-Laff POV-
About thirty minutes have gone by ever since Blaza came back, and he said that Socks just wanted to be alone at the moment. He had also told everyone else about the tint, which I had seen before. Dino then recalled,

"Well, I don't know if this is related, but I remember Socks saying last night that he was scared of becoming Gulvic, scared about what's to come, and what has already happened."

"Maybe that is what is happening.."

Everyone's gaze darted to Oompa, which seemed to make him uncomfortable. He shuffled nervously and continued,

"Just think about it. Why have his morals been flipped? Why is he suddenly calmer about the murders than he was before?"

I then overheard Blaza mutter something under his breath, and Nadwe stared into Blaza's sunglasses as if he just heard him curse. His face was pure shock. He then blurted out to him,

"Wait, wait, wait.. Blaza, what did you just say?"

"What?"

"Did I just hear you say, 'why was he lying'..?"

"Uh.. yes."

Everyone then turned to Blaza, expecting further explanation. I also wondered what he was talking about.

"Come to think of it, he had the red tint when he did."

"Why didn't you mention that before?"

"It just didn't come to mind. His eyes were a brown-maroon kind of color, definitely not the hazelnut brown like normal or black with red slits."

Oompa then asked, coming from his theory,

"So do you think Gulvic is really doing this?"

"It's possible. It's been around 10, 11 days."

As they were talking amongst themselves, I saw three fluorescent beings phase through the wall and into the room. I looked directly at them, and they looked like Muffin, Meme and Woolf but at the same time.. different. They looked like they were glowing, and once the cyan spirit noticed me looking at the three of them, they all came and swirled around me. I stepped around a bit, and of course Tbh noticed.

"Uhm.. Laff? Are you okay?"

"W- what?"

"You're basically walking in circles over there. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that these guys here are making me lose my balan- oh- I.. forgot you can't see them."

I then paused in thought. I then continued,

"Wait how am I seeing them? Ryzo is the only one that can.."

I then heard Woolf say,

"Probably the same thing with Gulvic.. he's letting you see us."

"Oh."

Tbh then walked over to me, and that's when I noticed everyone else had left to go to, I'd assume, their own rooms to have time to themselves. Tbh was the only one left, and he started talking almost as if he were talking to himself, though I knew it was directed to me.

"You know, I've been wondering if there are any books about hybrids in the library as this place is super old. Wanna come with me? I thought you might as Ryzo is there as well."

Without controlling it, a tentacle slithered out of my back and over my shoulder. It quickly waved back and forth, and then shot back into my body.

"I'm pretty sure Ryzo was saying hello.."

I let out a small chuckle, then continued,

"And yeah! I'll come!"

"Cool!"

We made our way over to the doors of the room next to the stairs. Instead of needing to push the doors open, tentacles rushed out of my back once again and opened them for us. We then walked down the hall, and once we passed the hall where Meme's room was located, I couldn't help but stare down into it. Once we reached the end of the hall, Ryzo opened the door again, we walked in, and we had arrived at the library. The smell of paper and ink flooded the room, and rushed out like a wave. Ryzo then asked me,

"Wait, so.. what are we looking for again?"

"Books 'bout you guys."

"Why..?"

"So we can try to find a way to get rid of you guys, or just learn more about you."

"Okay, then.. I'll know if there are any around here. You'll wanna find stuff about the Unspoken Wa- here, wait a minute.."
_________________________________
-Tbh POV-
I started looking through the shelves when a book was shoved into my face. I looked up, and Ryzo had taken control of Laff, and was looking for books along with me. I don't know if he was being genuine or trying to fake it to murder me, but either way it was nice.

"Uh.. t-thanks Ryzo!"

I took the book, and it was about mythical creatures. I don't know if he was trying to make hybrids sound like legends, but it was kind of funny nonetheless.

"No problem! I know books about hybrids when I see them. They have a red X with a line in between the top two lines of that X."

I checked the book he had given me, and there was no symbol anywhere. I let out a silent laugh, made some room in the shelves, and fit the book back in between the rest of them. I asked Ryzo,

"What does that symbolize?"

"It was the Hybrodeic flag. It had that symbol on it, which represented hybrids."

Wait didn't Gulvic have that on his face before? It just disappeared over time. Wait, what about Ryzo?

I started nervously,

"Hey, Ryzo? Do you know if you have that symbol on your cheek?"

"Uh, no- I'm not sure actually.. why?"

"Gulvic had that exact symbol on his left cheek, and it just disappeared over time. I didn't know if you'd have the same thing or not."

"Oh, yeah I'm not sure."

He paused, and then continued nervously,

"But if his disappeared, then that might mean.."

He didn't finish his sentence, but only finished with,

"Come on, let's keep looking."

Now I was stuck wondering what that meant. I continued looking, putting the recent conversation in the back of my head for later discussion.

About fifteen minutes had gone by and I had looked over around two and a half shelves. Ryzo on the other hand, has looked through around six. There were only around ten shelves scattered around the library, making the last one we looked at our last shot. We met at the ends of the shelf, and made our way to the center. We started looking up and down the column of books. At the top, I saw a dirty-cream-colored book with two hybrid symbols on the top and bottom of the spine. I would've screamed, but I forced myself not to. I locked eyes on it, and was struggling to reach it, as it of course had to be on the top shelf. Ryzo saw my struggle, and with his tentacles grabbed it and gently handed it to me.

I rushed over to the open space in the library, and found a lectern placed in between shelves. I placed the book on it, and slowly opened it. The book seemed as old as time itself, with the pages stained and ripped and crumpled. Ryzo looked over my shoulder to view the book, and when I turned to a random page, he slowly backed away from me and the book.

"What are.. you doing?"

"Please, flip the page."

"Why do I need to-"

Ryzo yelled, interrupting me,

"FLIP THE PAGE, TBH!"

I just stared at him, slowly flipping the page, and not breaking eye contact. Once the page could no longer be seen, he made his way back over to the book. I asked,

"Would you like to tell me what that was about?"

"No-"

"Okay-"

I didn't even see what was on that page, so I told him,

"If you want, you can move again. I didn't even see what was on that page."

He then backed up until he bumped into a bookshelf, which he then melted into. I flipped back a page, and it was a sketched picture. It was colored in, but the ink must've faded away over time. The black ink was the more prominent, being the color that stuck out most. It was a sketch of a golden ring with a crystal inside of it. On the right page, there were sketches of people holding it and how it worked. According to the text,

"This ancient artifact that was given the name 'Tearglass' (Tē-r-gl-as), is a source of magic. It can tear apart or mend anything you physically can't. This includes friendships, spirits, ways of thinking, among others. How this relates to the Unspoken War you may ask yourself? Well, this is how all hybrids were killed."

I didn't know what to think. I looked up, and Ryzo asked frantically,

"Are you done yet?!"

"Why are you in a rush? Do you have somewhere to be?"

"..No.."

"Calm down, okay? You don't need to have PTSD right now.."

"What is that?"

"Past traumatic stress disorder. Basically you're scared or stressed from something in your past, and you're scared it'll happen again."

"WELL I CAN'T HELP IT!"

"I know you can't.. you were killed by this thing."

"Wrong."

"What?"

"I was murdered by humans. Their own hands. The way it was done was uncalled for, but what do you expect?"

"Oh. Do you mind elaborating? You don't need to if you aren't comfortable with the.. situation.."

"I just escaped humans the night before. They got my one friend, and took him away. Me and Verco- my other friend.. had just gotten out of the warzone. We were stupid enough to think humans wouldn't be around those areas, and humans surrounded me. Vercon stayed behind. I was stabbed and sliced from the neck down to the bottom of my chest."

He symbolized this by making a line of black with his pointer finger on Laff's white lab coat. He made it from his collar bone down to his gut. I didn't know how to respond to the explaination, so I said that.

"That's one of those things I don't know how to respond to.."

"I thought it would be."

"So why are you so afraid of this?"

I pointed to the picture of the artifact, making him flinch.

"Because I saw it being used. It was horrifying. Come to think of it, I saw things I shouldn't have."

"Like.."

"My friend becoming a savage and murdering at least eight humans."

"Okay then-"

"Yeah. His name was Blaze. He was pretty nice too! I didn't treat him that well though. I always thought I was better than him.. but if I'm being honest he was better than me. He always helped around the village, but all I did was try to be the popular one."

"Huh.. did you ever see him in the afterlife? If you remember?"

"No, I didn't. He separated himself from all the other hybrids, as he felt like he was a mistake and that he couldn't trust anyone. He always blamed himself for what happened, though his close friends always said it wasn't."

"Wow.. that's pretty tragic.."

"Yeah. I still remember watching his parents get stabbed."

"Wait, what?!"

"Yep. Humans hated us."

"I can see that pretty clearly.."

Ryzo was just about to speak again when a mirror floated in. It floated to the center of the room, and that's when I noticed that there were multiple colors surrounding it. A tan, cyan, and gray aura was surrounding it. That's all I could see. It then started throwing itself back and forth, almost as if people were fighting about who should get it. Eventually, a dark gray ghost appeared in the mirror. Ryzo awkwardly greeted,

"Heyyyyy.."

He clicked his tongue in between.

"It's been a while! Hasn't it, Woolf?"

"Yeah.. it has.."

"Hey, don't be like that! I don't think I'll even stay with Gulvic and kill everyone or whatever.. it doesn't feel right to me. Ever since I killed you I feel like-"

Woolf interrupted,

"I know."

"What?"

"Now that I'm a ghost, I can read minds."

"Since when?!"

"Since the day I died."

A cyan ghost then appeared in the mirror, squishing up against Woolf.

"Hey, TB! Hello, Ryzo.."

"Wait, wait, wait.. if you're the ghosts.. then where's Muffin?"

"Right on top of your head."

"Ah."

I reached my claw-hand up for a high-five, and I felt a hand reciprocate. A slight smile spread across my face, and I turned my attention back to the mirror.

"So.. what's it like being dead?"

Meme immediately responded,

"Boring. All you do is float around and do nothing else. I wish we were still ali- alive.."

He then froze, and yelled,

"I'M GOING TO MY MEDBAY!"

"Okay?"

I glanced back at the page, and read about where the artifact was located. I then thought about ways to get to it. My thoughts quickly turned to why he might be going to his medbay. I burst,

"WAIT, MEME!"

From the mirror, which Woolf was pointing towards Meme, I saw that he turned around halfway through the wall confused. He then flew back to where Woolf, Muffin, Me, and Ryzo were.

"Can't your medbay scanner.. revive people?"

"That's exactly what I remembered."

Muffin then exclaimed,

"Wait so.. we can be revived?!"

"Muffin, you can possess any muffin and you're fine, right?"

"Correct."

"And the reason you haven't come back to life is because we need to get more muffins from the village.. right?"

"Yep. Specifically the jumbo, cinnamon muffins. I am not a tiny, chocolate-chip muffin."

"Sounds good."

Meme then shouted a couple seconds later,

"THEN YEAH WE CAN ALL BE REVIVED!! WOOO!"

I joined back in and celebrated with the three spirits, and Ryzo gave a genuine smile, showing that he did care about us. The door slammed open, and immediately slammed closed. I walked over to the door and opened it, only to see Socks standing there confused.

"Why is Ryzo in there, why is there a floating mirror, and why are you doing the crab dance?"

I was about to tell him when I remembered Gulvic could also hear us, even if he wasn't physically present.

"Oh, I- I think you might be... imagining things! Laff and I were just browsing through books and such."

Since I wasn't sure if Gulvic could also see us, I gave Socks a wink to signal that wasn't the truth. Socks understood, and nodded.

"Oh, Okay! I just heard a lot of noise from down the hall, and I wasn't sure what it was, that's all!"

"Yeah, it's nothing to worry about!"

The orange spaceman then turned around to retreat back to his room. As his first step was about to touch the ground, a tentacle burst out of his back, missing my face by an inch. I was stunned, and so was he. He slowly turned around to see what had just happened, and he saw the same thing as me: his own tentacle impaling the wall, barely missing my head. Ryzo opened the door and saw this, and yelled to the air,

"So.. Gulvic? Watcha' doing?"

Socks' eyes turned black with white ovals instead of brown, and the demon's voice spoke instead of his own.

"This crab is lying. I don't know what you were doing in there, but there should be blood splatter the next time I see this room."

"How do you know he's lying? What if I was just about to kill him?"

Another tentacle wrapped around Ryzo's shoulders, pulling him towards Gulvic. The spaceman alter-ego threateningly stated,

"I am not delusional. I know what I saw. You were smiling. The ghosts were there, celebrating. The crab was in there, celebrating. You were there, standing there, smiling."

He removed his tentacle from the wall, and retracted the tentacle that was around Ryzo's neck.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but stop it. You're here for a reason."

The remaining tentacle slithered into his back, with his eyes returning back to Socks' human eyes.

"Sorry- he's been a bit moody today.. ever since he explained everything to me.."

That's what caught my attention. I was about to ask what he meant, but he was already walking away. I opened the door to go back into the library, and pulled Ryzo in as well. I asked,

"Are they still here?"

"Yep."

He then yeled to the ghosts,

"Guys, get the mirror again!!"

The mirror immediately started floating once again, this time with a tan aura. Muffin appeared in the mirror this time, and waved. I laughed out,

"Hey, Muffin.."

I waved at the 14 year old muffin's spirit, and then continued what I was going to say.

"So, I just read this page, and it's about an artifact that killed all hybrids, aka what Gulvic and Ryzo are."

Meme filled the space between my sentences with,

"Okay, and?"

"It says here that it was buried in.. wait- am I reading this right?!"
__________________________________
-Ryzo POV-
Tbh was staring at the page in awe, almost as if something was about to come alive. He finished his sentence,

"In a cave within the mythical forest of.. Silevlia."

He turned back to me and the ghosts, shocked.

"That's the forest right here.. wait.. Ryzo?"

I looked at him to signal he had my attention.

"What was the name of your village..?"

"It was the northeastern part of.. Sil- Silevlia.."

"We're in the northern part of Silevlia right now.."

The crab man then started flying through the pages of the ancient book, trying to find more information about this. He got to the end of the book, where there was a riddle and map. He read it aloud, and it said,

"I sense there is an infection among you.
To banish it, you must follow these clues.
In a forest that is usually forbidden,
At its heart, at its center, written is a decision.
Between good and evil you must decide,
Choose correctly, the walls will part,
and lead you inside.
Written by Lewis J. Trone"

We all stayed silent for a moment, taking it in.

That name seems weirdly familiar to me.. why though?

Meme then ripped the page out of the book, and held it. He said,

"We'll go find it. This has to end."

Tbh nodded, and Muffin dropped the mirror, effectively breaking it. The crab was a bit spooked by the sudden glass shatter, but he understood the urgency. The three ghosts then disappeared through the wall, with the paper slapping against the wall instead of going with them. Woolf noticed, and exited the base the normal, physical way.
_____________________________________________________

WOOOOOO! 22 is out and done! 23 is kinda sad but ok- we'll deal with it :')
Sorry for taking so long-
3100 words