When last we spoke Cooltopians, I was spying on the pirate JARVIS. He proved barely competent and was little help in answering my questions. I write you now to tell you everything I learnt from following his one direction.
JARVIS’s advice pointed me to the Royal Library. The exterior of the monumental building isn’t much to speak of. It’s big, and its materials were selected for their strength, not beauty. The massive doors are heavy, and one is always left slightly ajar as it is a major operation to open and close them. A few cats are always standing by to do just that should any threat arise.
Once I squeezed myself past security and through the big doors, I was struck by the building’s stunning interior. What a magnificent space! There were beautiful stained glass windows that were not visible from the outside. Buckets of magical light pour into every corner of the entry hall. I was in awe!
“First time here?” I heard a voice say. I stopped admiring the ceiling and turned my attention to a nice-looking cat speaking to me from the ‘Information desk.’
“Uh, yeah, I guess it’s kinda obvious, hun?” I was embarrassed about not playing it cooler, but the space was truly astounding.
“Lots of people admire the magic here. I’m amazed by it every day, and I’ve worked here for years. Hello Fren. My name is Jill. How can I help you?”
I approached the friendly cat’s desk and took a measure of her. She was kinder than most cats I had met, and it didn’t seem like she had to try too hard to care. I felt her authenticity, but nice cats have conned me before, so I still proceeded with caution.
“Did you say magic?” That would explain the unbelievable building.
“Yeah, magic. See that statue of the cat in the frog hat?…
…That’s Lynq, one of Cooltopia’s great founders. He wrote down all of Cooltopia’s history and built this library. It is his magic that protects the pages stored here.”
Now it was Jill who couldn’t play it cool.
I took another look at the giant hall and extensive archive. “One cat wrote all the history books?” It sounded sus to me.
“Well, he wrote lots of it, the first histories. But other historians have added to it and reviewed it thoroughly throughout the ages. Knowledge is for everyone here in the Royal Library. Lynq made sure of that. What would you like to know?”
“Well, I came to Diamond City for answers about pet origins.”
“Excellent! We have a wonderful Pet Section. Lots of new history is being written there. You will find it in the basement. Say hi to our new Pet Librarians. They’re a real hoot.”
She pointed to a spiralling staircase just to the right of her desk.
“Thanks,” I said, and I made my way down. Jill seemed like a nice cat.
My descent into the Pet Section felt never-ending, and it wasn’t long before I began dreading my return up the numerous stairs. If this place were really so damn magical, you would think it would have a frickin lift. Anyways, while I didn’t enjoy my exercise, I did admire the portraits of Royal Cats that donned the walls along the steps down. Especially interesting to see one of Cool King Luke.
Once I finally made it to the bottom, I found it dark and only lit by candle. There was no evidence of the same grand magic that adorned the main hall. It was small, and I will never forget the sounds I heard there in the silence. I detected a muttering of sorts and the sounds of wind, but I felt no breeze. I was wandering cautiously through the stacks, searching for the source of the noises, when I came upon a campfire. What a strange thing to find in a library.
“Oh, my Gods! There is another pet here! You wanna know something about pets? Do you have history to record?!”
An air pet and her joey came rushing towards me.
“Oh, this is so exciting! Not many pets come down here, and not too many cats, either. No one, really. Sometimes, Jill. She’s nice, but nobody has visited the section in a few weeks. Oh, I am so glad you are here! What questions can we answer? I love questions. Oh dear me, am I talking too much? I do that sometimes. Please don’t leave.“
I was overwhelmed by the joey’s eagerness. I wasn’t sure what to do. Or how to interpret her. That’s when the larger of the pair addressed me.
“Please excuse my friend,” they said calmly. “She gets tired of talking to just me, but I never get tired of listening.” Then, she wrapped her wings around the small creature and gave it a cuddle.
The pocketed pet went silent and stared into the flames.
“Hiya. I am Jazz, lover of pets, starter of fires and basement librarian, here to answer all the questions I am magically allowed to.”
She extended her wing, and I shook it.
“Hello, I’m Slimeball. What do you mean when you say ‘magically allowed to’?”
Jazz chuckled, “That’s a hard one for me to answer. Umm, well, there is a certain sort of magic that, when cast on pets such as ourselves, causes us to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. Hmm, I’m not sure how much of this will get through to you.”
I was thoroughly confused, and the wee one noticed.
“No, you heard her right,” the joey reassured me, “hmmm, let me try. Have you ever heard about a spell called ‘Indy B’?”
“No,” I replied, “I didn’t even know magic existed until I entered this library.”
“Good job, Joey!” Jazz praised her companion. “The ‘Indy B’ spell is a spell that causes the target of the magic to become invisible to some people under certain circumstances. There are a few spells in that genre of magic.”
“Interesting,” I wondered, “So, is there an ‘Indy A’ spell?”
Jazz nodded enthusiastically, smiling.
“Yes! But we’re not allowed to talk about it.” She said with a wink.
Jill was right. These librarians were really somethin’.
“Look, I don’t know what you two are playing at. I am just trying to figure out where pets came from.”
“Well, you have definitely come to the right place. Everything you can possibly know about pets is in these books.”
“Great! Can you tell me how the eggs came to be?”
“I can, but you won’t be able to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED….” Jazz was really starting to exhaust me.
“Now you see why I was so happy to see you!” Joey said, interrupting. “I am afraid you will just have to read the history yourself. Putting it all together is a bit of a puzzle, but we will be here to help where we can.”
I looked around the dark basement. It would take a lifetime to read just the pets section of this library. The abundance of books overwhelmed me, and for the first time, I considered abandoning my quest for answers.
“Thanks. I guess I’ll have a look around.”
I heard the pair speculate as I followed my shadow away from the fire and into the darkness.
Jazz: What do we think? Is he coming back?
Joey: Nah. You see the look on his face…he’s not coming back.
Their lack of confidence in me somehow made me like them more. They are probably right, I thought, as I wandered through the bookcases. While I was feeling discouraged and really wanted to leave, the thought of climbing all those stairs again was not appealing, so I grabbed a few random volumes, carried them to a table, and brought a candle.
Each book had a few cryptic pages of ramblings and drawings but only a few. The majority of the pages were left blank. I hurriedly grabbed a few more, and the result was the same. This was a library full of mostly empty books! My frustration was peaking when I heard the wind again. My candle extinguished, and I was blind in the darkness until I detected a faint blue glow from the adjacent aisle.
I peered between the books and saw two creatures I had never encountered before.
They had arrived as if from thin air, and their presence immediately unsettled me. I felt a primal fear in the pit of my slime belly, causing my stomach to gurgle audibly.
“What was that?” The spikey one had detected me, and within seconds, the pair were right on top of me.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” They licked their jowls and circled me. They were terrifying and intimidating and relished my discomfort.
I said nothing. I prepared myself for death.
“Oh no, I think the little fellas gonna cry.” taunted the glowing one.
“I bet this water pet is real juicy!” continued the other. “Bro, when was the last time we ate someone?”
I looked around to consider my options. I didn’t want to die. Luckily, through the bookcase, I detected something of interest. Like a tapestry torn, but the tapestry was reality.
“Uh, Oh, 14. He’s spotted our fracture.” cackled Ghostie. “It’s cute. He thinks he can escape.”
My stomach rumbled again. My fear growing.
“Hahahah! I think he gonna shit himself!” Laughed 14.
Now I’m not proud of what happened next. It wasn’t my cutest moment, but it probably saved my life. Their threats must have disrupted my internal slime, and as a reaction to their negative vibes, it came shooting out of my mouth with force, like a fire hose, straight to their faces.
Yes, I vomited green goo all over those shady creatures. Their disgust and the distraction bought me the precious time needed to escape through the fracture. Once on the other side, REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.
Special thanks to @ELISSDEE.ETH, @3luca3.eth, and @jascolors for letting me tell stories using their assets. Thanks to @lynquoid for the lore. I will never forget!
Super extra special thanks to JasColors for their basement illustration.
All other artworks in this story were shared publicly by Cool Cats.
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Also, visit Coolcatsnft.com for more info about Cool Cats, Cool Pets and Shadow Wolves.
Ghostie: WTF 14. This is disgusting! I can’t believe we just got puked on. Next time let’s just eat first and then taunt our food.
14: This is your fault, you know? You did most of the talking. Do you think this green stuff is edible?
Ghostie: eeeeeewww you nasty, 14! Now, where’s that librarian we’re not allowed to eat? She’ll help clean us up and open another fracture.
14: I think it’s edible. The water pet clearly ate it.
Ghostie: All you ever think about is food! What happens if that little critter tells people about us?
14: You worry too much. We know he can’t say a damn word. Yeah, it’s definitely edible and doesn’t taste too bad, either. Did you know pets could vomit slime? That’s going in the books for sure.
You can find out more about Slimeball and read other Cool Pet Story by JL here