Library of Rain

Rain ended up leaving the girl with Mr. Markson. She paid him for her treatment, food, and shelter for the next week. When Mr. Markson promised he would have everything ready for their plan by tomorrow, she bid him farewell and returned to the Mid Ring to keep up appearances.

She had to admit that the buildings in the Mid Ring were prettier than the Low Ring. They used more bronze filigree on the buildings, and the way it caught the light of the setting sun made the walls of the alleys and streets glimmer. She just wished there was more color. The sight of gray ash on black stone did nothing to lift her spirits.

With nothing better to do, she found a well-concealed door and used it to return home. Walking through the rows of books, each vying for her attention in some way, Rain realized that her corruption may have gone down, but she was becoming more and more like these books every day. Especially when she pushed her aura; if these books didn’t belong in the mortal world, did she?

Tired and not liking where her mind was taking her, Rain changed her cloak into the softest thing it could become and went to sleep.

Rain was standing in the mouth of an alley, watching three boys playing a game with an inflated bladder, bouncing it back and forth. They were laughing and having a good time, not a worry in the world.

Rain recognized the boys Ound Coon and Lon.

A hand rested on her shoulder.

“You stole that from me.”

The voice was raspy and cracked from screaming. Rain knew who it belonged to. She didn’t want to see him but couldn’t stop herself from turning. Behind her stood Lon. Not the Lon happily playing with his friend as he should be, but the Lon she had cursed twisted and deformed. He had two arms folded in front of him while he rested the third on Rain’s shoulder. A line around his neck poured out blood, staining his torso red and puddling at his feet.

“You stole that from me!”

Lon’s roar had spit flying from his lips as he moved the hand from Rain’s shoulder to her neck, slamming her against the wall and lifting her feet off the ground. Rain couldn’t pull any air into her lungs, but somehow she could still speak.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“You think that makes it better? You think that excuses you for what you did to me? Don’t you dare listen to that blond stranger! You’re a monster. Don’t forget it! You deserve every awful thing that happens to you.”

Rain struggled, unable to breathe, unable to refute his words, unable to stop the tears from running down her face. Until eventually, mercifully, she died.

Rain woke with a start, tears streaming down her eyes. She couldn’t remember the full dream, but it left her scared and alone. If sleeping meant returning to that, she didn’t want anything to do with it. Deciding that she was done sleeping for the day, she put on her shoes and went outside to give herself the illusion of having a purpose.

Night had fallen, but people were still out and about in the Mid Ring enjoying entertainment after a day’s work. Rain didn’t know what to do with herself. Eventually, she found herself standing on a bridge over one of the four ravines. The view down the mountain and to the nighttime ocean was pretty. Pockets of lights crowned some of the foothills where towns or farmsteads lay.

It was a peaceful scene until the ground started shaking. The traffic across the bridge grew fervent as people began rushing to get home or indoors. Most had put on their goggles and wrapped their faces in scarves. Unsure what was going on, Rain followed suit and covered her face.

Ash started to fall from the sky as the shaking of the earth grew more intense. Rain got off the bridge before it had a chance to break. Before she made it off, the city began to lighten. Molten rock was flowing down the channel Rain had been standing over; the lava illuminated the world around it in a soft red glow as it flowed under the bridges. The lava ran off the edge of the Mid Ring, creating a thick waterfall before continuing its journey through the ravines of the Low Ring, Dead Ring, and into the valleys of the island below. Rain finally understood why there were only buildings and greenery on the tops of the foothills. With the amount of lava running through the channel, the foothills would soon be islands in a sea of fire.

Rain had to back up as the heat grew to be too much. Soon, the falling ash thickened, lowering Rain’s visibility. The air began to stink, and Rain found herself coughing as though she couldn’t get any air. Seeing the street around her was nearly empty, Rain realized she needed to get inside fast as all the clearly smarter Mid Ringers had. She stumbled to a sizeable, lit building, still letting people enter.

No one stopped Rain as she entered a gilded lobby. One dapperly dressed man in blue and gold clothes insisted on brushing off the ash on her clothes before she entered the lobby proper. Rain thanked the man between coughs. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. The man accepted her thanks gracefully and asked her if she would be waiting out the eruption in the lobby or if she would like to buy a ticket to see the play that had started ten minutes ago.

Deciding that it would be better to distract herself with a play than to have time with nothing to do but let her thoughts torment her, Rain paid the man and was allowed into a massive theater room. The room could probably seat over two hundred people. The size boggled Rain’s mind. On the stage, a pretty woman with red hair and a vibrant red dress stood loudly, speaking to a blond girl in Low Ring garb.

The costumes, the set pieces, the acting, and the actresses, they all pulled Rain in, to the point that she barely noticed the ground shaking.

The story was about a young serving girl who fell in love with the lord of her island. When the lord’s sister learned about the girl’s feelings, she banished the girl from the island. Left adrift on the ocean waves, the heroine survived by virtue of the strength of her love for the lord. Eventually, the heroine found an island to land on and, starving and thirsty, was rescued by a wise old man who nursed her back to health.

By this point, Rain was on the edge of her seat. The scenes where the heroine was on the boat surrounded by water but unable to drink had gotten to Rain somehow.

Once the heroine was back to full health, she told the old man about how the lord’s sister had banished her from her home island for falling in love with the island lord. The old man listened to her and gave her a choice. She could either go to the city on this new island and start her life over or take the trials passed down to the old man by his father and gain a class.

Rain was a little amused by the trials that the heroine went through. Rain’s understanding of intentionally gaining a class, granted to her by her past self, informed her that it required absorbing a catalyst followed by a compatible great feat. The play only had the great feat, with the heroine spending a week locked in a cage of frost wolves and deploying tricks to keep them from eating her. Still, despite the play’s inaccuracies, Rain loved every minute.

The best part of the play was when the heroine returned to her home island only to find it taken over by a black classer. The black classer, who had an amazing costume of black with straps and buckles all over it and an eyepatch that looked really cool, fought the heroine. The heroine, for her part, was also dressed up for the final battle in a pretty blue dress with white lacing all around.

Rain couldn’t decide which one she liked more. The blue color of the dress was vibrant and lively. Rain would love a chance to wear it herself. On the other hand, the black garb of the black classer with its six belts around the left arm was so cool. Ultimately, the black classer’s lines tipped the scales for Rain. Rain wanted to cheer every time he called out the name of one of his skills; they sounded much more exciting than the heroines.

Eventually, the play ended with the heroine defeating the black classer, who went out with a puff of black smoke and a cheer from the crowd. With the island saved, the heroine married the lord of the island. Though angry about the marriage, the lord’s sister couldn’t do anything to stop it because the heroine now had a class. While the two lovers kissed, the curtains closed, ending the play.

Later that night, after the play had ended and the volcano had stopped erupting, a solitary golden statue head lay on a straw mattress. It was forced to watch as a ten-year-old girl, who had developed a newfound love for all things edgy, posed, bandaged hand covering an eyepatched eye.

“Kek kek kek. You think you can stop me, Rain the Conqueror? Shadow Eater!”