Learning About the Tome
Spending the bulk of her day online, Katrina tried researching anything she could about the tome, and the magic it held. She was surprised by how sparse information was with regard to the kind of magic she'd experienced first-hand; nothing about blank pages being written on by ethereal energy, or only certain people activating it, or a ceiling world within special structure, or accessible to certain people. The brunette was flabbergasted to the point of frustrated in finding nothing of substance to even hint at the descriptions she typed with exact and varying detail.
Vague wonderings of the information she was looking for being classified or sanitized from webpages seemed plausible at first, until memory reminded her that the book didn't walk out of a secret government lab or someone's safe; it fell into her lap. Or actually, it was tossed there by Danica Arwood, which confused her even less; something about Danica screamed power-hungry to the librarian, enough that she could never see tossing an enchanted book of power towards someone she thought less of. It made her smile pridefully how whatever made Katrina so special was the one thing an Arwood couldn't buy.
"How are you so unknown," she turned her attention back over to the tome sitting nearby, as if expecting a satisfying reply where the internet had none. It crossed her mind to look up possible magic or occult shops to visit for an in-person valuation on what the tome possibly was, but then Katrina realized it probably would only show its power at the library, as it's proven to her so far. Racking her brain for a place to start, she remembered the strange language she'd uttered while engaged in the magic, and figured it couldn't hurt to consult a linguist about this. Unfortunately, the best person on campus she knew that could possibly decipher it was Samir, an arrogant, devilishly-handsome TA who had more language experience than even the professor he worked under, growing up travelling the world and immersing himself in languages and their histories across five continents. He also happened to be Lillian's, her roommate's, boyfriend. Thankfully, most of the time Lillian and Samir were together at their apartment, Katrina was elsewhere; Katrina remembered the lewd glances Samir gave the mousy librarian when Lillian wasn't looking, telling her he'd fuck anything with a heartbeat, downplaying her own looks.
Looking again at the book, and down at her own body, the usual self-consciousness that she'd feel looking at herself was practically gone. Katrina admitted to herself that she looked good, but certainly wasn't interested in coaxing information out of him through offering sex. Remembering his office hours (coordinating it with times it was okay to be at home in the past), she'd sent him at text for a time to meet at the library when she knew he'd be free. It didn't make her feel completely good when she quickly got a reply back, telling her he'd be there. The lack of preamble or questions told her how eager he was, and how she was regretting this already.
***
It was around five in the afternoon when Samir had arrived. Katrina had spent most of the afternoon at the library, arriving early, finishing her duties quickly, and looking to see if the magic from the night prior could be easily replicated in the same unoccupied section of the stacks. It was to no avail, no matter what tricks she tried to recreate everything perfectly. She'd lost track of time so much that she was startled to find Samir in-front of her.
"Sorry for scaring you," he laughed a little.
"N-no, it's okay," Katrina huffed. "Just...got caught up in...something?"
"You mean the book you mentioned?" he pointed at the book she was holding, really gripping. He ushered to take it from her to examine the "strange language" she spoke of, half-expecting it to be some lesser-known modern language. As Katrina hesitantly handed it to him, his intrigue rose a little, before opening the book to have it plummet. Samir opened the book to show her blank pages.
"Invisibility is a strange language indeed," he commented, smiling, handing the book back to her, while slowly advancing in her direction.
"Samir, stop, just stop," she told him, pressing the book back against him to keep him at bay. "The language...has to do with magic," Katrina admitted, giving him the fuller explanation that would have seemed crazier to put to text.
Samir just blinked at the full account Katrina gave, his blank expression giving way to snickers. "I..I have to admit, no one's used this much creativity to try and hook up with me. The lesbian part especially was a nice touch, I admit."
"What are you talking about? This isn't.....okay, okay, I realize what I said was farfetched, like insane. But the magic is real, and I didn't do all this just for a hook-up with you. I'm trying to understand this...whatever this...is," her speech and frustration paused as she glanced up, and finally saw the upside down world begin to materialize after hours.
Samir looked up at the library's ceiling, not see what made it so fascinating to Katrina, wondering if his next supposed notch on his belt was having some psychotic break. "And you think a language is attached to this magic, like hieroglyphics or something?"
An answer he was not prepared for revealed itself as she opened the tome to another blank page without looking that tracing fingers found significance in, and began levitating off the ground while the book and the rest of her began glowing yellowish-gold again.
"No Samir, this is much more than that," Katrina spoke with all the confidence Samir felt robbed of by the supernatural sight. "It's the kind of language you....IMMERSE..."
Katrina felt the magic, the strange language appear on the page she looked down at, that traveled across the page, and moved across her arms, extending itself in the gap between his until it touched his tanned skin, licking across it like fire before branding him with the same language. He could only gasp as he felt a language so foreign to him that it defied understanding, until the script crept up his biceps, shoulders, and neck to paint itself across his head. The way it crossed his forehead made all the tense muscles across his face slacken and his eyes roll up in his head before they glowed the same color.
"TRANSLATE" left Katrina's mouth, spoken with breathless anticipation, and she could see some of the branded lettering across his body shine in waves, and his body react to it as if a puppet on a string. Looking down, the librarian noted how he was about to float off the ground too, as if wanting to be strung along. The way his head tilted towards the sight of the ceiling world, she wondered if he could see it now, and wanted to ascend like Amber had. Before Katrina could consider it, the brighter wave of glowing energy traveled back from Samir to shine across her own body, reaching her forehead for absorbed thoughts to give a thorough explanation her command. Katrina's own commanding, mellifous voice sounded back to her what the "immerse" command fully translated as.
"Imbue forces beyond your control deeply into yourself and completely into the understanding of the tome. Make it a part of you future. Make it a part of your existence. Existence is now elevated to a illumination and illustrious thinking. Rinse yourself dry of the unimportant and unenchanted. Sense all the meaning that has come into your mind. Existence is now translating for your curator, whom curates your mind."
Hearing her own voice croon from inside her head was all too surreal, feeling the impossible effect she had on others, feeling his understanding and how he allowed it to control him. The language in-between each infused letter was incredibly potent, wiping out prior thoughts in favor of a new narrative that knew nothing before, and was comfortable knowing nothing else. As Katrina held a firmer understanding, the smile on her face spoke volumes about the opportunity presented before her yet again. The librarian was happy to have unlocked at least some of the mysteries behind the empowerment, but wondering about the aberrant need for Samir to translate instead of the tome explaining things for her directly.
Satisfied with the turn of events, Katrina used her hands to urge the handsome, pliable translator closer. "Just FYI Samir, your come-on bullshit was a major turn-off for me. But having you like this, now I'm very, very interested. And your interest in me has grown significantly; in-fact, nothing interests you more than being a powerless boy in the presence of the powerful woman. But let me put it another way to really get my point across...INTEREST"
