.
It tore from the inside out, flesh peeling in sheets, bones cracking and reforming. Organs spilled and reshaped into new configurations. The mushrooms kept growing, consuming biomass, building something new.
Something that had once been human.
Three creatures stood where Reven had been.
Each was roughly man-sized but distorted. Hunched. Elongated. Covered in pulsing fungal growths. Their faces were masses of flesh with too many eyes, too many mouths, all moving independently.
One screamed.
The sound was inhuman. Wet. Gurgling.
Then all three lunged.
Levi's hand shot to his inventory.
The Divine Hammer of Pangu materialized mid-swing.
He brought it down on the first creature's head.
The skull exploded. The body crumpled. Flesh splattered across the floor.
Levi spun toward the other two.
Then froze.
The paste was moving.
Scattered pieces of flesh, fragments of bone, drops of blood. All of it writhed and pulsed. The mushrooms in each piece glowed brighter, feeding, multiplying.
Each fragment grew. Reshaped. Formed new bodies.
Within seconds, there weren't three creatures.
There were hundreds.
Rat-sized ones swarmed across the floor. Human-sized ones pulled themselves upright on malformed limbs. Towering masses scraped the lamp overhead.
All turned toward Levi.
"What the fuck is this?" Levi backed away. "What is this apocalyptic bullshit? Fuck!"
The creatures followed, their steps shaking the ground, their screams overlapping into cacophony.
Above, the impossible stars pulsed brighter.
The siren rang.
WARNING. CONTAMINATION DETECTED.
The System's voice was flat and emotionless.
CALCULATING SOLUTION.
The creatures closed in. Levi felt their hot, putrid breath.
EXECUTION NOT POSSIBLE. TARGET IS REGISTERED PATRON.
"Yes!" Levi screamed at the sky. "He's a patron! Do something!"
SECURE. CONTAIN. PROTECT. PROTOCOL INITIATED.
The air shimmered.
Invisible walls materialized around the swarm, forming a perfect cube twenty feet on each side.
Every creature slammed into the barriers simultaneously.
The sound was tremendous.
But the walls held.
The creatures bounced off, tried again. They clawed at the barriers. They threw themselves against it. They screamed and wailed.
The walls didn't vibrate.
PROTOCOL COMPLETE. TIME LIMIT: UNTIL PATRON COMPREHENDS THE BOOK OR PATRON IS CONSUMED BY MADNESS.
IF PATRON COMPREHENDS: RELEASE.
IF CONSUMED BY MADNESS: IMMEDIATE EXECUTION.
Levi stood outside the cube, chest heaving, hammer gripped tight.
Inside, the creatures went berserk. They attacked with renewed fury. The largest hurled smaller ones against the barriers. They piled on each other, forming towers that collapsed and reformed. They bit and tore at each other when they couldn't reach outside.
The stars pulsed and spiraled above, indifferent.
The walls stood strong. No scratches formed.
Levi stared at the hundreds of twisted things that had been Reven moments ago. At how they threw themselves against the barriers with mindless determination.
"It's not gonna break, right?" His voice came out small. Scared.
Inside the cube, the creatures screamed.