"Huh."
The sound echoed in my mind, but no voice followed. It was as if I spoke without speaking, the words heard only inside my head. I tried again, but the result was the same.
For a moment, everything was pitch black. No sound, no shape, no sense of anything around me. Then, without warning, light returned to my vision.
I looked around. Or, at least, I thought I did. Something felt… wrong. My body didn't respond, yet I could still sense my surroundings in a strange, detached way. It was like floating in place, able to feel but unable to move. Or maybe I was moving, and it just didn't feel like it.
A weight pressed around me, though it wasn't heavy. It felt… empty. Cold.
What happened to me?
Where was I?
My memories blurred at the edges. I could still recall my name, my home, the streets I used to walk, the familiar sounds of the city. But none of it fit with this place. This wasn't a hospital. It wasn't a dream. It didn't feel like death either.
I forced myself to remember. The last day before summer break. My final year of middle school.
I was... given a... no... yes... My friend bet me I couldn't pull off a backflip off of one of the tables and land... I obviously went for it and...
A memory sparked behind my eyes. Laughter. A grin on my face. The world tilted as I jumped, everything flipping.
Then, a sharp crack.
And nothing.
It all went black.
I… died, didn't I?
fuuuck.
I must've landed on my neck. Oh god. How fucking embarrassing. Out of everything, I died like that?
I let out a breathless laugh, though no sound came out.
Was this what came after?
No light at the end of the tunnel. No heaven. No hell. Just this weird, weightless emptiness and-
I stopped.
Something felt… off. I couldn't see in the way I used to. It wasn't like light through my eyes, but more like… through the air itself. Like sensing the space around me without actually looking. It made no fucking sense, but somehow, I could perceive my surroundings.
I was on a table. Outside a building made of old, weathered brick. It felt ancient, the kind of place you'd see in some medieval fantasy.
I
No one was around, but I could sense people inside the building. Their faint presence, the steady rise and fall of their breathing in sleep.
It must've been night.
I turned my awareness inward, trying to understand what I was, and froze.
I wasn't human. Not even an animal.
No...
I was just a... very fancy-looking book?
What.
No.
No, no, no.
There's no way. Was my death so goddamn stupid, so pointless, that fate itself decided to reincarnate me as a fucking book?!
A part of me wanted to scream. To break something. To throw a chair. But all I could do was sit there.
On a table.
Alone.
still
and unable to fucking move.
I let out a dry, soundless laugh inside my head.
Of course. Of course, this would happen to me.
But what now?
---
I let the memory fade… the memory of a past me, from so long ago.
When I first woke up in this form — as a book, I mean.
How long ago was that? I don't know. Counting years stopped mattering a long time ago. Keeping track of my "age" as a literal book was pointless. What was I supposed to do? Mark the passing seasons? Wait for someone to dust me off and tell me the date?
I was a book.
A magic book, sure. A grimmoire, technically. But still a book.
I couldn't move. Couldn't speak unless someone touched me. Couldn't so much as turn a page on my own. Just stuck there. Watching the world crawl by in silence.
I used to scream in my head. Used to beg for someone to find me. Anyone.
And for a while… people did.
Some called me a cursed relic. Some thought I was a gift from the gods. Others just wanted the power I offered. I made contracts, taught magic, shaped fools into monsters, heroes, and everything in between.
But every time... they died, and the process starts anew with a new contract. After so many generations passing, through teaching and teaching, and experiencing everything under the sun. i thought it got stale and that I was finally bored with it.
me now, thinks me from 70 years ago was a fucking idiot.
Considering I have been, stuck, in a book shelf for 70 GODDAMN years, and even then, when some one finnally came, some one FINNALLY touched me. finnally goddamn read me.
But of course, it couldn't be that simple
~~~
After decades of gathering dust on a shelf in some half-forgotten library, someone finally reached for me. Rough, calloused, yet faintly soft hands. The second his fingers brushed my cover, I felt it.
A spark.
A connection.
I slipped my voice into his head, smooth as silk, sharp as a needle.
Young boy.
"H-huh?!"
He jolted, nearly dropping me, his head snapping left and right like someone had shouted in his ear. "W-who's there?! Where are you?!"
I let a faint chuckle curl through his thoughts.
Over here, genius. In your hands.
His wide eyes slowly lowered to stare at me, and I felt his pulse spike.
"A… a talking book…" he muttered, voice trembling.
I am Grim, the legendary grimoire. Not just some mere book.
He swallowed hard, nervously glancing around the empty aisle like someone might catch him having a chat with a book.
Quickly, turn my page.
Hesitantly, he did.
The moment he flipped it over, a storm of visions flooded his mind. Blinding images of battles, spells tearing the skies apart, crowds cheering his name.
And just like that, the book slammed shut.
He staggered back, gasping. "W-what was that?!"
What you just saw is the future you will create, should you join me on this journey. Your magical talent will bloom under my guidance, and your name will be remembered throughout history as a great mage!
Complete bullshit, of course. Kid didn't have a shred of magical or spiritual potential. But with me dragging him by the leg, I could make anyone a great mage. Sweet talk worked better than honesty anyway. Fu~fu~fu~
Internally, I smiled. Finally, something to entertain me besides my past memories or... dust racing through the wind.
"Uh… but…" the boy mumbled, holding me hesitantly before puffing up with sudden confidence. "I don't wanna become a magician!"
I paused.
Stopped.
Rebooted.
…What?
A hint of panic slipped into my voice.
H-hey, think again, kid. I can make you the best mage ever, you know?
"Hmm…" he put a finger to his chin, pretending to think. "Still don't wanna."
Wha-
"Because I…" he thrust his finger into the air, eyes sparkling with excitement. "want to become a knight!"
I nearly short-circuited... but i calmed down, and asked with the utmost of calm.
Hey… what's your name, kid?
"Chana Yunsabelle", he grinned, still holding his heroic pose.
Right. Chana-something! Listen, you're way better suited for magic than swinging around a big piece of sharp metal.
"How do you know that?" he asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
I've been watching you.
"We literally just met."
W-well, metaphorically. Spiritually. I've, uh… watched your soul. Yes. And it's practically screaming 'magic prodigy.'
"Hmm… a Magic Swordsman, though…" he rubbed his chin again.
Yeah! Magic Swordsman! You get the sword AND the magic. Cool, right? better than all the other knights.
His face lit up. "THAT'S REALLY COOL."
Exactly! Now, all you have to do is make a contract with me. Just open me up and read the first page.
He opened the book, and in an instant, a warm golden light burst out, wrapping around him like glowing chains. The contract locked into place.
"I accept!!"
Finally.
Yes! Yes! YES! It's done!
I could practically taste freedom again. The binding magic hummed in the air, tethering him to me until the day he croaked.
Finally, getting out of this damned bookshelf.
But then.
"Ah, Grim," he spoke up, rubbing the back of his head with an awkward laugh. "I've reconsidered."
My excitement screeched to a halt.
"I… I really don't think I can do magic. I actually come from a knight family, y'know? And, uh… if they find out I made a contract with a grimmoire… well… haha, I'd probably get executed. So… I'm really sorry about this. I also can't have you be found too... so... sorry?"
Before I could react, he scooped me up, jogged out of the library, and tossed me straight into an alleyway like a piece of trash, i flew in the air, far before landing perfecting ina stone crack, and being lodged in the ground, stuck.
"You've waited this long," he muttered. "Another fifty years won't kill ya. bye~"
a-a-a... ARE YOU SERIOUS, YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU CAN'T TREAT ME LIKE THIS. STOP, FUCKING STOP I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD. no no no.. DIE JUST FUCKING DIE. may you fail in life, slip and die, you coward.
Not even a full minute later, a slip, a shriek, a crack.
Then Silence.
---
And so, here I was.
Stuck.
In the goddamn floor.
"Hah… what a pity," I muttered to absolutely no one in particular, my voice thick with mock enthusiasm. "And now, the waiting game. Yippee."
At least there was one upside to this cursed existence.
"Now that I've technically had a contractor," I mused, a hint of actual satisfaction creeping into my voice, "the relocation function should kick in again."
It was one of those weird automatic functions baked into me when I was made? created? isekai'd? Whatever. Every time a contractor died, if I wasn't picked up within a week, I'd get teleported to a random populated area to give someone else the joy of dealing with me. I had no idea why it existed. Probably for convenience. Or for its amusement.
Still, much better than getting trapped in a collapsed cave for a thousand years, thank god I had that. Or I truly would've gone insane. So I guess there is one thing i can thank it for.
"But knowing my luck," I sighed, "the chance of ending up in another destroyed town or pandemic isn't zero."
I grumbled internally, the wind kicking up a lazy swirl of dust around me.
"Though, honestly… I'm a little glad I didn't get stuck with that last idiot. His attitude would've killed me before anything else. Still would've been more entertaining than…"
Another gust of wind.
"This."
I settled into my misery, preparing for another long, boring night of dust races, when something shifted.
"huh?"
A ripple. Non-existent for the extremely attuned, and undetectable for the rest. But I, as a built different being, felt it subtle ripple through everything.
It also brought along a familiar feeling. Then I realised it and sighed. "I see, it seems there is another holder of it. What a powerful one though... to ripple time to this extent. must be quite compatible." I mused, reminiscing about the past.
.
.
.
Minutes upon minutes wasted, scrambling to pinpoint where that anomaly was for entertainment value, but. Tracking someone with the ability to affect time is a royal pain in the ass, especially when I can't properly sense them... unless I'm in physical contact, or they use it again.
I sighed.
"Seriously… I wish, for once, things would just go my way for"
"GUARDS, HELP MEEEEEEE!" a boy... young man? guy screamed.
I nearly jumped out of my skin (Paper) at the sudden shrieking nearby.
If I had to guess, it was coming from the alley just ahead of me, one over, then up the street to the right
Then came the voice again, panting, panicked.
"SOMEONEpant pant PLEASE, I NEED A MAN!"
A brief, awkward pause.
"NO, DON'T TOUCH ME, STAAAWP! I CAN'T EVEN HEAR YOU, YOU'RE NOT SINCERE ENOUGH! SOMEONE PLEASE, HEEEELP MEEEE! PLEAAAAaaaa-" Then it cut out as it grew lower in volume.
The shrieking, the weirdly high-pitched… female? Wait, that was a guy before. I swear that was a guy's voice.
Okay. What the hell was happening not even fifty meters away from me?
A/N i hope you like it, and make sure to comment as it is my only motivation.