Max shifted into Vialon’s plane. It was obvious that the elf was obsessed with building the perfect plane. The guards both feared and respected him, so everything was strictly organized, and the plane kept expanding at incredible speed.

  Max stood before the archway he had recently used to connect Marvin’s plane with Vialon’s. The complete absence of sound struck him at once. The silence felt heavy and oppressive.

  For some time now, Max had been watching the elf at work. Vialon’s plane responded easily to his thoughts. With a single intention, a detailed layout of the entire structure appeared in his mind. It gave him a headache almost immediately, but he could endure it for a while. Without moving, he could see everything happening across the plane. Vialon drafted new designs and created new spaces, steadily expanding the territory. He did not build it exactly as Max imagined an ideal structure should look, but Max was still learning. He observed, noted the flaws, and memorized everything. The time to intervene had not yet come.

  The plane’s capacity was already enough for millions of souls. Max considered looking for the elf, but Vialon seemed completely absorbed in his work. Instead, Max remembered someone who could definitely give him answers.

  He sighed and shifted to the old librarian’s plane. It was чужий plane, and Max felt as if he were stepping onto someone else’s territory. Still, perhaps no one would notice.

  Loub the librarian lived by a strict schedule. Every day, he allowed himself exactly seven minutes and thirty-two seconds for tea and a brief conversation with his neighbor, another keeper of knowledge named Rudolf. The rest of the time – which in practice felt like eternity – he maintained perfect order in his library. It had been his life before death and remained so after. Even during soul riots, which happened several times in this plane, he never abandoned his duty. Loub was an old soul and strong enough to withstand many threats.

  When he heard a familiar cough, his eye twitched. He was already about to call the guards, but then he noticed the book in the strange young man’s hands. He had never seen such a book before. The cover read: Computer Science, Grade 8.

  It was a book Max remembered word for word, from the first page to the last, and had recreated perfectly in the Otherworld.

  For a moment, Max almost grew nervous. The dwarf was staring at the book with such hungry intensity that it seemed he might lunge forward and snatch it.

  “What do you want for it?” Loub asked quietly, almost trembling, as if afraid to scare off the book’s owner.

  “I have a problem. I need to heal my sister.”

  “If you bring old Loub a book, you don’t need to ask twice!” the dwarf said quickly. “Loub will tell you everything. In my library, there are three thousand two hundred twenty-three books on life magic. What exactly is your sister suffering from?” His eyes never left the book in Max’s hands.

  “Can you tell me what this is?” Max asked, opening his palm. A core shard of flesh magic lay there, glowing with faint blue light.

  The dwarf studied the shimmering pearl carefully. He pulled a monocle from his pocket and placed it over one eye. For a brief moment, an orange ring flickered in the air around him before vanishing. Max realized the dwarf had used some kind of examination magic.

  Loub’s face turned pale.

  “This is a core shard of flesh magic,” he said quietly. “It is the magic of the Overlord.”

  “I know it’s the Overlord’s magic. But I don’t know who your Overlord actually is. Can this magic help my sister? All her magical energy was drained, and she lost consciousness. I think both her body and her magic channels are damaged.”

  The dwarf fell into thought.

  “This magic can help,” he said slowly. “It can restore the body and the energy channels. It can make her stronger, grant immortality, even restore her youth. But it can also cause mutation, turn her into a monster loyal only to you, and give you control over her. Are you sure that is what you want? In old Loub’s library, there are several ancient tomes about this magic. Forbidden magic. Perhaps it would be wiser to search for another method of healing.”

  “I don’t know where to find one. There are no doctors at the base who can heal magical channels. I just want to help my sister,” Max said.

  For a while, the dwarf studied him carefully. Everyone knew that only followers of the Overlord possessed flesh rings. It was because of those rings that the rulers beneath him had once been considered invincible. Would this boy be able to bear the burden of immortality? On the other hand, Loub was not used to deciding for others. He was only a librarian. And the world was already sliding toward the abyss anyway.

  “Then accept this core shard. While you are still in soul form, it will be easier. Flesh magic will become your essence – your primary magic. But think carefully one more time,” the dwarf finally said.

  “Will it become my main ring? My primary source of magic? And can I make it secondary instead?” Max hesitated. He had heard only bad things about flesh magic and did not want everyone to see what he possessed. He would have many dealings with the people of this world, and it would be better if no one wanted to kill him at first sight.

  “You can have several rings,” Loub nodded. “But the first, the primary one, will always be stronger than the rest. It forms around the magic core and feeds from the main source. Additional rings are placed along energy channels – in the arms, around the head. They will always be weaker. If this is your first ring, it will inevitably form near the core.”

  Max did not like the idea of flesh magic becoming his main power.

  “Then how do you create multiple rings?” he asked, wondering whether he could quickly find another, preferably safer, ring. Although… couldn’t his control over the Otherworld be considered magic? He simply did not have a ring for that power yet.

  “There are many nuances,” the dwarf explained. “Elements must reinforce each other. Fire and lightning work well together: lightning will be weaker, but fire will grow much stronger. Fire and water, however, will destroy each other, and your body will burn from within. Light and darkness do not combine. Wind and earth do not either. Often, a physical ring is taken as a second one – it conflicts with the main ring but increases endurance and strengthens the core’s energy. A weapon ring enhances power through artifacts.”

  “And what conflicts with a flesh ring?” Max asked.

  “With any other healing magic. And with Light,” the dwarf replied. “If you try to let incompatible elements into your body… you may not survive.”

  He did not finish his sentence. The pearl in Max’s hand suddenly dissolved into his left palm, and a faint blue ring flared around it. Whenever a ring formed or advanced to a new level, it remained visible for several minutes.

  “So you already have a main ring?” the dwarf stared at him. “And it is above the blue level, otherwise you would not have been able to master a new one. The last time we met, you had nothing at all. Not even a magic core. I even asked the guards whether you were a wandering soul.” Loub narrowed his eyes and studied the boy through his green-glass monocle. “Strange… There is still no ring around your core. How did you manage to accept it into your hand?”

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  He began circling Max, examining him from every angle.

  “This is impossible. It cannot be. You have no second core. By all the laws of the universe, there can be only one primary ring – the essence of your magic. The rest are only additions. How did you do it?”

  “I just did,” Max shrugged. He knew he possessed another power connected to traveling through the Otherworld, but now it was clear that it was not tied to his core.

  “For knowledge like this, I would take you as my assistant,” Loub said thoughtfully. Then his gaze returned to the blue ring. “Remember this. That ring is your curse. You cannot show it among humans. They do not see magic in it – they see evil. Flesh mages create monsters that spread pain across the world. This is not merely a physical or elemental ring. It will not simply strengthen your spells. It will change your body. With the right patterns, your flesh will become immune to disease, expel curses, and heal wounds. It can heal your sister.”

  It sounded tempting. Who would not dream of immortality? But Loub continued,

  “Most of the monsters in our world were created with this magic. Those who are found with such a ring are burned immediately. There is also an old saying: a God can be killed only by his own magic. No other element can even touch him. That is why his servants hunt down all ring-bearers who have not sworn an oath upon their soul. Everyone will hunt you – friends and enemies alike.”

  He fell silent and sighed heavily. Max felt overwhelmed. He had no desire to make enemies of everyone.

  “Very well, I was distracted,” the dwarf continued. “You said you need a healing technique? Wait here.” He quickly disappeared between the endless rows of books.

  Max sat down on the only chair and began looking around the library while waiting for its owner to return. Only now did he notice there was no ceiling. Instead, a calm, even gray mist stretched above him, like a sky before rain. Strangely, it did not descend lower. The room was dry, even slightly stuffy.

  Scrolls with maps lay on the table before him. Mountains, forests, cities… nothing unusual at first glance. Well, except that some cities floated in the air and dragons circled above mountain ridges. For a magical world, that hardly seemed surprising. In any case, Max had no idea where any of those places were located.

  Max’s gaze drifted to a set of quills on the desk, but a soft rustle behind him made him turn sharply. He caught only a glimpse of a bright orange tail disappearing behind a bookshelf.

  A squirrel? In a library?

  “There it is!” the dwarf’s sharp shout rang out, making Max flinch.

  Loub stepped out from between the shelves, holding an old tome in his hands. He hesitated for a moment, then extended the book toward Max.

  “You will study the technique and return it immediately.”

  The book was bound in pale leather. Max sincerely hoped it was not human.

  “Elven leather,” the dwarf clarified calmly.

  Max nearly dropped the tome. He swallowed and tried to convince himself that this object existed only because the librarian had imagined it.

  “And what exactly am I supposed to look for in here?” Max asked, flipping through pages filled with strange diagrams and notes he could not understand at all. Sorting through even a fraction of it and actually comprehending it would take far too long, and he did not have that kind of time.

  The dwarf sighed, closed his eyes for a moment, then abruptly took the book back.

  “It is a living book. Watch.” He flipped through several pages and showed Max a complex, tangled diagram. “Pour your energy into this point, and you will begin your training inside the book. I do not have time to babysit you, so I will simply place you inside.”

  “Place me… inside the book?” Max felt a chill run through him.

  “It will teach you everything you need on its own. You will come out once you have mastered the weaving you require. Perhaps in a month.”

  “I do not have a month,” Max protested. The last thing he needed was to get trapped inside some book. For all he knew, it could be a trap, and this was just the dwarf’s way of getting rid of him.

  “Then try not to linger,” Loub replied with a shrug.

  “You do not understand,” Max said, taking a breath. “I have almost no time. I have to save my sister. Today. Is there any other way to learn a healing technique quickly?”

  Loub let out a heavy sigh. It was unlikely that this boy could quickly find a flesh monster to kill and, with a bit of luck, obtain such a technique or weaving from it. That was the way of hunters, and Max did not look like one – even in his current form.

  There was one more option.

  The dwarf turned toward his desk, where an hourglass stood. It was not an ordinary clock but an ancient artifact that had been in the library for ages. Loub had saved it for something special. Artifacts of time were not merely rare; they were unique.

  He sighed again and looked at Max. He did not know what pushed him toward this decision. Perhaps it was the feeling that this young man needed help. Or perhaps it was the thought that Max might one day bring him new knowledge, while the artifact would otherwise continue to gather dust on a shelf. After all, knowledge and books mattered more to Loub than anything. There was a reason he was the Keeper of Knowledge.

  For a while, the dwarf stood in silence, convincing himself of the choice he had already made and searching for excuses to justify it. Max saw that Loub was deep in thought and did not interrupt.

  At last, the dwarf nodded to himself and said with a trace of regret, “Very well. Give me your hand.”

  “You have thought of something?” Max asked, extending his right hand.

  Loub grabbed it, then grunted and switched to his left. For a brief moment, an orange ring flared around the dwarf’s hand, followed by the blue ring around Max’s palm.

  “You could say that. I hope I will not regret this. I will send you into the book and activate the time artifact at the same time.”

  A burning sensation spread through Max’s palm, though it was still bearable. So there would be no simple imprinting of the technique into his mind. That was fine – Max actually liked studying. Still, what kind of artifact was this? From what he understood, it would alter the flow of time.

  “How much time will I have to learn what I need?” Max asked.

  “This is an artifact of Helos, one of the Time Overlords, back when they were still alive,” the dwarf replied. “His artifacts were always single-use, but incredibly effective. Their application, however, is limited. It can accelerate or slow the flow of time within a single book for… well, likely as long as necessary. I do not know. I have never used such an artifact before; I only know the stories. For you, time will reverse its direction. If you leave the book, say, after a year, only a few minutes will have passed here for me.”

  “A year?” Max stared at him. He had no intention of spending that long inside a book. He did not yet realize that he would end up spending even more time there.

  “As soon as you learn and inscribe the technique, the book will release you,” Loub said dryly.

  “Wait! Release me? What if I don’t want to spend an entire year inside a book?”

  “You said yourself that you must learn a healing weaving,” Loub replied calmly. “That could take months – years – even with a mentor. Inside the book, time will not exist for you. And within it, you could say there is a… special mentor. Remember, I have only one such artifact. I have never heard of anyone else possessing one like it. You have a single attempt, so learn as much as you can. Once you leave the book, the time artifact will disappear, and no one knows where in the universe it will reappear.”

  The dwarf’s smile settled into something calm and resolute. The decision had been made.

  The world around Max stretched like soaked parchment. The floor dissolved beneath his feet, and the walls elongated both upward and downward. He felt himself compress, flattening into a thin line – and that line slid smoothly into the open book.

  The experienced librarian noticed that several new, temporary pages had appeared among the existing ones. Loub placed the book carefully on the table and set the ancient hourglass on top of it. The sand inside froze in place.

  “If he does not finish his story, these pages will vanish along with him,” the dwarf muttered.

  He bent down and picked up Computer Science, Grade 8 from the floor. Carefully, he ran his fingers over the cover, lifted the book closer to his face, and inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of chalk and fresh paper. The language was unknown to him, which only fueled his curiosity. And the letters – each one perfectly even, as if drawn with absolute precision.