Reece opened his eyes to himself laying on a makeshift bed in the middle of... The Library? He doesn't process much of being here before jolting up with both hands clutching his stomach in a phantom pain. A feeling that aches every time he dreams...
[Reece! Thank goodness, I was so worried you would bleed out!]
He blinks for a moment taking in what's around him and looks down at the system message. His expression softens seeing the worry she had for him. 'I am fine, System, Actually wait a minute.'
Reece grabs his tail then combs through its fur to only find nothing but subtle scars. His face scrunches up seeing how he's no longer injured? He lets go of it and it begins thumbing against the makeshift bed from the sour mood overtaking him.
"The only person who could've healed me is..." Reece's gaze turns towards the sound of footsteps approaching him. He crosses his arms with a sour expression. "Master Adelbert, This doesn't change my mind about becoming your student."
An elderly man wearing what were once fancy robes decades ago but time has faded the dyes after countless washes. His ash green skin set him apart from gnomes and kobolds that Reece has seen. Adelbert chuckles softly at the young man's declaration of rejection and strokes the short beard on his chin.
"Now now, young Wolfhard, I saved you purely on the basis of being Irma's few friends." The old man smiles walking to the side of Reece's makeshift bed. He holds an old leather book with silver trim to his chest while moving. "I'm glad you're still steadfast on your ideas but I must ask what happened to you."
"Oh uh, I was following the riverbanks and... Something suddenly attacked me! It was a monster..." Reece says having to filter his speech through a childish persona. 'One of my biggest mistakes these past four years was involving myself with this library, this old man might see through my acting.'
"Hm... I know kids can be foolish but I had higher expectations for you." Adelbert visibly grips the book he's holding. He sighs and shakes his head with his eyes gently closed. "I'll not tell your parents this event but you must never reveal the hue of your bloodline to anyone."
"Huh? Why?" Reece was genuinely shocked hearing that warning. If his voice didn't match his current body then the act would've been lost.
"Aurel and your mother will tell you eventually but for them to be so careless... Live your life, Wolfhard, It's what they want." Adelbert sighs with a difficult expression, countless words swell in his chest but are caught in his throat. "You may go, you've only been asleep for a few hours."
"May I borrow one of the books before I go? Please?" Reece felt his heart sink seeing Adelbert's expression. 'Old man could you just say that I'm from a cursed bloodline already... What kind of life would this body have lived if I wasn't the one born into it?'
"Of course, Young Wolfhard, you've earned that right." Adelbert says without directly looking at Reece. It was clear that the old man was lost in thought. "Just make sure you keep it dry, these books may have an Idol's blessing but the decay of time still can get them."
"You warn me that every time, There's nothing to worry about me forgetting, Master Adelbert." Reece says while smiling and goes to stand up. There was a sudden wave of vertigo that hit him when standing upwards. "Ugh..." 'Damn it, Vertigo from dehydration.... How much blood did I lose?'
"Irma should be preparing some water for you, just head to the study circle at the library's heart." Adelbert says simply while turning towards the deeper area of the library. He moves with a gentle step without a creak of a floorboard. "See you tomorrow, Young Wolfhard."
Reece takes a deep inhale before shakily exhaling as Adelbert disappears from the area. His whole body despite being healed felt awful and his stomach tangled into knots. He takes careful steps towards where the promised water is with a hand on the left side of his face. His balance could break at a slight bump...
"Wolfhard!!" The wobbly voice of Irma is heard before her small body impacts Reece into a tackle hug. If she wasn't a student of the library then they'd both be sent to the floor. She soaks his shirt with salty stains of water. "I-I was so worried when Master Adelbert brought you here!!"
Reece's surprised expression from the impact wears off quickly into a soft smile looking at Irma's tear stained face. He pats her gently on that frazzled head of hair crying into his shirt, it reminded him of... older memories from when his sister was this age.
"You know that old man has some crazy tricks, I'm amazed he found me!" Reece announces using sweetened words for his friend. He tries his best to hide his exhaustion. "So do you have some snacks and water ready?"
"Mhm! Master Adelbert made me prepare some sandwiches too!" Irma perks up either in hiding her emotions or his words actually cheering her up is unclear to Reece. She simply lets go with a smile to lead him towards the library's heart.
Reece walks forward swallowing his concern about Irma. His senses dull from weakness of hunger from his midsection. Everything felt endlessly painful like this, his body isn't used to this even if his mind and soul were. His eyes shot towards the sandwiches and a pitcher of water when they came into view.
"Oh- Heck yeah, is that egg salad?" Reece smiles, gaining a bit of strength to rush over and plops down on a pillow besides the center table. The sandwiches were always weird to him, they take a small loaf of bread and cut it vertically then place the ingredients inside. "Thanks for this and... Um, I'm sorry if I made you worried about me, Irma"
"Y-You're welcome! I'm just glad you're okay now." Irma says moving over to an old oak chair with dirty brown fabric pillows and colorful patches sewn in to keep its stuffing inside. She struggles for a second getting up. "Um... Hope you enjoy them!"
Reece wordlessly nods before pouring some water from the pitcher into a cup that Irma set out before he got here. He chugs it in a few moments then picks up a sandwich to take a few slow bites into it. The tangy taste of this world's mayonnaise was honestly surprising and the rich mustard was a decent combo.
"Do you... Mind if I practice my Idol spellcraft while you eat?" Irma fidgets with her hands looking towards Reece with pleading eyes.
Reece pours another cup of water before looking towards Irma with a grin on his face. "I don't mind, this is your home after all."
Irma's expression brightens while pulling up a leather binder from the book stack besides her chair. She unhooks a strap on the front and flips until finding the first blank page in it. From her pocket takes out an anachronism which confused Reece years ago, a ballpoint pen.
She moved her small hands in practiced motions that her master trained her in as if it was a second language for her and him. Reece carefully chewed his food and silently sipped his water while watching this, his curiosity turned to caution about distracting her work.
"H-hey Wolfhard, Look at what Master Adelbert taught me!" Irma says as she finishes drawing on the paper and pulls it from the binder. She flips it over to show what she drew! It's a weirdly styled face?
She hops off her chair to place this inscribed paper in front of Reece while he quietly eats. Her hand glows, a faint radiance flows into the ink and the material it's drawn on begins to animate. The sheet starts folding and splitting with perfect cuts for certain folds.
In the end was a paper that was shaped into a roughly humanoid appearance? Reece looked towards it with amazement, reading about a topic never fully replaced seeing it happen in front of you. This fact always struck him whenever an example presents itself. He studied the folds and interestingly what Irma inscribed on the paper looks like a face for the construct of paper.
"So... Is this thing sentient or do you control it?" Reece asks as his free hand is used to poke the animated paper. It's weirdly able to keep balanced so his finger didn't come close in tipping over the light weight existence before him.
"I hope not... Uh, It's just how we animate paper for minor servants and moving around spell talismans." Irma bites her lip after that idea was put out by Reece. She points her finger in a direction and it just walks across the table in guidance of her.
"Hey! Could you make it dance? If Mister Adelbert sees it then we can just say we're training your control over spellcrafts." Reece speaks up after getting a way better idea to shrug off the other one. He gives her a grin of genuine excitement.
"I- I can! Um, I don't really know how to dance but..." Irma makes some unsure hand gestures towards her paper construct. It made strange dance moves but her uncertainty became joy and that joy turned to giggles. She can't help to make this small existence move around in silly ways.
Reece can't contain a chuckle with a bit of egg salad in his mouth that he had to cover it in case a food chunk flies out. He sees it in Irma, an image of his sister back in his home world and at his mind's corner has a simple thought... Maybe if they were born in this world, they could've had a simple but interesting life.