The Ghost's Library

Report Tape 5: Anonymous

Reporter: "What did the city look like?"
Anonymous: "The city had bright lights and tall buildings. There's the casual staples like pubs, housing, variety of shops, a library, and so on."
Reporter: "What makes the city different from ours?"
Anonymous: "The buildings were different, but the land was the same."
Reporter: "What buildings changed?"
Anonymous: "Most notably, the library was different than it seemed."

Report Tape 5: End

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The city was massive. There were lights so bright that it made it feel like it was eternally daytime when land outside was completely dark. Loud music was playing from shops nearby, and people could be seen bouncing from shop to shop, partying their lives away.

"Wait, there's people here?" Mark asked, surprised.
"Those are the ghosts. They're people who died on earth and arrived down here at Serenity. You'll only ever see them inside the city because they can't leave."

Mark looked around, he could see Mantles dressed as humans, moving through the crowds. Skeletons also seemed like they were big fans of party games, there were some trying to play limbo in front of a pub, but they would collapse into a pile of bones onto the floor if they bent over too far.

"Coming through! Coming through!"

Mark looked forward again, as two Ghouls came charging around a corner, and into an alleyway. 

"What are they doing?" Mark glanced over at Lea and asked.
"The Ghouls are practically the police of this city, they're probably chasing someone." She replied.

Five seconds later, an explosion ruptured from the alleyway and a Ghoul flew thirty feet through the air, and crashed through an apartment window. He knew it was an apartment, because a few seconds later, the ghoul was thrown out of the window and crashed directly onto the street cement a little ways in front of them.

"What the hell?" Mark blurted out, and ran towards the Ghoul.

People only stared at the Ghoul for a moment, before returning to partying --somehow this was a common occurrence for them.

"Are you alright?" Mark asked, bending over and reaching out his hand.
"Wait, Mark!" Lea yelled, as she rushed over and grabbed his hand before the Ghoul could.

Lea morphed her body and summoned a pair of gloves made of darkness. Mark knew why and put the gloves on immediately. She also pulled down his face mask out of caution. His mantle he got from Chief Robertson covered his entire body, including his face, but his hands weren't covered by anything. If he was found out to be human so easily, that could spell trouble, so might as well not take the chance.

The Ghoul reopened their eyes and grabbed Mark's hand. 

"Thanks for the help partner, what's your name?" They asked.
"Mark, and you?"
"Chandler."

Chandler regained his balance and Mark could finally get a good look at his appearance. He was about the same height as him, and he was a humanoid, but his body wasn't that of a human. His body was withered, as if he had been exposed to radiation, or maybe he was just old and gradually decaying.

"How did you not die from that?" Mark asked.
"It's difficult to die when you've already died once." He replied.

"I knew it," Mark though to himself, but he seemed to be thinking of a different scenario.

"Are you free after this?" Lea asked.
"Who, me? Yeah, it's almost 1 pm, so I'm pretty much off duty, but I can still help you guys if needed." 
"How do you know what time it is?" Mark asked.
"You must be knew here I take it." Chandler chuckled.

Chandler turned and pointed at a massive tower in the distance.

"That tower over there has a 23 foot clock in the middle of it. They're both hard to miss." 

Mark, who somehow missed the presence of a massive tower in the middle of the city, nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Great, so do you know where we can find someone who knows everything about the city?" Lea asked.
"I do actually, she runs a library near the barriers." Chandler replied.

Mark tilted his head in confusion.

"There's barriers in the city?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, but Cheryl can explain them to you better than I can, so just follow me."

With that, Chandler started walking towards the tower. They passed the alleyway Chandler exploded out of, but there was no one there anymore.

"What happened with the explosion over there?" Mark asked.
"Oh, that? We got reports of a Mantle morphing their hands into comically large hammers and slamming them on Skeletons. When we caught up, they summoned a bomb and threw it at me --you know the rest."

Mark shook his head in disbelief that something like that had occurred, but he did see part of it with his own eyes. 

"Shouldn't you be trying to catch them instead of helping us?" Mark questioned.
"Probably not, my partner should have caught them."

Mark wondered why he wasn't worried that his partner may have been blown up too, but decided to stop asking questions. 

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"Ladies and Gentleman, here's the fabulous library," Chandler announces, like he's on a tv show.

He throws his hand out and bows, maybe expecting them to applaud? The just stand there --uncomfortably. Chandler acknowledges this, stands up, wipes his clothes, and walks towards the door. They follow him inside.

"Cheryl, where are you my sweet Cheryl?" Chandler announces into a silent library.

Ghosts are sitting and reading in beanbag chairs and at desks across the first floor, but they stopped reading --maybe it was the Ghoul who shouted in a silent library, perhaps?

Mark and Lea glanced at each other, wondering why Chandler's personality changed so drastically in the short time they had been together. They didn't speak, but agreed subconsciously that this was probably a Ghoul thing.

They heard stomping coming from the second floor, when they looked up, a Ghost was standing at the top of the stairs that overlooked the first floor. 

"What did I tell you about yelling in my library!" The Ghost shouted, as if she didn't understand the words she was saying herself.

The eyes on the ghost turned a dark red, and a red aura emitted around her. Her hair changed from blonde to red in a matter of seconds, and a bright flame started to shine around her body. The books from the bookshelves started to glow, and looked as if the souls of the books were being gathered around the Ghost at the top of the stairs.

Mark and Lea both glanced at each other again. This time, Mark pointed to the door, and they both subconsciously agreed that they should not be standing here any longer, and bolted out the door.

They stood outside the building, trying to listen in on what was going down inside. All they heard were mumbles from Chandler, before a loud shout.

"Firestorm!"

Mark and Lea looked at each other confused, but before they could speak, the building started to rumble. A bright light emitted from the doors to the library, followed by a yelp from inside. A moment later, the doors flung open with full force, followed by a cyclone of fire that shot out directly in front of them, before zooming into space. They both looked up, and could see a faint resemblance of a Ghoul --flying straight to the moon.

A woman stepped out of the library. Her hair was back to being blond, and her eyes faded back to a light shade of pink. The fierce aura of fire that surrounded her just a moment ago had vanished, leaving this seemingly kind-hearted woman behind.

"Do you guys need help with something?" The Ghost asked.
"Do you happen to be Cheryl?" Mark responded.
"Yes, I am. This is my library after all!"
"Wonderful, do you mind if we speak in private? I've got a few questions, and Chandler told me you have a few answers."
"I have more answers than you would expect! Come, follow me."

Mark and Lea followed Cheryl into the library. Nothing in the library had been damaged from the cyclone of fire and the books were back to normal. Even the Ghosts were back to reading as if nothing had just taken place. 

They walked towards the stairs and climbed to the second floor. They started walking down a hallway and passed a few doors that had their windows covered by curtains. Coincidentally, all of them were missing handles too. They walked to the end of the the walkway before Cheryl stopped. Mark looked around confused.

"There's nothing here?" He thought to himself, wondering why they would be taken to an empty hallway.

Cheryl turned around and looked at them. Her eyes were firm, as if she was hyper focused.

"I can tell this is important, so Lea, can I ask you to stay outside?" 
"Hmm, I guess." Lea confirmed, sounding defeated.

Lea turned around to look back down the hallway, but she found herself back at the edge of the stairs.

"Wait, I thought we walked do--" Lea started to ask, but when she turned back to Cheryl and Mark, they were gone. 

But it wasn't just that they had vanished, the entire hallway they had just walked down was gone.