'This bastard...'
The heretic had a very average face. He had a brown beard that was left unkept, black circles that went around his eyes, and a scar that lined up to both of his eyes in a horizontal way.
"Hey, man! I didn't know you were part of that group! Where have you been all this time?"
As the library was changing while they were on their 'falling state', Cesar began to be uncomfortable at how chummy the heretic was becoming to him.
How the heretic was getting all friendly with Cesar produced looks from the squad. Some might not even show it but having this kind of relationship with a heretic was questionable itself.
After all, aside from Cesar, Quentin, and Vin, the rest didn't know they had prior meetings before seeing the heretic being cornered at the far side of the city, the time before they got transferred to the mansion.
They are right to be suspicious.
Cesar didn't entertain their gazes as he aimed his revolver at the heretic and shot him.
Bang!
The heretic merely used his power by emerging as an apparition of himself and covering himself from the attack. The way he conjured so fast was shocking as well.
"Aggressive as ever!"
Seeing that the leader of the group was trying to let him speak, the heretic laughed and said, "Very well, here's the deal. Let's just forget that we ever became enemies. I did everything for the sake of my goal. You shouldn't be angry about it. In exchange, I'll give you information on how the library works and how will you survive from this fluctuation,"
Cesar was astounded and was ready to take action as he always believed from the start that they were being tricked but the cohort remained indignant about listening. Only Quentin seemed to be considering Cesar's actions since he also held a grudge against the heretic.
"Deal,"
Jeremiah answered on behalf of the whole cohort as the heretic believed him and nodded.
"Okay, for now, I'll tell you how these fluctuations worked." The heretic pointed to the state of their falling that continued to expand and compress, "It is easy to understand, honestly. One just needs to be attentive,"
The heretic's first statement started with this as he observed the cohort's reactions one by one before he continued.
"The Fluctuations have three periods. First is the Float Period which is what we're doing right now. I named it 'Float Period' since there's no real name for it since as the library is changing, we remained on this stagnant in the air. You might think we're falling but the bottom part we were going to land later on is merely expanding while the roof above is just closing to us. Fascinating? I know,"
The heretic paused, "For how a person will know that they are entering this period, one has to be attentive to a sound coming outside the walls of this place. It's just a noise but if you hear a creak in this library, you better be prepared for what's to come. In conclusion, there's no pattern or time interval to use to base how this period will start. Just a creak, that's all,"
The heretic gulped a mouthful of saliva down his throat before adding, "The second period is the Dive Period. As easy as its words are telling you, we're just going to fall at a really fast rate. Fret not, the solution for landing at this long height is to step into the paper floors. It's like a cushion for a brief moment so that anyone normal can land on it.
You must've seen it when you are entering this place. The same as the Float Period, the Dive Period didn't have an indication that you were going to fall. You'll only realize it once it already happened,"
Finally, the heretic drew a long breath after all that talking before coming to the last part, "Now, the third and last period, the Fixed Period. Let me tell you now. Ignore everything you need to know about the first two but don't ever forget this period. After all, this period is the most dangerous of them all,"
The heretic then revealed, "The Library will become your enemy, after all,"