Dark brown hair stops just above his shoulders, his eyes almost black in color, wearing a three-piece black suit like something out of the 1920s. He looked suave but dangerous. He seemed uninterested in the argument itself but enjoying taunting the man before him.

A glint in his eye and a knowing tilt to his lips, every word brief but stabbing. Like an animal playing with its prey, waiting for the right moment to tear it to pieces.

Color rose quickly in the face of the ethereal man beside him. His nostrils flare, and his voice rises an octave as his anger reaches its peak.

“We should have continued to protect it!”

The tall, dark one sighs, with an exhausted look, he waves his hand.

“It was too late, overrun with those creatures, and had you stayed, you’d be dead by now.”

“The Second Sector can’t fall! It can't.” The Fae’s eyes go cloudy, a slight slump to his shoulders as he becomes quiet.

The noise around them becomes chaotic, the people surrounding them now joining in the heated discussion. Voices shouting over one another about their Sectors and what should have been done.

Enough. I’m tired of this nonsense, and I want some answers. I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders. I call to my power, my runes glistening on my skin, flowing through my body swiftly. I draw the power into my arms, allowing it to roll down into my hands, where I hold it. I push the entirety of my power into my palms. They glow lightly, the energy wanting release.

I slowly pull my hands back and slam them together in one loud clap, a deafening boom ringing out around the room with the force. A neat trick I learned from Isaiah when trying to channel my excess energy.

The room goes silent. The group’s attention focuses solely on me as I step forward, slowly casting my eyes toward the people before me.

“I presume you all appearing here now has something to do with the attack on the other Libraries?” I peer around the large open floor, meeting slight nods and murmurs of affirmation.

I sigh, looking around, the room filled with unknown faces and at the work needing to be done.

“We’ll move to the main Library upstairs first. Then someone can fill me in on the attacks and how you all got here.”

I turn to Isaac, his eyes narrowed and jaw tight, guarded against the unknown group before us. I pat his shoulder, understanding his hesitancy, but it was better to put this new group where I could keep an eye on them and as far from the Records as possible.

I turn to make my way up the stairs when Mr. Ethereal steps forth.

“So you don't even know how your own Library works,” he retorts, a cold look to his sculpted features, as he regally waves his hand toward the still glowing indentation.

“Then I doubt you’ll be of any real help,” he sneers, giving me a look of pure derision.