The Library World

- Prologue

By Stori Lee

Kami was God. No, really, she was, quite literally, God. No, she wasn’t male – she was female, and damn proud of it, too. And her proper name wasn’t God – why the hell should it be? – it was Kami. She preferred being called Kami-sama, however, the same way those Japan-something-or-other people on that world whose name she could never remember called her. It was ironic, really – everyone on that world thought that those people were the least religious. However, while that may probably be true, they were still the ones with the closest description of her to date, so that would always make them all right in her book.

Kami was extraordinarily old. So old, in fact, that she had lost count of the years ages ago. She had no clue when she was born, so she just said that she’d always existed, and that she will probably always continue to exist. And while she admitted to herself that her life wasn’t all that bad, she couldn’t get around one single fact of her existence – she was lonely.

Now, she’d always been at least a little alone, but lately the feeling had gotten to be unbearable and she’d finally had enough. Thinking, she had decided that she would like to have a daughter. So, since she couldn’t have one of her own, naturally she concluded that she would take someone else’s. And who better to take from than from the mother of one of those Japanese people she so dearly loved.

Yes, that’s what she would do. And so she began her search for the mother of a child she, Kami-sama, deemed worthy of her care. And after sometime, she finally found her...

 

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The Library World

- Chapter One

“Eko!” Kami called, looking for her daughter. The girl was a walking catastrophe just waiting to happen. But her klutziness was due mostly to a growth spurt she’d hit recently. If it weren’t for that, Kami had no doubt she’d be perfectly graceful – beautiful, probably.

But the girl’s increasingly hazardous clumsiness was not the reason Kami was looking for her. She was just wanting to make sure that Eko wasn’t in the Restricted Section of their world.

Kami and her daughter lived in their own world, the world Kami had lived in all her long, long life. Their world was a library. A large, great old library – a never-ending one. There were an infinite number of books, and no matter how much you explored the place, there was always a place you hadn’t seen yet. There was nothing outside the library – there wasn’t even a door. Well, at least not one that didn’t just lead to another section of the gargantuan library. Now, Kami herself still had yet to see the entirety of her palace of books, but she didn’t need to see it all – she just knew it was true.

However, this was neither here nor there, and Kami still had to find her daughter to keep her from the Restricted Section, and also to tell her that it was her birthday, and give her the present that Kami had gotten her.

So, here she was, searching The Library for her daughter, and hoping that the girl hadn’t gotten into any mischief. However, as she expected, the girl was in fact standing right in front of the Restricted Section. However, not only was she trying to get inside, but was actually picking the lock with a lock-picking kit. Now, that wouldn’t really have been a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that she was actually making progress with it – since when could the girl pick a lock so effectively? And the lock on the Restricted Section door, no less – didn’t Kami put a spell on that lock to specifically prevent someone from doing what Eko was doing right now?

Just before there was a click that signified that the lock was open, Kami’s hand shot out, and grabbed her daughter’s hand.

“Eko...” Kami growled out, her voice a mixture of disbelief, irritation, and, if Eko wasn’t mistaken, a bit of self-disappointment as well.

“Yeah, Mom?” Eko asked innocently.

Kami’s eye twitched. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here.”

“Trying to get into the Restricted Section,” Eko said matter-of-factly.

“And why are you doing that? And, more to the point, how are you doing it?” Kami was steadily getting more and more irritated with the girl. Eko knew the danger signs, and knew that she had to come up with an excuse, and quick.

“Well, I was reading a book, and came across a term I didn’t know. I tried to look it up, but none of the dictionaries had it. And I couldn’t find any books on it either. So, I thought it’d be in here.” It was true. Eko had only come here because she couldn’t find the definition to a certain word, however, that was only a part of the reason. However, Kami didn’t need to know that. Eko smiled, hoping to appease her mother.

“And how exactly were you doing that?” Kami seemed to be calming down, which relieved Eko.

“Well, I was browsing around a few years ago, looking for something to do, when I came across a book about lock-picking. It even had a lock-picking kit along with it! I got sort of excited, and decided to learn how to do it, since I had nothing better to do.”

“I see,” Kami said. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Opening her eyes once again, she studied her daughter. Eko studied her mother as well. Finally, Kami looked away, putting a hand to her head and sighing.

“What are we going to do with you, Eko?” Kami said in exasperation. “…Wait, don’t answer that,” Kami added as an afterthought. “Moving on, I came looking for you because I wanted to tell you about your birthday today, and to give you your present – before I send you off to bed for trying to break into the Restricted Section when you know you’re not supposed to.”

“Mom, you never told me I couldn’t go in here – you just said that I’d probably never have a reason to,” Eko said defensively.

“Going into the Restricted Section? Hell no, that’s not why I want to keep you out of there – I have your present hiding in there. But that wouldn’t be a problem really if you weren’t trying to break into the place,” Kami continued, sending a mock glare at Eko.

“Oh, is that all? And here I thought I was actually busted,” Eko said jokingly. “Then again, there’s not much here in this world to get busted for – well, except for damaging books, but then, you being the bookworm you are, that’s no surprise.”

“Watch your smart-mouth, young lady, and you might live longer,” Kami replied with a grin. The two of them practically lived for these little banters, and if it weren’t for the fact that they’re both bookworms, they could have gone on all day.

As the two of them walked, they continued talking, throwing wise remarks back and forth. Finally, they came to their destination. They were at the “kitchen” part of their home, which wasn’t really a kitchen; it just had a bunch of food stored along with a bunch of books. The cool thing about it was that it had all of the kitchen utensils and everything you could need – you just had to think of what you wanted really hard and it would appear. That’s how it was with most of these kinds of places in their world.

“So. Where’s the cake?” Eko asked, her mouth watering at the thought of the dessert.

“It’s over here,” Kami said. She walked over to a cabinet and opened it. Since her mother’s body was blocking her view, Eko wasn’t able to see Kami conjure up a cake from nowhere in the cabinet. Hopefully she doesn’t mind me not actually getting her a cake until she was here, Kami thought in amusement.

“Here you go Eko,” Kami said with fake cheerfulness. She cut a huge piece of cake out for her daughter, and handed it to her on a plate. She watched with amusement as Eko devoured the treat like there was no tomorrow. It was funny how big of a sweat tooth her daughter had.

“More?” Eko asked hopefully. She sighed in depression when Kami shook her head.

“Nope, no more right now Eko – right now it’s time for me to give you your present, and then it’s off to bed.”

“Awww, man! Not fair!” Eko whined.

“Oh, it’s completely fair. Just not to you,” Kami said in amusement. Eko shot her mother her best “I-hate-you-for-that” look, and turned away, pouting.

“Well, come on, let’s go,” Kami said. They both got up and made their way out of the kitchen.

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