!!better!! - Library Of Ruina

The pages began to turn.

Before her, the air rippled. A chime, deep and resonant, like a funeral bell struck underwater. A new guest had arrived.

She gestured to the table between them. On it lay a single, empty book, its cover of pale leather. library of ruina

The Library did not simply exist. It asserted itself into the cracked ribs of the City, a silent rebuke to the screaming Backstreets and the indifferent, glittering penthouses of the Nest. Where there had been a void left by the fallen L Corp, there now stood a monolithic structure of black glass and impossible angles, its spine a ladder of faint, flickering light.

"Reception of the Crying Children," Angela’s voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "Begin." The pages began to turn

The Fixer drew his blade. The steel sang a nervous note. “And if I lose?�

The chime sounded again. The floor dissolved into a chessboard of light and shadow. The Fixer found himself standing not in a hall, but in the burned-out ruin of a theater, seats of crushed velvet stretching into infinity. From the stage, a woman with bandaged hands and a voice like shattering glass began to sing. A new guest had arrived

Angela offered a smile that did not reach her cold, gemstone eyes. “Indeed. The truth is that all knowledge requires a price.�