The ship was making noises that were unpleasant to the ear of everyone boarding it. It looked broken from the outside and unkept in the inside. This is the same ship that Ren and Hana stole from the Search & Rescue squad led by Sachiel Eria a month ago. Since then, they've been cruising through the Frontier of the Milky Way alongside the unkillable Daphne Zeroshi.

  Ren had for the most part no idea where they were going, nor could he trust Daphne, especially when he was reduced to a stupid state. His legs were slashed and he couldn't walk for days.

  Hana took weeks to heal from her injuries. At some point, Daphne made her introduction to Kaioshun, pleading to join “Him” and help Hana Zurgen with the assassination of Sachiel Eria under one condition: If Hana Zurgen helps Daphne kill Kytan Veyron.

  Two of the strongest leaders in the galaxy to die under the hands of those following “Him”. Ah, wouldn't it be so poetic?

  “Not tryin' to be disrespectful but those two are big shots.” Ren said, replying to Daphne's loud pondering. The “Ah” part didn't help.

  Daphne was testing the responsiveness of her Soul by materializing her spear and dematerializing it as quick as possible. Hana was on a wooden bench on the other end, sharpening a blade. But it wasn't her own. It was the dagger that she borrowed from Kaioshun, courtesy of “Him”.

  Ren has never seen it up close, but he's heard about it. The Dagger of Nymada. He doesn't remember what it does, but it's what Hana is now carrying.

  “That's why they need to die, silly.” Daphne's eyes were glued to the glowing screen. “Don't you want to see the world burn in chaos while the Overlord restores it under His banner?”

  “Overlord?” Ren quipped, raising an eyebrow. “We got a new name for Him, huh?”

  It was funny how precise Hana was with sharpening the dagger. Last time, she struggled opening a protein bar.

  The scrape of the metal on the stone was in a steady, precise rhythm.

  It was easy to map her surroundings with the amount of sound that was going on, but it made it definitely harder to map out the entirety of the ship due to the constant beeping of the ship.

  As well as the constant buzzing as she's still recovering.

  “So... this Library you're talking about. How the hell did you find it before?” Hana stopped sharpening the dagger, looking at her.

  Daphne shrugged. “I didn't. My father found it. He wrote down coordinates before Kytron killed him.”

  “Your father... Xhandar Zagashida.” Ren stated. “Fought against the old tyrant, huh? What a legacy.”

  “A legacy I intend to continue.” Daphne's voice was devoid of its usual smugness for a moment, showing the genuine pain that she went through with losing her father. He wasn't a good man by any means, but he was one hell of a father.

  “Our ancestors knew about the library for a while so my father took on the arduous voyage to the library. He believed scavenging for Kytron's personal information and his entire plan from that library was the only way. And he was right.”

  Daphne stood up, walking over to the book that she brought with him. The Book of Xhandar Zagashida. The book that she was able to retrieve during her time in the Magna Historia section of the Library.

  Upon seeing the book, Ren only thought if Xhandar made it to the library. “So, did he...?”

  “...He tried going to the Hall of Memories to see if he had a chance of defeating Kytron at any point. He wanted to see his own future... but the Library didn't allow it. The very first time I went there, I was granted the book of my father.”

  She then opened the book of his father, containing everything he knew about the world and everything he did. Who his family was, what his lineage

  Ren tried reading it from his position, but it was all blurry due to the distance.

  Hana took note of that, returning to the sharpening the dagger.

  “So when I went there a second time... I tried to go through the Hall of Memories. But there was a guy... a sole librarian who denied me passage. The Hall of Memories... it denies service to everything.” Daphne coughed.

  Hana turned her head back to the dagger and then back at her. It was heavy to hear that. If this voyage that's been taking for a month is all for nothing because the Hall of Memories denies service to everything, why is she even going there in the first place?

  “Hold on.” Hana stood up.

  “Don't tell me you're bringing me to a place that I can't reach at all.”

  “Your questions aren't in the Hall of Memories... they're in the Magna Historia. That's how I knew about my Heavenly Attribute.”

  Daphne closed the book of his father and sighed. “The Hall of Memories requires you to go through Purgatory if you want to know everything about the past, present and future. But nobody’s able to finish Purgatory. There is a very high chance that you can die. And given the fact that you don't have a Soul...”

  .:. A trial I cannot participate in... .:. Hana thought. .:. But the answer to my existence doesn't lie there. .:.

  “I don't know what your little water fire friend here wants.” Daphne pointed to Ren.

  “Nun'. Just here for laughs.”

  Ren waved it off, but Daphne knew he was curious. He wants to find out if he has a weakness to that Soul-Spec.

  The Jetzure had always been a double-edged sword, and he was acutely aware of it.

  But there's always a possibility of perfecting the ability, which is what he wants to find out in the library.

  It's all speculation though.

  “You guys can read your own books which also contains information about your Souls... I wouldn't read too much though; it could pose a danger to yourself.” Daphne warned.

  “Why do you have to scare us everytime?” Ren facepalmed, grunting. He's still in a lot of pain from the wound.

  Hana couldn't wait. She finally gets to see if her theories are right. That her existence isn't a defect or a condition, but an attribute of some sort. The very thing that her former mentor, Serith, couldn't comprehend.

  A soulless warrior moving at lightspeed, “seeing” with her ears, fighting better than any Soul-Wielder.

  It's not a deformity.

  The ship continued to creak and groan as it sailed through the void. The interior lights flickered, casting dancing shadows across the metal walls. Hana found her seat again, the Dagger of Nymada cold in her palm. On the off chance that Sachiel is there with the red-haired time traveller Kaioshun had mentioned, she'll be ready. But her focus was not the fight.

  .:. The fight with Sachiel taught me that raw strength isn't enough. The fight with Daphne taught me that there are powers beyond comprehension. My fight with Serith taught me that... he was wrong. Dead wrong. .:.

  Ren shifted on the floor, trying to find a comfortable position. The wound on his legs still throbbed.

  The ship was alarming of an approaching celestial body, one that did not look like any ordinary planet. It looked like a giant, floating library in the middle of space.

  “As promised.” Daphne smiled, “The Library of Souls.”

  Hana's blind eyes widened, but she saw nothing. She could only hear Ren's audible wonder. The library was silent from the inside, or so it seemed. Her head turned in the direction of Ren.

  “What's it like?” Hana asked, her fingers gripping the dagger.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Like...” Ren struggled for words. “Like every story ever written decided to build a city. Crystal spires, bridges made of what looks like solidified light, and... shelves. Shelves that go on forever. No stars, just this... this glow.”

  “From this point on, we're detached from actual reality. A pocket dimension, if you will.” Daphne chimed in.

  “Made by that one librarian.”

  Ren was amazed, but Hana was disappointed as always. Disappointed that she couldn't witness such wonders of the world. The only thing that keeps her from enjoying life to the fullest. But she will find her answer.

  The ship lurched as it docked with the library's main entrance. But Ren and Daphne noticed something as odd as the library.

  There was another ship.

  A shuttle, a white shuttle that was pristine. It looked clean and futuristic, far more than the ship that they stole. And better yet, the ship had the same insignia on it, present in Testharia.

  There was the off chance that Hana was dreading and hoping for the same time.

  The Great Kamisword was here.

  Daphne and Ren decided to stay silent and not notify Hana.

  It would've been the worst thing to do to someone who is seeking an answer to their entire life and kill herself.

  Especially when Hana's still hell-bent on killing the Great Kamisword, one that she failed to even lay a finger on him funnily enough.

  “We're here, let's go.” The hatch of the ship opened. Ren grabbed Hana's hand and helped her down and out of the ship, following Daphne close.

  There was an eerie silence as the trio stepped onto the library's front garden. The silence was jarring to the three of them, not quite able to enjoy the sense of serenity that came with the silence. This was total silence. A silence so great that you could hear your own heartbeat. Ren had to squint to adjust to the ethereal light that pulsed gently from the walls and floors, again something that Hana couldn't enjoy.

  “...So, what happens if we die?” Ren asked the big question.

  “Worst-case scenario... you'll die.”

  Daphne answered nonchalantly. The lack of care in her answer was what was bothering Ren the most, but Daphne wasn't wrong.

  “If there is one thing I've learned about the Hall of Memories, that the trial kills 99% of the people... It can't kill me. I'm one of the very few that succeeded... And that it was meaningless.”

  Ren shivered.

  “My future in the Hall of Memories showed me that I would die over and over again... meaningless. All because of my inability to die... my Heavenly Attribute.” Daphne went silent for a second.

  The trio opened the doors to the library and was unfortunately met with a white void. A void that seemingly stretched out to infinity on all sides. There were no walls, no floor, no ceiling. Just pure, blinding whiteness that was both calm and disorienting. It was the antithesis of what Ren saw outside the ship. Hana could see that the sound she made didn't bounce back to her.

  .:. The sound doesn't travel... it gets consumed. .:. She thought.

  “... This is weird.” Daphne said.

  “When I was here last time, there were walls and crystals... I don't know.”

  Daphne tried reaching out into the void to see if there was a wall. There wasn't. She only saw her hand reaching out to nothing. “...”

  “Hey! This isn't funny!”

  Ren yelled at Daphne, scared of how vast the void was. He was scared that once the doors closes that they'll be stuck in the void forever. He turned around, seeing that the doors are still open. The ship still there.

  A figure started to form in the white void; it wasn't Daphne's doing.

  A woman in a pristine white dress appeared. She had her long, white hair tied up in a tight bun, and her face held a serene expression that unnerved Ren. Her eyes, a shade of red so light that it blinded them like a laser.

  “You trespassed,” the woman said, her voice echoing throughout the void without any real source, seeming to come from all directions at once.

  “... What is this?” Hana muttered.

  “What are you?” Daphne asked directly. “Last time I was here, you didn't exist. Where's that librarian?” Daphne asked, but the woman in white did not answer.

  “...” Daphne's skin crawled and so did Ren's and Hana's. The void brought them a new cold that they weren't used to it. Their legs were hot against the white floor and their heads were freezing.

  Nothing made sense in this white void.

  It's like the very laws of physics, chemistry and space-time was being broken down.

  The woman gave them an unnerving smile.

  “This side of the repository has not yet manifested to exist in your time...”

  “Wha...” Daphne was too shook to even speak. The woman in white just stated that the library is a place that transcends their timeline.

  “Where are we... What is this?” Ren looked around. He noticed that he was rubbing his own hand, trying to see if it was actually there.

  “This is a place existing only in the future... Your future.”

  As soon as the woman said those words; Hana, Ren and Daphne were subject to billions and billions of years worth of information in just mere seconds. Human existence from start to finish, dying in the most gruesome ways possible, living in the most serene ways possible. They were catching glimpses of entire human lives in nanoseconds.

  It was unbearable to hold all that information in their brain. Daphne fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Ren did too, holding his head while telling the woman to stop the torture.

  Red; As in the rush of blood vessels bursting in an instant by a bullet. As in the glow of a distant dying star collapsing in on themselves.

  Green; The shade of leaves unfurling toward the sunlight, the radioactive luminescence of toxicity seeping into the earth.

  Blue; The endless expanse of an unmoving ocean at dusk, or the hue of frozen methane on distant moons.

  Yellow; The radiance of a supernova's birth or the jaundiced skin of plague victims in their final hours.

  Orange; The fiery explosion of a sun going supernova or the hue of autumn leaves surrendering to decay.

  Indigo; The deepest space between galaxies where light has yet to reach, or the darkness of the flesh after violence has done it's job.

  Violet; The flash of emergency lights on derelict spaceships, or the delicate petals of exotic flora on worlds long abandoned.

  Humans; In their billions. Screaming, laughing, loving, living and dying across millennia, faces flashing by like frames in a corrupted tape.

  Animals; Evolving, adapting, being born and becoming extinct in cycles too fast to comprehend. Their cries echoing in frames simultaneously.

  Objects; Weapons that ended civilizations, tools that built monuments for the forgotten Gods and mundane items like a child's toy on a dying planet becoming profound to the human psyche.

  Creations; Art, music, literature, mathematical proofs, each advancing and most turning obsolete in the same breath.

  Planets; Forming, thriving, withering into dust and entire worlds with their histories compressed to a single flash.

  Galaxies; Colliding in frantic cosmic lights of destruction and creation, black holes devouring everything including light and time.

  Universes; Not just one, but countless alternatives branching infinitely, each playing out every possible scenario simultaneously.

  The weight pressed behind their eyes until Ren thought his skull would split, until even Daphne - who had died and returned countless times, screamed as her mind struggled to retain her sanity.

  The only person who wasn't moving a single inch was Hana. She didn't realize why Daphne and Ren were screaming their lungs out. It even caught the woman's eye.

  She could have made a quick quip about her not having a Soul or that she was used to seeing people die right in front of her face.

  No, this was different.

  It was the same reason why the screams of agony didn't phase her.

  “You are interesting.” The woman said.

  “You are not meant to exist.”

  “...What?” Hana asked, before reality shaped itself into something else. The Library, that they have been searching for.

  Ren's screams and Daphne's cries for help were over, as if it never happened. They stood on what appeared to be a walkway that lead to the central platform of a room.

  The ceiling extended into infinity. Shelves were stacked higher than the eye could see. The nightmare is over, but why did Ren and Daphne look like they were fine after all that?

  They both looked around. Ren looked at himself, at the ground, at the sky and at Daphne, who in turn, looked at herself, the ground and the sky. “The ceiling looks like it has no end to it, even though the roof didn't look all that high outside.”

  .:. Was I just hearing things? .:.

  “Daphne, Ren.” Hana needed to confirm it.

  They both turned their heads at her.

  “Who was that woman?”

  “...What woman?”

  Hana's eyes widened under her blindfold. “There was a woman in a white dress... she... showed us our past, present and future...”

  The Arc.

  “...Huh? What are you on about? We walked in and saw this library.”

  Ren replied, completely clueless of the whole thing that they experienced. “Ah, is Hana losing her mind?” Ren chuckled, walking back to her.

  “...” Daphne didn't laugh at that. There is a chance that someone can lose their mind in the library. But Ren was still pushing his luck with his jokes.

  Daphne's playful demeanour vanished entirely, her face paling at the implications.

  The library, the supposed repository of all knowledge, had treated them differently. She was about to say something, but a sound cut her off. Footsteps, loud and clear.

  “The bookworm of the gang is scared of books, hm? Ah... you can't read books, I forgot-” Ren's jokes didn't make things better, and the sound that they just heard didn't either.

  Footsteps echoed from a distant aisle. Someone else was here.

  “Another 'tourist'?” Ren asked, smirking at Daphne.

  “I don't know.” Daphne whispered, her grip tightening on her nonexistent spear. A flash of dark steel materialized in her hands. “I don't recall this sound...”

  The footsteps grew closer, measured and unhurried. They carried a weight that made even Daphne tense. Then they stopped.

  Ren turned toward the aisle where the steps originated, his body poised and ready to fight.

  A tall man emerged from the darkness.

  His hair had white and black that shimmered in the light and ricocheted in the void, and his eyes were a shade of dark grey.

  His clothes were black and white, with the colors split evenly.

  He wore a black suit jacket over a white shirt and a tie, and his pants were the reverse.

  His skin was pale and he looked relatively young.

  He didn't look like a threat.

  His expression was stoic.

  He walked towards them, his footsteps echoing through the vast halls.

  “More visitors, hm?” The man stopped a few feet away from the group. “It is an honour to meet new faces... And Daphne Zeroshi. You've returned.”

  Daphne stared at him.

  “You are?” Ren asked.

  “My name is Dei. Vox Dei. Watcher of the Souls, Keeper of the Library.” The man introduced himself. He looked over at Hana, a curious look in his eyes.

  “It seems my counterpart was right.” He said, looking at her.

  “You truly are not supposed to exist.”