Patrick didn’t look afraid. Instead, he was unsure about everything. He had just gotten what he had hoped for but not in the way he wanted. This would need some time to sink in. Time Kate didn’t give him. She teleported into the conference room and sat down across the table from him.

“Ah Patrick. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with you, but in the end it was obvious. Still, I want to keep the tension up and I need to know something before I let you go. You wanted to worship us, why?”

“I found a book in your library, the earth one I mean, that had stories about people in ancient times who were blessed with knowledge by the librarians. I thought maybe that could happen again.”

“Times change. There are very few things we will not procure from the vaults for you if you just ask. There was never a need for worship, only for honesty.”

“Oh… I really fucked up, didn’t I?”

“You did and you didn’t. You got Monica harmed and caused us all quite the inconvenience. Your friend trying to break into the home of one of our associates has been a cause for turmoil as well. You will have to answer for that. But you could have done far worse. You might not be happy to hear that your ritual did nothing, but if you had succeeded you would have drawn the attention of rather troublesome entities. Entities I may not be able to protect you from. Overall, you could have done worse.”

“That’s good?”

“Yes, it is good. It is the reason why your punishment will be rather light. I merely ask you to dedicate your time to bettering this world. You shall seek out and volunteer to assist an endeavour of your choice.”

“That’s it?” Patrick sounded surprised.

“Yes. But I expect you properly devote yourself to your new tasks. If I am not satisfied with your performance, I may demand more.”

“Okay. So, stuff like the animal shelter, homeless shelter, city cleanup and things like that are what you are thinking of?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then. I will not complain about that. You have been more merciful than I expected when you took us from our little room. Thank you.”

“I am not here to satiate some form of misguided sadism. Harming you does not help me or my associates. But consequences must be enforced.”

“I understand.”

“Good. I expect you to begin your task within the next week. Now, there is one more question. The woman who gave you the dagger and tome, did she say anything to you?”

He shook his head. “Nothing of note really. She just asked me for my desire to properly meet the Librarian and that she had some stuff that could help me. And when she gave me the second set of papers recently, she said something about being on the best path.”

“I see. I will return you to the room you came from.” Kate teleported him away.

 

After Monica and Laura had returned home as well, Kate once again sat alone before the pile of ancient texts Jolene had given Patrick. Evelyn had to work nightshift today, so Mochi was here as well.

“So, this is just magical instructions again. Almost feels like a part two of the tome we have.”

Mochi agreed.

“And there it is: the instruction to carve the runes into a body to create a communication ‘vessel’. Almost disgusting. Wait, Mochi, do you see that? There is this cipher again.”

Mochi took a closer look and bumped Kate affirmatively.

“Let’s see then.” Kate teleported her decryption glasses from her home in Hell onto the desk and put them on. “To any whom it may concern… as with my last work… not sure how long we can keep the texts… Huh. This is indeed the second volume compiled by the same friar. Just that he never got to finish it. Let’s read on.”

There were several more pages detailing the history of the Atlantean texts that the friar had compiled into the first and, in his hopes, second tome. It was certainly an interesting read, even for Mochi who listened intently to Kate reading it all aloud, but something near the very end caught the Nightmare’s attention even more.

“Upon the scrolls, smeared into a corner, I found a missive between what seem like two scholars like me. It read ‘My dearest Librarian, you will read this long after these wonderful texts have been saved. To my dismay, your library only contains a copy of these papers without this hidden message. Consider this my donation to your cause. By now you will have realized my influence in bringing forth the hour of summoning. Perhaps it would be wise to seek me out.’ This message was signed by someone named Jolene.”

Kate turned to Mochi. “That eldritch bitch.” She laughed. “I know she means well but it just feels like she is toying with me. Yes, yes, I need to go talk to her. You’re right. Can you keep an eye on these for me? I’ll be back in a bit.”

 

Jolene looked quite pleased with herself as Kate approached the otherwise lonely food cart.

“The hour of revelations is at hand, Librarian.”

“Is it? Finally? I am frankly a bit annoyed and…” Kate sighed. “Unsurprised and amused. A few more things make sense now, but I have questions.”

“And I am in the possession of answers. Pry for them.”

“Asking you how you got all the stuff you gave Vandermeer is pointless, so I will jump directly to the why. Why?”

“I shall return a demand. List everything that has happened because of my interference.”

“I got to know you, Vandermeer was told to make the world a better place, Monica got involved with us and she can read Atlantean, I have a cult following me, Evelyn moved to Hell ahead of normal schedule, and we have a way to locate the needles.” Kate paused. “You’re doing this to free Lilith.”

“A limited perspective, but not a wrong one. Continue.”

“I asked Azazel if she had found something out about where Vandermeer got the Null Dagger and she told me she couldn’t say anything about that. She knew that something would happen between that conversation and now that is important. Is it the cult?”

“It is a question for you that has not been asked yet.”

“Alright. I would also like to know what happened to that friar.”

“The monastery he called home was torn down. He became a farmer and died of old age. I interfered to secure his writings when his friary was dissolved. He was grateful for that.”

“That is awesome, actually. I expected worse. I still have one more question before I return to the library.”

“Why did I enforce this path to free the lost sister?”

“Uh, yea. Exactly that.”

Jolene turned away from Kate. “Azazel forced my hand. The Disruptor, the one you once knew as Arakiel, was the first step along this path and she removed him from it. The new path created that day would have caused suffering among your kind. I am… unwilling to allow such suffering.”

“Now I have even more questions. First, what would Arakiel have done if he were still alive?”

“A similar thing to what I did. He too would have enforced the creation of a cult, but not such a benevolent one.”

“I see. I thought you were more of an observer who sometimes nudged people in minor ways, I didn’t think you would interfere this much.”

“It scares you.”

“Yea, it does. It really fucking scares me. You are one of two entities I know that can truly harm me. The fact that you aren’t just an observer is worrying.”

“And yet you regard your fear as irrational.”

Kate sighed. “Because I know, and I have felt it myself, that you care. You cannot mean harm. You are the most important thing that immortality has changed about me amplified and distilled. You cannot help but care. You will never harm me, but the mere possibility is something that scares a part of me that hasn’t fully understood what absolute empathy means.”

“Your incongruency between the conscious and the instinctive has meaning.”

“I am certain that sentence has meaning too, but my mind is too busy to dig into that today.”

“Then remember it for when the hour demands understanding. You have another question.”

“Yes. For all of us, you either have a title of sorts, a descriptor, or you say something like ‘the one you call whatever’. You didn’t do that with Azazel, you just said her name without any other qualifiers.”

“Did I not call you by your name when we first met?”

“Yes, but that was for emphasis if I remember correctly.”

Jolene smiled. “You are correct. I enjoy your attentiveness. I call Azazel by her name as I cannot see her defining acts. You are the Librarian, that name should be obvious to you, the one you call Apollyon is the Destroyer as she leaves one impact, a scar, on each of the three worlds through an act of destruction.”

“I think I understand. You can’t see Az’s defining actions because she is like you in a way and that makes her have the same effects as you on reality. The same near absolute power.”

“Correct enough. Are you satisfied with what you have learned today?”

“I don’t know yet. I suppose knowing that something good will come from this and that it actually went pretty well all things considered is more than I hoped for.”

“Good. You should return to your library now, there is one moment still awaiting you today.”

“Okay? I don’t think you’ll elaborate on that?”

“I will only tell you that the outcome will cause joy.”

“I better get going then.”

“We shall meet again before the hour of liberation. Live well, Librarian.”