Book III: Name Unwritten- Prologue

  --- Gregory Fischer ---

  Slowly his eyes opened as he dragged his dazed mind from the guilty nightmares that he'd been trapped in and back into the world of realer horrors he was more familiar with.

  With a groan, he made himself sit up as he stretched and popped out the various aches and pains that came from being an ex-soldier with a prosthetic. His exhausted body begged him to fall back asleep even as his mind forced him to stay awake in spite of the ache behind his eyes.

  Feeling a mix of the normal morning needs he forced himself to roll out of bed and take care of them all with a trip to the bathroom and a warm shower to help wake him up. Though that shower came out fairly lukewarm all things considered.

  Stepping out of the shower he pulled on a pair of jeans, slipped on a button up shirt, and grabbed his usual black vest before putting on his glasses and taking a look at his reflection in the mirror.

  A thirty-something man with a bit of brown stubble on his face and brown eyes with only the faintest rings around them stared back at him with a tired but still determined look as he tied his shoulder length hair into his usual ponytail. Wondering if he should get a haircut just so he wouldn’t have to tie it every morning.

  His stomach rumbled as he made his way to the kitchen -and after finding no quick leftovers- he pulled out some eggs and fried them up alongside some toast in the toaster for breakfast. The pan went in the sink where he could wash it later before tossing his paper plate and plastic silverware in the trash can.

  With all of that taken care of he stepped out of his apartment filled with furniture and a couple of overflowing bookshelves, even with that one new shelf he’d gotten, as he made his way downstairs to Toni's shop below.

  Said mechanic was drinking a cup of coffee in her chair as she got her tools ready for the day while going over whatever paperwork she had for the day.

  “Hey…” He groggily called out.

  Toni nodded his way, “Greg.” She paused as she saw him. “You look like shit.”

  “I feel like shit.” He admitted, massaging the bridge of his nose before running his hand down his face. “It was one of those… bad nights…”

  “Oh…” Toni frowned, setting her cup down. “How bad?”

  “Bad, but not so bad that I decided to stay in bed.” He shrugged, figuring it was best to take what good he can.

  “Are… you going to be okay?” She slowly asked him.

  He knew what she meant. After all, they both remembered what happened the last time he tried to hold a regular job.

  (Luckily the library isn’t a regular job.)

  “I think… I think it’d be good for me to go in.” He told her, not quite able to meet her eyes, not with the memories flowing through his head from that night so many years ago. One that Toni still didn’t know all the details of. “I need something to distract me and it’s not like a bunch of books can hurt me.” (The things in those books on the other hand…)

  Toni watched him for a moment before letting out a sigh. “If you’re sure…”

  “I’m… I’m not entirely sure what it is but, I’ve been doing better here… even if it’s only been a couple weeks.” He assured her. (I’m pretty sure I’m even telling the truth this time!)

  “Alright… If that’s what you think is best…” Toni nodded.

  “I do.” His eyes glanced towards the front door of the store. “Though I think I’m still going to take the back way instead of the main streets…”

  With the way he was feeling… he might punch anyone that bumped into him by accident.

  “It’s good to know your limits.” Toni offered with what he was sure was supposed to be a supportive grin rather than a wary grimace.

  “Yeah… It is…” He sighed, aware that his limits were… a little scarier than most. (But that doesn’t mean I can’t do something good with them.)

  The alleys and backstreets that he always took were as rough as they ever were. Not so bad that he couldn’t handle them, but… Still bad enough to make him wonder what his country could have accomplished if they actually focused on helping their people rather than further fueling the war machine that burned people like him for fuel.

  He tried instead to focus on what Briar had told him the day before, about how he’d be taking Maeve out to teach her the same ropes that Mr. Peabody had taught him. (Not that that stupid mutt actually taught me anything…)

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Outside the door to the library, he stopped just long enough to kill off his last cigarette of his current pack before tossing it in a nearby bin. All while double checking that he still had another pack of his normal smokes, to keep him from tapping into his seemingly unlimited supply of Anima Blue in desperation.

  With that sorted he opened the door while picturing the Black Briar Library emblem in his head, creating the mental bridge between the library door in front of him and the door to the library he actually wanted to enter.

  A near total silence greeted him as it always did, the library’s massive atrium seemingly consuming all sound as he stepped inside. (Wonder where I’m supposed to meet everyone?)

  “Fischer!” Briar cheered from far too close given how empty the atrium had been just a moment ago.

  “Black.” He nodded back, before glancing around once more. “Where is everyone else? I thought I was supposed to take Maeve out for her first story thing?”

  “You are.” The head librarian confirmed as she reached behind her and pulled a book out from nowhere. “I just wanted to give you something!”

  He eyed the book a little skeptically, a pavlovian response to what these things usually did. “Briar I thought we talked about books and magic powers I already had not really counting as ‘Pay’.”

  “That’s not what this is!” Briar pouted, shaking the book in his face. “Take it!”

  With an amused, half grin he accepted the book and just managed to read the words ‘The Library Hearth’ before watching as his own book manifested in front of him and seemingly eating the one in his hands.

  Fischer blinked, eyes drifting to his hands as he counted his fingers to make sure he wasn’t missing any more than he normally was. (Okay, five metal and five flesh. I’m good.)

  His Book, promptly landed in his hands before flipping itself open to a portrait of him reading a book in the library… while sitting in a fireplace with everyone else reading around him.

  Except for Mr. Peabody who was roasting a marshmallow over him.

  With only a faint twitch of his eye he read the shifting eldritch script that had been added to the book.

  (“The Library Hearth, Volume II of The Black Briar Librarian

  -Enhance Mind Resistance (+).

  -Hearth of The Black Briar Library: This soul is a member of the [Black Briar Library]. At the start of this unit’s turn all other members of the Black Briar Library heal for half of this unit’s current [Heat] Count.

  ‘As the warmth of his heart grew, it helped to soothe the aches and pains of those within the Library walls.’”)

  “Huh…” He… thought he could feel a bit of that warmth in his chest.

  A stark contrast to what he’d felt from the other volume he’d added to his Book a few days prior. Both the image of him surrounded by smoke with cold eyes and the text that went with the picture burned into his mind.

  (“The Smoke of War (Volume I)

  -War Is Deception: Gregory gains the [Infiltrator] And [Tactician] Classes while this volume is equipped.

  -Deceptive Smoke: Whenever a [Smoke] ability crits against a target, you can consume 1 stack of [Smoke] from the field, to have the target [Taunt] a random enemy. If an ability hits multiple targets, you can consume additional [Smoke] to affect each.”)

  Even if what he could understand of the text’s meaning implied that his newer volume was weaker, he still couldn’t help but appreciate what it implied. “Thank you Briar. I mean it.”

  The head Librarian preened, seemingly glad that she’d finally given something he actually wanted. “It might be a bit soon, but as much as you’ve done you deserve a promotion.”

  “A promotion, huh?” He couldn’t help himself. “Does that mean I’m getting a raise too?”

  “Meeeh!” Briar glared at him, the shadows around her shifting in a way that a normal person might consider intimidating.

  Him?

  He ruffled his boss’s hair. “Come on, there are stories to collect.”

  Briar glared at him a moment longer as she straightened her hair out before nodding as she adjusted her glasses and seemingly let it go. “We do. Thanks to Mr. Peabody I’ve actually managed to find you guys a few different places with some interesting stories nearby.”

  The head librarian snapped her fingers, before gesturing to a nearby counter where several books now laid that hadn’t been there a moment prior. “I offered to let Maeve pick since this is her first collection, but she’s still… a bit upset about the other day.”

  “She just needs a bit of time.” He told her.

  “I know… I just don’t like one of my Librarians being upset with me…” Briar confessed, eyes drifting off to the children’s area where he was sure Maeve was watching the Lost Children.

  “She’ll come around,” He hoped. “But for now why don’t you tell me about these books here?”

  “Well they each represent a place me and Mr. Peabody found, I don’t know a whole lot about them but he did do some basic scouting of each. It’s part of why he’s too tired to join you guys on the collection today.” Briar explained before gesturing to the books one by one.

  First was a quaint village with stars above it. “This one has a lot of magic in the world around it. Enough he couldn’t really narrow it down.”

  (Lazy mutt.)

  Second was a city full of pipes and smog. “He said there’s some kind of weird technology here. Kind of reminded him of what you carry around.”

  (Only tech I’ve got on my is my arm and maybe my smokes though…)

  Third was a mirror full of colors and odd creatures. “This one is definitely Madness based like the library. Lots of fun stuff in there.”

  (If you’re willing to risk being driven mad.)

  Next was what appeared to be a highway between a number of buildings half shaped like tombstones. “This world has a lot of Tragedy and Ecto floating around. Bound to be a lot of stories there…”

  (Probably not very happy ones though…)

  Lastly was a casino full of shining lights and colorful card and chips for betting. “The stories here seem to focus on a casino. And while he couldn’t handle all the lights and noise, he said there was a certain Thrilling air to everything.”

  (Feels like even more of a gamble than the others.)

  “Since you’re the one leading things this time around, it’s your call on which place you guys will be visiting.” Briar told him.

  He gave the books another once over before reaching for one that caught his interest.

  Scouting- Since Mr. Peabody isn’t joining you this time, he is resuming his role as Library scout this means that you get additional details about the worlds you’re looking at. Leveling up his facilities increases how much he reveals.

  Note: Each of these worlds has several possible recruits, either as Librarians or long term guests. The only thing you know right now is which genre/resource is most common there. (Even if it’s not the only one present.)

  Please Choose A Story To Pursue And Which Volume Fischer Is Bringing (Maeve will choose her own for now.)