Knowledge Is Power: The Last Reader

Aria’s hands were still glowing as she sat back, her chest heaving with exhilaration. The warmth of the light pulsed through her veins like a second heartbeat, and she could feel the new skills settling into her bones like old friends.

Heat Resistance (Level 5).

Fireball (Level 3).

She’d learned both in under an hour. An hour. Skills that should have taken weeks, maybe months, had just... clicked. Like the knowledge had always been there, waiting for her to simply reach out and take it.

Kelme was staring at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes wide, and there was something almost like fear flickering behind his gaze.

"That’s it," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I need to figure out what’s happening."

Aria blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean—" He gestured at her, his hands waving vaguely. "You just learned two skills in under an hour. Skills that should have taken months. Skills that should have required weeks of practice, of trial and error, of—" He stopped, shaking his head. "This isn’t normal, Aria. This isn’t even close to normal."

"Maybe I’m just talented."

"Talented doesn’t cover this. Talented is learning a skill in a week. Talented is picking things up faster than average. This—" He pointed at her glowing hands. "This is something else entirely."

He rose to his feet, pacing back and forth across the cave floor. The luminous moss squelched beneath his boots, and the blue light cast strange shadows across his face.

"I need to figure out what’s going on," he said, more to himself than to her. "I need to understand how you’re doing this. Because if I can’t understand it, I can’t teach you properly. And if I can’t teach you properly, you’ll never reach your full potential."

Aria watched him pace, a sense of unease settling in her stomach. "Do you think something’s wrong with me?"

"No. I think something’s very right with you. I just don’t know what it is yet."

---

Kelme spent the next hour examining her. He used his remaining skills—the ones that hadn’t been stripped away when he’d regained his humanity—to probe her energy, to study her mana flow, to analyze the strange, pulsing light that seemed to emanate from her very core.

"This is fascinating," he muttered, his hand hovering over her chest. "I can feel something inside you. Something powerful. Something that’s not quite... you."

"Not quite me?"

"There’s a presence. A separate consciousness, almost. It’s like—" He paused, his brow furrowing. "It’s like the orbs have a mind of their own."

Aria stiffened. "The orbs?"

"The three relics you took from your wedding. The ones that gave you your abilities." He met her eyes, his expression serious. "I think they’re doing more than just giving you power. I think they’re actively helping you use it."

---

They sat in silence for a long moment, the weight of his words settling over them.

"Are you saying," Aria said slowly, "that the orbs are... teaching me? That they’re the ones doing all the work?"

"Not all the work," Kelme clarified. "But they’re definitely accelerating the process. They’re taking the raw knowledge and feeding it to you in a way that’s almost instinctual. That’s why you’re learning so fast."

"So I’m a cheater."

"Not a cheater. A... shortcut. A very, very effective shortcut." He smiled, a wry, almost amused expression. "We need those. Trust me. In the world we’re about to face, we need every advantage we can get."

Aria was quiet for a moment, turning his words over in her mind. "Is there a downside?"

"Of course there is. There’s always a downside." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "The orbs are really good at magic compatible with your domain—light, healing, purification. But they’re terrible at anything outside that domain. They can’t help you with things that don’t align with their nature."

"So I’m a specialist."

"A very powerful specialist. But still a specialist."

Aria nodded slowly, accepting this. It wasn’t ideal, but it was something. A foundation. A starting point.

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

Kelme was quiet for a long moment. Then, slowly, a grin spread across his face.

"Well," he said, "I think we should go rob a library."

---

Aria stared at him. "A library?"

"I’m all out of spells compatible with your domain. I used to have more, but—" He shrugged, his expression sheepish. "I never really had the motivation to learn them. My domain is different from yours. Charm, influence, manipulation—that was my specialty. Light and healing were never really my thing."

"You lived for over a thousand years and you didn’t bother to learn any light spells?"

"Hey! I learned plenty of spells. Just not ones that would be useful to you."

"So you’re a sloth."

"I’m not a sloth. I’m a—" He paused, searching for the right word. "I’m a specialist. Like you. Just in a different area."

Aria shook her head, a note of genuine exasperation in her voice. "You lived for over a thousand years. You had all that time to learn new things, to expand your knowledge, to—" She gestured vaguely at him. "To do literally anything other than whatever it was you were doing."

"I was doing plenty! I was—"

"Taking things. Using your charm. Being a menace to society."

"I was a vampire! It was what I was supposed to do!"

"Supposed to do? You were supposed to learn! To grow! To become something more than just a predator with a good line of talk!"

Kelme opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. He looked at her, at the disappointment in her eyes, and felt something shift inside him.

"Fine," he said, his voice small. "I’m a sloth. I wasted my immortality. I could have been so much more, but I was too busy being a monster to bother."

"Good. I’m glad we agree."

"But at least I’m a charming sloth."

Aria snorted. "That’s not the compliment you think it is."

---

They set out for the library an hour later, after Kelme had recovered from his wounded pride. The capital’s Grand Library was a massive structure, its walls lined with thousands of books, its shelves stretching up into the shadows.

Aria stood at the entrance, her eyes wide. "This is incredible."

"It’s also heavily guarded," Kelme said, his voice low. "The librarians here take their jobs very seriously. They have magical wards, traps, and a few very angry archmages who don’t appreciate people stealing their books."

"So how do we get in?"

"Carefully." He smiled, and there was something almost mischievous in it. "I might not have my vampire abilities anymore, but I still have my charm. And you—" He looked at her, his eyes gleaming. "You have your light. Together, we can do this."

---

The heist was surprisingly easy.

That should have been Aria’s first warning.

Kelme’s charm worked wonders on the guards—too well, really. One minute they were standing at their posts, stern-faced and alert. The next, they were staring blankly into the middle distance, muttering about how they’d always wanted to visit the countryside and maybe now was the perfect time to take that vacation they’d been putting off for years.

"Did you just make them want to go on holiday?" Aria whispered, watching a guard wander off toward the stables with a dreamy expression.

"It’s a very specific application of my charm," Kelme said, looking almost proud of himself. "I call it ’The Great Escape.’ Makes people suddenly realize they have better things to do than stand around guarding things."

"That’s not a skill, that’s just—" She paused, watching another guard start packing his belongings. "That’s just irresponsible."

"It’s effective. There’s a difference."

Inside the library, Aria’s light let her see in the dark, navigate the traps, and find the hidden passages that led to the restricted sections. She’d expected ancient wards, deadly spells, maybe a few angry ghosts. What she found instead was a series of increasingly ridiculous obstacles.

"Seriously?" she muttered, staring at a bookshelf that had just turned into a giant, angry goose. "A goose? The archmages guard their most precious secrets with a goose?"

"That’s not a real goose," Kelme said, squinting at it. "It’s a construct. A very aggressive construct."

The goose hissed at them. It was surprisingly menacing for something made of wood and magic.

"Can you charm it?" Aria asked.

"It’s a goose. A magical goose. I don’t think my charm works on—"

The goose lunged. Kelme yelped and dove behind a table, and Aria found herself in the surreal position of fighting a bookshelf-goose with nothing but her newly acquired light magic.

"I hate this library," she announced, blasting the goose with a beam of light. "I hate everything about this library."

"You’re the one who wanted to come here!"

"You’re the one who didn’t learn any light spells!"

"THERE’S A GOOSE!"

The goose exploded into splinters, and Aria stood over the remains, breathing heavily. "That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever fought. And I’ve fought zombies."

"Zombies aren’t that bad," Kelme said, peeking out from behind the table. "Zombies are slow. Predictable. Zombies don’t hiss at you like an offended aunt."

"Did you just compare that goose to an offended aunt?"

"I’ve met some very offended aunts. Trust me, the comparison is apt."

---

By the time they reached the restricted section, Aria was ready to burn the entire building down.

"This is the most stressful library experience I’ve ever had," she said, grabbing books off the shelves with reckless abandon. "I’ve been chased by guards, attacked by a goose, nearly fell into a pit of—what was that even? A pit of something."

"Jelly," Kelme said, examining a book with a critical eye. "It was a pit of jelly. I think the archmages have a sense of humor."

"It’s not funny. It’s not funny at all."

"Lighten up. We got the books, didn’t we?"

By the time they left, they had a small stack of books—spells, techniques, and theories that would help Aria expand her repertoire. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

"That was fun," Aria said, grinning as they slipped out into the night. "We should do this more often."

"Let’s not push our luck," Kelme said, but he was smiling too. "One heist is enough for now."

"One heist is never enough. That’s how heists work. You do one, and then you want to do another, and then before you know it, you’re a professional library thief."

"I don’t think ’professional library thief’ is a real profession."

"It is if you’re good at it. And we’re very good at it."

---

They made their way back to the cave, the books tucked safely under Aria’s arm. The night air was cool and crisp, and the stars were just beginning to peek through the clouds.

"This is nice," Aria said, looking up at the sky. "I haven’t had a chance to just... walk, in a long time. Every time I’m outside, it’s either running from something or fighting something."

"That’s the life of an adventurer," Kelme said. "Always running, always fighting, always trying to stay one step ahead of the next disaster."

"Is that what we are? Adventurers?"

"We’re certainly not librarians."

They walked in comfortable silence for a while, the only sounds the crunch of their footsteps on the gravel and the distant hoot of an owl. Then, slowly, Aria spoke.

"Do you think we can actually do this? Kill the vampire queen, save the kingdom, all of it?"

Kelme was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was thoughtful, measured.

"I think it’s possible. I think we have a chance. But I also think it’s going to be hard. Harder than anything we’ve ever done. There will be setbacks. Failures. Moments when we want to give up. We have to be ready for that."

Aria nodded slowly. "I know. I’ve been through hard things before. I’ve been through impossible things before. I’m still here."

"That’s what makes you different," Kelme said, looking at her with something like admiration. "You don’t give up. You keep going, no matter what. That’s rare. That’s special."

"Or it’s just stubbornness."

"Stubbornness is underrated." He smiled, a warm, genuine expression. "Stubbornness is what keeps you alive when everything else tells you to die."

---

They reached the cave, and Aria spread the books out on the mossy floor, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"Okay," she said, cracking open the first one. "Let’s see what we’ve got."

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