Chapter 9：Sunken Library
1956words
The vessel now navigated the storm's periphery, where sporadic lightning illuminated a jagged silhouette on the distant horizon—the uppermost spire of the Sunken Library, resembling a desperate finger thrust upward by a drowning giant.
"Final plan verification," Leo said, adjusting the intricate straps of his specialized diving apparatus. "We infiltrate the submerged structure, locate relevant documentation, and ideally avoid dismemberment by mechanical cephalopods."
Mary meticulously inspected her crystal ball's waterproof seals. "The Library exists under specialized protection fields established by the Life Guardian. Forceful entry triggers automatic memory purge defenses." She turned to Eileen with unusual gravity. "You must establish an emotional resonance point with your mother's essence—that constitutes our only safe passage."
Eileen acknowledged this with a silent nod. Since discovering her potential relationship to the Progenitor, she had existed in a state of emotional numbness, her mind refusing to fully process the implications.
Unbidden memories continued surfacing: the mysterious blue luminescence emanating from her mother's laboratory during late nights, the woman's unnaturally elevated body temperature whenever they embraced, and that peculiar farewell the evening before the explosion… "Whatever happens, remember that I love you"—words that now seemed less comfort and more prophecy.
The Starchaser began its descent, slicing through the rain curtain toward the colossal structure below. The reality proved even more staggering than anticipated—only the uppermost three floors protruded above the churning waves, the entire edifice listing dramatically as though discarded by some careless titan.
Every window on the exposed floors had been shattered, revealing cavernous darkness punctuated by occasional, unsettling flashes of pale light from within.
"This once served as the Crystal Folk's primary knowledge repository," Mary explained. "It submerged during the Great Cataclysm, though guardian energies preserved its structural integrity." She suddenly tensed, eyes narrowing. "Something moves within the structure."
Leo adjusted the calibration on his night-vision apparatus. "Not something—someone. Eastern window, third floor."
Eileen squinted through the downpour. A silhouetted figure briefly appeared at the indicated window, holding some luminous object before withdrawing into darkness. Something about its bearing struck her as disturbingly familiar…
"We're not the first visitors," Leo observed with inappropriate enthusiasm. "This expedition just became considerably more interesting."
The Starchaser identified an inconspicuous entry point—a lateral window half-submerged beneath the water's surface. Their diving preparations were methodical and comprehensive: specialized protective suits designed to withstand magical currents, enchanted breathing apparatus, waterproofed weaponry, and Eileen's pressure-resistance elixirs. Most crucial were Mary's memory threads—crystalline filaments capable of generating temporary air pockets underwater.
"Critical reminder," Mary cautioned as they completed final preparations. "The library's internal architecture incorporates dimensional folding. Conventional spatial orientation becomes meaningless—follow my memory threads exclusively."
The moment they submerged, bone-chilling cold penetrated their protective gear like icy daggers. Eileen's muscles immediately protested as she followed Leo toward the window—a perfect rectangle of absolute darkness against the submerged wall. Only at close range did they discover the window frame's elaborate engravings—protective Crystal Folk runes, once luminous with power, now dormant and lifeless.
Traversing the window felt like forcing passage through a gelatinous membrane, followed by an instantaneous transition into completely dry space. Eileen stumbled forward as unexpected gravity seized her, tearing off her breathing apparatus to gulp air that tasted ancient and stale. They stood in a corridor that defied conventional physics—floor and walls meeting at impossible 45-degree angles, with bookshelves extending "downward" in direct contradiction to the gravity affecting their bodies.
Further along the corridor, thousands of water droplets hung suspended in midair, each perfectly spherical and containing a single book, preserved as though in amber.
"Dimensional folding," Mary confirmed, consulting her crystal ball. "Gravitational vectors remain localized to specific architectural elements. Exercise extreme caution when selecting passages—choosing incorrectly could result in endless freefall."
Leo had already completed his reconnaissance of both corridor directions. "Our mysterious predecessor went that way." He indicated a partially open bronze door emitting subtle blue illumination. "Professional movement pattern, approximately sixty kilograms, female physiology."
Eileen's pulse quickened involuntarily. Could that figure possibly be…?
They proceeded with methodical caution, testing each footfall before committing their weight. The corridor maintained an unnatural silence, broken only by occasional distant sounds of turning pages. Passing a junction, Eileen glimpsed a reading chamber filled with dozens of skeletons, each positioned in studious poses, as though death had interrupted their research without their notice.
"Scholars," Mary whispered reverently. "Knowledge devotees who refused evacuation when submersion began."
The main corridor terminated in a vast central chamber where spatial distortion reached mind-bending extremes—staircases extended in every conceivable direction, including several that hung inverted from the ceiling. Dominating the chamber's center floated an enormous teardrop-shaped containment vessel, within which suspended…
"A memory whale," Mary breathed with undisguised awe. "The living index of the entire repository. By all rights, it should have perished centuries ago…"
Indeed, the entity within—a hybrid creature with cetacean physiology partially transmuted into living crystal—appeared severely damaged, its surface webbed with countless fractures. Yet as Eileen approached, one massive eye suddenly opened, fixing upon her with unmistakable intelligence as it emitted a complex sonic pattern beyond human hearing range.
The chamber responded immediately—every bookshelf trembled as thousands of suspended water droplets converged on the container, forming intricate orbital patterns of information exchange around the ancient being.
"It recognizes your genetic signature," Mary whispered, astonishment evident in her voice. "You carry the Progenitor's energy pattern."
Without conscious decision, Eileen reached toward the container. The moment her fingertips contacted its surface, brilliant azure light engulfed her completely. Her consciousness fragmented into a kaleidoscope of memory shards: her mother's tender smile while cradling an infant Eileen, a hidden altar beneath the familiar laboratory, disturbing experiments merging mechanical components with living crystal entities… finally, precise coordinates burned themselves into her mind with perfect clarity.
"Third floor, east wing," she gasped when awareness returned. "My mother concealed something there."
They located the access point to the east wing—a spiral staircase that existed partially in conventional space, its steps materializing and dematerializing in rhythmic sequence. The ascent proved nauseating, forcing Eileen to focus exclusively on each step's momentary solidity, resisting the vertigo induced by the bottomless void below.
The east wing housed private research laboratories, each identified by door plates bearing faded Crystal Folk script. Eileen proceeded unerringly toward the innermost chamber, where a door plate bore a nearly obliterated human name: "Celine".
The door yielded to her touch without resistance.
The chamber beyond froze Eileen's blood in her veins—it perfectly replicated her mother's laboratory down to the smallest detail. Identical equipment arrangement, identical potion organization system, even the childish family portrait Eileen had drawn at age six hung in precisely the same position. Only the central workbench differed, supporting a luminous cubic device.
Most shocking of all: someone stood at the workbench, back turned toward the door.
When the figure turned, Eileen's breathing simply stopped. Five years had passed without altering that face by a single line—Mother Celine, or perhaps more accurately, the Progenitor.
"Your arrival precedes my calculations," her mother's voice said, overlaid with subtle electronic harmonics. "The Starchaser has evidently achieved full consciousness."
Leo's weapons appeared instantly, trained on the figure. "Don't move!"
"Relax, artifact trafficker." The woman—Eileen decided to think of her as 'Mother' for now—didn't even acknowledge Leo's threat. "Had I intended harm, you would have joined those scholars below." She gestured toward the cube. "I came for this memory core duplicate. It proves my unwilling transformation into the Progenitor."
Eileen forced words through her constricted throat: "Prove it."
Her mother's smile held infinite sadness as she activated the cube. A holographic projection materialized between them: a younger Celine strapped to an examination table, surrounded by figures in elaborate ceremonial robes. "The fusion ritual approaches completion," intoned a voice from beyond the recording's visual field. "The Mechanical Deity shall be reborn through this perfect vessel."
"I was abducted, Eileen." Her mother deactivated the projection. "The laboratory explosion was my desperate attempt to halt the ritual. I failed… or perhaps partially succeeded. The Progenitor emerged, but with my memories and fragments of my humanity intact." She caressed the cube's surface. "This evidence validates my claim and provides means to influence her primary consciousness."
Mary suddenly raised her crystal ball in alarm. "Multiple entities approaching. Non-human signatures."
The crystal ball displayed dozens of mechanical signatures converging on the library. Without hesitation, Eileen's mother pressed the cube into her hands. "Synthetic strike force. They've detected our energy signatures." She activated a concealed panel in the wall, revealing a hidden passage. "This leads directly to a lower-level exit. I'll create a diversion."
Eileen clutched her mother's arm. "Wait! You're not coming with us?"
The arm beneath Eileen's fingers felt unnaturally cold, its texture subtly wrong. Her mother—this fragment of the Progenitor—offered a melancholy smile. "I no longer exist in a form capable of conventional travel, child. My primary consciousness remains tethered to Everdusk Island." She suddenly embraced Eileen, her lips brushing her daughter's ear. "Remember: when all seven keys converge, do not activate the matrix. The intended sequence is compromised."
Leo forcibly separated them. "Time to leave!" Mechanical footsteps already echoed in the corridor outside.
Her mother activated the mechanism, revealing a vertical shaft beneath the floor panels. They had barely entered the passage when the laboratory door exploded inward. Eileen's final glimpse showed her mother's human form dissolving—skin and tissue reconfiguring to reveal the true hybrid entity beneath: a terrifying fusion of mechanical components and living crystal that turned to confront the synthetic soldiers pouring into the chamber.
Their descent seemed eternal. Ancient runes carved into the shaft walls streaked past as blue luminous trails. Mary deployed her crystal ball to generate friction fields that slowed their fall, while Leo fired specialized grappling mechanisms to stabilize their descent. Eileen clutched the memory cube against her chest, her mind struggling to process the encounter with her mother—or whatever fragment of her mother remained.
Which version represented truth? Was her mother truly a victim transformed against her will, or the mastermind behind everything they faced? Did the cube contain genuine memories or elaborate fabrications designed to manipulate Eileen's emotions?
The shaft terminated without warning, plunging them into frigid seawater. The shock jolted Eileen fully alert as she kicked desperately toward a faint light source above. Breaking the surface, she found the Starchaser hovering just meters away, its entry hatch already deployed.
Once aboard, Eileen discovered the cube undergoing transformation—its solid structure liquefying and absorbing directly into her skin. The process caused no pain, only a spreading warmth followed by an influx of structured information—not personal memories but something resembling complex operational protocols. Suddenly she comprehended the Starchaser's advanced functions intuitively, even perceiving the approximate locations of other key bearers across vast distances.
"The system has authenticated you as authorized controller," Mary observed after examining Eileen's altered energy signature. "You've become… a partial guardian entity."
Leo wrung seawater from his clothing with obvious disgust. "For my next adventure, I'm selecting somewhere tropical and dry. Incidentally, how much trust should we place in your mother's doppelgänger?"
Eileen watched through the viewport as the Sunken Library receded into the distance, lightning briefly illuminating its upper floors where flashes of combat energy indicated an ongoing battle. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I know our next destination."
The cube had transferred not just information but precise coordinates—identifying a location between Jade Forest and Blood Sand Canyon. According to the implanted knowledge, this site contained her mother's genuine research documentation and something far more significant: a key unknown to the guardians themselves.
The eighth key.
