Ink

Have you eaten anything since you got here? I saw you give something to Miko, but you didn't eat anything.

"Don't worry about me, I'm okay," Rune replied as he looked at the black book. After a while, Duke got up and wagged his tail. Suddenly, words appeared on the empty page of the book.

"Wait! Something is happening," Rune said with happiness. He grabbed the book and read the page, which now had writing on it.

The words said, "Written in ink and pen." Rune was confused about what it meant and why the words appeared.

As he placed the book back down, Duke moved closer and the pages started to turn on their own. Nate walked over and watched the book closely.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Nate asked.

"I have no idea. I just hope it's doing something helpful," Rune replied.

As Duke approached the book, it began to glow and a white circle of light formed around it, creating a spiral. What is happening?

Duke's body slowly started to disintegrate, turning into ink that was being pulled onto the empty page of the book.

Oh no, Duke!!!

Nate quickly grabbed Duke and tried to pull him away, but Duke's leg had already disintegrated. Even when Nate pulled Duke away, the disintegration continued. Duke slowly turned into ink and floated onto the empty page.

What just happened? What did you do?

I'm not sure, Rune said as he looked at the page that was no longer empty. He picked up the book and read the page with the ink that came from Duke's body.

The book read, let the dog that walks the world with four feet, two infected and two uninfected, become chained to the chaos of the shadow library.

What does that mean?

Please tell me you can bring Duke back. He didn't die, right?

No, Rune said, he should be okay. But he didn't know what happened to Duke or if he was alive or dead. He didn't know how to bring Duke back at the moment.

Rune tried saying "Ink and Pen" and the book vanished. After waiting for five seconds, he said it again, summoning the black book back onto the floor. He had hoped that this would return the book to normal and bring Duke back, but nothing happened. The writing was still in the book.

He checked the page and realized it said the same thing, so he turned to face Nate and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what happened, but I don't think he is dead. I'm pretty sure I can bring him back."

"Fine, but please give me back my dog. I'm not the only one who needs it. It's very useful when I try to journey into the city, which I plan on doing after tomorrow to escape this place," Nate replied.

After saying that, Nate left the room and headed into the hallway. "Alright, let's see what we can do," he muttered.

Rune touched the inked page of the book and noticed that the ink stuck to his finger, leaving nothing on the page. "Interesting, why did the ink come off the page?" he wondered aloud. He then started moving his hand across the page, causing the ink to stick to his hand and leaving the page empty with black ink on Rune's finger.

He slowly turned his hand and examined the black ink on it. Curiously, he placed his hand flat on the wooden floor and dragged it against it, leaving the black ink on the floor.

"What the... what is this? Is this the power of my ability? But what does it do?" Rune pondered.

As he said that, the ink on the wooden floor began to move and slowly rose up off the ground, transforming into legs and eventually becoming Duke.

No way... I did it! I brought him back.

After saying that, Rune went over to Duke and gave him a belly rub to make sure he was okay.

After checking, everything seemed fine. Rune then deactivated his ability by saying "Ink and Pen," causing the book to disappear. Miko slowly got up from the bed.

"Good morning," Miko greeted.

"It's not morning," Rune replied, shaking his head.

"Oh."

Now that Rune had some knowledge about his ability, he felt happy. Maybe this new ability could help in survival situations if he learned how to use it.

"Hey, Rune and Miko, I have something to give you two!" Nate said. Rune and Miko walked out of the room with the flashlight and headed towards the third room where the food supply was kept.