Prologue
Amelia Watson, niece of the renowned Dr. John H. Watson. A seemingly ordinary girl from an extraordinary family.
You lived under the shadow of your illustrious uncle and your heart yearned for adventure - your own moment in the sun. Little did you know that you carried immense potential that many mortal beings could only dream of!
The Cover Corporation from the parallel world saw that potential.
As did we.
Ancient Ones like myself may be restrained to the void, but we have many eyes in the mortal world. The Lord of Death and his Grim Reapers are our allies. They share their information from the afterlife with us in exchange for powers of forbidden knowledge. Likewise, the High Patriarch of the Esoteric Order of True Sight is our finger on the pulse of the affairs in the land of the living.
You may be familiar with him.
A certain Mr. Steven Lowry.
His Occidental College for Young Ladies is a fledgeling educational institution, but it is also the proving grounds for the candidates of Priestess of the Ancient Ones. The majority of its board are members of the Esoteric Order, of course. Only Dr. Watson and a handful of the academics are outsiders, but the prestige they carry attracts the best and the brightest to the college. That is their purpose.
From that crop of talented ladies, three candidates were eventually chosen. Ina'nis Ninomae, Ophelia Lowry and yourself.
Ina'nis was the most talented candidate who was already attuned to the whispers of the Ancient Ones. Ophelia Lowry was chosen because her father, the High Patriarch, wished to have a Priestess in his clan in order to fulfill his political ambitions. You, on the other hand, were a placebo - a Canard if you will - to compare against the real candidates.
All three of you were invited to study at the College so that the Esoteric Order could test your mettle. You lived your lives interacting with your fellow students, a run-of-the-mill college campus life, while our proxies observed you with keen interest.
We were meaning to manifest in the Occidental College in order to give the three of you a true ordeal. Expelling Ina'nis Ninomae from the College, after spending so much time with you as her best friend, would have created the emotional turbulence we needed in order to shatter reality. However, you and Ina'nis came up with a better idea.
The Great Phoenix Expedition!
Mr. Lowry relayed the plans to us, and we coordinated with the Lord of Death in order to prepare a most wonderful reception for our Priestess candidates. Only one would arise from the ordeal, while the others would be buried at sea by the Sea Serpent. We hoped that the two Expeditions would turn against each other, but you chose to shake hands with your rival Ophelia. You even embraced the washed-up Atlantean and cheered her on through her darkest hour!
The Lord of Death relayed the news to us, so we revised our plans once more. Our proxies planted a blank-slate grimoire in the basement of the Bordeaux Municipal Library. It was enchanted to bind itself to the first candidate to touch it, so it turned into a race that Ina'nis eventually won.
Unfortunately, for a brief moment, you touched the grimoire while it was still binding itself to Ina'nis. The grimoire slipped from her hands. You placed it back in her grasp while you were carrying her out of the basement, but that was enough to stir the still waters of your soul - tiny ripples that would become great waves.
You trusted the Otherworlder Jenma and the Phoenix Kiara and forged a bond with them. Together, you fought valiantly against the Grim Reapers but failed to protect Ina'nis in Bordeaux. We already had our Priestess in Ina'nis and we expected you, Ophelia and all of your allies to fall into despair.
But all of you persisted - because of your boundless courage and daring, detective.
You used Phoenix fire to forge your very soul into a weapon capable of death magic. You used that magic to march into hell, the den of your enemies where you would be hopelessly outnumbered and overpowered. You struck a deal with one of the Lord of Death's brightest pupils to smuggle Ina'nis out of the Underworld!
This is why you found yourself in the Infinite Library, detective. We, Knowledge, had to observe you with our own eyes and appraise your true worth for ourselves. You have turned from a mere Canard into a star that shines brightly in the eyes of the Ancient Ones. How brightly will your star burn when the curtains come to a close?
A familiar story.
One that we... no, I remember well.
What happens next, dear detective, will be entirely up to you.
How will your decision play out on this stage we both stand on?
Only time will tell.
...
AlterMyth
The Moment That Lasted Forever
...
Seventieth Scene - Bursting At The Seams
Ame froze in the presence of Knowledge. Her heart was beating hard against her chest, adding to the pain from her still hurting head. Mere seconds passed in the realm of the Infinite Library, but she heard the spiel of her enemy in full. It was like the words of Knowledge were transmitted directly into her mind. No words were spoken, but Ame understood her message in such a short time.
The detective stole a glance at Ina and noticed that her companion seemed troubled. Perhaps Knowledge told her something too.
Before Ame could react, Knowledge produced the Book of Enma and held it firmly in her hands. The librarian took care to keep it free from the black grime that trickled from her many reopened wounds. Ame pointed her revolver at Knowledge, but the cosmic librarian was unfazed and closed the gap between them.
"We apologize for our outburst earlier." Knowledge spoke now and bowed her head slightly as she walked, "We may have become Ancient Ones, but we were human once. That human side makes us prone to outbursts that make us forget ourselves. Assaulting guests out of petty spite is not the way of the Ancient Ones - especially towards guests who have completed their ordeals." She then offered the book to Ame cordially, "You accepted the ordeal and emerged victorious. We honor our contracts to the letter. You have earned this."
Ame studied the expression of the librarian, but the outburst of fury from earlier had all but faded away. There was no malice on the face of Knowledge - at least no more than her mischievous spirit from when they first met.
The detective turned to Ina who nodded back to her. She saw the handgun in the unordained Priestess' hands and the crowbar wielded by one of her twelve tentacles. Ame nodded back, holstered her revolver and took the Book of Enma.
AO-chan flew over to the book and quickly studied it again. The grimoire spoke in purple runes that Ina promptly translated.
"It's the real deal, Ame."
Knowledge snorted and ran a hand through her hair.
"We have also unlocked the powers of the obsidian orb that you carried into the Infinite Library." She promptly added, "Strike it with your soul-forged saber and it will open a portal to the Portuguese Azores Islands. You will then be free to leave and our transaction will be complete."
Ame furrowed her brow and tried to reach into the pocket of her skirt. However, the obsidian orb wasn't there.
Oh right... I gave it to Calli.
Once she remembered that, her eyes turned to the rogue Grim Reaper. She was just about to call for her when she suddenly paused and furrowed her brow. Calli was still imprisoned in her tapestry world! Gura, Kiara and Jenma were also still trapped in their hellish threadlike realms.
"Wait a damn second." Ame hissed, "We finished your damn ordeal. Let my friends go!"
"We wish we could do that, but this matter is not in our hands." Knowledge snickered now, delighting in the detective's plight, "As we have said, these tapestry worlds are prisons of their own creation. The Strings of Fate are merely interacting with their subconscious, so we have not had to lift a finger to create those worlds." She then locked eyes with Ame and taunted, "In other words, they have trapped themselves. There is nothing we can do for them~!"
Ame gritted her teeth and turned to Ina.
"Help me set them free, Ina. We can't bring them home in this state."
Ina nodded and they hurried over to their four imprisoned friends. They passed by Knowledge who just stood there and watched their struggle.
The detective picked up one of the bayonets from the defeated puppet parade and began slashing away at the strings that rose up to the cosmic void ceiling from Gura's tapestry world. Ina followed suit and tried to free Calli, Kiara and Jenma.
However, no matter how hard they tried, the so-called Strings of Fate promptly reattached themselves!
"Perhaps you aren't cutting the strings fast enough?" Knowledge teased now, "It only takes a split second for those strings to reform themselves. They will always seek to form a bond!" Her grime-tainted grin grew wider, "You had better hurry up too - or else the tapestry worlds of your friends will fully manifest!"
"What do you mean by 'fully manifest'?" Ina dared to ask.
"It means that their tapestry worlds will fully mesh with their realities. Fact will mend with fiction." Knowledge explained delightedly, "Even if they leave the Infinite Library now, those tapestry worlds will haunt them forever. Slowly but surely, their minds and spirits will be broken by their agonies - crushed over and over by the weight they carry on their shoulders!"
Desperation started to take root in Ame's and Ina's hearts now. They kept on trying to cut the threads with the bayonets and even tried to shoot them, but to no avail.
"How long do you plan to keep fighting the inevitable, detective?" Knowledge tested.
"As long as it takes!" Ame hissed and swung her bayonet over Gura's string, only for it to reform before her eyes for the umpteenth time.
"We don't think you have that luxury. The luxury of time, that is." The librarian chuckled, "No guest stumbles upon the Infinite Library by chance. All of them were invited to come here - fated to bargain with us and to face the ordeals!" She then pointed up to the cosmic void above Ame's head and smirked, "Everyone who enters here has Strings of Fate. Sooner or later, you and Ina'nis will succumb to your own tapestry worlds. You will become our prisoners too!"
Ame and Ina looked up and their faces went pale. Indeed, they saw strings that joined the backs of their own heads to the cosmic void ceiling. Ame's string was bright golden while Ina's was regal violet.
"The Strings of Fate will be severed once you leave this place, but the damage that has been done here will be difficult to undo." Knowledge insisted now, "Your friends are already too far gone, minutes away from the light of enlightenment! However, you and Ina'nis can still make it out with your sanities intact." She spread out her arms and demanded, "Make your choice, Amelia Watson!"
"Ame...!" Ina yelped and shook her head, "We can't leave them here!"
"I know, Ina!" Ame grumbled, "I know, but... what else can we do?"
While Ame was speaking, an unsettling noise reached her ear again. Her pocket watch was spinning wildly yet again and was rattling audibly. She brought out the watch again and its three hands seemed to spin faster and faster.
All of the sudden, she seemed to see something forming within her watch as its hands blurred together into one. It was the afterimage of something that caught Ame's eye.
A clock within a clock?
Golden runes, just like the ones emanating from AO-chan, emerged from Ame's watch. It was a language that the detective had never seen or learned before, but she understood the ethereal message being relayed to her.
"ᛏᚪᚳᛖ ᛏᛁᛘᛖ ᛁᚾᛏᚩ ᛁᚩᚢᚱ ᚩᚹᚾ ᚻᚪᚾᛞᛋ. ᚳᛇᛋᚢᚱᚪ."
"Take time into your own hands. Caesura...?" The words slipped from Ame's lips in English.
All of the sudden, Ame's watch glowed bright gold. An audible click reached Ame's ears as the time-adjustment knob disengaged somehow and stuck out. Knowledge turned to Ame as well and the librarian's mischievous composure evaporated in a heartbeat. The librarian's ash grey eyes trembled.
"Impossible..." Knowledge shriveled up, "It resonated with you and not us!? Unforgivable!"
Another outburst? She's more pissed off than before!
The librarian summoned her naginata with a flash of lilac light and the rest of her weapons floated around her. She pointed the blade of her polearm towards Ame and looked like she was poised to strike. Ina formed a wall of tentacles ahead of them, but the Priestess looked incredibly uneasy.
"I don't think we can keep up with Knowledge like everyone else, Ame!" Ina warned.
"We won't have to, Ina." Ame's eyes glowed golden and she set her thumb on the disengaged knob of her pocket watch, "We just need to pin her down and get everyone out of here!"
"Will we be able to make it in time?" The unordained Priestess doubted.
"We will." The detective grinned, "If I understand this correctly, we've got all the time in the world!"
Knowledge lunged forward with her naginata and her four other weapons flew alongside her in tandem. Ame then pressed down on the knob of her watch and cried out at the top of her lungs.
"CAESURA!"
...
Seventy-First Scene - Caesura
As soon as Ame declared her move, the flow of time came to an abrupt halt.
Everything in the realm of the Infinite Library was frozen in time and took on a powder blue hue - from the tapestry worlds that were forming around her four companions to the grime-stained figure of Knowledge suspended in mid-strike. Despite this, Ame's pocket watch continued to whir and the cosmic librarian still managed to speak with a harrowing disembodied voice.
"You're a fool, Amelia Watson! You will get what's coming to you! "
"We'll see about that, book lady!" Ame spat back.
The detective drew her revolver and shot at Knowledge from ten paces away. Every time that Ame pulled the trigger, the muzzle flash and the bullet burst out from the barrel but promptly froze in time along with the rest of the realm, stopping short of striking the cosmic librarian. Ame's revolver, however, cycled on to the next round without a hitch.
Satisfied, Ame popped open the top of her revolver and ejected her six spent rounds. The empty shells flew up into the air and stopped in place before the detective's eyes. She slotted new rounds into the empty cylinder and snapped her gun back together. Even the bayonet that she tossed aside remained suspended midair!
Her eyes turned to the Strings of Fate that tied her and her friends to the cosmic void above them. Ame held her pocket watch firmly and transformed it into her soul-forged saber.
She swung her saber through the golden string and tore through it easily. This time, the bonds did not reform! Even though it needed a split second to reconnect, Ame's spell had completely halted time.
"We're gonna make it out of here, Ina!"
Ame took Ina's hand in hers and the unordained Priestess suddenly seemed to jolt back to life. Ina shuddered for a moment and struggled to understand what was going on. Once she saw the detective smiling at her, however, she understood what was going on and she managed to smile back.
"Another one of your surprises, Ame?" Ina teased, "You're a time mage?"
"I'm just as surprised as you!" Ame chuckled. She passed the Book of Enma to Ina and confidently urged, "Whatever this is, it's our chance to free everyone, get away from these strings and get the hell out of here."
Ina nodded and squeezed Ame's hand while one of her tentacles grabbed a hold of the suspended AO-chan. Together, Ame and Ina turned their attention to their imprisoned friends. All the while, the disembodied voice of Knowledge boomed throughout the space.
"You will soon understand the futility of your struggle! "
Ame and Ina paid her no heed. The detective transformed her watch into its saber form with her free hand while Ina's tentacles wielded the bayonets of the puppets. They reached their friends and cut down the Strings of Fate one after another.
Calli's pink.
Kiara's orange.
Jenma's white.
Gura's blue.
The two candidates methodically cut through the tapestry worlds as if they were silken cocoons. Those tapestry worlds also failed to reform and seal the breaches, opening a pathway to the trapped dreamers within. Ame and Ina reached into the breaches and pulled their friends out of their threadlike prisons.
Ina used her tentacles to carry Calli, Kiara and Jenma out of their cells. Ame, on the other hand, returned her saber to its pocket watch form and she grabbed Gura's hand.
The Atlantean was dazed for a moment. She had been trapped in her cold tapestry world for so long that fiction and reality had already started blurring together. Ame's hand was the first ounce of warmth she felt in what seemed like an eternity.
Gura's eyes met with Ame's through the breach in her tapestry world while her lifelong nightmare unraveled around her. She saw the detective's warm smile that dispelled her sorrows in one fell swoop.
"Ame!" Gura's sullen face brightened up in an instant.
"Hold on to me, Gura!" Ame urged and squeezed her hand firmly.
Gura nodded and let the detective bring her out of her nightmare world and into the detective's embrace. The Atlantean then broke down into tears. She tried to tell Ame about the things she had seen in her tapestry world, but she choked on her own words and sobbed. Ame, however, gently set her forehead against Gura's and reassured her.
"Don't worry about it, Gura. You can tell me all about it when we get the hell out of here, okay?"
In the moment, through the lens of Gura's eyes, Amelia Watson was absolutely radiant. All of the nightmares that haunted her in the tapestry world melted away into a distant memory as she held Ame's hand firmly in hers.
Together, Ame, Ina and Gura ran through the time-stopped Infinite Library, away from the severed Strings of Fate. Ina's tentacles, on the other hand, pulled the still-suspended Calli, Kiara and Jenma along with them.
While they were running away from Knowledge, Ame noticed the faint trace of another String of Fate hanging above her. It was headed in an entirely different direction from the other Strings.
Maroon? Was there somebody else stuck in the Infinite Library too?
Whoever it was, Ame didn't want them to be a slave to the temperamental whims of the cosmic librarian. She pointed out the string to Ina and the Priestess cut it down with one of the bayonets her tentacles still wielded. Ina's tentacle dropped the bayonet and it remained suspended in midair as they left it behind.
...
Seventy-Second Scene - A Crown of Strings
Ame held Ina's and Gura's hands and the three of them ran through the seemingly endless checkerboard marble floor of the Infinite Library. None of them really knew where they were headed in that realm, but they simply put more distance between them and the severed Strings of Fate as they possibly could.
All of the sudden, the powder blue hue of the time-stopped world around them faded away and the knob on Ame's pocket watch disengaged once again on its own with a resolute click. A bead of sweat dripped down Ame's brow but it fell all the way and struck the ground beneath her feet without stopping. She tried to press down the knob again before to buy them more time, but the knob refused to budge!
Is it out of power?
With that, the flow of time resumed and struck Ame and her companions like a crashing wave. Calli, Kiara and Jenma snapped back to reality and were aghast by their sudden change of surroundings.
All three of them realized that they were no longer in their tapestry worlds. Instead, they were in the firm yet gentle grasp of Ina's tentacles. The Strings of Fate that Ame severed were flying through the Infinite Library towards them at breakneck speed. Seeing them cover so much ground made Ame's heart sink.
"Calli!" Ame desperately urged, "I don't have time to explain...but throw out the obsidian orb, now! We've gotta get the hell out of here!"
Calli nodded and brought out the fragile obsidian orb from her pocket. She threw it forward in front of them and summoned her scythe with a flash of crimson red light. Ina's tentacle let go of the rogue reaper.
"A-alright, here goes!" Calli landed on the floor and hit the ground running. She pulled back her scythe and struck the obsidian orb with a powerful swing.
The obsidian orb shattered and released its last ounce of power, forming a portal to the Portuguese Azores Islands. Ina hopped into the portal first and she took Kiara, Jenma and AO-chan along with her. Calli crossed the threshold next and turned around, wielding her scythe in a combat stance. Gura let go of Ame's hand and followed soon after, drawing her trident as well alongside the rogue reaper.
Ame sprinted towards the portal and prepared herself to return into the warmth of the Upperworld. However, to her absolute horror, the most unusual thing happened to her.
Instead of entering the portal, she went straight through it! Her feet didn't land on the sandy beaches of the Azores Islands. Instead, she landed on the cold, overbearing checkerboard marble tiles of the Infinite Library!
What the hell!?
The portal was still open. Ame could see her worried friends at the other side of the threshold. They were calling out to her to jump in, but some unknown force was stopping her. All the while, the Strings of Fate and the enraged cosmic librarian approached her like a coming storm.
Ame reached into the portal a second time, but her hand didn't go through the Upperworld yet again! Desperate, the detective brought out her golden pocket watch again and tried to press down the knob again.
"Caesura!" She cried, over and over with looming dread, "Caesura! Caesura! CAESURA! PLEASE!"
All of the sudden, all seven severed Strings of Fate caught up to Ame and bound themselves to her. The detective yelped and gasped with fear. Every ounce of dead that had built up in the tapestry worlds of her friends came crashing into the eye of Ame's mind in the blink of an eye.
That dread seemed to have transpierced her very soul.
Slowly but surely, those Strings of Fate wove together and turned into some sort of veil that crowned Ame's head. It was like the veil that Ina was wearing for the Ritual of Death and Destiny in the Sous La Lune!
"The Ancient Ones will have their Priestess one way or another." Knowledge approached Ame with a bitter frown, "These turn of events displease us, you leave us no choice. We will fulfill our duty - and so shall you, Amelia Watson. Whether you like it or not!"
The cosmic librarian stared through the open portal to the Azores Islands and saw the detective's companions crying out for Ame. Those voices reached Ame's ears and filled her with remorse.
Overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of emotions carried by the Strings of Fate, Ame's eyelids grew heavy and threatened to lull her to sleep.
"I'm sorry, everyone." Tears started to form on the sides of Ame's eyes, "This is as far as I'm going. Go on without me! My luck... finally ran out."
Knowledge grabbed the faltering detective by her collar, but Ame could barely struggle to resist her anymore. Satisfied, the librarian peered through the portal and gave Ame's companions a stern warning.
"The peace you enjoy in your mortal realm is coming to an end. Savor this moment, for this will be your last!"
...
Epilogue
On the other side of the portal, Gawr Gura's heart was beating hard against her chest. A pain sharper than the nightmares she saw in her tapestry world was gripping her tired soul.
"Ame!" She cried in a shrill, agonizing voice.
Swept by her emotions, Gura dared to reach into the flickering portal one last time and tried to grab hold of Ame's hand.
"Gura!" Calli warned, "The portal's about to collapse!"
"I don't care!" Gura hissed, "I'm getting Ame out of there!"
She reached in as far as her right arm could reach until her shoulder was halfway in the Infinite Library and halfway in the Azores Islands. All the while, a harsh, mind-numbing pain ravaged Gura's shoulder at that halfway point. It was as if her skin was being torn apart and her bones were being crushed all at once!
The portal really was starting to collapse!
Gura was undeterred. She stubbornly reached into the collapsing portal and managed to grab a hold of Ame's right hand!
"I got her!" Gura urged now, "Help me pull her out!"
Calli, Ina, Kiara and Jenma all came together and fought to pull Gura and Ame back into the Upperworld. It was a moment that lasted forever and Gura was assaulted by immense pain from the collapsing portal. She gritted her teeth to weather through and soon managed to bring Ame's hand over to their side of the threshold!
However, when Ame's hand crossed through the portal, it became transparent and ethereal.
No...!
Moments later, Gura's right hand slipped through Ame's as if the detective was merely thin air! In that scramble, though, Gura was able to snatch something that Ame had been holding in her hand.
The golden pocket watch.
Any grip that Gura had disappeared in a heartbeat and the Atlantean came flying out of the portal. Then, in the blink of an eye, the portal to the Infinite Library collapsed entirely. Amelia Watson's ethereal hand faded away like smoke.
Gura landed on her back on the grey, rocky beach of the Azores Islands together with her companions. She had a bad landing and fell on her shark's tail, sending waves of pain throughout her entire body.
Despite this, Gura forced herself back up to her feet and stumbled forward to the spot where the portal once was. She faced that spot as if it - and Ame's ethereal hand - were spill there.
But it was gone.
Ame was gone.
Only the golden pocket watch remained with them.
Storm clouds formed over the rocky, grey-sand beach while waves of the Atlantic Ocean crashed into the shore. The golden pocket watch in Gura's hands felt incredibly heavy and she fell down on her knees and into the surf of the ocean tides.
"Ame..." Gura gripped the pocket watch tightly now and she cried out at the top of her lungs, "AME!"
Lightning crackled in the dark heavens above.
Then, torrential rains started to pour.
To Be Continued