“Ah, yeah. I had the same, this thing is pretty disgusting,” Ludwig said.
“Not talking about this place,” Van Dijk shook his head roughly, his eyes were pure white, he was blinded.
Soon his vision returned, “That mask, is a nasty thing…”
“Visions?” Ludwig asked.
“A vision,” Van Dijk said.
“It shows random stuff, I wouldn’t trust what it showed you. Most of it is just gibberish,” Ludwig said. After all, the Mask of The Blind witness does say that it will reveal truths of a possible future or remnants of a possible past.
“Not this time, it showed me something that did actually happen. Something I didn’t want to see again, quite the wicked tool, Ludwig, I’d recommend you don’t rely on it. Also, it’s quite the mess in here, we should leave as soon as possible.”
“I was trying that, but I got lost, and was also a bit interested in the contents of this section,” Ludwig pointed.
The books looked the same for Van Dijk, “These are all empty and illegible,” he said.
“Not when you have the mask,” This section is the magic section, there is probably magic that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world here…”
Van Dijk thought for a second, “As tempting as it is, I don’t want to even use that mask to read them…”
Ludwig had a sorrowful expression on his face.
Van Dijk sighed, “Then let’s just take them if you want to read them that much,”
“I’ll transcribe them for you later if you don’t want to use the mask,” Ludwig said.
“Good idea,” Van Dijk seemingly more interested now fell right in Ludwig’s trap.
“But there is a problem,” Ludwig said.
“What is it?” Van Dijk asked.
“When I tried to take a book, the eyes snapped at me and the librarians approached me, I feel like I’ll not leave this place if I borrow one of the books.”
Van Dijk thought for a moment and said, “I have an idea,” he said as he pulled an item from his inventory.
It was a ring, similar to the one that Ludwig has. He placed it on the shelves and imbued it with magic, something Ludwig didn’t understand.
“Is this the only shelf you want?” Van Dijk said.
“Hmm, do you mind if we take a look around?” Ludwig asked. He had an idea of what Van Dijk wanted to do, but didn’t want to rob him of the ‘reveal’ so he went with his master.
The master understood and smiled. “I’ll show you something great,” he laughed and walked with his disciple.
His mask was on and the two began moving, Ludwig following his master who seemed to be navigating the library with purpose.
“Alchemy,” Ludwig pointed at a shelve.
“Good subject,” he said and placed a ring inside the shelve.
Soon they reached another section after going through random shelves that spoke about theater, or cooking or other useless subjects for the two of them.
Ludwig pointed, “Swordsmanship,” he said.
Van Dijk sighed, “Just for you, my disciple, just for you,” he said and placed another ring on the shelve.
He clearly wasn’t a fan of his disciple focusing on something other than magic but he couldn’t push his disciple from a path he had chosen.
“I have one more ring, choose wisely,” Van Dijk said.
Ludwig seemed joyful at first, but after several hours of search, they were both disappointed to find nothing of use. So they were about to give up.
“I think we should backtrack and just grab the history section, or even the Magic Craft,” Ludwig was about to give up as he said.
“There is a section I haven’t been to yet,” Van Dijk said.
“You mean you memorized the layout?” Ludwig asked.
“Well, I had to, I spread my bats through the library to find you… so I still remember all the pathways, this library is big but not as confusing as one might think, follow me.”
Van Dijk headed forward until they reached the area that Van Dijk hadn’t explored yet.
“What does it say?” Van Dijk asked.
Ludwig on the other hand was completely stupefied at what he was looking at.
“What do you mean master? You want us to go there?” Ludwig said.
Van Dijk tilted his head, “It’s the shelf, what does it say?”
“What shelf…” Ludwig said as he took a step back, “There’s a freaking monster there master!”
Van Dijk understood immediately that what he was seeing wasn’t what his disciple was looking at. It ‘looked’ to him like a simple shelf that had books in it, but for Ludwig with his mask, this must be something completely different.
“It’s not attacking us though,” Ludwig rationalized.
“What do you see?” Van Dijk asked.
“Darkness,” Ludwig said, “The only place in this library that has no eyes or that scourged rotten flesh thing. A black chamber with a single raised dais in the middle, and above it… there is what looks to be a book.”
“Where is the monster?” Van Dijk asked.
“It’s… closer to a ghost-like entity than a monster,” Ludwig explained.
Ludwig’s masked vision peeled away the illusion, revealing something lurking in the dark. What Van Dijk saw as a simple shelf was, in truth, a presence, something lingering at the edge of existence.
It was feral, crouched low, coiled as if ready to spring, yet it did not move. Its form was indistinct, shifting between something canine, feline, and something else entirely—a beast caught between shapes as if its body had long forgotten what it once was.
Its claws scratched absently at the floor, yet no marks were left. A heavy, ragged breath rasped through unseen lungs, a slow, deliberate sound that filled the air with unease.
Ludwig could see its hollow eyes, not empty, but faded—distant, unfocused as if staring past him rather than at him. There was no hunger in them, no malice. Only a residual awareness, like a guard dog that had long since forgotten what it was meant to protect, yet remained out of habit.
It did not attack.
It did not move.
It only watched…