The next morning—

  “Wakey~ wakey~, Livings! Let’s start the day~!”

  Nara’s voice rang bright and merciless through the room as they hovered above Thena, shaking her shoulder with far too much enthusiasm.

  “Mmmgh…” Thena groaned, rubbing her eyes as she slowly surfaced from sleep.

  Her blurry vision cleared just enough to see Nara grinning at her, while Frow fluttered quietly around the room, tidying scattered books and setting out a simple breakfast. The sight made Thena pause.

  …They’re still here.

  Not a dream.

  Nara noticed her stirring and immediately zipped straight toward her face.

  “Hei! Hei! Morning, Thena! Did you sleep well?”

  Thena stared at them for a few seconds—long enough to make Nara tilt their head in confusion—before suddenly grabbing them.

  “H—HEY—?!”

  Thena pulled Nara closer, examining them carefully. She touched their hair, squeezed their cheeks, even turned their face side to side like she was inspecting a strange artifact.

  “…Yeah,” she muttered. “Guess it’s not a dream after all.”

  Nara froze, completely dumbfounded, before slipping out of her grasp and darting away.

  “Ha… ha… ha… okay then!” they laughed awkwardly, waving their hands nervously. “LET’S GET READY FOR THE DAY~!”

  Thena blinked. “…Get ready for what?”

  Frow floated closer, her movements calm as ever.

  “For your training,” she said softly.

  “Training?” Thena repeated, a nervous edge creeping into her voice. “What training?”

  Frow glanced at Nara. Nara grinned back—far too mischievously—before turning to Thena.

  “Hehe~ no need to worry! It’s just a training every generation has to take.”

  They struck a dramatic pose.

  “A passed-down ability… Barriers!~”

  “…Barrier? Passed-down ability?” Thena frowned, more confused than ever.

  Frow continued gently, “Every family in this world possesses a specialty passed down through their bloodline. The Logophile family specializes in barrier magic—specifically, the strongest barriers in existence.”

  She paused, then added quietly, “No other mage can rival the purity of Logophile barriers.”

  “And that’s what your training is,” Nara chimed in.

  “Mage? Magic?” Thena’s eyes widened. “You’re telling me I have to learn magic?!”

  “Yeah—and honestly,” Nara said, suddenly more serious, “we don’t have much time.”

  Frow nodded. “The forest needs a new barrier. The one protecting it now is mine, and it isn’t strong enough. My barriers only last five years.”

  “And I can’t even make barriers at all,” Nara added with a shrug. “I’m a combat-type spirit. Frow’s a mage-type, so she can use barrier magic—but like she said, nothing compares to Logophile magic.”

  They pointed at Thena dramatically.

  “And we only have three years left before renewal! So you need to learn it fast!”

  Despite the urgency, Nara’s tone was still half-joking—like they were trying not to scare her.

  Thena let out a shaky laugh and took a deep breath.

  At this point, what choice did she have? Refusing wouldn’t change anything. This forest, these spirits—this was the only clue she had to why she was here at all.

  “…Fine,” she said, stretching her arms. “Let’s do it.”

  Nara spun happily in the air. “Yeah!! But FIRST—!”

  They flew ahead, leading everyone downstairs.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The moment Thena reached the bottom, she froze.

  Books were piled everywhere. Scrolls littered the floor. Tables were buried. Shelves leaned dangerously. The entire library looked like a battlefield that had lost badly.

  “We need to clean this place,” Nara announced proudly, hands on their hips.

  Thena slowly turned to them, her eye twitching.

  “…HOW IN HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CLEAN THIS PLACE?!”

  Her frustrated scream echoed throughout the library.

  The echo of Thena’s scream hadn’t even faded when—

  “OKAY! SPLIT UP!” Nara shouted. “You clean, you clean, everyone cleans!”

  “I didn’t agree to this!” Thena protested as a floating stack of books suddenly dumped itself into her arms.

  Frow blinked. “You… kind of did.”

  Chaos erupted immediately.

  Nara zipped around at impossible speeds, accidentally knocking over shelves while trying to “organize” them.

  “WAIT—WHY ARE THERE MORE BOOKS FALLING?!” Thena yelled as another avalanche of scrolls buried her waist-deep.

  “I’M HELPING!” Nara replied proudly, despite having just caused three separate messes.

  Frow tried to calmly use magic to stack books—only for the spell to misfire and gently yeet them across the room.

  “…That wasn’t supposed to happen,” she murmured.

  After what felt like hours of suffering, dust, and near-death-by-encyclopedia, Thena escaped into a quieter side room of the house.

  She leaned against the door, panting.

  “…I’m going to die before I even learn magic.”

  The room was smaller—an old study, untouched by the chaos outside. A single wooden table stood at the center, and on top of it sat a small, dark box.

  Thena frowned.

  “…What’s this?”

  She approached and picked it up. It was heavier than it looked, carved with faint, unfamiliar symbols. She tried to open it.

  Click.

  Locked.

  “Of course,” she sighed.

  She shook it. Nothing. Tried prying it open with her fingers. Still nothing.

  “…Fine,” she muttered. “Let’s do this the hard way.”

  She forced the lid—

  SNAP.

  “Ow—!”

  The wood splintered sharply, slicing her palm. Thena hissed as blood welled up and dripped down her fingers… straight onto the box.

  For a split second—nothing.

  Then—

  GLOW.

  The symbols ignited with blinding light.

  “WAIT—WHAT—?!”

  BOOM!

  The box exploded.

  Thena was thrown backward, landing hard on the floor as pages and light spiraled violently through the room. The door burst open.

  “THENA?!” Nara screamed.

  “ARE YOU HURT?!” Frow followed.

  The light slowly faded.

  At the center of the room, resting peacefully among floating dust and torn wood, was a single book.

  Its cover was old, worn—yet untouched by damage. Etched in gold were words that made Frow freeze.

  “…No way…”

  Thena slowly sat up, staring at it.

  “What… is that?”

  Frow approached with trembling hands.

  “…That’s not just any book.”

  She knelt and gently picked it up.

  “This is a record left by Fingolfin Logophile.”

  Nara’s playful expression vanished completely.

  “…The first Logophile.”

  Frow nodded. “It contains the history of the Logophile family—and the true nature of their ability. This book is passed down from one generation to the next… but only opens to a true heir.”

  Thena looked down at her bleeding hand. Then at the book.

  “…So I basically just blew up a box with my blood.”

  Nara stared at her.

  “…You activated an ancient blood-locked relic.”

  “…On accident.”

  Silence.

  Then—

  Nara burst out laughing. “HAHAHA—OF COURSE YOU DID!”

  Frow smiled softly. “…It seems the forest chose correctly.”

  The book pulsed faintly in Thena’s hands, warm—almost familiar.

  And for the first time since waking in this strange world…

  Thena felt something settle in her chest.

  This isn’t just where I ended up.

  This is where I belong.

  Thena gently opened the book.

  For a moment—nothing.

  Blank pages. Empty. Silent.

  “…It’s empty,” Thena said.

  “It’s empty,” Nara echoed.

  “…Empty,” Frow added at the same time.

  They all froze.

  “…Wow,” Nara muttered. “That was disturbingly synchronized.”

  Thena frowned at the pages. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  Nara hovered closer, squinting. “Hmm…”

  Then they snapped their fingers. “Try smudging your blood on it!”

  “…Of course you’d say that.”

  Still, Thena pressed her injured palm lightly against the page.

  The blood smeared—

  And the paper shifted.

  Words burned themselves into existence, glowing softly:

  『State your name.』

  “…It’s asking for my name,” Thena whispered.

  She swallowed, then spoke clearly.

  “My name is… Thena Logophile.”

  The book pulsed once.

  The blank pages flooded with ink, lines forming rapidly as if written by an unseen hand. Symbols, diagrams, and text spread across the pages, alive and precise.

  Nara gasped. “WOAH—!”

  Frow leaned in, eyes wide. “…It’s responding to you.”

  Thena slowly turned the pages as all three of them scanned the contents.

  “…There’s everything here,” Thena murmured.

  “The Logophile history… this library… the forest… barrier magic…”

  Maps unfolded. Records of past guardians. The origins of the Living Spirits. Notes written in elegant, deliberate script—firm, yet gentle.

  Nara floated in front of her face, grinning.

  “This is amazing! You can finally learn the truth.”

  They scratched the back of their head sheepishly.

  “Honestly… me and Frow barely know anything about the Logophile family. The first spirit who was meant to guard this place died long ago. We were only sent here as replacements.”

  Frow nodded. “We were given only the basics… and told that someone would arrive one day.”

  She looked at Thena softly.

  “You.”

  Thena kept reading.

  As the pages turned, the tone of the writing changed.

  The warmth faded.

  Warnings appeared—etched deeper, darker.

  Her fingers stopped.

  “…This part…” Thena whispered.

  The book spoke of fractures in the forest, of outsiders seeking forbidden knowledge, of those who would destroy the library to erase the Logophile line forever.

  And beneath it—

  A future not yet written.

  A danger approaching.

  Slow. Inevitable.

  Nara’s voice was quiet now. “…So it’s true.”

  Frow lowered her gaze. “The forest sensed it… that’s why you were brought here.”

  Thena closed the book slowly.

  The weight of it felt different now—not heavy, but right.

  She exhaled, steadying herself.

  “…Then I don’t have time to hesitate.”

  She looked up at them—eyes clear, resolved.

  “I’ll train. I’ll study. I’ll learn everything this book can teach me.”

  She held the book close to her chest.

  “I don’t know why I was chosen… but I won’t let this place fall.”

  Nara smiled—wide and proud.

  “Hehe… guess our heir finally showed up.”

  Frow smiled softly.

  “Welcome home, Thena Logophile.”

  The library stood silent around them.

  And somewhere beyond the forest—

  Something began to move.