Staring down at the meaty tome on the desk, I opened the book to the first page. With a glow of light, the letters of the tome lifted themselves from the page, dancing like fireflies as they rose like steam from the paper. As a deluge of knowledge flitted by my eyes, I perused the arcane text, the electric luminescence of the desk lamp seeming dim in contrast with the floating script. Through those flitting characters, I was given insight into a whole world. 

The Tome of a Universe: Maldorode (Vol. 1749).

Like smoke, the fog of text held years of chronicled information. The story of a universe unfolded before me, information lingering in the air before me, a cloud of literary smoke dangling like a carrot of wisdom. As I breathed in, I could smell the potent scent of camphor from the mist. I stared into the thick cloud. I needed information, and as I channelled my thoughts, I lifted my sleeve and read the Entity ID to the air. 

The smoke obliged.

Reacting to my utterances, the letters folded and twirled as they altered their form, the letters flitting into synchronised order. A passage of text unfurled before me, detailing a piece of history long since forgotten. 

...Acanasser Port Stronghold was an oceanside outpost on the island of Acanasser, set up by the Dwarven Kingdom of Greson during the Egetel Wars (843-814). Designed to serve as a garrison for naval units, the stronghold saw wide usage during the war, and with the war - the stronghold port serviced hundreds of battleships. Though the tactical location was particularly advantageous, the island itself was barren and desolate, and with the end of the war in 843 O.E. (Old Era), the stationed troops at Acanasser Port Stronghold were recalled. Without the war, the Gresonians abandoned Acanasser Island nearly completely in 848 O.E, and with it - the Acanasser Port Stronghold was left in disrepair. Now, it serves as a relic of a bygone era, with its only visitors in the forms of passing sailors and the local fauna...

Reading through the wall of text before me, I processed the information. As I finished the final words of the passage, the words and letters began to shuffle themselves into the smoke once more. I thought about my next question.

"Could you tell me about the local fauna?" I asked. "Any rabbits, or something similar?" 

The fluttering letters began to congeal into new form, as the tome lit up with bright radiance.

...Cordels litter the islands, a creature similar in physicality to a small red rabbit fused with a mouse. They are often hunted by many of the larger predators on the island, such as Focs and Knemels, and many make complex networks of underground tunnels in order to navigate the island while evading the attention of predators...

It was usable for the sake of the afterlife I wanted to create. I could kill two birds with one stone here; I could help two people with one reincarnation. However, I knew if I tanked Dalton's case while creating a good life for Andy, the higher-ups would come down on me like a tonne of bricks if they knew it was me. Even if I wanted to help both of them, if I wanted to keep helping people, I wasn't sure I could help them both at the same time - not without hurting myself. For a brief moment, I thought about abandoning Dalton's victim as I stared at the tome, trying to weigh up my options. "If I stayed off the blackboard, I could help more people," a part of me thought. However, I couldn't bring myself to do that. 

I was so stubborn that I couldn't even convince myself to abandon others; I was proud of that. 

"Tell me," I said. "Are there any Cordel tunnels close to the stronghold?"

The letters rearranged themselves once more.

...There are four Cordel tunnels on the island with exits in close proximity to Acanasser Port Stronghold: one to the far east, one to the north, one to the south, and one to the north-east...

"Which path would be the safest from the island's predators?" I asked.

...Both the north and southern passages are in densely forested areas, and the eastern passage is a long distance from the stronghold...

So, I guess that means it's suggesting the north-east passage, I told myself.

"Take me to the page for the north-east passage," I said aloud.

With that utterance, the mist of letters gravitated toward the pages, each one taking their rightful place back in the book as the pages intensely flicked past on the desk. The pages intensely turned, before stopping at a page around three quarters through the book, and - in a tiny script - a passage lit up briefly, two thirds of the way down the far-left side of the page. One of the IDs illuminated with light, and as I pressed it, I seemed to lift a copy of the string of numbers from the page. 

"Belgor!" I yelled to the air. "Have you got a piece of note paper?"

The string of arcane numbers wriggled in my hand like a worm. After a moment of waiting, Belgor popped up behind me, with a smile on his face and a small cube of paper. He placed it on the table next to me, and as I held the wriggling number worm, I dropped it on the sheet of paper. The numbers formed on the paper as they impacted with it, as if I'd written them myself.

"Will that be all?" Belgor asked.

I sighed, as I stared at the book, before handing it back to Belgor. "Yeah, I'd probably better not stay here too long," I replied. As I sat up from the dim writing desk, I slammed the book shut before handing it back to Belgor. He lumbered back up the shelf, placing the book in its original position, before returning to the ground again. 

"Are you ready to leave then?" He asked.

I sighed, as I looked back up at the shelves. "I guess so," I replied.

As we stood there, with another snap of his fingers, the pair of us vanished from the aisle. We left those limitless shelves behind, containing the information of a universe. Information that few ever heard. With our departure, the dusty tomes sat alone and unattended once more. Few people cared about the happenings of some distant universe; not up here anyway. The tome of a universe often went unread.