Both Fillonia and Miss Philaxter walked over to the table Henry and Alex were sitting at. On the way there, it seemed like Miss Philaxter was explaining to her cousin exactly what had happened, pulling a familiar-looking stone out of her pocket. The head librarian occasionally looked over at Alex as she did, the look on her face a combination of both worry and curiosity. It was clear to Alex that she was already forming an idea in her head as to who or what he might be.

  "Hey, Henry," Fillonia briefly acknowledged the dark-haired Fairy before turning to Alex, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling, Alex?"

  "Hey, Mrs. Fillibaxter, should I leave?" Henry asked, already getting up from his chair. Fillonia shook her head, signaling she was fine with him staying. She then turned back to Alex, waiting for his answer.

  "I'm fine. It's just headaches," Alex tried to brush off the healer. While he was glad she wanted to help him, he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her about the voice in his head. Especially with Miss Philaxter right next to her. He was sure that would be the final clue she needed to figure out where he came from.

  "It's not just headaches, Mister Vansteen," the librarian interjected. "I've told Mrs. Fillibaxter about the Catalogue Stone. It was fully charged when I handed it to you. When you gave it back, there was no sign of any mana left in it. So unless you lied to me when you said you only used it once, there is something else going on."

  Alex knew there was nothing he could bring against that. She knew something was strange about him. At least the people around him right now were all people he at least somewhat trusted. Maybe they were the right people to help him figure out what was happening to him.

  "This might feel strange for a moment," Fillonia said as she held her hand out in front of Alex, her fingers spread open. "I'm just going to do a quick diagnostic check."

  Instinctively, Alex flinched away. Back on Earth, a diagnostic check meant cold stethoscopes and old men putting wooden sticks in your mouth. Here, it meant a pointy-eared woman waving a hand in front of your face. He trusted her, though. She had always been nice to him from the moment they met. He relaxed, and a faint green light shone from the healer's hand as she moved it over his entire body, a subtle warmth radiating from it. There was something comforting about it. When she reached the bottom, she shook her head and started from the top for a second time. Then a third.

  "This is strange," Fillonia said after reaching the bottom of Alex's body for the third time. "There's nothing. Not a speck of innate magic in his body."

  "I have a theory. Do you mind if I test it, Fillonia?" Miss Philaxter said as she produced a small yellow crystal out of a pocket in her black jacket. The crystal looked similar to the ones that held up the job postings on the Notice Board, only way smaller and not as bright of a yellow. "Mister Vansteen, could you hold this for a moment?"

  Alex looked over to Fillonia, waiting for her approval. She nodded, though there was concern on her face. He took the yellow crystal with a deep sigh. This was it. He knew it. This was going to be the last clue she would need to figure it out. After this, his secret would be out. Like with the Catalogue Stone, as soon as he touched the crystal, the scraping voice at the back of his skull spoke again.

  Partial Power Source connection detected.

  Continuing Initialization...

  Partial Power Source depleted.

  Initialization paused at 62%

  The dull yellow crystal went completely grey only a second after Alex had touched it. He dropped it to the ground as he winced from the pain of the voice in his head. This had been the longest message the voice had spoken, and the pain that came with it was worse than any before. To his surprise, it wasn't Miss Philaxter who spoke up first. Instead, it was Henry.

  "He completely drained it," he said in surprise. "Is he an Otherbo—"

  His word got cut off when Miss Philaxter grabbed the air in front of him, seemingly taking away his voice. Henry grabbed his throat in shock, his eyes opening wide.

  "Relax, Mister Rixtor, you've seen me use this skill on your Kahrn friend plenty of times." As that fact sunk in for the Fairy, Alex could see him visibly relax again. He didn't understand how Henry was so calm about his voice literally being taken away. Alex would have been scared, but now Henry looked only mildly annoyed. Miss Philaxter continued, "But you are right in your assumption. However, we should move to a more secure location to discuss this." With that, the librarian got up, opened her hand again, and started walking away, assuming the others would follow her.

  Henry cleared his throat with a soft growl as his voice returned. He looked over at Alex, his eyes now full of both awe and intrigue. Alex wasn't sure if he liked that look on Henry's face. He just hoped it wouldn't turn into an obsession. The dark-haired Fairy boy got up from the table to follow the librarian, leaving his textbook on the table. Whatever Alex was, it was more important than the test he was studying for.

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  Fillonia got up as well and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. A familiar warmth rushed through his body. He didn't know why, but out of everyone here, Alex felt like he could trust her the most. "Don't worry, Alex. Everything will be alright, but you'll want to hear what Annaba has to say."

  "Annaba?" Alex asked, confused. Was she another member of the board?

  "Sorry, Miss Philaxter. I always forget most people don't know my cousin's first name," the healer explained. She let go of Alex's shoulder, and the warmth pulsing through his body slowly dissipated. "Let's go," she added before following the two other Fairies.

  Alex followed closely behind her. Whatever Miss Philaxter had to say, he was absolutely going to want to hear it. She probably knew more about what happened to him than he currently did. He could finally get some answers.

  They crossed the reading hall in a small cluster. The Field of Silence swallowed most of the ambient noise. The surrounding conversations turned into silent pantomimes of moving mouths and soundless gestures as they passed, and the remaining students speculated about what was happening. Ever since Fillonia had entered the library, the attention of most students had been on what was happening instead of the books in front of them.

  The group stopped when they reached a door at the end of the library. Miss Philaxter produced a small key from a necklace hanging around her neck and opened the door. Along the way, Henry had whispered to Alex that she was probably taking them to her private quarters. According to him, no other student had ever seen the inside of her quarters. Alex was taken aback by how thrilled he was about the librarian's personal space. When the door opened, Alex understood why.

  Large bookcases, overflowing with books, filled the room. Although the library contained many books, this was her personal collection, which almost nobody had seen so far. Aside from the massive bookcases, the rest of the room was sober. Except for one small corner. In that corner stood a comfortable lounge chair with a small round table beside it. Underneath them was a small round carpet. Even from where Alex stood, he could see the red material it was made of was extremely soft.

  Once everyone was inside, Miss Philaxter locked the door behind her again. She motioned for everyone to sit at a rectangular table at the opposite end of the room from the comfortable chair. Henry's eyes glanced over the large bookcases as he tried to read the titles of as many books in her collection as possible. His fingers twitched like he wanted to trace the spines of every single one of them. From the look on his face, Alex could tell the young Fairy was mentally taking note of some books he would need to check out himself.

  "She has first editions," Alex could hear Henry whisper to himself. That's when he noticed the Field of Silence was gone and the normal calming silence he was used to from libraries had returned.

  With everyone seated, the librarian spoke up again. "This room should be more secure. Nobody except those that I trust has entered this room since the academy's founding. Now, I believe you are right, Mister Rixtor. I too believe Mister Vansteen might be an Otherborn. Tell me, Mister Vansteen, you are not from this world, are you?"

  All eyes in the room were focused on Alex now, eagerly awaiting his answer. There was no point in concealing the truth anymore. "No, I'm not. I'm from a place called Earth," Alex explained.

  "Earth? As in the ground?" Henry asked, confused.

  "The etymology of the place he's from is neither here nor there for the moment, Mister Rixtor," Miss Philaxter shushed Henry before addressing Alex again, "Your body is also not the same as it was before, is it, Mister Vansteen?"

  Alex shook his head. He wasn't sure if telling them he was actually a thirty-year-old man was a good idea or not, so for now he left that part out. Since they didn't further question what his old body looked like, it seemed it wasn't of importance for now either. He finally knew what he was called in this world, Otherborn. But what did that mean?

  "As I suspected, your eyes were the first hint there was something off about you. There could be multiple reasons for unnatural eye color, though. Then you brought me the drained Catalogue Stone. The fact Ms. Fillibaxter herself came when I called for someone from the infirmary clued me in that the board knew you were something else. Then you drained this," Miss Philaxter explained, producing the small gray crystal Alex had held only moments ago, "a small, emergency mana battery. I carry one of these on me at all times. They have just enough mana for me to summon an Inkling when I'm out of personal mana. However, I was surprised when Mister Rixtor came to the same conclusion as me."

  "He told me my brother brought him in, something he's not really known for," Henry added. While that made no sense to Alex, it was enough for Miss Philaxter to understand how the young Fairy had come to the same conclusion.

  "That also explains why the board knows about him," the head librarian looked to her cousin.

  "Okay, but what is an Otherborn?" Alex asked, tired of being the only one not in the know.

  "I'm sorry, Mister Vansteen, I should have explained," Miss Philaxter said, a genuine look of regret on her face. "There are stories about people from other worlds arriving in this world through means unknown. Most of them are just myths and stories, but they are common enough to have been given a name, and there is evidence enough to believe these Otherborn are real, with you being the first I've encountered in the flesh. They arrive here, not in their own bodies, but in a new one formed by the soul's memories and wishes. Since these bodies are not natively born, they have no innate mana. My theory, and the general consensus, is that your body is absorbing the mana infused into artifacts to form some kind of mana network to substitute your lack of innate mana."

  Alex stared at the librarian for a moment. It was a lot of information to take in, but at least he had some answers now. There were still plenty of things he had no clue about, like what that voice inside his head was. She had a theory about what it was doing, but she didn't mention a voice. Alex's hand went to his nose on instinct, smaller, straighter. The scar on his hand was gone. Had his wishes done that? Had he wanted to come back to a younger body in order to start over?

  "So what happens now?" Alex asked, his voice slightly trembling with worry.