Nightmare Mythos

'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!"

"Fuck off!"

Cesar, already having no more bullets to use, emptied the chamber of his revolver by shooting the heretic, leaving only one sleeping shell to use. Unfortunately, all of his shots were wasted after the heretic merely used the same power he showed, something that he already once did while they were outside.

"it's futile, little guy. I mean you no harm since we're the same but if your squad did the same thing as these corpses beside me, I might have no choice but to retaliate, no?" The heretic chuckled, "Anyway, let's just bygones be bygones. In this place, every cooperation must be utilized to the best of its ability. If we're going to fight, we might as well use it to the real enemies,"

Cesar clenched the revolver in his hand as he retorted in spite, "The only enemy I could see right now is you! Fucking drop dead already!"

The heretic was slightly disheartened after hearing those words from Cesar, somewhat he considered a kin of his, but he didn't give up on convincing him as he answered with words that sounded alluring, not only to him but to the rest as well.

"Okay, since you are abundant of really killing me, how about I strike you a deal? Wait, before you complain, hear me out first. To others as well, just listen. I'm not going to do anything to you. I mean, I would've done it ages ago if I showed you hostility. Don't worry, this deal will be a benefit for us all,"

Cesar will not take any chances of hearing shit coming from a heretic's mouth as he remembered the time that the crazy believer asked to kill his friends just to let him be alive. Of course, he was the one who struck the deal but his squad didn't mind it anyway. Find your next read on m_v l|e'm-p| y r

It was part of a plan after all.

The point is, the heretic's words will be all bullshit. Even if some of it is true, Cesar was ready to consider that all of it was insignificant.

But surprisingly, both Leah and Jeremiah signaled him to stop speaking and let the heretic continue.

The heretic might be crazy but he can also speak some logical statements that make those confused people believe in him.

It's no trickery but merely showing facts and reasoning.

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,"