Jade woke to the familiar ceiling above him, eyes open before his thoughts fully caught up. A month had passed since he joined the library. The realization came without weight, like a fact he'd already accepted long ago.
He sat up slowly, running a hand through his hair before standing. The air in the room was cool. He washed his face, the cold water helping him shake off the lingering haze of sleep, then turned toward the other bed.
Cain was still asleep.
Or maybe not. With Cain, it was hard to tell. He either woke earlier than Jade or far later, with no consistency in between. It was a habit that never seemed to fix itself.
Jade walked over and pushed Cain's shoulder once.
No response.
He pushed again, harder this time, until a low groan escaped Cain's throat and he shifted slightly, face turning toward the wall.
That's enough... Jade muttered, satisfied.
He finished the rest of his morning routine quickly, then left the room, stepping out the librarian-restricted section of the library. The place was quieter than usual at this hour, footsteps muted against stone.
At the front desk, something caught his eye.
A report.
Fresh parchment, left deliberately to the side.
Jade stopped and picked it up, scanning the contents. It didn't take long to understand what it was.
Another murder.
In the past month-including this one, seven people had been killed. Two men. One woman. Two boys. Two girls.
The pattern was wrong.
The adults were missing their heads. The teens were missing their hearts.
The wounds themselves were crude-jagged and uneven. But the blood told a different story. There was far less than there should have been. It was as if whoever did it wanted the cuts to look amateurish, wanted the scene to feel chaotic, while everything else suggested careful control.
Jade lowered the report slowly.
He turned and headed back toward the room, intent on informing Cain. He opened the door-
Cain was still asleep.
Jade stared at him for a second, then sighed.
He walked over, shook him harder this time, and explained the situation while Cain was still half-conscious. Once Cain was awake enough to understand, Jade sat down on his bed.
He reached for the batch of feathers he'd sharpened earlier for practice.
Standing by the window, he picked three at random and flicked them outward in a single motion.
They flew.
Normally, feathers weren't precise. Feathers were light, unpredictable. But this time, they curved unnaturally midair, bending their paths as if guided by an invisible hand.
All three struck the same leaf.
Jade blinked.
He stared at the spot for a moment longer, then leaned back onto the bed, exhaling slowly. He wasn't even sure when he'd started doing that. Adjusting speed didn't explain how the feathers were homing to the target.
A month.
In that time, he hadn't received a single letter from his sister.
He had expected it. So he ignored the thought before it could settle.
Not long after, Cain finished his own routine and stepped into the room, adjusting his clothes.
"Captain said to gather in the center," Cain said. "It's about the murder spree. I'll go inform the others."
Jade nodded.
Team Four's captain had returned a few days after Jade joined. Along with her came two older members of the team, both already familiar with the city and its work.
Jade fixed his bed quickly and left the room.
After a short walk through the library's inner corridors, he reached the center. Cain arrived moments later, accompanied by two others.
The girl was Filia.
She was as tall as Cain, black-haired, her presence calm but difficult to read. A Depth 2 diver, dependent. She acted as support fire, using a mutated book-simply known as a catalyst, provided by the library. Her personality never settled into anything simple. Sometimes sharp, sometimes distant, sometimes oddly considerate.
Beside her was Quard.
A tall boy, broad-shouldered, with an easy posture that didn't match his role. A Depth 1 diver, dependent, a frontline shield for the team. Friendly, outgoing, the kind who spoke easily even when tension filled the room. His catalyst, like Filia's, was provided by the library.
It didn't take long for everyone to gather.
They exchanged brief morning greetings before taking the stacked seats, settling in with light, casual talk that didn't last.
The door opened.
A woman stepped in.
young with black hair, with a few gray strands barely visible unless one looked closely. She carried a small stack of papers, a handful of pins, and a pen. Her presence alone quieted the room.
Jane.
Ignoring the chatter entirely, she spoke.
"Any speculations?"
Silence followed.
She sighed, as if she had expected that.
"At least any theories?"
Still nothing.
All the murders had occurred in the northeast. The city guards had swept the area thoroughly. There were no Depth One divers stationed there, nor was there anyone with a criminal record involving harm to humans-at least none beyond a few minor cases.
Suspects had been apprehended and held for a fortnight. The killings continued regardless. They were released shortly after.
Cain broke the silence.
"Are there any divers not involved with the library or the church?"
Jane paused, thinking.
"Three," she answered. "But they have witnesses during most of the murders."
Unaffiliated divers were rare. Ordinary households almost never had one. Nobles, merchants, and wealthy families were different. Many chose not to bind themselves to officials, though there were exceptions.
Quard spoke next.
"Any suspects from other sections of the city? The criminal could be outside the walls."
Jane shook her head.
"None confirmed. Guards checked nearby lands-nothing. For now, Alice is observing whenever possible. Similar cases started appearing in towns and villages after the rate decreased here."
She pinned a few papers to the board, placed the rest on a nearby table, and left without another word.
There were no leads.
No clear pattern. No trail. No direction.
Five deaths in the first two weeks. Two in the latter two.
Jade thought about it for the rest of the day, turning it over in his mind again and again, but nothing fit cleanly. Eventually, he decided to look elsewhere-to form new clues instead of forcing old ones.
As night approached, before dinner, Jade headed toward the large hall. A sign on the door read 'Records'.
Inside, an entire wall was lined with books, neatly organized by section and label. Several people worked quietly inside, wearing familiar clothing.
Jade recognized one of them.
it was Helm, a friend Jade made while reading books.
He approached and placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
"What're you working on?"
Helm flinched, then relaxed when he saw who it was. His eyes were tired.
"Capital gave the order, another update to the map." Helm said. "All known scholartombs and mutated rivers in the kingdom. Landscape, places, ranges, all of them have to be in the new map. We've been at it for two hours."
Mutated water took far longer to return to normal the larger the body was. Rivers, once corrupted, never fully recovered due to constant flow.
Scholartombs had recently been classified as semi-public property. Maps would be printed and sold-mostly to adventurers, people eager to die.
Jade leaned over the table.
"Exactly what I need."
He didn't touch the map, careful not to disturb it. His eyes traced the markings-Nort City, the northeast lands beyond it.
Disappointment followed quickly.
No scholartombs nearby. No mutated rivers. Only two tombs, both far beyond the city's reach, their influence nowhere close.
During the small bit of casual talk, Helm mentioned a deal between the kingdom and the Feysians over a shared mountain territory.
Jade thanked him and left.
By the time he reached the victual house, dinner was nearly over. He ate quickly and returned to the room.
Cain was already there, reading Jade's catalyst.
Jade didn't mind. He had allowed Cain to use it if needed. Understanding a book was necessary to draw out its full potential.
After a short while, Jade lay down and slept.