Library of Rain

The New Grifters

Rain arrived at the meeting spot, an empty building in the Dead Ring, at sundown, half an hour before the meeting was supposed to take place. The building was almost completely buried in ash, which made finding the one entrance that had been dug out simple. 

Rain slid down the ash to where the building's front door was splintered and broken. A moderate amount of ash had poured into what Rain recognized as a storefront. The place was otherwise empty, leaving Rain with no idea what used to be sold here. 

Searching desperately for a door she could use when Mr. Mirage and his friends arrived, Rain located a mostly intact door to an empty store room. Testing it out, she found it worked for making a portal to her library. 

Door secured, Rain changed into her costume - now with two belts on her leg after a lucky find - and grabbed a fancy gold and jewel-incrusted goblet sitting with some ceremonial objects and a steel knife from her hoard. Then, she waited for her guests. It didn’t take long for them to arrive. 

Mr. Mirage was leading the pack, holding a ball of flame for light with four people following behind him: two men and two women. Wait, hadn’t Mr. Mirage said he was only bringing three? Rain was a little on guard with the extra person. 

Wanting to make sure no one tried to do anything to her, Rain pushed a little of her fear into her aura, not enough to make a major difference but enough to make the shadows twist in the corners of the eye. 

The people behind Mr. Mirage seemed unnerved by the atmosphere in the abandoned shop. Before any of them saw Rain standing in the corner, she stepped out and spoke in her best mysterious voice.

“Welcome Mr. Mirage. I see you brought your friends as promised.”

Seeing the other four jump in surprise at Rain’s entrance threatened to bring a smile to her lips. It was always fun to have people react well to her acting. Being an actress really would be exciting.

Turning her gaze to the other four, Rain spoke to them without waiting for Mr. Mirage to respond.

“What do you four understand about why you are here?”

One of the women, a scarred and freckled girl with fire-red hair, stepped forward and answered with a confident voice.

“We're here to get classes like Less here so we can stomp Ark and his goons.”

“Has Mr. Mirage told you about the risks?”

“Shure has! If this goes belly up, we die.”

Rain looked at the woman. 

“Mr. Mirage, please remove your hat and show your tail.”

Staring at her for a moment, he did as she asked.

The other four stared in shock at the animal features of their friend.

“What in Arkit happened to you, Less!” one of the men, a stocky blond man, asked.

“This,” Rain stated for all to hear, “is a mild case of what can happen to those who take the path I present. If you decide to enter into a deal with me, you will be risking death, yes, but you will also be risking your mind and body. Everything that makes you who you are could be taken from you, leaving nothing but a monster where you used to be. So let me ask you, are you willing to risk everything to make a deal for power?”

There was a long pause when the other man, a tall blond, looked at Mr. Mirage.

“Is that why she calls you Mirage Less? Did you turn into a different person after you took her deal?”

“No. I have noticed the way I think is different after the transformation, but I’m still me. The name is for a different reason. And I do prefer it to Worthless.”

“Fair enough, Mirage. I trust you. Do you think the risk is worth it?”

“I would rather die than live the rest of my life as a filthy stray.”

“Fair. If Mirage is down with this deal, then so am I.” the man stressed the word Mirage as though testing it out.

“I don’t care what the risks are. If it's a chance to gain a class, I’ll take it!” 

“Are you two sure? This whole thing feels wrong.”

Rain turned to look at the last person in the room, a small woman with hunched shoulders, as though she was trying to make herself as small as possible. 

“What are your thoughts?”

“I’ll do it.”

Rain waited for more, but nothing came. Very well. She had done her duty and given them the information they needed to decide for themselves. 

“If you’re all sure then,” Rain lifted the cup she had been holding onto up and set it down on the store counter. Then, producing the knife, she pricked herself on the hand, squeezing her own blood into the goblet. “You must each drink a drop of blood.”

After seeing how convenient it was to communicate with Mr. Mirage by dream, Rain decided that she would make creating a dream link between herself and any potential reader a part of her process.

When there was a small pool of blood at the bottom of the goblet, Rain willed her cloak to grow bandages and wrap her hand. Picking up the goblet, Rain offered it to the scarred lady first.

The redhead took the cup and sipped a bit of the blood. Rain willed the connection to form and told the woman to stop drinking the moment she felt it snap into place. Then, giving instructions to pass on the goblet, Rain repeated the processes with the other three.

With four new connections created, Rain turned around and motioned for the others to follow her as she headed to the storeroom door.

When she used the door to create a portal to her Library and motioned for them to go through the murky portal, they all hesitated, even the scarred redhead. That is until Mr. Mirage took the lead and stepped through with a simple “it's safe.”

After that, the others followed, with the red-haired woman leading the way, followed by the tall blond, then the stocky, nervous man, and finally the timid woman. With everyone inside, Rain followed them into the library.

The first thing Rain noticed when she entered was three people huddled together, looking around with worry. Mr. Mirage stood close to them, offering them a comforting presence. On the ground close to the huddle was the nervous, stocky man, eyes full of terror, head swiveling every which way.

“This this is Arkit! I knew this was a bad idea! This place will consume us all! Can’t you all feel it? Everything about this place is wrong!”

With that, the man scrambled to his feet and rushed back through the portal. Rain did nothing to stop him. If he didn’t want to risk it, she wouldn't try to force him. In a way, she was glad he’d left.

“Does anyone else wish to leave?”

There was no answer.

“I’m sorry, Lady Tyix. I thought Ard was willing to do what it takes. It looks like I thought too highly of him.”

“No matter, let's continue.”

After that, things went similarly to how they went with Mr. Mirage. The scarred redhead chose her book first, picking a thick tome with a figure wearing a crown and sitting on a throne painted on its cover. After reading its first page, she gained a skill called ‘Absolute Command’ as well as a moderate amount of physical and mental corruption. The only difference Rain could see with her appearance was that her pupils had turned pure gold. Her smile also seemed to get a bit more aggressive and ambitious.

After her class formed, she knelt before Rain.

“Ha! Thank you, Lady Tyix! We’re gunna crush Ark, the Black Stones, and the Blody Shovles. And when you need us, we’ll be there!”

Rain smiled at this, not just because Rain had gotten a new piece to move but because this woman seemed like the kind of person Rain could become friends with.

“Good, what's your name?”

“My name’s Lava, but everyone calls me Ava.”

“All right, Ms. Ava, I’ve done my part. Be ready to answer when I call.”

“Of course!” Ava responded with a bowed head that didn’t entirely hide that grin.

The next person to pick a book was the man. He chose a thin book titled ‘Wisdom of Time.’ His corruption grew higher than Ava’s, putting him in the high twenties for both kinds, and Rain prepared to tell Mr. Mirage to kill him. However, when the man’s changes finished, he stood there with no extreme differences other than his hair, which now seemed made out of a blueish mist drifting off his head. His facial expressions had also become distant, like he was thinking about far-off things.

When Rain tried to talk with him, this impression was reinforced. Every word out of his mouth seemed like he was barely thinking about the conversation. In the end, Rain gave up on trying to talk to him. 

Looking at Mr. Purple’s messages, Rain saw he had gained the skill ‘Predict.’ 

Finally, it came time for the last woman, who, when she realized she was the only one who hadn’t decided, grabbed a random book off the shelf and opened it without even examining the cover. The effects were immediate. The woman’s skin sluffed off her body, and her exposed muscles turned transparent, exposing her organs. Everyone watched in horror as her bones dissolved and her eyes melted out of her head. The woman flopped to the ground. Rain could see the heart beating faster and faster through the woman's translucent flesh. The messages swirling before Rain's eyes told her that the woman was immune to mental corruption but highly vulnerable to physical corruption. She would be completely lucid both as her body changed and afterward, forever trapped in her twisted body.

Rain ignored the shocked and revolted voices of the others and knelt next to the woman who was secreting a putrid slime from her skinless muscles and burbling from a mouth that wasn’t where it should be.

Rain ignored all of that, scooped up the human-shaped slug-thing, and hugged it to herself. Tears fell onto the woman and mixed with the ooze as Rain cried for a woman who no longer had eyes to cry for herself. If only Rain could say, she was shocked.

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