Reborn as a Book: The [TBD] [ERROR] of the… System’s Pre-Integration Testing?

I'm starting to sense a theme here...

We have a tie! Guiding Lantern(1) and Wild Flame (2)!

EDIT: Guiding Lantern is the Winner!

Jan 2, 2025 at 11:00 PM Until Chapter 4

My center shuddered, the ache of my torn page still throbbing but dulled now—more like a bruise than the sharp, searing pain of it being ripped away. Heartbeats passed, or they would have if I still had a heart. And yet, the dewmous was still here. I could feel the dust twitching and shifting as it scurried through it, busy with whatever mysterious mouse business it had going on.

'I would really like you to leave now!' I stretched my senses as far as they'd go, trying to home in on every tiny movement of dust, every whisper of air. The shifting words of my pages froze in place as its paws returned, the little pattering pittered along my edges. It was touching me. Tugging. Exploring the length of my pages.

'See? Nothing left for you to take! All nice and neatly wedged together now, yeah?' I focused harder, trying to will the dewmous to hear me. 'Please, listen! Look at all this dust! So soft, so dry, and oh-so-tasty, probably. Doesn't that sound nice?'

The tiny paws stopped, and for a fleeting moment, I thought I'd gotten through to it. But then its nose and whiskers brushed back in, followed by the soft dampness of its breath as it sniffed and poked around.

And then it found something it liked.

'No, no, no!' The dewmous leaned in closer, its teeth touched to one of my pages. The damp warmth of its breath lingered for a heartbeat before—'Agh!'

Its teeth closed in—not to rip, but to nibble. Delicate little nibbles along a small stretch of page. 'What are you doing?! Who does that?!' My mind reeled as I felt the loss of a tiny section.

Health: 18/25

'Ya lahwi!' The searing burn of those tiny teeth flared and then dulled into a throbbing ache as the dewmous wrested its prize free. 'Your mother was a sewer rat! Leave me alone!'

And then it was gone, disappearing back into the dust and leaving me alone with my pain, my fear, and my steadily crumbling dignity. 'Please… just stop.'

For a moment, I hoped it might actually listen. The dust settled, and everything went still. But no. Of course not. The dust shifted again, and those tiny paws returned, brushing against the edges of my pages. I barely had the energy to panic this time, resignation sinking into my very binding.

The paws froze, gripping a page edge like the dewmous was sizing me up. 'Oh, so now you're playing with me? Just get it over with alrea—'

The surfaces pressed against me shuddered. A sharp, jarring movement that startled everything back into focus. It stopped just as quickly, leaving me in stunned silence. Then, moments later, it happened again.

The dewmous bolted, its tiny paws vanishing into the dust as quickly as they'd appeared. 'Wait! No, don't leave me! Come back! What was that?!'

No response. Just silence, and then—boom! A more violent shudder ripped through the surface, rattling me to my core before everything fell still again.

'What is going on?!' I strained, pressing my senses outward, desperate to feel anything that might give me a clue. The dewmous was long gone now—at least, I hoped it was—but whatever had caused that trembling clearly wasn't finished.

Faintly, I caught something. A small tremor, running through the slightly smoother surface of wood on one side of me. It was faint, but it came from the direction of the rhythms. Subtly it clicked, a brief acknowledgement of thought.

'I'm behind something,' I realized, trying to actually press against the surfaces. Stuck between some shelves or a dresser or something and the wall.

Stillness wrapped around me like a heavy blanket. The occasional thumps and shudders vibrated through the shelves beside me, each one a reminder that something big was moving around out there. 'Oh! Eryngo? Is that you? Have you come back for me? The thought bubbled up before I could stop it. 'Please be Eryngo. Please! Before that beast comes back!'

I held on to that hope as long as I could, but the strong emotions gripping me started to fade as time dragged on. Nothing happened. The thumps kept coming, but no one reached for me, no voices called out. Well, I suppose they could have, not like I could actually hear them if they did. I hadn't heard the dewmous at all, even as it's teeth sawed through my pages.

Every so often, I thought I caught glimpses of something—bits and wisps of light, flickering far beyond my void. But they were gone before I could focus on them, like fireflies winking out in the night.

'Could I be imagining things?' The question felt heavier than it should. A tremor rippled through the case, jarring me from my thoughts. 'Nope. Something is moving. And whatever it is, it's big.'

And then Iron's rhythm vanished.

'What?' The warmth of its presence was pulled away into the void, leaving behind a chilling emptiness. Before I could fully process it, Grey's whispers began to fade too, slipping away like lights swallowed by fog.

'Hey! Put 'em back! Leave my friends alone!' My silent plea rang out into the emptiness, but of course, nothing answered. Why would it? Nothing ever did. Not the other books. Not the dewmous.

I could only watch, helpless, as the rhythms disappeared one by one, dragged into the void, or rather, were removed form the shelf. 'Lucky them, I suppose,' I thought bitterly. 'At least they're going to be used.'

I felt at the dust coating my cover, the scratches along my edges, the mouse bite still aching like a phantom pain. 'Me? I'm stuck behind a bookcase, wedged in tight.'

The stillness pressed in, heavy and unrelenting. My thoughts wandered to Eryngo's notes, how they'd stopped years before the initiation was supposed to take place. The dewmous. The thick layer of dust that clung to everything. 'No one knows I'm here,' I realized with a sinking certainty.

'I just hope they managed to scare that mouse off for good.' It wasn't much, but it was the only comfort I had left.

The bookcase rocked, and for a moment, everything tilted. Then gravity took over. Oh no— I dropped, slamming into the floor fore edge first. The impact rattled through me, sending up a thick puff of dust that coated my already grimy covers. 'Fuuuck…'

Before I could fully process the pain of my ungraceful landing, something grabbed me. A hand. An actual hand!

I barely had time to marvel at the sensation before it dragged me out from behind the case and lifted me into the air. The grip was soft, the skin smooth, but I could feel the faint scrape of nails—sharp ones—pressing against my cover every so often.

Another hand brushed at the dust on me, its touch gentle but firm, sending little vibrations through my pages. Talking. I could feel the rumble of it through the hands. Someone was talking! I couldn't make out what they were saying, but the realization sent a jolt of excitement through me.

The hands flipped me over, dusting me off and examining every inch of me like a treasure newly unearthed. Then they passed me into another set of hands—firmer, tighter, a bit less careful. These hands waved me around as they spoke, gesturing wildly.

'Woah, woah! Hey!' I thought, internally flailing as I was swung midair. Mid-swing, the hands froze, and I was abruptly shoved back into what I think was the first pair. More rumbling conversation followed, their tones too muffled for me to grasp.

'Wait! Wait! Did you hear me? Hello!' Who ever held me now didn't so much as flinch. No reaction as I cried out, hoping to be heard. 'Give me back to the other guy!'

My cover creaked open, and I was flipped through quickly, pages riffling like they were in a rush to see all of me. I couldn't help but notice… the hands. One held me open, while a another traced my pages, following the moving text that danced across them. A realization derailed my train of thought. 'Wait a second… those are both… left hands?'

I tried to picture it in my mind. It wasn't that I was being held by two people. The touch and grip they used were too similar, and the second person had specifically been quite firm and rough with how I had been handled. The more I tried to figure it out, the weirder it got. 'There's no way two people could stand comfortably with their hands touching me like this…' Something about the angle in which I was held, and the guiding hand were placed… well, it was almost like that 'This guy has two hands on the same side of their body.'

Something clicked. 'Those aren't nails, they're claws.' At least I wasn't stuck behind the bookcase anymore.



Majority Vote, No Approval
[ ] Try to Communicate?
[ ] Stay Quiet, See What Happens.
[ ] Write In
- This does not have to be as simple as the first two. Just don't go crazy with it. Remember. Keep it simple, Keep it common.