*A LIBRARY, A LICH AND A PORTAL*

CHAPTER I
Inspection Day

Anika was washing the dishes when Bear barged into the kitchen.

“Go! Go now! Into the cupboard!” Yelped Bear.

Anika’s eyes widened.
“You mean-“

“Yes, I mean! They’re here! It’s here! The drone’s here! Go!”

Anika ran to the back of the house and came to a wall.
She took a step back and rammed into it with her shoulder.
The wall (which was really a hidden door) flew backward to reveal a dark and dusty room.
It stank of mould and was as dusty as anything, but at least it was hidden and safe.

She shut the door quietly behind her, and watched the scene through the cracks.

Bear sat cross-legged on the floor, sweaty hands gripped the dirty carpet.

It was checkup day.

The entire house was quiet and as tidy as Anika and her brother could make it. No electronics, no movement, just darkness and stillness. Those were the rules.
Their parents still hadn’t come home. What was going on? They were never usually this late.
Anika willed her pounding heart to be quiet as the harsh buzzing of the drone became louder and louder.
The pneumatic door slid open, and then got stuck halfway.

There was a high-pitched electronic whine, and then a sizzling noise as a large hole was cut in the door.
Anika winced as the cutout fell to the floor with a dull thump, sending a cloud of dust swirling around the room. Anything they had they had to earn through backbreaking work, and now the door they had only just managed to fix two days ago was broken again.

Anika took a deep breath and shrank back from the peephole as the drone entered the house.
It was made out of a dark, jagged metal, and had an eye on the front. The eye acted as both a camera and a laser beam, and emitted a burning crimson light, bathing the room in a ghoulish red glow.

It buzzed around the room, scanning things in a calculating manner. It detected the basic structure of the house, any life forms within it, and anything imbued with magic.
Anika sighed longingly at the thought of magic. Her grandparents would tell stories of how things used to be, before the Empire took over the world.
Nowadays, if anyone had any sort of magical gift or talent, they would be taken away forever.

Any time Bear moved, even just to turn his head, the drone would whip around and garble angrily. That was against the rules. If you moved, it would be seen as a sign that you were trying to hide something, escape, or threaten the drone.
Anika glared at the drone as it turned around and went back to scanning things. If the Empire was anything but tyrannical, it was paranoid. Every month, and sometimes randomly, an automated drone would barge into your house, scan everything for even the slightest sign of treason or rebellion or magic, and then leave, likely having created a huge mess.

Suddenly, Anika felt a tingling in her nose. All the dust and mould had gotten to her.
She quickly plugged her nose, but it was too late.
The resulting noise was a strangled, muffled sneeze.

The drone whipped around and stared Anika right in the eye, who jerked away from the peephole with a soft gasp.

It can’t see me, right? Of course it can’t. This hiding place was designed by my parents, and it has worked time and time again…

Still, Anika’s stomach rolled like an elephant seal as it scanned the area around the secret door. This was the closest it had ever gotten.

Please don’t see me, please don’t see me, please…

The drone spun around and continued its search of the room.
Anika went to breathe a sigh of relief, and then hastily stopped herself.

Her relief was short lived, however, because the drone began slowly buzzing over to Bear.

Oh no, she thought.

It was the final stage of the inspection: it had to scan you.

Anika watched as Bear gulped and closed his eyes.

His molecules were disassembled, processed by the drone, and then reassembled at lightning speeds.
Realistically, it should be the worst pain in the world, but the brain doesn’t really know how to process such pain so it throws up a deep, tingling feeling instead, that leaves you feeling so sick and disoriented that you almost wished you could experience the worst pain in the world to make it go away.
Anika cringed. She had never been scanned herself, so she could only imagine how terrible it must be.

Finally, the drone left, and Anika only breathed out when she couldn’t hear the metallic buzzing anymore.

CHAPTER II
Warmth

Anika burst out of the dusty, smelly room and walked over to a patch of wall and scratched another line next to the words “# OF CHECKUPS WE’VE SURVIVED”
The were a lot of lines.

Her brother, Bear, was only a year older than her, but he acted and carried himself as an adult.

“Ok, are you finally going to tell me why the Empire can’t know I exist?” Huffed Anika.

“We’ve been over this a billion times, Anika. Whatever the reason, Mum and Dad will tell you-“

“When the time is right.” Grumbled Anika.

He walked slowly and carefully over to the ruined door and knelt down.
“I’m going to need glue, masking tape, and a blowtorch. I think.” He mumbled sleepily as he combated the awful feeling coursing through his entire body.

As the two of them tried to use their limited mechanical knowledge to fix the door, Anika wondered what it was like before the Empire came and took everything.
The stories her grandparents had told - of green, sunny hills, forests full of animals like kangaroos and lorikeets, and best of all - magic.

The Empire tried to suppress the memory of magic after they forbade anyone from using it, except the Emperor.
In the small town in the heart of Australian bushland they live in, magic used to be everywhere.
The idea of being able to do anything from calling a remote control to your hand from the couch to shoot lightning from your fingertips amazed Anika, and it would often be the thing that captivated her mind for the rest of the day.

“I wish we could still do magic,” Grumbled Anika as she fiddled with some wires, “I remember grandpa told me about a spell that gave you better eyesight and better control over your fingers. Perfect for fixing stu-”
“NO!” Hissed Bear.
“Magic is the whole reason the Empire was such a jerk to our town in particular. If no-one in our town could do magic, then none of this-” He gestured around the room at all the damage and neglect - “would be happening to us.”

Anika opened her mouth to say it wasn’t true, but shut it again. It was true. The Empire had cracked down on their town so hard was because of the huge magical presence here.

The huge amount of magic is also why they’re building…whatever that is, Thought Anika as she stared out the gaping hole in the door at the bustling construction site outside.
It was enormous - it could be hundreds of metres tall and hundreds of metres wide - and was surrounded by watchtowers with searchlights and giant laser cannons, and cranes so tall they looked like they could reach the moon.

Anika’s parents worked on the construction site. They were forced into gruelling work for hours on end with no breaks.

They didn’t even know what they were building.

Almost nobody on the site did.

What could they be building, that called for so much secrecy and security…?

Anika began to really worry. Her parents were really late. They should have arrived almost half an hour ago.

Suddenly, a distant siren located somewhere around the construction site began wailing.
It had to be the one of loudest noises Anika had ever heard in her life.
She immediately dropped to the ground and clapped her hands over her ears.
The alarm was so loud and sudden, she almost didn’t notice the two figures that had appeared in the twilight fog.
They were making a beeline for her and Bear.

Living under the empire made you cautious and fearful, and Anika’s family was no exception.
Bear felt the hefty metal pliers in his hand, and considered throwing them at the two figures.

But a few seconds later, he was glad he didn’t.

“Mum! Dad!” Cried Bear and Anika together.

They couldn’t be happier, but their parents didn’t look like they could be more frightened.

“SOMETHING’S HAPPENING!!” Yelled their father over the blaring alarm.
“TAKE COVER!! RUN!!!”

For Anika, the whole world suddenly ground to a stop. It was happening.

CHAPTER III
The Storm

She could feel it now. The ground was shaking like a pressure cooker, surging up her body and addling her mind. An army of thick clouds of deep crimson blanketed the sky, and jagged bolts of lightning began ripping across the sky and jabbing down into the ground around them.
The clouds swirled around the centre of the construction site like a tornado, with lightning bolts lashing the surrounding area like a thousand whips.

Something was terribly wrong. She didn’t necessarily think it was evil, but there was just so much of it, swirling around in the air and sucking all surrounding energy into the construction site.
She followed her instincts, and ran for the hills.

Leaping over the gaping wounds in the ground that the earthquakes had created and swiftly dodging the lightning strikes, Anika raced through the streets, watching them get more overgrown with vegetation until she reached the forest.
The Empire had forbidden anyone from leaving the little town, but now was an emergency, and with the ground heaving and the sky howling and the lightning crashing, Anika barely stopped to consider it.

She stumbled blindly through the forest, tripping on tree roots and getting stuck in the branches.
Suddenly, the air and energy was yanked towards the construction site.
It wasn’t so much of a strong wind, but more like just the atoms of her body themselves being pulled towards the construction site, causing her to fall backwards.

An image flashed in from of her eyes. A…a person standing in front of an enormous machine that was vibrating so fast she couldn’t make it out.

Flashing back to reality, Anika heard a series of cracks that rang out across the land, watched the sky fall down onto the ground like a sheet of fabric and then shoot back upwards, with an enormous, earsplitting,

KABLAM!!!

Paired with a red flash from the construction site that seemed like it engulfed the entire Earth.

CHAPTER IV
Fallen Down

When Anika came to, her head was throbbing, but it appeared that the Storm was over.
The sky had returned to normal, the alarm was no longer sounding, and the lightning and earthquakes had stopped.
But Anika could see all across the landscape that the Storm had taken its toll.
There were sizzling craters everywhere, embers drifting through the air, and giant cracks and gashes in the ground.

Suddenly, Anika felt the ground shift beneath her.
She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened.
Just behind her was a giant chasm, cutting deep into the Earth.
She tried to scramble to her feet, but the outcropping of dirt held up by grass roots that she was lying on gave way and sent her plummeting, down, down, down…

The wind whipped at her face and she braced herself for death when she splashed into a pool of stagnant water.

She clawed for the surface and paddled blindly forward, feeling like screaming every time she felt a tendril of slime brush past her leg.
After what felt like an hour, she hauled herself up and out of the water and onto the cold stone ground with a wet plap.
She squinted up at the shaft of light coming down from the surface. She must have fallen almost 20 metres.

Shivering slightly from the cold, Anika shuffled over to the foot of the cliff.
There’s no way i’m climbing that, she thought.

“HELP!” She yelled.

No reply.

Anika tried again.
Still no reply.

Suddenly, she spun around. She had heard rustling in the ferns behind her.

Slowly and cautiously…she crept forward…

“HELP!” Yelled a voice identical to hers.
Anika jumped back and yelped.
A greyish bird, about as tall as her waist, with magnificent plumes of feather on its tail hopped out from the bushes and stared at her.
Anika gasped. She had heard stories about this bird, from her grandparents.
It was a legendary lyrebird.

“Well, hello, frie-“
“HELP!!” Squawked the lyrebird.
Anika smiled. I thought grandpa and grandma were fibbing about how it can perfectly copy things, but-
“HELP!!”
Anika’s smile faded a little.
“Ok, that’s probably going to get annoy-“
“HELP!!” Screeched the lyrebird, running and flapping about.

Anika sighed, trying her best to ignore it, and turned back to the cliff. I may as well try, she thought.

She clambered awkwardly, searching for grip with her fingers, all the while under the judgemental eye of the lyrebird.

“HELP!!” It screamed, almost in a mocking tone as Anika was startled and fell back down again.

“You stupid bird!” Grumbled Anika, rubbing her head.
“yOu StUpId BiRd!” Mimicked the lyrebird.
She chased it away, shooing with her hands.
“HELP!” It yelled, seemingly enjoying itself.

Suddenly, Anika heard something coming from above.
The garbled radio static and the electronic buzzing was all too familiar.

The Empire was here.

CHAPTER V
Library

Anika began hyperventilating. If they find me here, they’ll kill me! She thought as she clenched and unclenched her fists. If I just stay completely quiet…

“HELP!!” Screeched the lyrebird.
Anika turned around and swung a kick at the bird.
“yOu StUpId BiRd!” It said.

As she heard the buzzing of the drones and the clomping of boots getting closer and closer, she turned around and bolted into the dark, wet cave.

The cavernous roof was speckled with stalactites, and the floor was covered in stalagmites. Anika wound her way through them, terrified that they were hiding Imperial Drones.
It was almost pitch black. Anika had been running for what felt like years, but she could still hear the soldiers and the drones, not so far behind.

While she was busy looking behind herself, Anika tripped on a rock and she was sent tumbling down a slope, shooting through cobwebs and getting a million cuts and bruises until she came to a stop on a hard wooden floor.

She groaned and lifted her head. It was pitch black.

Wait…hard wooden floor?

She rubbed the ground with her fingers. Indeed, the floor was no longer the rough stone, but a smooth, textured hardwood.
In the darkness, she slowly got to her feet. Her entire body was battered and bruised, but luckily-

Suddenly, as she straightened up, there was a loud, sharp WHOOF, and a multitude of candles hanging from the ceiling burst into life, illuminating rows and rows of dark wooden bookshelves.

The ceiling was so high it seemed almost nonexistent, and there weren’t just books on the bookshelves. There were rings in little cases, scrolls, yellowed parchment, bottles full of suspicious-looking liquid, and even what appeared to be a fossilised dinosaur skull.
She peered around the corner. It appeared that this place was a vast maze of bookshelves and oddities.
Above her, there were bridges and platforms that could only house and lead to a second, third, fourth and fifth floor, probably filled with yet more books. Every now and then, a tapestry or wall art dotted the place.
She walked up to one and examined it.
It seemed to be a depiction of some sort of god or divine being.
It was a strangely-shaped silhouette with three brightly eyes arranged like a pyramid.
They stared at her, unblinking.
The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up like needles. This place was quiet. Too quiet. She needed to-

“HELP!!” Screeched a raucous voice behind her.
Anika’s soul nearly left her body. She had never had a worse scare in her life. Her stomach agreed, came far too close to emptying itself all over the floor.
She turned around, coughing and hacking.

“Cough, cough, eurgh, eurgh.” Mimicked the lyrebird.
“How did you get here?!” She spluttered angrily.
“HELP!!”
“Shut up!”
“sHuT uP!”

Anika sighed and tried to ignore it. She continued her exploration of the room.

The wire that’s holding up the candles is really hard to see, thought Anika as she waved her hand above the candle.
But there was no wire.

The candles were floating.

“What…how…” Anika was dumbfounded. There was only one explanation for all of this.

Magic.

Real, fantastic magic.
Right in front of her.

With growing excitement, she walked along the aisles of shelves, running her hand along the spines of the books and glancing at their titles.
CHANTS AND SPELLS, said one.
QUAZARCHS AND OTHER MAGICAL BEASTS, said another.
THE COSMIC GODS OF OLD.
HOW TO SEE THE FUTURE, GRADE FORTY-SEVEN.
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE.
THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
HOW TO SUMMON A RAINBOW, AND OTHER PRETTY SPELLS.
THE SPIRIT REALM.
TIME TRAVEL AND ITS PARADOXES.

Eventually, Anika found a book that, unlike the others, was tattered and weathered and looked like it had been hastily shoved in and hidden behind a bunch of potions.

It had metal bindings and decorations on the front cover, which was black with a faint red hue.
There was a hole carved in the centre, in which sat a beautiful antique compass, encrusted with jewels and what appeared to be gold.

It captivated Anika.

The needle seemed to be spinning around and around in no particular direction, as if it was already at the place it was trying to point at.

She gingerly opened the book. It was full of neat, tidy handwriting and detailed hand-drawn illustrations.
It appeared to be a journal.

Suddenly, Anika heard something from behind her.
The garbled radio static and the electronic buzzing was all too familiar. She didn’t notice it at first, but it gradually got louder and louder until it was unmistakeable.

The Empire had found her.

CHAPTER VI
Time To Run

Anika felt a boom of dread splash and ripple through her entire body, and then settle in her stomach like a stagnant puddle.
The Empire had followed her? She had gone so deep into the cave. The Empire never usually sent more than a single drone after fugitive common folk like her and her family, and now that she had run so far, why hadn’t they just given up? Why was she being so heavily targeted?

She stared in terror at the imperial soldiers, clad in blackish-green armour with no identifying features of any kind, methodically but rapidly searched for her, their hard boots clomping and echoing throughout the library.
She had only ever seen a handful before, patrolling the perimeter of the construction site, and those ones seemed to be less heavily armed than these ones.
These ones had giant laser blasters that were cranked up so high she could hear the electronic whine from her hiding spot.

She pressed herself against the bookshelf, keeping to the shadows and trying to make herself flat as possible.
Something bad is going to happen, thought Anika. I’m about to get caught. I’ll sneeze, or knock something over, or-

“HELP!!” Screeched the lyrebird.

All helmeted heads immediately snapped in Anika and the lyrebird’s direction.
A flurry of incomprehensible radio chatter echoed through the halls as the clomping of boots got louder and louder.

“NOW look what you’ve done!” Anika growled over her shoulder at the lyrebird as she took off running.

“sHuT uP!!” It replied.

Anika dodged this way and that, knocking over pedestals, hurling some of the strange objects on the shelves, anything she could do to slow the troopers down.
But they were much faster than her.

She rounded a corner at the same time as a soldier did on the other end.
As she spun around and ran, four metal darts lodged into the bookshelf behind where her head once was.

Darts? She thought as she puffed and panted along.
Why use darts? The Empire only uses darts when they’re trying to put someone to sleep so they can be taken alive. Why am I being taken alive? I’m resisting arrest! The punishment for that is death!

Wheezing hard now from terror and exhaustion, Anika came to a dead end.
She looked around wildly in all directions for an escape.

Right? NO.
Left? NO.
Forward? NO.
Backward? NO.
Down? NO.
Up? …Maybe…

It was her only option.

Wiping her sweaty hands on her shirt, she began to haul her exhausted frame upwards.
She aimed for an overhead bridge that assumedly led to another floor.

She tried not to look down.

Only 10 metres to go.

CHAPTER VII
K4-X7

The imperial soldiers reached the foot of the bookshelf.
A reverse-rain of darts bore down on Anika, whizzing within inches of her face.
She then realised that despite everything, she was still holding onto the journal she found earlier, the one with the beautiful compass embedded in it.
Normally Anika hated damaging books, especially such pretty ones, but now she had no choice.
She stopped climbing and tried to shield herself with it, holding onto the ledge with one hand.
No sooner had she lifted the book had a dart sunk into it with a dull THWUNK, followed by a few more.
“Go AWAY!!” She shrieked down at them.
However, Imperial Soldiers do not take orders from 13-year-olds, and they kept firing.
Unable to climb any higher and unable to relax her arm, Anika was stuck.

She cried out for help…but nobody came.

“Oh! What a shame!” Smirked a voice beneath her.
Anika looked down. Normally, the sight of Captain X4-K7 would send her mind reeling in horror, but now all she could do was sink even lower into the depths of despair.
The heavily-built man wore armour similar to the other soldiers, except this set was much more bulky, with shiny metal plates covering his entire body except his head, which was given even more authority by a flowing dark red cape.
His left eye and the skin around it was cybernetic, and the pupil was faintly glowing a harsh electronic blue.
His oily blond hair stood out starkly against his red-tinged face.
His name was a product of the Imperial Army; once you passed the vigorous training, you shed all remnants of your old life, including your birth name, which was replaced by a number.

Anika had only ever seen him once, barking orders and patrolling the construction site, but her parents had told her all about him.

In short, he was not a nice man.

“Listen, kid.” He said, motioning for his comrades to cease fire.
“All your life, your parents had protected you and hidden you from the Empire. But now they can hide you no longer. The last test created such a disturbance awakened the magic within you. Our satellites detected it.”

Anika frowned. When he said disturbance, did he mean the massive storm that just swept over the land? And the storm was created by a “test”? What test? Did something happen in the Construction Site? And now…she had magic? Was that why

X4-K7 peered closer and Anika’s expression.
“Oh…oh my. Oh no…” He burst into a bout of hysterical laughter.
“You…you seriously don’t understand ANYTHING I just said?!” He thundered, all traces of mirth evaporating instantly.
“You HAVEN’T learnt any spells? You DIDN’T know you were a magical being??”

Anika stared back with a slightly confused, shell-shocked expression.

“Shoot to kill.” X4-K7 snarled.

The guns made a whirring-clicking noise as they were recalibrated.

It was now or never.

Anika frantically scrambled up the bookshelf, flinging things down in the general direction of the Imperials, almost quivering with exhaustion.
Below her, X4-K7 was screaming his lungs out at the soldiers to recalibrate their guns faster.
With his red face and stomping feet, he looked like a 2-year old who was being forced to eat his vegetables.
“YOU IDIOTS! SHE’S GETTING AWAY! SHE’S GETTING-“
Suddenly, a rather chunky book fell from the heavens and clocked him on the head.
He immediately flopped down, face first onto the floor.

The X4-K7’s goons finally finished recalibrating their guns and bolts of red-hot light began exploding into the wood around Anika.

But she was already almost at the top, and within 5 seconds, she was on her feet and running for her life once again.

CHAPTER VIII
Incantation

After running for almost five minutes, Anika came to another dead end. She slowed and collapsed on the floor, the book she was still holding (which was now covered in darts and resembled a porcupine) spinning forward on the floor, falling open, revealing a page.
The page was very messy. It was covered in what appeared to be a bunch of passages or paragraphs that were either scribbled out or had an “X” next to them.
The crossed-out passages were readable, but Anika’s panicked eyes were drawn to the most prominent thing on the page: “I’VE DONE IT! I’VE FOUND IT! THE INCANTATION TO WIND BACK TIME IS AS FOLLOWS…”

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
She could feel something behind her back.

She slowly turned around, dreading what she would see…

“YOU IDIOTS! SHE’S GETTING AWAY!!” Squawked the lyrebird.

“You!” She spluttered.

“HELP!!”

Anika was dumbfounded. The lyrebird had followed her all this way…

“I think she went this way, move, move, move!”

Despite the situation she was in, Anika chuckled.
“Wow. You really are good at mimicking people.”

It took a while for her to realise that it was not the lyrebird who spoke.

“Oh, no-“

Captain X4-K7 rounded the corner.
“THERE SHE IS!!” He screeched, jabbing a finger at her.

Anika tried the same trick as before, and ran to the bookshelf and started to climb.
But she was so exhausted that she fell down painfully almost immediately.

X4-K7 laughed and swung his massive gun around and around, taunting her.

“Looks like you’re all tricked out. No more running. No more hiding. You’re dead.” He snarled as he aimed his gun.

Anika looked at the incantation in the journal again. It was her last hope.

X4-K7 guffawed.
“Aw, getting a bit of reading done before you die? Ha! Books are for nerds!”

“SCARBOROSS EXIDUS, DIARNO DOMINUS, TEMPUS ITINERANTUR…” Muttered Anika.

X4-K7 blinked.
“You what?”

“ANGORION ARGON, VENEFORIS VERNICUS…”

Fear was bright and recognisable in X4-K7’s one human eye as he realised what Anika was doing.

Anika’s frame was shaking and her eyes glowed a brilliant green. She was completely consumed by the incantation’s energy now.

“FIRE!!!” Screamed X4-K7 at the soldiers, but the blasts were just absorbed.
“XANDLEX INCURIS, XANDLEX INCURIS XANDLEX TEMPUS!!!” Anika completed with an otherworldly roar.
Her body glowed green, showing her silhouette, and then she was gone, leaving behind a scorched area on the floor and the smell of burning rubber.

X4-K7 stared at the dark spot on the floor.

“That lying little TWERP!!” He exploded.
“She knew! She must be incredibly powerful to have just disappeared like that!”
He turned to his troops.

“Tell the guards to double their shifts around the construction site! I want it completely LOCKED DOWN!!!” He screamed.

And with a swish of his cape, he stomped down the corridor.

There was a pause.

“How the heck do I get OUT OF HERE?!” Came his furious voice somewhere around the corner.

CHAPTER IX
The Past

In the blinding flash of light, Anika was ripped away from reality as if the ground had simply vanished.
She fell, unable to move, as swirls and flashes of green light whizzed past.

She felt herself accelerate, falling faster and faster until…

Anika’s eyes flickered open. Her vision was blurry, and points of green light still danced in front of her eyes.
She felt as if she was lying on the surface of a body of water; the ground was drifting up and down and rippled when she moved.
She felt he hand rub against the journal. It felt warm to the touch and a little singed, as were her hair and clothes, which were now more ragged than ever.

She sat up, and immediately regretted it. It felt like her brain had

X4-K7 and his goons were gone, and but now she could hear hundreds of other people.
She peered around a corner to see a vast central room, filled with people of all shapes and sizes, some wearing robes and others wearing uniforms, but they all had one thing in common:

They were performing magic.

Anika could feel it now. Magic was riddled through the room, clinging to everyone like a soft breeze. the same feeling one would get from meeting a group of people that all liked the same TV show as you, except much more deep-rooted.

Anika almost instantly felt at home, although she was a it confused, and quite worried.

How far had she travelled back in time?
Why didn’t she have the option to choose how far she wanted to go back in time, or forward?
Was she still in the same place as before?
Would she be able to get back to her original time period?

She picked up and opened the journal again and flipped through it to try and find the page with the incantation.
Her already anxious-looking face changed dramatically.
With growing stress, she flicked through each page faster and faster until she slammed the book shut and breathed in deeply.

It was gone.

The page with the incantation was gone.
Just blank paper.
Along with almost half of all the other pages.

Suddenly, Anika realised something.
She flipped the book over and over in her hands.
It felt new. (Except for the singe marks)
It looked new. (Except for the singe marks)

It even smelt new. (Except for the singe marks)

Anika clicked her fingers.
Of course! She thought. I must have travelled back in time to when the journal was still being written, and this journal from the future is linked to the other one! Or something weird like that!

The author could be any one in this room. She just had to find them.

She scoured the room, searching for a journal that matched the one she was holding.

Two children, both about 8 years old, ran past Anika laughing and zapping each other with little electric charges.
They managed to hit her with a few zaps.
She was about to tell them off when they screeched to a halt, turned around and ran away, not smiling.

It seemed they were running from a man haunched over a desk, writing in a book.
He didn’t look very intimidating; quite the opposite in fact. With his soft blue eyes, brown, bushy beard and total disregard for the world around him, Anika couldn’t see why the young kids were scared of him.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she realised.
Writing in a book.
Could this be? Could she have found the author so quickly and easily?

Not wanting to make contact just yet (maybe the kids knew something she didn’t) she tried to casually walk past him and peer at his book to see if it resembled hers in any way.

Anika was naturally terrible at pretending to be normal, so when she walked past it looked like she had suddenly been possessed by a giraffe, stretching her neck and craning her head like a lunatic.

She made several more laps of the table like this until the man tired of it and huffed, “Can I help you?” In an exasperated tone.
Startled, Anika spluttered, “Yes. Hi. Book?”
The man stared at her for a moment, his eyes cutting into her like a sword…until they softened again, and partially-obscured mouth broke into an amused smile.

“By that I assume you mean, “what book am I reading?”

Anika, not sure what else to say, nodded.
The man lifted the front cover and Anika stifled a gasp. It matched her journal perfectly.
“It’s a book I wrote myself. Am still writing, in fact. It is a compendium of all the most significant and powerful spells that I have thus far learned. Unfortunately, I worry that I will never finish it, as the most special and ancient of all spells are locked up in the vault.” He sighed.

“The vault?” Asked Anika, intrigued.

“Yes, The Vault. The current head librarian here, Eryx, is selfish; he keeps all the most powerful spells for himself because he doesn’t feel like the rest of us are fit to use it. Any request at just a peek of the oldest spells known to humankind, is denied. I’ve made so many of them that i’m on the verge of being forbidden on these premises permanently, he has such a short temper.”

“What kind of spells would be kept there?” Anika asked, leaning forward.

His eyes lit up. “Oh, so many. Healing spells so potent they could bring a man back from the brink of death within seconds, being able to summon water over parched lands afflicted with drought, hypnotism spells to convince the criminals and evil peoples to behave, and even-“He looked around to make sure no one was listening, leaned in and whispered, “Sacred incantations to travel through time!”

Anika’s eyebrows shot up visibly.

“Is there any chance that, I dunno, someone like me could get a glimpse of that time trave- I mean, those spells, and not the time travel ones specifically…? I need it for, um, er, a school assignment.” Said Anika, her voice getting higher and higher as she cringed at how suspicious she sounded and how terrible her cover story was.

Luckily, the man didn’t seem to have noticed. Instead, he leaned in further and whispered in her ear.

“Tonight, I am staging a break-in. I will…borrow…a spell and document it in my journal.”

Anika gulped. She could feel his anticipation. He wanted her to help him.
Anika was used to living a life of following the rules or facing harsh consequences, but now this man was being so trusting, so vulnerable, and this Eryx guy seemed like a jerk, and she really needed to get home. Her family could have been prosecuted by the Empire.

Her stomach dropped at the thought.
She said confidently, “How can I help? I’m Anika, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Anika. My name is Edwin.”

CHAPTER X
Breaking, Entering and Borrowing

“I have made the necessary preparations. It is time. Be ready for when the barrier opens.” Said Edwin.
Several hours had past, most of which Edwin spent trying to teach Anika a spell or two.
It was the dead of night, and everything was quiet. It was like the library had already been abandoned.

“Remind me again of the plan?” She whispered.

Edwin sighed, but his demeanour remained benevolent.

“I will break a hole in the magical barrier sealing off the vault, which you will crawl through, being careful not to touch the sides or you will get burned. Then you will enter the vault, pick out the spells we need, ESPECIALLY the antique wooden chest, and then return. You will find the specific spells we are looking for in aisle 8, section 2B.
“I will only be able to hold the hole open for 60 seconds, so you must hurry. Once it closes, I will not be able to open it again. Understand?”

Anika’s face was screwed up as she processed this. The spells were in aisle 60 section 8, and he would only be able to hold the hole open for 2B seconds.

Wait, what?

Eventually she gave a nod and a weak smile.

“Good.” He said.
He closed his eyes and pressed his palms against the invisible barrier. The area around his hands glowed orange, and then a section of the barrier shattered suddenly like glass.

Like freezing frost feathers, the barrier began regrowing itself.
Edwin leapt into action, his palms glowing a bright orange and his face strained to prevent the barrier’s regrowth.

“Go!”

Anika went. Dashing through the dusty room, after counting 60 aisles, she screeched to a halt. It was pitch black.
She stilled her breathing, tensed her hand and fingers into a grasping motion, and then squeezed her eyes shut, just as he had showed her.
She felt her hand grow warm, and then with a small chime, an orb of light materialised in her hand, levitating and emitting a glow that illuminated the surrounding area.

“I did it! My first spell!” She spluttered, overjoyed.
“Nice. You’re naturally…t-t-talented. Now get those scrolls!” Grunted the strained voice of Edwin, whose tone greatly contrasted Anika’s.

Still bubbling with excitement, she ran over to section 2B, double checking in her head it was the right one, and with a sweep of her arm, snatched all the scrolls, books, and the wooden chest off the shelf.
Some of them seemed as new and fresh as the first second of the new year, and some looked older than an immortal jellyfish.
“Come…on!” Gasped Edwin.

Anika raced back to the barrier at full pelt, the contents of the chest clicking and clacking under her arm.
Edwin was sweating and his knees were trembling.
Finally, he collapsed onto the ground, and the barrier immediately began regrowing again.

Anika tried to drop down and slide under like a baseball player, but she just plomped down onto the ground really hurt her butt.
She quickly got up and scooted awkwardly under the barrier, just as it fully reformed.

“Excellent work.” Chuckled Edwin.
“You are a very gifted young lady. For most children, it takes several hours of trying to cast their first spell. But you only needed the proper tutoring.”

Anika smiled, flattered, and looked away.

Edwin sifted through the scrolls, looking at each one.
“Yes, yes…it’s all here…” He muttered excitedly to himself.

Suddenly, Anika stood up and whipped around. She could hear footsteps.

One, singular pair of footsteps.

For some reason, this seemed to worry her more than if it was a squad of soldiers, and she urgently shook Edwin’s shoulder while saying,
“Edwin, Edwin, it’s time to GO, SOMEONE’S COMING!!!”

Edwin grabbed her hand and gave her a glare so icy it shut her up immediately.

“I’ll deal with this.” He snarled, all manner of benevolence disappearing instantly.

“Edwin, I know that’s you.” Came a rather-old sounding voice from around the corner.

“Eryx! How lovely to see you.” Edwin sneered sarcastically at the old man.

Eryx wore light brown robes, several rings on his fingers, and his long yet well-kept white beard almost reached the floor.
He was bent over a long wooden staff that had bands of colourful jewels around its ends.
He seemed like a very, very old wizard.

“I have warned you multiple times, Edwin. Not a soul is to view the forbidden texts without my permission. They are too d-“
“Too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands, because if they do, a horrible fate will befall the world, blah, blah, blah…” Edwin interrupted.

Eryx sighed.
“This is the third time you have attempted to break in to the vault. I’m sorry, but you are banned from the library for life. You have pushed this too far, Edwin. If you do not leave now I will remove you with force.“

Edwin snorted.

“You! Force me!” He laughed gloatingly.
“Your powers have grown weak, old man. Whereas mine…are about to grow exponentially.”
He smirked, and pulled out the chest.
Eryx’s face immediately changed. “You…you found it. But…I hid it! I hid it so well you never would have-“
“Did you hide this specific chest, or perhaps a different one that was cleverly switched out just before you hid it?”

Eryx, his face awash with alarm and fear, brandished his staff, which began to glow, and shot a bright yellow bolt of lightning at Edwin, who easily dodged it.

Edwin stopped and slowly, as if savouring the moment, opened the chest, and a loud boom rung out through the halls.
This was not a typical, noisy explosion, but rather an enormous magical disturbance as the chest opened for the first time in what could be hundreds of years.
“Edwin!” Bellowed Eryx. “I beg you! You’ll unleash powers that will destroy you and everyone else you know! You don’t know what you’re doing! You’ll…“

From out of the box, three brightly coloured gems, blue, red and green, levitated and formed a circle around the hand that Edwin held up.

His opened hand twisted around to form a fist, and with a noise that sounded like fingernails raking down a chalkboard, the jewels shattered into a thousand pieces.

Still floating midair, they were absorbed into Edwin’s hand.

“No.” Whispered Eryx in dispair.

It was clear to Anika that whatever was happening was very, very bad.

“Edwin? What’s going on?” She squeaked.

Edwin’s form rattled and shook. His body coursed and flashed with the colours of the stones he had just absorbed and his eyes rolled back into his head.
And then, quiet.

His eyes rolled back to look at Eryx. His pupils shone with a brilliant golden-yellow, lined with a sickly green and a shade of blue that was so dark it was almost black.

He shot out an arm in a pushing motion, and Eryx was catapulted backwards into a bookshelf.
Anika clapped a hand over her mouth and silently screamed into it.
Eryx fell to the floor with a dull thump, and didn’t move.
Was he dead? He hit the bookshelf so hard…

“NO!” Anika finally shrieked.

Edwin slowly turned around and gave her the most mock-surprised, condescending look that anyone had ever given her.

“You said…You said that you would use the forbidden spells just to write in your journal…” Her voice trailed off as she realised how stupid she sounded, and how stupid she was for believing this man.
Edwin smiled.
“Initially, I didn’t believe that particular cover story would fool anyone. But I was so taken aback by how much of an idiot you were for believing my story, that I decided to continue on with it.” He said as if he was fascinated by the fact that he was so good at manipulating people that he didn’t even have to try.

“It’s ironic. I spent years of trying in earnest, and then it happens with almost zero effort on my part. You should have taken the warning signs from those children when they ran away from me. My plans and hijinks have earned me a reputation here. Although, I do hope that you are able to complete your school assignment.”
He chuckled. A cold, icy chuckle.

“You children come up with the worst lies.”

Anika snatched an armful of the scrolls, desperately hoping that one of them would help her get back to her own time, and then ran.

CHAPTER XI
Back to the Future

Anika felt as if she had left her stomach behind on the floor somewhere.
She had just helped someone so evil become even more powerful!

She ran and ran and ran. Today was turning into a sort of run-a-thon.

As she ran, she flipped through the scrolls and books she had snagged, scanning haphazardly for anything to do with time travel.
She almost screamed with relief when she found the incantation again.
But hold on, she thought.
Edwin wrote the journal. So the time travel incantation was probably copied off one of the scrolls he found in the vault. But…I’ve got that scroll right here. So how could he have copied it into the journal if I’m about to take it with me into the future…

Her blood ran cold as she realised: If he had written it down in his journal, then he was going to get the scroll back at some point-

Suddenly, the bookshelf to her right was smashed in, sending books and potions flying and burying her under a pile of musty, dusty tomes.

Edwin leaned closer and closer to where Anika was buried.
“You know what I want.” He said softly and calmly.

Anika was lifted out of the pile of books and into the air, unable to move.

“You’ll never get them! I’ll…I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” He snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously.

“Master the most powerful spells known to man in a few seconds? Use one of the incantations to, hmm, I don’t know, travel FORWARD IN TIME, BACK TO YOUR HOME?!” He snarled.

Anika fell silent. She was completely lost for words.

“Yes, that’s right, I KNOW. Thanks to these magic stones, I now have the ability to command next to infinite power. I could end your puny, insignificant life with a TWITCH. OF. MY. FINGER.” He roared, his hand trembling with rage.

His eyes softened, and he let Anika go. She dropped onto the pile of books.
“But I’m a charitable fellow. I will send you back to your original time period. After all, you are the reason I now have this power. I couldn’t hold the barrier open and rob the vault at the same time, no—I needed an accomplice. And there, you, were! And who knows…you just might be useful to me later. So off you go. Oh, and I’ll take that…” He said, snatching the scrolls Anika held in her arms.

He opened the scroll and read out the incantation.

“SCARBOROSS EXIDUS, DIARNO DOMINUS, TEMPUS ITINERANTUR…”

Anika felt her body dematerialise and the bright green light swallowed her vision again. She opened her mouth to protest, but she was already gone.

CHAPTER XII
Trail

Even though she was brought back to her native time against her will and she had changed the past in a negative way, Anika felt relief pump and squeeze through her exhausted body.

She picked herself up and dragged herself down the aisle when she heard in the distance, “I THINK SHE WENT THIS WAY, MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!”

X4-K7, She thought. She must be at the same moment in time when her past self was being chased.
As quiet as possible for her aching body, she slowly crept away.
The angry yelling in the distance got quieter, but Anika was far from safe. She was completely lost.

I want to go home, she sniffed in her thoughts.
I want to see mum, dad, Bear, and-“

“yOu StUpId BiRd!” Squawked the lyrebird.

Anika sighed.

“I don’t think I’d ever be so happy to hear my own voice insultingly repeated back to me.” She spluttered.

The lyrebird stared at her, fluffing its tail.

“Do you know how to get out of here?”

The lyrebird cocked its head and blinked.

It turned around and began wandering off in the opposite direction.

Anika decided to follow it.

CHAPTER XIII
Tunnel

And so she found herself putting her faith in a crazy old bird to lead her out of a never-ending magical library.

The lyrebird never hesitated and never stopped. It confidently trotted forward, turning this way and that.

It must have been here before, Anika thought as she followed.
Maybe it lives here.

After climbing several flights of stairs and wandering for what felt like hours, the two came to a dead end.

Anika was about to open her mouth to ask it if this was the exit, but the lyrebird flapped up onto a bookshelf and disappeared.

“What?!” She spluttered.
The lyrebird poked its head out of the self and mimicked her.

On closer inspection, the self the lyrebird was sitting on didn’t have a back; it just kept going and going.

The lyrebird turned around, looked over its shoulder and gave Anika a look that said, You coming or what?

Anika was definitely coming or what. Almost without hesitation, she wriggled into the tunnel and began crawling.

And so began a rather dreadful, stuffy and claustrophobic part of Anika’s life. She found herself in a tunnel with no airflow and barely enough room to lie flat on her stomach following an exotic bird that seemed to be able to understand English and was now supposedly guiding her out.
There were plenty of times when she felt like she couldn’t breathe, she got stuck or felt like giving up, but the lyrebird’s encouraging squawks kept her going.

Finally, Anika hauled herself up and out of the stuffy hole and splattered onto the cool night grass. She was almost home.

She crept along the stone brick paths and keeping to the shadows as much as she could, not forgetting about X4-K7 and his squad.

Strangely, the whole little village was deserted. Not a soul in sight. Smoke drifted in the air like wispy spider webs, doors were kicked out, blasts could be seen on the walls, but most noticeable of all:
It was quiet.

When she came to her own house, she could feel her heart hammering in her chest from what she would find in there. Was her entire family dead? Was the Empire holding them captive? Was X4-K7 waiting in the house to pounce on her?
As soon as this thought crept into her mind, Anika almost didn’t take another step forward. But her drive to see her family at least alive was greater than her fear of X4-K7.
Slowly, she crept through the gaping hole in the door that was carved by the drone, which seemed like years ago now, and stepped inside…

CHAPTER XIV
Cold Wind

It was hard to tell in the dark, but the place was ransacked. Various objects such as pots, pans, and tools were dotted around the room. A spanner had even been lobbed at the wall and stayed there.
Drawers had been yanked out and their contents thrown all over the place.
She tried the light switch, but to no avail.
But everything was still there.
Except her family.

“Mum? Dad? Bear?” She called softly, to no response.

A gust of cold wind blew through the door behind her, and she shivered. Something was wrong.
Her intuition was screaming at her to leave, but her brain wouldn’t listen.

Another gust of wind blew in through the windows, flapping the curtains.

A flash of lightning outside illuminated the room for an instant.
A tall, shadowy figure in Anika’s peripheral vision crept up behind her, cape billowing in the wind.
She spun around, quivering in fear, but no one was there.

However, in the gloom, she could just make out a pair of cold blue dots. She stared at them for a moment.
It took a while for her to realise was they actually were.

Eyes.

Anika screamed louder than she ever had before, turned around to run but tripped over a frying pan.
The owner of those piercing eyes slowly walked over, towering over her.

It chuckled.

CHAPTER XV
Emperor

“Greetings, Anika. We meet again at last.” The figure’s voice seemed to have a second layer to it, and was as smooth and refined as an ingot of gold.
Again? Anika thought. What does he mean, again? I’ve never met this…thing before!

Now that Anika’s eyes had adjusted to the low light better, she could now take in this new creature.

It was a husk, with fingers that were so gnarled and bony that resembled the claws of an eagle.
It wore a haunting golden mask that was devoid of any features except two pools of inky, soulless blackness where two cold blue points of light were housed. These were the eyes Anika had seen before in the dark.
It wore a very dark red cloak lined with gold and strips of fabric that was attached to the sleeves and merged with the cloak, and golden shoulder pauldrons that lifted upwards into a tall spike.

Anika recognised him almost immediately.
This is the zenith of the Empire.
The man in charge of the construction site.
The biggest monster you could find.
This is the EMPEROR, Anika thought.

“W-where are my parents?” She squeaked.

The Emperor walked over to a wall to admire the rusty knife that was lodged in there.
He pulled it out easily, and began using magic to make it float up and down into his palm.

“Oh, do not fret. Your parents are safe and sound. Their bodies, that is.”

Anika felt as if a ton of bricks had been tied to her heart and then shoved off a cliff.

“WHAT?!” She shrieked.

“Yes. Unfortunately, your family is dead. They made the foolish mistake of trying to run away when we came to arrest them for harbouring a magical being.
“It was then when I discovered that not only you, but your entire family possess the power of magic.”

Anika’s eyes widened. Her family…was magical? Impossible.
It couldn’t be.
All her life, her parents had tried to steer her away from even thinking about it. But…then again…
They always seemed to be able to read Anika’s mind.
They could lift heavy things without breaking a sweat.
They had always hidden her from the empire because she was magical. But…did she inherit her magical gifts from them?

Her face visibly changed as she processed this new information.

The Emperor cackled loudly at this.
“You didn’t know! Oh…that is most hilarious. They were wise to hide your and their own talents, as my empire is always watching. I am always watching. I had front row seats to your parent’s demise.”

Anika stared straight into his glowing eyes.
She had heard stories form her grandparents that using magic, you could read someone’s mind. You only had to be strong enough.

Anika gritted her teeth and heard soft rumbling in her ears.
Finally, puffing and panting as if she had been holding her breath, she withdrew from the Emperor’s mind, along with the answer to her mental question.

“No! You lie! My parents are alive. I read your mind. I know they’re still alive!” She said confidently, believing she had won a point over the Emperor.
His face was hidden behind his mask, but Anika could still somehow tell he was smiling.
“Good!” He said, like a teacher to a preschooler who had just coloured inside the lines.
“I thought you would be powerful enough to discern the answer. Although, I did make it rather easy for you by repeating the truth in my mind again and again.”

Anika’s confidence burst and flew around the room like a deflating balloon.

“Yes, indeed your parents are alive.” The Emperor said in a grudging tone.
“They are quite powerful spellcasters. They were able to deflect the laser bolts my soldiers shot at them, and escaped into the forest. However, it won’t be long until they are found, cornered, exhausted and captured.”

Anika’s deflated confidence was replaced by anger and despair.

“You’re a monster!” Anika shrieked.

The Emperor turned around and gave her an almighty stare.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so judgemental if I were you.” He smirked.

Anika was puzzled.
“What do you mean?”

“Come on, child. Don’t you recognise me? Is there not something familiar about my voice?”

The Emperor was right. Beneath all the horrible, gnarly layers, there was a hint of something she had heard before…

“Many decades ago, nearly a hundred years by matter of fact, I was but a simple young man with big dreams. I yearned to revel in the knowledge that the library kept. But my master, and head magician of the library…Eryx…”

He spat the name out as if it was a Brussel sprout.

“…didn’t want me to experience such happiness. So I was forced to steal the knowledge.”

Anika began putting two and two together. What she realised was a very unpleasant four.

She felt as if a whole oil drum’s worth of horror had just been dunked over her.

She began shaking her head and whispering, “No…no…”

The Emperor’s voice became more and more amused as he continued…

“Time and time again, I attempted to liberate the knowledge, and yet not one time did I succeed…until one day, the most clueless little girl you could ever hope to meet shows up, and is kind and gullible enough to be tricked into assisting me.”

“No! No!” Anika was practically yelling the word now.
“You’re the Emperor! Just the Emperor!”

He leaned in close. Uncomfortably close. Anika could feel his rank breath on her head.

“Please…do me a courtesy and call me by my real name.”

She looked up, eyes watering with both emotion and the smell of the man’s terrible breath.

“Edwin?” She whispered.

CHAPTER XVI
Escape

The Emperor smiled triumphantly.

“There. That wasn’t so hard, was I-“

The Emperor stopped when a small rock fell from the ceiling and onto his head.

He paused for a few seconds, and then continued.

“As I was sayi-“

Suddenly, the entire ceiling fell and smashed down onto him, burying him under a mound of rubble.

Three people, a man, a woman and a teenager, all dressed in black cloaks, dropped down from the giant hole in the ceiling.

Anika recognised them immediately.

“Mum! Dad! Bear!” She cried happily, knowing for sure her parents were ok.

“I love you too, Anika, but for now we have to RUN!” Yelled her father, grabbing her hand and practically dragging her behind him.

As they crashed through the long grass in the cool night air, Anika heard an inhuman roar of rage as the pile of rubble shot up and away from the Emperor.
“CAPTAIN!” He bellowed.
“AFTER THEM!!”

X4-K7 and the troopers emerged from their hiding place behind the house and gave chase.

“Run into the forest! It’ll be harder for them to chase us there!”
Yelled Bear.

With vines whipping at her face, Anika yelled over the thundering footsteps and laser blasts:

“Since when are you guys magical?”

Anika’s mum looked at her as if she was bonkers.

“Magical? I don’t know what you mean…HYA!” She shouted as her hand glowed green and a spiky bramble shot out behind her, blocking X4-K7’s path.

Anika smiled.

“We had to keep it secret. The Empire’d kill us, and you, if they’d found out.” Said her father.

Bear grumbled and muttered something about something.

“Are you magical too, Bear? I thought you didn’t know why Mum and Dad insisted I hid in the closet!”

“I’m not, and I didn’t.” Sighed Bear. “I’m nonmagical.”

“Where are we going?” Asked Anika.

“We’re getting on a ship, and as far away from the construction site as we possibly can.” Replied her father.

Despite the situation, Anika screeched to a halt.

They couldn’t leave here. What about the library? And the past she changed? She needed to undo it! The Empire was all her fault. She couldn’t live with that guilt!

“No! I have to fix something first! We can’t leave yet!”

Anika’s dad turned back, grabbed her, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

“Come on, Dad! We can’t leave! Trust me, I—“ She stopped when Dad suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“What’s going on! Put me down, I can’t see!” Grumbled Anika, kicking at his chest.

He put her down.

“WOAH!” She yelped, staggering away from the edge of the cliff.

“It’s blocking our path! We can’t go around it, there’s not enough time!” Yelled Bear.

In front of them was a wide gash in the forest floor.
It cut deep into the Earth, dissolving into darkness the further you looked.

Anika recognised it immediately.

“It’s the chasm from before!” She yelled.

Bear and her parents looked at her confusedly.

“Ok, it’s gonna sound crazy, but everyone off the cliff!” She declared.

“Are you feeling ok, sis?” Asked Bear, seemingly genuinely worried for his sister’s mental health.

Anika sighed.

“I’m sorry, everyone, but I can tell this is the only way I can get you to do this!”

She ran behind her family’s backs and shoved them into the chasm.
She heard their terrified screams, and then splashes.

She stood on the edge, hesitating.

Okay, I’ll jump on the count of five. One, two, thr-

Suddenly, a laser bolt whizzed past her ear, which caused her to lose her balance and fall head over heels into the chasm.

CHAPTER XVII
Chasm

“You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady.” Growled Anika’s soggy father after they had all hauled themselves out of the stagnant, underground lake.

Anika had hurriedly and breathlessly told them about a ruined library, and they were all running through the subterranean field of stalagmites in search of it.

“Explain later! Run now!” She panted, leading the way even though she was probably the slowest of her family.

“It should be just up aHEAD!!” Her shouts turned into a yelp as she tripped on a rock.
She was sent tumbling down a slope, shooting through cobwebs and getting a million cuts and bruises until she came to a stop on a hard wooden floor.

Wait…hard wooden floor?

The magic floating candles relit themselves once again, illuminating the old library.

As she stood up and looked around, she almost felt as if she should greet it like a friend.

The three others behind her, however, were not so comfortable.

“This place is creepy.” Shuddered Bear as he jumped back from a white rock on a shelf when he realised it was in fact the skull of a smallish dinosaur-looking creature.

Anika’s father listened. They could no longer hear the troopers’s thundering footsteps in the distance.

“Right, NOW you have a lot of explaining to do, young lady.” He said.
Anika gulped. Ignoring her family’s piercing stares, she told them her story.
Where she went when she ran from the construction site.
Meeting the lyrebird.
Finding the library.
Travelling back in time.
Travelling forward in time.
Crawling through that horrible tunnel, with the lyrebird as her guide.
Encountering the Emperor.

However, she specifically made sure to leave out the fact that she had done anything of particular note in the past.
As far as her parents knew, nothing of interest really happened. She didn’t feel like she could face her family’s opinion on their daughter being the cause of their entire life of hardship and misery.

Despite having magical insight, her parents seemed more distracted by something else.
They shared looks among themselves.

Finally, her mother sighed, “We were once caretakers of the library. Still are, technically. Your grandparents came before us. They were both about your age when the library was taken by the empire. That’s why they talked about magic so much—they had living memory of it.
“We were taught magic in secret and educated about exactly what had happened that caused the library to fall…”

Here Anika held her breath, hoping that what her parents knew didn’t tie anything to her in any way…

“The man who is now the Emperor somehow learned the path to some seriously powerful magic. Somehow, he’s managed to extend his lifespan by almost a hundred years today.”

Anika had to stop herself from sighing in relief. Her secret was safe. For now.
The Empire had decimated the entire globe, sucking out every little bit of magic it could find, hurting millions of people. It was all her fault.

And she was going fix everything.
She just needed a plan.

CHAPTER XVIII
A Plan...?

Making sure her parents were busy looking at something else, Anika wandered behind a shelf, reached into her jumper and pulled out the journal that she had carried with her for almost the entire misadventure.

She thought for a moment about throwing it away, after discovering just how awful the person who wrote it was, but quickly dismissed it.

How could she fix this mess? How could she stop Edwin? Perhaps she could warn the old wizard Eryx about what was to come? He might not believe her.
Maybe she could break in before Edwin and her past self stole that chest with those gems that made him powerful? Not a hope of her getting through the shield! She had barely mastered a simple light spell.

She barely reacted when the lyrebird sidled up to her and squawked.

“How am I going to fix this…” He muttered, half to herself and half to the lyrebird.

The lyrebird stared at her with those obsidian eyes, and made a soft, barely audible noise like a cat purring.

It spun around and began trotting down an aisle, fluffing its feathers it went. It stopped and the end and stared at Anika.

“HELP!!” It shrieked suddenly, flapping and gesturing to the left.

It ran back down the aisle and grabbed Anika’s tattered sleeve with its beak and began dragging her along.

“Hold on! I can’t go with you, I have to stay with-” Just then, Anika cut herself off.

She could hear something.

It was disjointed radio chatter.

The Empire was here…once again.

Grimly ignoring the fact that crying out would call attention to herself, she cried out,

“Mum! Dad! Bear!”

No response. The radio chattering was silenced immediately.

“MUM! DAD! BEAR!!” She yelled louder, along with the lyrebird who, spurred on by the noise, screeched “HELP!!”

The radio chattering from before returned, and the all too familiar thundering footsteps got louder and louder.

With growing panic, Anika ran around, peering behind shelves and calling out to her family.

As a consequence of running around in a blind panic, Anika found herself in a familiar predicament.

“Great. Now I’m stuck here. AGAIN.” She groaned.

The lyrebird stood there, fixing Anika with its signature stare.
Birds can’t smile because they don’t have the adequate facial muscles, but if they did this bird would be grinning its feathery little head off.

“Oh, it’s funny is it? It’s funny that I’m about to DIE?!” She hissed, jabbing a finger in the direction of the approaching troopers.

The lyrebird shook its head and took off.

Annoyed that she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that whatever this strange bird had to show her was important, Anika chased after it.

“Where are we GOING? Do you know where my family is? Are you taking me back to that horrible tunnel?” Anika nonstop peppered the bird with questions as she ran.

I must be going nuts, she thought.
I’m putting my life in the hands of a lyrebird. And the lyrebird can understand English. I must be insane…

Without warning, the lyrebird suddenly screeched to a halt, causing Anika to trip over it.

It was scratching vigorously at the floor.
“Whatever you’re doing, make it fast.” Anika said urgently as the thundering footsteps got louder and louder.
Eventually, one of its claws hooked under the floorboard.
It flapped its wings as hard as it could, momentarily taking off and dislodging the floorboard and a few others around it, revealing a small hole.

It flapped down into the hole. It wasn’t very deep, only about a meter and a bit tall.
The lyrebird took one last look at Anika, and then disappeared.
Milliseconds before the troopers rounded the corner, Anika jumped into the hole without hesitation and pulled the floorboards back over.

CHAPTER XIX
Home

Anika clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut as the troopers stampeded over the ceiling, the noise seeming louder than a firework display…
And then quieter than a mouse.
Anika blinked and rubbed her eyes. It was so dark she had to make sure they weren’t still closed.
In front of her, there was a pitch-black tunnel made of dirt that ran on a downward slope.
The lyrebird was standing with its back turned to her, fiddling with something on the ground.
It was a matchbox.

The bird pulled out a match, held the box against the floor with its foot, and flicked its head once, twice, three times before the match lit.
The bird did this without any sort of difficulty. It must have performed this same trick hundreds of times.
With the match in hand, it walked slowly down the tunnel.
Crawling on all fours, Anika followed.

Eventually, the tunnel dropped suddenly down into a hollow. The entire place smelled like waste and despair.

The lyrebird dropped the match onto the floor and flapped back away from it.
The match fizzled out, only to relight seconds later in a pile of charred wood and books, illuminating the room.

The room was spherical, with the fire in the middle, and piles and piles of random objects on the edges.
It was barely tall enough for Anika to stand up in.

“Is this where you live?” Asked Anika, looking around.

Through pecking and some soft squawks, Anika’s attention was drawn to a ragged, dusty book lying on the remnants of a table.

She opened and read the first page. It was written in shaky handwriting, with smudges and tears dotted throughout.

“He has taken over. The library, whose doors were once wide open and welcoming, are now shut and locked and barricaded.
Now, he only allows himself and his horrible assistants access. It is clear to me that he is building something, though what I do not know…”

Anika frowned. Could “he” be Edwin? It lined up…but who was writing the book?

“The only reason he is keeping me alive is for his own amusement. He revels in the misery and suffering of others. My food and my life are the only things I am allowed. The guards do not know about this book.The booms and rumblings of his dreadful secret experiments keep me awake at night, as do the booms and rumblings of my own mind. What will he do? What will his Empire mean for the world? And what will he do to secure it?

Secret experiments? Empire? This had to be Edwin. But who was this poor prisoner?

Anika turned the page. This page’s handwriting was even messier than before.

“Much has transpired. Late one night, his soldiers came to kill me. I struggled and fought, barely escaping. But not without a price. I was shot.
As I lay here in the middle of the forest dying, recording my last words in this book, I can’t help but wonder what the point was of trying to escape. Now, I am still going to die- just more painfully and slowly.
He has absorbed the stones; he has near infinite power. I don’t know what he is building, but whatever it is it will probably give him even more.
That is why I never allowed you access to the vault, Edwin. Your hunger for power is too much for your own good, and one day it will rip the universe apart, taking you down with it.
Why couldn’t you just trust me when I told you so?”

Never allowed Edwin access to the vault… Anika thought.
Do they mean the vault I helped him break into? Then this must mean that the author of this book is…

The penny dropped.

“Did Eryx write this?!” She exclaimed aloud.
“But that doesn’t make sense! I saw Edwin kill him. He must have lived!”

She turned the page once again. The writing on this page was so extraordinarily messy that Anika was badly able to make it out:

“A miracle occurred. As I was dying, a curious bird wandered up to me. Summoning my last ounces of strength, I used an ancient spell to transfer my soul from my dying body into the lyrebird’s healthy one. To do this I had to suppress the lyrebird’s own soul. It was an unjust and cruel thing to do, but I was in delirious and in agony.
I have been scraping out a living around what used to be the library. Common sense demands that I get as far away from it as possible, but my conscience won’t let me leave. I monitor Edwin’s progress on whatever he is trying to achieve.
“However, my mind frays. Living in the body of an animal and haunted by the guilt of my failed student, I fear I am losing my grip on this world.”

From there, the writing dissolved into mad, rambling passages, scribbles, and claw and peck marks.

Anika looked back, absolutely gobsmacked, at the lyrebird.

It was sitting near the fire, tail feathers drooping, and looking at her with those sad, black eyes.

“YOU’RE ERYX?!” She screamed, startling the bird a bit.

It tried to recall how to speak English, but all that came out were a few random squawks.

But slowly, ever so slowly, these squawks morphed into words.

“Yes.” It finally managed to say.

“You can talk! How long have you been here?” Asked Anika.

The lyrebird walked over to a broken, rusted bike and dragged it away to reveal a wall.
It had hundreds of little scratches on it.

Groups of five.

They were tallies.

They completely covered the wall.

The lyrebird must have been here for decades.

Suddenly, Anika realised something.
Eryx was there to see Anika help Edwin steal those stones that made him so powerful.

What if he thought Anika was Edwin’s accomplice or something.

“Uh…how much can you remember of your old life at the library?” Anika asked nervously.
“Do you know of any way you can destroy Edwin?”

The lyrebird, or rather, Eryx, thought for a moment.
He ruffled his feathers and said slowly, as if thinking hard about each and every letter, “Only way…to stop darkness…is…separate…chaos stones…from him…”

Chaos stones. That must be what they’re called. Thought Anika.

“But I’m sure I saw Edwin absorb them into his hand. How are we going to get them off him?”

“Use…powerful spell…I know…it…” Spluttered Lyre-Eryx.
“It will…separate Edwin’s…physical body from…the power.”

Eryx’s memories and vocabulary seemed to be growing back by the second. Every word he spoke, the easier the next one was.

“The spell…will separate the chaos stones from Edwin’s body…He would be…rendered powerless…until he could absorb…them…again. I think I have the spell…written down in my journal…”

The lyre-Eryx flapped over to the open book, flipped through it with some difficulty until he came to the right page.

It showed an illustration of a pentacle drawn on the ground in chalk, with candles and strange glowing symbols dotted around the edges.
The pentacle itself was also emitting light too, except in much bigger quantity. It looked like an enormous floodlight or laser beam exploding out of the ground.
Caught in the beam was a silhouette of a person who had to be Edwin. Anika studied the symbols and the page long and hard so they would be engraved in her mind.

But…at this moment he is too powerful. Before my descent…into madness, I watched and felt him grow stronger and stronger. There not a hope of defeating him now.”

Anika had a brainwave.

“What if we travelled back in time, and faced Edwin before he got the chaos stones?” 

The lyre-Eryx cocked its head. “What year was that again?”

Anika did a quick mental arithmetic in her head. Which wasn’t really that quick at all, because maths wasn’t her strong suit.
“I think…102 years ago. No, 103. 101? Ugh…”

The lyrebird shook its head.

“Whatever the case, you can’t go back in time now. There is no known magic ritual that can send you back more than 100 years. Even if you could, this incantation only allows you to go 100 years back, and then 100 years forward. No more, no less. Even if when you went back in time to before Edwin acquired the chaos stones, time in the present has passed since then, so the concept of “100 years ago” is no longer the same as it was before.”

“Huh. That conveniently explains why I didn’t get to choose or control how far back in time I went. And after I helped Edwin steal the chaos stones from the vault, I couldn’t control how far I went into the futu-“

She clapped a hand over her traitorous mouth as she realised what se had just said. She couldn’t believe it. She was going to keep it a secret until she could face the consequences.

And now she had just blurted out the truth to the last person she would tell it to.

The Lyre-Eryx looked confused for a moment…and then realised.

“You…I remember. You were by Edwin’s side when we fought. Edwin couldn’t have breached the vault himself. Someone must have helped him! YOU must have helped him! This is all your fault! I rotted for years in this filthy hole, and billions of people around the world suffered, and all because you trusted the wrong person!”

Anika felt the world compress into two sharp blades which then slammed into the sides of her head.

Whatever the lyrebird was saying it didn’t get through to her.

With her ears burning, she grabbed the journal and scrambled out of the hole.
Fine, she thought. If the lyrebird thinks it’s impossible, I’ll do it myself. I don’t need anyone. 

I don’t need anyone.

I don’t…need…anyone…

CHAPTER XX
Alone

Anika bashed the floorboards open with her head. From the outside it would have looked like a hairy mop exploding out of the floor like a volcanic eruption.

Running along, she stared at the spell in Eryx’s journal, and the incantation in Edwin’s.
Despite everything, she still felt a resolve to go back and fix what she had done, however weak it was. The spell called for moonstones, candles and moonstone dust.

The candles were easy to find, as they were floating around in every little nook and cranny.
Slightly concerned that touching a levitating object would electrocute her or something, she tried throwing items at it to test it.
She was a terrible shot and the target was quite small, so it took quite a while.
Once she had collected all the candles, she moved on to moonstones.
Surely, amongst all the oddities stacked up on the shelves, like dinosaur skulls, racks of potions and globes just to name a few, Anika could find a handful of moonstones?

Well, no.

There probably were a few moonstones scattered on the shelves, but Anika didn’t have the foggiest idea of what a moonstone looked like.
After about 15 minutes, she finally found a convenient little box that was marked in with handwriting, “moonstones”.
After grinding the moonstones in a mortar and pestle (which she also found in conveniently close proximity to the box of moonstones), she went back to consult the journal…

All that was left to do was to travel back in time set up the ritual and defeat Edwin by herself.

Suddenly, she froze. She could hear it in the distance.

Footsteps.

And not the thundering stampede of a squad of imperial troopers.

Just one set of footsteps, getting closer and closer.

This scared Anika more than any amount of troopers could.
Clutching the seemingly random objects that she needed for the ritual, she hurriedly yelled out the incantation.

The world went green, then white, then black, and she once again found herself in the place she wanted to leave forever.

CHAPTER XXI
Ritual

Anika woke up on the floor again.

The library was quiet, and almost everything was exactly the same as it had been before.
In the distance, she could hear loud rumblings and shoutings.
She recognised both of the voices. One was Edwin’s.

The other was her’s.

This must be when I realised that Edwin was evil. I have less time than I thought I would have! Anika thought.

Hurriedly, she set up the ritual as fast and as well as she could under the circumstances.

Eventually, she heard Edwin smash through the bookshelf and steal the scrolls back from her past self.
It was strange hearing it from a different perspective, so much so it made her feel a little ill.

Suddenly, everything went quiet.
Edwin had sent Anika’s past self back to the future by now.

All Anika had to do, according to Eryx’s journal, was to lure Edwin into the centre of the pentagram that was now etched in chalk on the floor, surrounded by moonstones and candles.

But how was she going to do that?
Meanwhile, deep in the maze of shelves and oddities, Edwin smiled. Then that turned into a chuckle. Soon, he was laughing loudly and manically, his mirth echoing throughout the tunnels.

He had done it. The Chaos Stones were his, and therefore, so was the world.

It has all fallen into place, He thought as he strolled along the aisles.
My army will number in the millions. By the end of this decade, my influence will have spread across the globe. I shall be the Emperor of a vast empire spanning the entire world!

While he delivered his mental monologue, he strolled closer and closer to the corner Anika had hidden behind.

She clutched the wand she had found on the shelves tightly and gulped. She hoped her plan would work.

She leapt out in front of Edwin and squeezed her hands around the wand.
Ironically, she was actually using Edwin’s teachings against him.
She let the energy flow down her arms and through her fingers where it was then processed and refined by the wand, then released.
A brilliant ball of golden light blossomed on the end of the wand, and then, like water dripping out of a tap, it popped forward a little and then fell straight down, exploding into the floor and knocking Anika back into a bookshelf.

Edwin slowly walked through the smoke, dusting of his shoulder mockingly.

“Hello again, child. Indeed, I didn’t think you had learned you lesson from last time.”

Anika gritted her teeth and sprang into a furious run. Now she had Edwin’s attention, all she had to do was lead him back to the pentagram ritual, where the chaos stones would be separated from his body and then maybe Anika would have a chance.
Her arms pumped like pistons, and her feet pounded against the…nothing.

“No…no!” Anika shrieked, as she realised she was being levitated up in the air.

Edwin slowly walked over, tutting and shaking his head.

“You had your chance, Anika. I sent you back to your native time period, but you came back here, and tried to defeat me. Me! And by yourself, too! What a foolish, idealistic crusade.” He chuckled to himself for a moment.
“Ah, such comedy. Now, where were we?” Edwin’s eyes flashed dangerously as he flicked his fingers and pinned Anika against the bookshelf.

Edwin lifted a finger at her. At the end of it, red sparks began growing into a glowing orb of red light. 
Anika prepared for the end…

CHAPTER XXII
Return

Suddenly, a bolt of bright blue light slammed into Edwin like a freight train, knocking him aside and saving Anika’s life.

What in the world? Thought Anika as she was released and dropped to the floor.

Standing in the doorway, pointing his quivering staff at Edwin, was an old man.
He wore light brown robes, several rings on his fingers, and his long yet well-kept white beard almost reached the floor.
He was bent over a long wooden staff that had bands of colourful jewels around its ends.

It was Eryx.

“Eryx?! How?” Cried Anika.

“SQUAWK!” Squawked Eryx.

There was an awkward pause as Eryx squawked and coughed a few more times. 
Then he spoke:

“I used the same spell I used before to transfer my soul from the lyrebird back into my original body!
“It took me a while to realise that it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, Anika. What matters most is what you’re doing now.” Said Eryx.

“But how did you travel back in time? I took the incantation with me!” Spluttered Anika.

“Had it not occurred to you that the Head Librarian had taken the time to memorise the powerful spells, hmmm?”

Edwin picked himself back up. His eyes flashed when he saw the newly alive Eryx.

“You! You’ve gotten in the way for the last time, old man!” He growled, his hands glowing with magic.

“Bring it, young-un!” Retorted Eryx, spinning his staff.

And thus began a glorious final confrontation.

From his open palm, Edwin let loose a roaring stream of fire.
In a fluid motion that resembled the martial art of Tai Chi, Eryx spun on his heel and redirected the pillar of flames back towards their creator, who dodged, sending the fire swirling over a bookshelf, setting it alight.

Anika managed to hold her own, too. Her improvised magic attacks were surprisingly effective.

Edwin may have been incredibly powerful thanks to the chaos stones, but he seemed to have trouble wielding such power properly. This was probably because he hadn’t had much time to get used to such a powerful flow of magic.
As such, he was often unbalanced and overcompensated.
This came to a head when he was blasted off-balance by one of his own attacks. Eryx noticed this, and immediately shot over and made a few swift strikes to Edwin’s legs with his staff, knocking him down.

Eryx tightened his fists around the staff.

“This all…stops…NOW!!” He yelled, yellow sparks flickering at the end of the staff, ready to finally stop Edwin for good…

CHAPTER XXIII
Infinite Power

Suddenly, the sparks fizzled out and he lowered the staff, his hands trembling.

“Eryx? What is it?” Asked Anika warily.

Eryx made a few strangled noises but nothing else.
His face seemed strained, and his entire body was now shaking.

“Now, now, old man, no need to get violent.” Said a voice that seemed to have a second layer to it, and was as smooth and refined as an ingot of gold.

Anika could recognise that voice anywhere.

It was the Emperor.

The masked foe walked out from the shadows, his hand clenched upwards in a fist.
He flicked his wrist, and Eryx was released, collapsing onto the ground and gulping in air.

Edwin’s face was a mixture of snide amusement at the now broken Eryx, and fear of this newcomer that was able to break Eryx.

“Who…are you?” He said in fascination, dusting himself off.
The Emperor simply shook his head slowly at his younger self.

He lifted his hand, and then let out a blast of lightning that engulfed his younger self.
Edwin screamed as he mentally called upon the chaos stones to protect him.
But, because he was facing a foe with greater power than his own, the chaos stones couldn’t do anything, and Edwin was incinerated in a blindingly bright flash of light.
The Emperor watched the ashes scatter softly around the room and chuckled. Then he laughed. This soon escalated into a bout of roaring, maniacal mirth that echoed in Anika’s head.
“It worked! I AM powerful enough!”

Meanwhile, Eryx was in a state of confusion and panic.
“No…how…how can you destroy your past self…and yet still exist? What happened to the time-travel paradox?”

The Emperor shook his head.

“My poor, senile teacher. Destroying the chaos stones that my past self possessed released a huge amount of magical energy into space. I was able to twist that energy like a shield around myself.
“With the power of SIX chaos stones, I was able to momentarily transcend time itself!”

“But why…why did you kill your past self? What do you possibly have to gain?” Spluttered Anika.

“My past self was an obstruction. His presence would everything.
“You see, child, the ruins of this library that you initially found—they weren’t in the same place that the library in this time period is, is it?”

Anika hadn’t noticed this. She was so caught up in everything she didn’t realise what was right in front of her.

“That’s because, just before this whole ridiculous escapade began, I was testing something. Experimenting, if you will. In fact, I’m fairly sure you know where this is…”

“The…the construction site!” Anika said.

“Yes! Exactly. You see, wielding such power has an affect on the physical body. The Chaos stones demand constant tributes, often in the form of blood, cells, flesh and the like. Power keeps me alive, but also kills me at the same time, turning me into a Lich, if you will.
“I used science to keep me going. Metal limbs, artificial organs. But, unfortunately, technology has its limits. The stones also eat away at my brain, and that you cannot replace.
“So, I conducted research, the library being my lab. I discovered a number of obscure, vague little papers detailing an all-powerful deity that rules over the universe and resides in a mysterious place outside time and space.
“The papers said that this deity would be willing to strike a bargain with me, but the only way I could get to them was to build a portal to their time and space outside of time and space.
“I was intrigued, let me tell you. I thought that I was now the most powerful being in this world, but perhaps I was wrong! Shocking, I know! I pursued the portal to its completion! But then, the worst happened. Such an enormous amount of energy and power in one place, as was necessary for the portal’s completion, created a massive reaction that shattered the library and the portal across time and space. What you stumbled across earlier was a fragment of the shattered library.”

Anika’s eyes flicked around in random directions as she processed all this.

“And that giant storm from earlier that turned the sky red was all that energy piling up to cause a…’reaction’?”

The Emperor sighed. “A-plus, child. You could be world’s smartest ignoramus.”

“What’s an ignoramus?”

“Exactly. Unfortunately, with bits of the portal scattered all over the world, my plan was ruined. It would be faster to simply wind back the clock a hundred years and start again there.
“But then, I remembered something. The person who helped me rise to such power was a time traveller, the very worst. And I knew that she lived in this time period, AND that she would lead me straight to my old journal, which I had lost when the library was shattered across the world.
“Say, Eryx, when you left that filthy hole of yours you had dug under the library to follow Anika, did you think to look behind you?” Laughed the Emperor, waving a tape recorder around.
“I recorded that little chant you made, and recreated it myself!
“And now that I’m here, I am going to kill you two and then start over and build the portal from scratch. This time, I know what I’m doing. I’ll get there quicker and better. I will find this deity, and I will vanquish it.” He growled, with dark, steely resolve.

The Emperor raised a closed fist. It began to glow red, and electricity flickered like snake’s tongues all around it.

Anika put her head in her hands. She had lost. The entire world had lost. The Emperor was going to kill them, and then continue to ravage the Earth for power.
Even with the old Eryx back, they had still lost…
Or have we? Thought Anika as she spied something on the floor just beside Edwin.

Completely mad with power, The Emperor laughed maniacally as he prepared to incinerate his foes, but suddenly, Anika barrelled into his side with her elbow as hard as she could.
Anika’s body slam wasn’t much, but the Emperor was taken by surprise, and he was sent tumbling backwards onto the ground, the laser beam blasting up into the ceiling.

“Ouch!” He yelped as he pulled something out from underneath him.

It was a moonstone.

Panic mounting, he looked around himself.

Candles, moonstones, and dust were all arranged around a pentagram, which he was now sitting inside.
The ritual.

The pentagram lit up scarlet with the chiming of a thousand bells, and with a terrible noise like a grating scream, an enormous shaft of scarlet light erupted from the pentagram, silhouetting the Emperor’s shape, which was now levitating in the air.

“You…you found the ritual.” Spluttered Eryx in amazement.
Anika beamed with pride.

The Emperor screamed in fury, denying reality, his body convulsing until three brightly coloured stones shot out of his chest, scattered on the floor with a few clinks, and the shaft of light, as well as all the bits and bobs that made up the ritual, disappeared.

The Emperor fell to the floor, gasping for air.

He looked up at Anika.

Half of his mask was burned off, revealing his hideous, skull-like face.
It was extraordinarily ugly, with dark red runic markings around the eyes and forehead, with empty sockets that housed those terrible glowing eyes.
His teeth were jagged, sharp and yellow, and his dry, mouldy green-grey skin seemed to be hanging off his bones.

Both at the same time, they lunged for the chaos stones.

The Emperor would have gotten there first if it wasn’t for Eryx.
He crash tackled the Emperor and tried to restrain him.

Anika snatched the stones from the ground. They were warm to the touch, and gave off a strange tingly sensation.

“Go, Anika! Outside, there’s a pool of molten lava! Throw the stones in there, destroy them, save the world!” Bellowed the old wizard.
“A pool of lava? Near a public library? Are you kidding?!”

“It’s good aesthetic! Goes with the whole vibe of ‘mysterious magical library’!”

Anika shook her head and ran, throwing her exhausted legs backwards and forwards.

With an inhuman snarl, the Emperor thrashed himself free of Eryx, and began tearing down the hallway after Anika and the chaos stones.

CHAPTER XXIV
Finale

Anika screeched to a halt just before she toppled over the edge of the cliff.

She was standing on the very edge of an enormous drop of about forty metres, maybe more.

The floor was made of marble, with matching marble columns behind the cliff, which overlooked a beautiful, lush green forest, only slightly broken by a river of lava running through it.
The lava seemed to be pouring from a number of vents on the cliff face, where it fell and collected in a molten pool.

It was very hot.

Anika went to throw the chaos stones as hard as she could, but the Emperor got to her first.

He roared deafeningly and grabbed Anika by the wrist before she could throw the stones and slammed her into the ground.

Using his horrible jagged fingernails, the Emperor began prying Anika’s hand open.

The pain was terrible, but Anika gritted her teeth and kicked the Emperor in the stomach, sending him tumbling backwards over the cliff face with a furious bellow.
As he fell, he grabbed at Anika’s leg, slamming her to the ground and then dragging her off the cliff with him.

“NOOO!” Yelled Eryx as they both tumbled down into the lava.

By now Anika had let go of the stones, and they were falling right next to them both.

They both swiped and clawed at the stones, desperately trying to grab them and save themselves.

The journal floated out of the Emperor’s cloak, and Anika had an idea.
If she could just time it right…
The wind whipping at her face, she opened the book to the page of the time-travel incantation, the blasted piece of writing that had started it all.
Hastily, she began reading it out…

“SCARBOROSS EXIDUS, DIARNO DOMINUS, TEMPUS ITINERANTUR…” She yelled as the lava got closer and closer and the Emperor reached for the chaos stones one last time…
“ANGORION ARGON, VENEFORIS VERNICUS…”
Her eyes glowing green and her feet mere metres from the lava, she completed the spell…
“XANDLEX INCURIS, XANDLEX INCURIS XANDLEX TEMPUS!!!”
Just before she blinked back into the future, she tensed every muscle in her body, resisted the spell for a few precious seconds and gave the Emperor a mighty kick, sending him flying down even faster into the lava.

Just before she disappeared, Anika watched as the Emperor and the chaos stones fell into the lava and were incinerated in seconds. The Emperor let out a horrible, earsplitting, inhuman screech, like two enormous sheets of metal being grinder into each other, and then was silenced.

Anika closed her eyes and let herself be plucked out of this time period, and back into her own.

CHAPTER XXV
The World Between Worlds

Anika’s eyes snapped open and she looked around. She expected to see the ruined library - or maybe a forest - but what she saw was completely different from her expectations.
All around her were stars and nebulas - almost as if she had fallen into the night sky.
The air was fresh and pleasant, but seemed devoid of all notable scents, temperature or humidity.
The ground seemed to be invisible. When Anika bent down to feel it, it felt completely smooth and solid.

“Where on earth am I?” She muttered.

“You aren’t.” Said a strange voice.

Anika leapt up and looked around wildly. “Who’s there?!” She yelped.

The voice chuckled. However, unlike the Emperor’s, this chuckle was warm.

An odd clicking sound, like claws against a smooth floor, echoed throughout the place.

“Over here.” Said the voice.

Anika spun around, expecting maybe the Emperor, or Edwin to leap out and attack her, but instead…
The lyrebird.

“Eryx? What are you doing here? And why are you a lyrebird again?”

The lyrebird chuckled and shook its head.

“Oh no, Anika, I’m not Eryx.”

“If you’re not Eryx, then how do you know my name? Who ARE YOU?!” Anika shouted, getting ready to run.

“I am no one; I am everyone. I am nothing, I am everything. Welcome to my home, by the way; the world between worlds. The time and space outside of time and space.” Said the lyrebird poetically and elegantly.

Anika stared at it blankly.
“What?” She spluttered.
Then she thought for a moment.
“Wait a minute. I know this place. This is the world between worlds that the Emperor told me about! Then you must be—“ Anika gasped loudly.

“Oh my god!” She squeaked.

The lyrebird, or rather, the Deity, smiled and nodded.

“Wait, why are you a lyrebird?”

“Because the sight of my true form would liquify your liver in an instant. Besides, it was better to come to you as a familiar and non-threatening face.
“Anyway, yes, I am the deity that the Emperor was trying to reach with his portal. Do not be afraid, however; I would never have helped such a monster. The Emperor had to go. He proved that humans cannot handle such power.”

Anika was intrigued.
“What power? Do you mean-“

“The chaos stones, yes, although that was not the name I gave them. Long ago, when I was young and foolish, I created them and sent them down to earth as an experiment to see if humans were ready to wield such power for the good of themselves and the world.”

The Deity chuckled sadly.

“The experiment failed miserably, and I caused the death of so many innocents. Some humans may be responsible enough to handle the power, but the risk that one man with no morals and a whole lot of ambition will come and run everything is far too great.”

Anika sighed.
“Look, I…I’m to blame for all that. I helped Edwin steal those stones form the library vault.”

The Deity snorted.

“It wasn’t remotely your fault. Edwin manipulated you into helping him. You are innocent in all this, Anika. Even if you weren’t, in my eyes you’ve redeemed yourself by doing the right thing in the end and doing a great service to the world by defeating the Emperor.”

Anika smiled shyly.
“Wait, why did you bring me here?”

“I didn’t just bring you here for a congratulations. I need you to take over.”
“What…what do you mean?” Anika asked nervously.

“Every 30 million years or so, the current deity must find a replacement to take their place as an overseer of the universe. This is because after a few million years of being surrounded by nothing but this—“ The Deity gestured around at the vast, cosmic nothingness —“You start to go a little loopy, and its REALLY bad for an all-powerful god to go loopy, let me tell you. All the biggest mass extinctions or disasters have happened because a previous Deity went a bit loopy and slipped up. And it’s getting about around that time for me. The Chaos stones were my slip up. Which is why…I’m asking you to take my place. Then I can retire and reincarnate as, l dunno, a puppy or a manatee or a butterfly or something.”

Anika was completely stunned.

“But…but I’m just a kid! I don’t know how to run the universe!”

“Oh, I’ll stick around for a hundred years or so to teach you the ropes, don’t worry.”

Anika hesitated. “STILL! What about my family? It’s a huge responsibility on my shoulders! I can’t do it!” She spluttered.

There was silence.

“Wait a second…” Said Anika, an idea forming in her mind.
“What if you could come and get me when I’m an old lady and have lived a full life? I’ll also be a whole lot better at the job by then, and I’ll actually get to live and experience the world before I start running it.”

The Deity chuckled. That chuckle turned to a laugh.
Soon, it was cracking up all over the place.

“Oh, wonderful. Wonderful! Even now, you’re so smart you can even correct me! Imagine how amazing you’d be at this once you’re 97!”

“Wait, am I going to die when I’m 97?!”

The Deity gulped. “I probably shouldn’t have said that. Forget I said that. Anyway, I’m going to send you back to Earth now, so you can live your life in the era of peace you created! See you in 97 years…oh! Dang it! Forget I said that too!”

The Deity disappeared with a cartoonish pop, and the cosmos began swirling around Anika like a whirlpool. Suddenly, the invisible ground gave way and Anika plummeted down, down, down…

CHAPTER XXVI
Epilogue

Anika awoke in her bed with a start.
It was a beautiful day outside. The birds were singing, and flowers were blooming.
That’s weird, thought Anika. There aren’t any birds or flowers around where I live. It’s all just bricks and moss and the noise of the construction site.
Anika hauled herself out of bed and looked around the room.
Her room was filled with toys, pillows and other stuff.
Wait, she realised, remembering everything. This must be the future where I beat the Emperor! I’m free! The world is free!

She could see out the window a lush garden, in which her family, including her grandparents, were performing magic to help the plants grow.

In the background, a marvellous building that looked like a castle dominated the landscape, situated on top of a mountain.
It was the library.

Anika rushed out to join her family, happy that she had finally found peace.

The End.
🪄🪄🪄

(∩🌔 ͜ʖ🌔)⊃—☆ﾟ.*