Chapter 33: Voices of the Forgotten Library

Alice examines her new stylish outfit, "No buffs? Besides making me even more badass?" Even though she didn't gain any extra stats, she could feel her movements becoming lighter. The whole outfit was as light as a feather, yet as sturdy as leather—but she only cared about the aesthetics.

However, her attention shifts as she hears a familiar laugh: "Hihihihi...!"

"You again?" she asks, scanning the surroundings for the giggling boy. "What's so funny?"

Her words only reach the wind, the laughter continues with no sign of stopping. Alice can't pinpoint the origin of the voice; it echoes from all directions as if she were in a cave.

The laughter grows louder, and Alice growls in irritation. "Is this a game to you?" A drop of water lands on the tip of her nose, "Huh?" then another drop falls. And another. And another. When she turns around, she sees a storm pouring down on her, accompanied by a monstrous gust of wind.

Fighting against the powerful wind, she drives her sword into the ground—nearly being blown away—she notices a familiar silhouette within the "water mist," but before she can try to approach, she's hit by another powerful gust of wind.

The player is thrown into the air, soaring so high that she can no longer see the ground. She spins amidst the storm, with no control over her path.

And then she hits something.

BAAAM

"OUCH!" she groans in pain—but her HP doesn't drop. She starts to get back up and notices small pieces of wood on a wooden floor as well. Looking around, she realizes she's been thrown into a giant library—with towering shelves filled with books.

Still confused, Alice stands up—noticing the small crater she created in a poor bookshelf—and picks up a book on the floor to try to make sense of the place. It's a book titled: The Pumpkin War Part IV.

This sparks Alice's interest since that term is familiar to her. "I remember this! It was the Halloween event of 2016!" she exclaims. "It was so fun! Arthur and I spent hours trying to get the super limited drop from the…" Her nostalgia triggers a beautiful yet painful memory. "That was the last event with Arthur…"

A scream is heard, startling Alice, and she immediately drops the book and tries to find the source of the sound, which echoes through the corridors. She follows the screams, which become more comprehensible with each step she takes. It's a high-pitched voice, screaming and crying.

"BUT I DON'T WANNA READ!!!!!"

Another voice responds to the screams, this time a deeper one, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! CAN SOMEONE SHUT THIS LITTLE SHIT UP?!"

And a third, calmer voice is heard, "Language! He's just a kid!"

Alice finally reaches what seems to be the origin of all the voices, a small room with a red carpet covering the floor, three walls filled with hundreds of books, and in the center, there's a large table with various books scattered on top of it.

But of course, the detail that catches the most attention is the four people present in the room: a child—no more than 9 years old—with brown hair and a face red as a pepper, wearing a large, heavy armor, rolling on the floor having a tantrum. His screams were almost incomprehensible; the only clear thing was that he apparently didn't like the library.

"AHDUHWANSDHADIHWILNA! I HATE THIS PLACE! I WANT TO LEAVE! TAKE ME HOME!"

Next to the crying baby is another human, seemingly the same age as Alice, with blond hair styled into a quiff. His eyes were golden and kind. He wasn't wearing any armor, just a yellow jacket with a tunic underneath and white pants. The only thing that made him look like a warrior was the sword strapped to his back. He was trying to calm the child down, with no success.

A loud thud draws Alice's attention. It was the third being in the room, a Dragonborn, standing over 2 meters tall, with a dragon-shaped head, purple-scaled skin. His head has draconic features, an elongated snout, eyes that glow like gems, and rows of horns extending from his forehead to his nape. Instead of hair, he has scaly crests. He was only wearing pants made of bear fur and had two large shields on his arms. He was banging his head against the bookshelf, praying to pass out and no longer deal with the infernal cries of the child. "Please. Just. Shut. Up."

['Dragonborn']

[Description: Direct descendants of dragons, inheriting their great power in an anthropomorphic form. Dragonborn have a natural affinity with the element corresponding to their scale color. For example, red is fire, blue is water, white is ice. Although often seen as intimidating, Dragonborn are respected for their honor and loyalty.]

Finally, Alice sees a skeleton, whose only clothing and distinguishing feature was a tattered pair of shorts. The Undead was jumping against the wall, completely ignoring the chaos around him.

"What the actual…" is all Alice can say.

The Undead stops, and his neck swivels, revealing his glowing purple eyes like lanterns, "Les gars! Regardez!"

Everyone except the child looks at Alice. They stare at each other for a few seconds as the crying echoes through the room.

The first to break the silence is the Dragonborn, who growls at the child, "SHUT UP!" but in the heat of his fury, he accidentally unleashes a [Draconic Breath] in the boy's direction. The boy only sees a purple flash coming at him.

Alice reflexively rushes to protect the boy. But even with all her agility, she couldn't outrun lightning.

BOOM

A blinding explosion throws everyone back. Smoke fills the room. "No…" Alice murmurs, worried.

"Sorry, sorry, I—"

"YOU…" the sound of a sword being drawn is heard. Suddenly, something blows all the smoke away, "YOU TRIED TO SHOCK ME!" The boy is seen completely unharmed, holding a sword five times his size. He charges at the Dragonborn, who just runs away, apologizing.

The skeleton—who was brushing the smoke off his bones—grumbles, "J'aurais dû rester à l'université…"

"What just happened?" Alice asks, extremely confused.

"Don't worry. Little Noah only puts points into strength and defense. He's tough as diamond," answers the blond young man, extending his hand. "I'm Joseph, also a player of Arcadia."

She steps back. "Wait, 'also'? How do you know that?"

"W-well, we're all players here. So I just assumed. Sorry if that sounded weird."

Alice hesitates to take his hand—remembering Kenneth—so she responds, "Alice."

Joseph retracts his hand, mumbling, "Oh, 'no touch' kinda person? Sorry," then he introduces the group: "You've met Noah. The dragon man getting beaten up by the kid is Luther. And finally, we have him…" he points enthusiastically at the skeleton bouncing off the wall, "N0X! The legendary speedrunner!"

"N0X? The French guy who platinumed Arcadia in a few days?!"

"In flesh and bone. Actually, just bone. And don't worry, he can be a bit short-tempered, but he's got a good heart."

"Tu peux te taire? Ou au moins aider à résoudre cette énigme?"

"I think… I don't know what he's saying."

"So… Can you tell me what's going on? I was in the middle of a Dungeon—"

Luther interrupts her, "And then you were blown here. That's how all of us got here—" Noah bites his tail, "OUCH! I already apologized!"

Ignoring his companion's struggle, Joseph adds, "And unfortunately, you don't know anything about the puzzle, do you?"

"What puzzle?"

He pats his waist and sighs tiredly, "Yep. No luck this time." Then he walks over and sits in a chair in the room. "There must be something we missed. My gut is telling me that!"

Alice walks up to Joseph. "Excuse me, WHAT puzzle?"

"Oh, sorry. You see, we all appeared in this same library with no clue what to do. Well, except for this door." He points to a wooden door in the room—which Alice missed earlier as she was focused on other things.

"…You guys tried to open it?"

The Dragonborn replies with a sarcastic tone, while holding Noah up with one hand, "Oh no, we've spent the last 3 hours here staring at the door, hoping it would take pity on us and let us through. OF COURSE, WE TRIED!"

"Luther! Not everyone is as tough as Noah. Lower your tone."

He huffs in frustration, making smoke puff from his nostrils, but then sighs, calming down. "Sorry."

"Yeah! That's right! Now apologize to me!"

"I ALREADY DID YOU— Cough I mean, sorry…" he lets go of Noah, who 'thanks' him by sticking out his tongue and running around the room.

"So no one knows how to open it?"

"Unfortunately, no. N0X is trying to glitch through the wall and out of this chamber, but it seems Dreamstar implemented an 'anti-speedrun' design. At least, he's doing something."

"And the books?"

"Yeah, I suggested that everyone look through the books for some clues, but," he pulls out a book titled '101 Steps to Enter Aerion Vol. 1', "we didn't find anything useful. You can give it a shot if you want."

With few other options, Alice enters a state of deep concentration and carefully examines each book on the shelf in front of her, looking for any kind of connection. But all the books are different in size, authors, and content—there are no identical books. At least, not on that shelf.

She pulls out a random book titled 'The Last Cook of Hillcrest Vol. 1,' with a dark red leather cover and an illustration of a young cook making his favorite dish, a cake. Although it sparks some interest in Alice, it's not what she's looking for, so she pulls another book with the symbol of a sword on it. However, it turns out to be just a children's tale about a hero who saved his family from an evil dragon.

"What's the point of this place? Come on, Alice, you've got a brain," Alice thinks out loud, "Luck's challenge was about being careful and not impulsive. It must have something to do with the art of the sword. Wait..."

For a moment, her focus completely shifts. She overlooked an important detail: there are other players in the Dungeon with her.

The whole Dungeon was created with the purpose of finding someone worthy to wield the Purgathory, meaning only one person will be able to wield the sword in the end. Four doubts echo in her mind: "Do they all know this? Are any of them also after the sword? Can they be trusted? Are they even players?"

Then, a familiar voice is heard: "Keep your whispers down, or I'll come visit you, Bladie Ladie."

"Hey? Alice—"

Feeling something touch her shoulder, Alice pulls back and points her sword at Joseph—who was just trying to offer her a book. Her hands tremble. "S-sorry." She walks out of the room.

"Wait!"

The air grows heavy, their bodies freeze, as if chains are pulling them down. "Oh, what bad timing, isn't it?" echoes the voice that sends chills down everyone's spine, but only Alice knows who the voice belongs to.

She turns and sees, on top of the table, her 'old friend' emerging from black smoke. "KENNETH!"

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Kenneth replies with a calm smile.