5 Book 2 - A Fragmen

"Help me Favian, help me," a ghostly voice called out. A sword was plunged through its stomach, and blood gushed from the wound like a waterfall. Worms and ants crawled out of the wound, and a black tar-like substance oozed from their bodies. Favian couldn't make out the face of this person, as it was shrouded in darkness, but he could make out that it had blueish-black skin, and long pointed ears.

"Why didn't you save me Favian? It's all your fault. I'd still be alive if you didn't force us into the Pharaoh's Tomb," it said. Its voice was now even less human-like, and became extremely rough, as if it was parched for water. The corpse slowly stood up, its bones creaking as it walked towards Favian, who was forcefully tied to a chair.

"What? No! I didn't mean for any of this to happen! You have to believe me," Favian shouted. He tried to release himself from his bindings, but the leather belts that strapped him to the chair were simply too strong, and his body was sapped of all energy, leaving him thin and shriveled the same way he'd been before becoming a mage.

"It's all your fault. It's all your fault. It's all your fault," the ghost kept saying. At first Favian could barely hear its chant, but it ramped up slowly into a haunting scream. The corpse was now only inches away from Favian's face, its pungent blood dripping onto his forehead. The stench of rotting flesh mixed with vinegar invaded his nostrils, making him almost puke.

"No. No. Don't do it!" Favian screamed. Before he could react, the corpse bit into his ear, chewing it off with ease. Blood splattered everywhere, and Favian howled in pain. The corpse didn't stop there, slowly it consumed him, bit by bit. All of his flesh was ripped away from him, until only a bloody pool was left by the chair. Blood, flesh and bones were eaten by the corpse, and a maniacal laugh left its lips.

…

*GASP*

Favian jumped up from his slumber, sweat dripping profusely from his forehead. He was panting, trying to inhale as much air as he could. The dream he'd just had sent chills down his spine when he tried to relive it. It all felt so real, every chunk that was taken from his flesh he felt. The immense pain from having his organs ripped out of his body and devoured. He was helpless to do anything in his dream, and wasn't sure what was reality anymore.

"It's okay. It's all good Favian, let's just take things one step at a time," he said. Favian got up from his bed and proceeded to move to his bathroom. He turned on his shower and blasted its heat to the maximum level. Only a hot steamy shower could help relieve his stress right now.

'Why did that feel so real? That has to be the weirdest dream I've ever had. System, is there any input you can give me on that?' Favian was deep in thought as he was showering, letting the boiling hot water wash away his pain and fears from earlier. His body was easily able to withstand such temperatures, due to his high constitution stat.

[DING! Analysis of the host's dream leads me to conclude that this was a fragment of time. Whether this was from the past or future is unknown] Elon replied faithfully.

'Huh? What does that even mean?' he asked himself.

Favian got himself ready, reading a weathered tome that sat on his desk. It had already been months since the 'Purging' occurred at the Kalari Desert, and the tragic loss of his best friend. Favian had been bombarded with nightmares every time he closed his eyes, and sleep had become scarce for him. Instead, he put all of his energy into meditation, since his thoughts would delve into nothingness whenever he did this. This was the only time he was at peace. Whether he was asleep or awake, he was tormented by guilt, the guilt that he was responsible for Dunkel's death. He reasoned that there was almost no way that Dunkel would be alive, and even if he was, there was nothing he could currently do about it, so he prepared his mind for the worst outcome.

The library was where he'd spend all of his time when he didn't meditate or go to lessons, looking for answers on the prophecy told to him by Khepri. It left him confused, what was this blood moon? Why was he given the legendary beast egg? He had so many questions, and finding any semblance of an answer only led to even more questions. By now, the library clerk, Essi, knew Favian's patterns really well. He would usually enter the library after midnight, when there were almost no students there, and would leave once the sun rose. His time was spent in the aisles which focused on the world geography and ancient civilizations. His progress had been pretty minimal, with him only gaining one true nugget of information.

'A great cataclysm destroyed the link between the continent of Ortu Solis and the 'Dark Continent', or at least that's what is says here,' Favian thought as he scrolled through a book he'd borrowed from the library. This book had some very useful information in letting him figure out what was beyond Ortu Solis. Ortu Solis wasn't a planet like Earth, instead, it was its own plane in existence. If you were to fly all the way up to the sky, you'd be restricted from leaving the plane due to some mysterious magic. In order to leave Ortu Solis, some form of teleportation hub was used, but this knowledge wasn't made available to the vast majority of people on the continent. The only reason Favian was able to find this was due because of headmaster Anansi, who allowed him to browse through some restricted areas of the library after his constant pestering and nagging.

Favian still was unsure why Anansi knew his full name, which was from Earth, but he was too scared to ask. He'd rather leave the question unanswered for now considering that it most likely would do him no good.

'Okay, time to go to the library,' he thought. Favian proceeded to walk to his second home, the library, or as he dubbed it, the room of knowledge. Hundreds of thousands of books were piled high on the shelves, with there also being a room specifically for scrolls, which, unlike books and tomes, would have their knowledge imprinted directly into the user. Favian had come to the library everyday since his return from the Kalari Desert, and scanned a single book. He didn't want to look too suspicious to Essi by taking multiple books on each trip, or else questions would start being asked, and he didn't want to give any way for somebody to find out about his ability to immediately commit a book's knowledge to heart because of his World of Exile system.

Favian had also scanned books about intermediate and advanced magic particles, hoping to find an answer to what his most compatible magic particle was. He knew that shadow was only his second most compatible, and he'd still been unable to figure out what was his best. Favian browsed through the catalog of books on advanced magic particles, having already found all the available information on intermediate particles previously.

'Huh, what's this?' Favian thought. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed something different in the restricted area. He was granted slight access to this area by Anansi, but had been unable to read through many of the books there. The majority were still off limits for him. However, right now he saw something that wasn't on the shelf before. It was a purple scroll, with a weird symbol on it that looked like a vortex.

"Essi, are there ever scrolls in the restricted parts of the library?" Favian shouted, making sure his voice reached down towards Essi who was on the ground floor of the library, whilst Favian was currently on the 4th floor.

The dwarf clerk looked up towards Favian's direction and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "None that I've heard of. Why are you asking that out of the blue anyways?"

"No reason Essi," Favian replied. Quickly he went towards the purple scroll. The scroll was made of a type of paper Favian had never seen before, feeling closer to sandpaper than it did anything else. A shimmering light was given off by the scroll, engulfing Favian's vision in a deep purple.

'Weird, why do I feel a connection to this?' he asked himself. The aura given off by the scroll felt strangely similar to his own, or at least he believed this to be the case. Favian examined the scroll closely, trying to ascertain that it would do him no harm. Elon gave him 'thumbs up' to using the scroll, since it couldn't detect any hidden spells or curses on the scroll. The longer Favian stared at the vortex symbol on the scroll, the more he was being disoriented.

'Whoa, let's not do that,' he thought. Just as he was about to look away from the scroll's symbol, he was pulled into it completely. His body disappeared from the library, having been sucked in by a chaotic swirl of purple energy undulations.