Today had been awful for Kelsey so far. Being forced into wearing this stupid hat and cloak, being forced to take a stall, being forced into a Corrupter's seat. She didn't want to be forced to do anything else! All she wanted to do now was read, and she had a good idea of which book she was going to go find.
She stuffed her hat and cloak behind the main desk, glad to be free of them, and grabbed a large book hidden underneath. The book's cover was adorned with magical symbols and glyphs, all dictating the book's now unreadable rules. The book itself was so old that it was rumoured among library members -the ones that were here before they went up to the Junior/Senior school anyway- that it was older than the school itself. Kelsey didn't know if that was true or not, but the tome was certainly old enough that it carried a permanent aura of mystery and antiquity within its weathered pages. Now that she was the only member of the library club, Kelsey was the only one who could hold, open and read this book safely. It was known colloquially as The Compendium.
She brought it over to a table and lay it flat on its back. She knew not to open it just yet; opening The Compendium like any ordinary book was a death sentence! She took several paces back and straightened herself to her full height. She grasped her plate from her bag and held it in her right hand, going over her query for a moment. She... She wasn't completely at ease with this. This was the first time she had queried The Compendium on her own. She breathed in deeply, preparing herself, before addressing it.
"Compendium Magica!" The words echoed for just a second before the book's menagerie of symbols began to glow. Kelsey levelled her plate with the book and then, as if in response, the book stood on the end of its spine. It floated barely a centimetre off the table and opened itself to the first page, waiting for a command.
Keeping her gaze fixed on the Compendium, she gave it an order. "C-check all records for references to 'Mo Level Plate'." It quickly got to work, quickly reading through its own pages. Just when she was expecting it to return with a gust of information, nothing came. Instead only two words entered her mind. 'Search null.' Null? But how was that possible...? There must have been something somewhere. She... she would have to ponder this further at a later date. For now she would have to remain ignorant of the Mo plate's details.
Before shutting down her connection to The Compendium she saw fit to update it with her notes. She extended her free hand towards the main desk and uttered the words, "Fetch updates." The piles of notes on the desk shot over towards her and formed a fairly broken circle around her. She reorganised the notes in mid-air in front of her, selecting the few relevant ones among them and mentally transcribing them to The Compendium before sending the rest back to laying on the main desk.
"Terminate connection." The Compendium closed and fell to the table. Huh... ha, she did it. That... that actually hadn't been so bad. It was true that she didn't get anything from her search, but worse could have happened. She put it back in its place under the main desk and, lacking a real objective, decided that she could at least follow up on her plan to get a new book to read during breaks. She wandered off into an aisle, waiting for a book to catch her eye.
