Layers Between Us

     The knowledge of the layers is forbidden to the students of the Klarion Academy. This knowledge -when found and recorded- must be kept in Klarion's "Holy of Holies," a section of forbidden only accessible to the headmaster of Klarion.

~

    "Arthur! Arthur!" You call out to your friend as soon as a guarding golem rumbles pass you. "I know you are a blue robe, but this is ridiculous." 

    You see the flash of a blue robe in the shadow of a tree in front of you. "Oh, come on. You are such a yellow! Aren't you curious about who has been going in and out of the Holy of Holies, especially if it's not the headmaster?"

    "Sure I am. But I know it's the headmaster's job to figure out, not ours!"

    "So instead of tuning into your unique intellectual nature, you're just going to go back to your bed in the middle of the night and pretend nothing is happening?" You see a pale finger point up to the enchanted doorway, left cracked open by some unknown source. "Come on. I need you to help me catch these two fools anyway. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can-"

    You shush him with a hiss as you spot three figures leave. One wears a purple robe, the second a blue, and the third a yellow robe like mine. You grumble at the trio's combined power. It's a lot of mischief to have passing through the most guarded and monitored section of Klarion. Or, usually the most guarded; tonight's patrol only seems to be one marble golem at a time, and they are spaced out in an odd timing. The purple robe says something to their group. The blue laughs and the yellow hits the purple's shoulder in a disgusted way. You wonder what they could have gotten into. 

    "Hey, let's go." You hear the yellow robe say as this trio settle their nerves. They all start to descend the steps as Arthur shifts to confront them. You try to stop him, but you can barely get your lips to whistle before the blue robe stops the trio. "Hey, someone else is here." You curse inside your mind. 

    "Don't worry; I got an idea." The purple robe says. They step out and wave a symbol into the air. You know the spell; it's a binding charm that slithers like a snake to find a target. You take the bait to avoid Arthur getting caught first. You step out and the charm recognizes your movement, strikes you in a bind, and pulls you to the trio. You can see now that the trio is made up of all boys; how convenient. Arthur, out of habit, steps out to get you out but instead gets dragged with you. You hang your head in disappointment. "Well, well; who do we have here? Arthur Morgan and his little dainty princess." The purple robe reaches for your chin, but you kick the purple's shin. He falls over and grabs his legs as if you broken a bone; you know better. 

    "I am only here to see what you three are doing. You know going into the Holy of Holies will only get you in more trouble than the knowledge is worth." Arthur grumbles.

    "But there is more knowledge in there than you can understand, Mr. Morgan." The blue robe chuckles like a parent to a child. "There was so much we wanted to understand."

    "Wanted to? What stopped you?" You huff. "Your two brain cells fighting for third place?"

    "Shut it, lap dog." The blue robe snaps.

    "But she is right." The yellow robe shrugs. "It was clearly all knowledge, marked in sections like how our library is. But the knowledge was hidden from us by the object that kept them."

    "What's that supposed to mean?" You ask with an eye roll.

    The purple robe finally gets up and grabs the binding charm around you. "I have an idea. Maybe five is better than three." He motions to the blue robe to grab Arthur. "Why don't we just throw one of you into the Holy of Holies? That will help us-"

    "Absolutely not!" You raise your voice.

    The purple robe grabs your mouth. "And since you want us to get caught by the golems, you're going in first." 

    The trio drag you and Arthur up the steps to the sparkling doorway. You squirm to escape, but the binding only tightens against your struggles. This wasn't how your academic time was supposed to be used. 

    "Let's see if your brain cell can figure out what is going on in here." The purple robe says as he tosses you through the shimmer. You scramble for something to pull him with you, but your hands only grasp the dissolving charm. You pass through and land on your back. You see Arthur vainly try to release himself from the other two, but they prove to be stronger than they look. 

    You get up and notice that the Holy of Holies kind of looks like a library. It is not as big as a library, but it feels just as sanctuary-like. You steady yourself and walk timidly down the main path of tile. You look around for any sort of scroll to fix your mind on. Your fellow yellow robe was right; all of the knowledge seems foreign here. You don't see any scrolls; instead, you see pieces of scroll paper flattened and stacked in piles with an odd material protecting the stack on two longer sides and one shorter side. The material protecting the paper is marked with strange subject indicators. It's hard to really comprehend what you are looking at. 

    "Just don't touch those." Your fellow yellow robe calls from the doorway. "That was the one thing we got warned about from someone who came in here before us."

    "Who else came in here?" You ask.

    "There are a few. They all say the same things. One, that the people in here don't know you exist and will walk through you like a morning mist. Two, don't touch those objects. It seems to do something that could potentially harm you."

    "Only potentially?" You repeat. You suddenly feel as if you body was cast away like the smoke of incense. You blink and realize some strange robeless person walked through you and around to another path. Your curiosity overtakes you; you follow the person onto the new path. You follow them for a little while; it feels like time sticks to this place like molasses. You can hear the others bickering in the distance. It is probably Arthur fighting to come get you out while the others taunt him. Your mind is past them and focused on this person. It looks like a girl about your age; why was she here and not in her bed? 

    A thud echoes next to you. You look down and noticed one of the strange objects on the floor next to you. You look and notice a stack of the objects on a table next to you. Did you knock it off the table? You reach down and pick it up to put it back.

    "Oh, sorry, let me-" The person turns and touches the object in your hand. You meet their eyes; they are your eyes. You flinch; this person looks exactly like you. Same eyes, same hair, same body. The only difference is the clothes. "Oh, hi there."

    "H-hi." You stammer. You try your best to remember your social skills before your mouth dries. "Sorry, I knocked this over. I was just going to put it back on this pile." 

    "And I thought I knocked the book over." The person laughs. They let go of this -she called it a book- book and put it back on the pile. "Hey, you look like a cosplayer. Is this your Hogwarts Hufflepuff outfit?" The person circles you in awe and wonder. "Though it doesn't look authentic. The robe is different in the books and the movies compared to the one you have."

    You stutter mentally; three of those words didn't make sense to you. "I - uh, they aren't. They are from another - uh, book."

    "Oh, another one? I don't know-" The person moves their eyes up and down your outfit. "It looks like a fantasy series. Not too many other books have magical-looking attire."

    "Well, I'm wearing clothing from Klarion Academy, and-" You feel your head hurt a little. You close your eyes and see three symbols blaze in your mind. You recognize the symbols from ancient writings, but you don't remember what they mean. 

    "No way! You are a Klarion student cosplayer!" The person hops in glee. "You must have gotten an early copy of that book. It just came out today and you already have a costume for it. That's awesome!" 

    "Klarion- wait, you said book?" You ask.

    "Oh, yeah! You want to see the cover? It looks just the symbols on the edges of your robe with a cool gold ribbon bookmarker to mark your spot." The person grabs your arm and walks briskly over to another path. You force yourself to keep up as they weave through a few smaller paths to another shelf of these strange books. It doesn't take long to see the -she called it a cover- of the book she was talking about; it is brown with all of the magical spell work littering the surface. One gold ribbon is inside, attached to the top of the book. The only readable words on this foreign book cover are etched on the side of the book: Layers Between Us, Book 1. "It's beautiful, isn't it? They said this author was famous for some other books a few years ago, but these ones seem to be the most recent bestsellers. I think the other ones are-"

    You don't hear the person because she hops away from the path to another part of the shelf around the corner, probably looking for another book. You chuckle; this person really does act as excited as you do about knowledge. You look at the book; it seems to summon you and calls you to touch it. You reach for it, but pause to see if the person comes back. They are still looking for that other book; you grab the book that feels like it calls to you.

    You feel someone pull on your arm. "Finally! I can grab you! Let's go!" Arthur freaks out and drags you away from the person and back the way you came. 

    "Arthur, let me go! That person-" You look to see if you can see them; you can. They are holding another book in their hands. They are looking for you, but obviously don't see Arthur dragging you around the corner. You feel a pang of embarrassment for your abrupt departure. 

    "Hey, focus! Let's get out of here. Don't touch anything else!" Arthur tugs at you to keep up with him. You force yourself to speed up and jump through the enchanted shimmer with Arthur. The purple robe closes the door behind you all with a laugh. You feel sore and frantic; you can imagine Arthur does too with all the running he did. The blue robe laughs with his friend, but the yellow robe looks agitated. 

    "This is ridiculous. The dainty dog manages to break the one rule we learned, and we'll all probably get in trouble for it." The yellow robe gripes. 

    "Wait, I just-" You feel the book in your hands and freeze. "What even just happened? I was fine, then that book fell, and then this one called out to me, and-"

    A chorus of gasping and panic sweeps over all of you. It takes a moment before all five of you force yourself to do a breathing exercise together to regain some composure.

    "Okay, first off- that's called a book. Got it." The yellow robe continues. "From what I observed, you were the only solid object in that room from our side of the doorway; everything else looks smoky. Then you touched that -book- and you suddenly became smoky like everything else. That's when Arthur got out of our hold and ran after you. Then you touched one of those -books- and you became solid again and Arthur dragged you out." The yellow robe's eyes widen. "You have the book in your hands!" 

    The purple robe covers his friend's mouth as everyone looks down into your arms. The book is still there; it feels heavy with an energy you can only describe as ominous. You pick it up again and reach for the cover to open it. The blue robe stops you. "Don't. You don't know what that book will do on this side of the doorway. Just- hold onto it. Let's wait to make sure our little expedition has gone unnoticed."

    "Agreed. I don't need the trouble right now." Arthur comments.

    "None of us do." The blue robe agrees. "Hold onto it. Hide it in your private stash that the professors or observers aren't allowed to look into without your permission." You nod and use some symbols to summon a small silver chest. You open it and place the book at the bottom of the chest. It closes and fades away. All of you sigh in relief. "Good. Now let's get out of here. We can meet up and talk another time. Just remember to-" The rumble of guarding golems interrupts your fellow yellow robe.

    You and Arthur split away and dash toward the main entrance into the dormitories for Klarion. The trio darts the opposite way toward the main entrance of Klarion. Smart thinking; if only you could remember to be so smart in the Holy of Holies. You get in and close the door just as the guarding golems begin their path around the adjoined towers. Arthur catches his breath with a smile; you catch your breath with a racing mind. You nod to each other and give your secret handshake as you part ways toward your rooms. You hear him muttering to himself in delight. All you can do is wonder what to do next.