Farther. It didn’t matter if he wound up black and blue, covered in bruises from his run. It didn’t matter if the storm around him left him burned and reeling. He’d find whatever was wrong with his Alexandria, and he’d-
His legs froze, shuddering underneath him. His eyes snapped impossibly wide, glued to the storm overhead.
And the pale, shimmering figures he could see within the storm’s clouds, floating high above the stone-lined hallways he followed.
Despite the storm-winds still blasting into his face, despite the fires burning over his head, for a long moment Owl was caught just...staring. Baffled. People? Were those supposed to be-
No, he decided just as quickly. Not people. They were human-shaped, but not a single one of them seemed to recognize his presence, much less attempt to come talk to him. They swirled and circled within the endless waves of blue and black, little more than glimmering outlines that appeared and disappeared seemingly at will.
A shiver rippled down his spine. Whatever it was, whatever they were, they didn’t belong here. It wasn’t right.
He needed to fix it. Quickly.
With every step he took, though, the clouds built around him, pressing in closer and closer until he could hardly see the next step he was taking - and the ghostly figures weren’t so distant, anymore. They-
How am I supposed to-
But, she said she’d-
Where? Where should I go? I thought this was supposed to-
His hands slapped over his ears - over the space where his ears were, underneath his hood. Voices. There were voices coming from the storm. With the wind howling louder and louder by the second, their words blended into the mix, melding together into a seamless cry that tore at his senses.
Owl narrowed his eyes, thankful for the mask that shielded him from the world-gone-mad that surrounded him. It gave him a tiny, fleeting barrier, a wall between the wind that tore at his skin and hair. The voices continued unabated, an eerie undercurrent to the roar of the wind.
Ahead, though, he could see it - a turn in the hallway, and more importantly, a massive stone-built archway dead ahead. Every gust and ripple of the wind carried dust and glimmering droplets of glowing water in its embrace, enough for him to track the way it moved.
Wherever the hallway led, it wasn’t involved - and the gouts of fire-laced wind billowing out of the arch made it painfully clear where his destination was. He could hardly see the entryway through the mess of glowing, seething magic.
Worst of all, his lungs hadn’t stopped their tingling - and he couldn’t quite banish the need to cough. You’re breathing something bad, his thoughts whispered. Humans aren’t supposed to breathe magic. This stuff is eating away at the walls. What’ll it do to your lungs? How long can you survive?
And what would happen if he collapsed then and there, left to vanish into the clouds? A shudder ran through him.
Owl gritted his teeth, shaking his head with new fervor, and took another step forward. Alexandria was magic. He wasn’t magic.
Probably.
Although he was here in a dream.
And he was the Librarian, Alexandria’s caretaker.
Best not to think about it too hard, he thought with a wry, hollow chuckle. He squinted up toward the ceiling as the arch emerged from the storm.
His heart dropped like a rock. He’d thought it just a moment before - he was Alexandria’s caretaker.
And out of all his years as Librarian, even through Alan and Dylan’s havoc, he’d never seen his Library devastated as this.
The storm coiled about the eaves of the grand, towering chamber beyond the arch. In one section, a hole had been gnawed in the roof itself, allowing the crackling waves of magic to burst out into the open air beyond. This is what we saw, then.
This was the heart of it.
As quick as he could shuffle forward, Owl hurled himself past the arch and staggered sideways. That horrible wind was gusting forward, pushing out of the room and toward its escape. If that was the case, then-
He exhaled with relief as the wind died away. Not entirely, mind - it still whipped around him, nipping at his heels and trying to pull him back in. But he could see again, and he could think.
“What are you doing, Alex?” he whispered, searching the storm. “What’s-”
He stopped as another pale shape gleamed from within the heart of the maelstrom - and this time, it wasn’t so transparent. With the worst of the wind out of his ears again, he could hear them, too. Almost. He took a hesitant step forward, gritting his teeth and straining.
A cry burst from his lips as the storm erupted - and one of those human-shaped figures exploded out towards him. Another. Another. They whirled around him, closer and closer until-
-don’t know where’d she go? I thought-
...the deal was. We had a deal. You promised. You-
-so quiet. I don’t like it. Said I wouldn’t be alone. Please don’t-
Owl could hear himself screaming, the sound a pale shadow to the renewed crackling of magic-fueled electricity from the storm. It was too much. Alexandria was- was being torn apart. He couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. They were in his head. How was he supposed to fix this? It was impossible. He couldn’t begin to-
“Stop whining and stand up,” he heard someone snap, the sound filling the air around him. A woman. Familiar. The voices of the beings around him still screamed under her words, but impossibly, she didn’t even sound like she’d raised her voice. “You have to mend what’s broken. You must.”
Right. He needed to...to find a way. Somehow. He’d fix this. And the first step to getting himself under
