"The library," he says.
Päivi awaits, a book floating beside her.
"You look terrible," she observes.
"Didn't sleep well."
"No, I imagine not." She gestures and the book settles on the table. "Dimensional cascade theory, anchor bonds, and the nature of Void Walkers. Everything you need to understand what you've gotten yourself into."
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because ignorance is offensive to me, and your particular ignorance might get us all killed." Päivi's form flickers, threatening to dissolve into a cloud of loose pages before her irritation snaps her back into focus. "Also, you were right about binary being a language. I checked. Irritating."
I pick up the book. It's heavier than it looks, the pages seeming to exist in more than three dimensions.
"Read it here in the library," Päivi commands. "Do not attempt to take it to your quarters. Do not spill anything on it. Do not..."
"I get it. Treat it like a holy relic."
"Holier. Religious texts can be reprinted. This is unique."
She vanishes completely, leaving me alone with knowledge that might save or damn me.
I open the book and begin to read.
The text shifts between languages, but somehow I understand all of it. Void Walkers are beings of living shadow, consciousness given form through will alone. They exist between dimensions, anchored to reality by various means. Some use artifacts. Some use places of power.
Some use people.
An anchor bond is symbiotic. The Void Walker gains stability, substance, the ability to maintain coherent form. The anchor gains... various things. Enhanced perception. Resistance to void exposure. In rare cases, the ability to manipulate shadows themselves.
The bond strengthens through proximity, emotional connection, and, my face heats, physical intimacy. The book is clinical about this last point, but the implications are clear. Sex with a Void Walker fundamentally changes the anchor on a molecular level.
I think about my dream, about shadow tendrils exploring my body, and have to close the book for a moment.
"Interesting reading?"
I don't jump. I'm getting used to his sudden appearances.
"Educational," I say without looking up.
Nezavek materializes fully, more solid than I've seen him since the training room. He's fed recently, on what, I don't want to know.
"You dreamed last night." Not a question.
My face burns, but I keep my voice steady. "Everyone dreams."
"Not everyone dreams of shadow tendrils."
Fuck. He did feel it.
"Stay out of my head."
"I'm not in your head. But the bond shares certain... experiences. Particularly intense ones." He moves closer, and I catch his scent…and something new. Arousal. "You were quite creative."
"It was just a dream."
"Was it?" He's behind me now, not touching but close enough that I feel the cold radiating from his form. He leans over my shoulder to look at the book, and when I turn to respond, our faces are suddenly inches apart.
