Chapter 1
A peaceful silence permeated the air of the library. Found amongst the quiet, Shiori Novella casually roamed the halls of said library, occasionally poking and opening up books of varying category’s and genres. None of it particularly piqued Shiori’s interest, but it was a way to pass the time. One that didn’t involve breaking the law, so it was a nice change of pace.
Footsteps and the sounds of pages being turned disrupted the tranquil atmosphere, sometimes with large gaps in between and sometimes right after another. An almost hypnotic routine. The search for knowledge.
“My favorite.” Shiori said aloud, closing an engineering book with one hand.
“What is?”
Shiori jumped slightly at the unknown voice behind her, turning quickly around in the tight hallway to see a white haired girl with a green stroke nearly equally as surprised as her.
“Oh… sorry. You spooked me.” Shiori apologized.
“Oh, hehe… it’s no problem.” The stranger said with an awkward chuckle.
The same quiet that invaded nearly every corner of the library returned, bringing an uncomfortable air of embarrassment instead of peacefulness. They both began to avoid eye contact, Shiori tapping her the tip of her shoe on the ground a couple times, and the stranger fiddling with her dress’s skirt.
“So… did you want to talk about something or…?” Shiori initiated.
“Ah, yes… um.” The stranger sighed.
The sound of a paper rustling in the air brought Shiori’s attention to the stranger’s hand. Her eyes widened slightly.
“Is this you?”
The stranger’s expression went stone cold, breaking the illusion of your everyday outgoing girl.
“Who are you.” Shiori immediately demanded, taking a couple steps back.
“Cecilia Immergreen. And you, Shiori Novella…”
The paper was thrown to the wayside, Cecilia reaching behind her back and grabbing a great Lance in it’s place. The tip was pointed directly at Shiori’s heart.
“Are to be brought into custody.”
…
A moment of silence.
…
“…enom.” Shiori whispered through gritted teeth.
“Hm? Cecilia raised an eyebrow.
“Come on!” Shiori’s whispers became louder.
“Are we going to do this the easy way? Or-“
“Like hell we are!”
Shiori stomped a foot in front of her, causing a wave of black mass to shoot up and block Cecilia’s vision of her. The latter girl in reaction tried throwing her lance through the mass, only to find it grabbed and thrown back towards her by tendrils suddenly sprouting out. A quick backwards flip and spin in the air prevented Cecilia’s own weapon from piercing her heart, but the resounding sound of wood exploding far away alerted her of her new disability.
However, when she got her bearings after hitting the ground, she found her target was nowhere to be seen. Although, thanks to the broken window opposite to where Shiori was, it wasn’t hard to put the dots together.
Cecilia turned to see her lance implanted into a wall, quickly starting towards it and retrieving it.
“Well. This should be interesting, right, green?”
Cecilia grew a grimace.
“Shut it.”