"The real world?"
Marc might have said it, but nothing about what he was seeing seemed real to him.
"Where have I landed? Where's the library?"
The place was still a library, but not the one Marc knew. He stood up to observe the surroundings before hurrying back to see if the men in white were still following him. Fortunately or unfortunately for him, there was no one there.
In fact, there was no hallway behind him, just a completely solid wooden wall.
"Even they're not here."
Marc took a look around. This library was far more beautiful than the one in his world, but it was also older. Everything was made of wood. Wood that wasn't from his world.He could see it at a glance.
"Or maybe I just don't know anything about wood."
But this wood was truly special. It glowed faintly in the surrounding light, but also seemed to be covered with a strange, transparent substance that looked like plastic. And the strangest thing about the wood Marc was seeing was that it seemed to be in constant motion wherever he looked.
And that wasn't the only strange thing about that library.
Streams of dust fell from the ceiling and filled the room. Although Marc still had time to visit, it worried him to see the room filling up with dust so quickly.
The shelves were full of cracks, as if they were about to fall at any moment. A faint beam of reddish light shone through the room, turning everything in it crimson red.
Marc contemplated this round window for a long time before continuing his visit.
He walked for a good fifteen minutes before realizing that the library was huge, but that he couldn't see anything ten meters away. It was as if the crimson-red light was following him, illuminating only where he was.
Trying not to panic at the thought of finding himself in the worst possible place for him, Marc told himself that, in any case, he wasn't dead yet, and that was what mattered most.
He then tried to read a book in this famous library, picked up a book at random and noticed that the author was also...
"Lavoisi ! What? This can't be happening. I'm still in the real world? No, this is absurd. Nothing here seems normal. He's known in both worlds? Lucky guy."
Marc began to read.
"That very day, the storm came. The only support I had to protect myself was this little hut at the top of the hill. But when I got closer, I discovered that it wasn't a hut, but a cathedral."
Marc paused in his reading. Given that he was in the other world, it seemed logical to him that this man was talking about the cathedral at the top of the mountain.
"No, it wasn't a hill. But still..."
He continued reading.
"I was approaching the place when suddenly I saw nothing. The sky turned black and fear came over me. A fear I'd never experienced before. I collapsed to the ground as a person appeared behind me..."
Marc interrupted his reading at a noise that startled him. Observing the floor, he realized that the dust had risen too high and that the only thing keeping him alive was a shelf, which collapsed on impact.
Marc narrowly dodged the shelf and began to look for the exit.
His steps were restricted by the dust in which he was moving. Unable to find the door, he decided to punch a hole in the roof, but before he could do so, a hand suddenly emerged from the dust.
"You're there too?"
A white being extricated his body from it before standing in front of Marc. Nevertheless, he didn't manage to do anything as he received a tremendous elbow in the face. Marc then knocked him off balance by hitting him in the legs, and in his fall, he elbowed it back in the face.
"Remember that."
Marc was savoring this victory inwardly when another appared and tried to get him from behind.
Marc saw him and grabbed his arm in a judo hold he'd often seen on TV.
"I haven't got time."
A third arrived as the room continued to fill with dust. It reached halfway up his shin. Marc tried to kick him directly in the face, but the withe being dodged.
Surprised, Marc kept him at bay with a back kick. But the being in white didn't seem like the others. He grabbed Marc's foot and threw him violently to the end of the room.
Marc hit two shelves before landing. His mouth was full of dust, he realized this one was on a whole new level.
Spitting the dust out of his mouth, Marc got back to his feet and faced his new opponent.
"I've noticed something about you. Everything in this world has an aura. Even the tiniest object. So... who on earth are you? You're just puppets. You have no aura, no emotions. So what are you?"
At these words, he launched himself at the being in white and grabbed him around the waist. And to his amazement, it was able to keep itself on the ground.
Marc had no choice but to lift him off the ground and smash his head on the other side. A magnificent german suplex.
"Now that's wrestling, boy."
But the being in white had put his hand on the ground to avoid it. He spun to get out of Marc's grip and back on his feet, he attacked first this time.
Marc got to his feet too, but too late. He received a knee blow to the stomach and spat out a good blow.
The second hit was for the face, but Marc dodged.
He stepped back two meters to make sure he didn't get hit by the next one. The being in white approached cautiously but Marc moved in to land a 360 kick.
But once agin, his opponent ducked and grabbed his leg.
"Again?"
This time, Marc was launched into the air.
He hit the ceiling of the library before falling back to the dust, where he was swallowed whole. A cloud formed as he fell.
The being in white charged towards him, but by the time he arrived, Marc was gone.
He had taken advantage of the dust to slip away and come charging back behind him. The blow was so violent that the dust from his fist completely dispersed over a distance of 10 meters around them.
The being in white collapsed.
"You weren't bad."
Marc didn't have time to claim victory as others arrived. He jumped over a shelf in a hurry and struck the ceiling with all his might to create a way out.
"What ?"
Dust was now pouring out of the hole Marc had made. He realized that the only way out was to find the real exit.
"Drat"
He climbed down from the shelf and began to run at the sight of the white beings.
He soon realized that the dust was at the same levels throughout the library.
Despite his great speed, one of the beings caught up with him and stood in front of him.
"This is the first time you guys have been this strong. But it's hard to fight guys with no names. Can you tell me yours?"
By way of reply, he received dust in the face. Marc's eyes widened as he realized that these guys weren't just stronger.
They were smarter too.
Their overall abilities were far superior to those of the first one he had faced near the cathedral. They thought strategically during combat and didn't just charge like dogs; moreover, their strength and speed had improved significantly. It was as if they were gradually getting used to Marc's growing strength.
"TCH."
The white being took advantage of this moment to deliver another blow to his stomach.
"Kyokushin?"
And that was clearly not all, because they began to imitate the martial arts techniques Marc had used against them.
Marc received it very badly. He stepped back again before thinking it was a bad idea, given those following him.
He had to get rid of this one.
First to go, however, was the being in white.
Marc dodged the first punch, then the second, before grabbing his arm and breaking it. But it obviously didn't hurt it at all. Marc took a magnificent hook kick in return, but remained on his feet.
The next blow was for Marc again. The next too. He picked up the blows one by one. From a distance, he looked like he was shrivelling up. However, Marc grabbed the arm of the being in white in turn.
"Are you done now?"
Marc then just punched him in the back. The blow was such that the being in white went through the floor.
It was a risky gamble, but he'd made it.
"I've got to find the way out."
He resumed his run.
The beings in white, though faster, could no longer catch up.
Marc accelerated.
The dust was leaving a clear path behind him. If he could compare himself to this world, he could easily have gone at the speed of a high-speed train.
The shelves scrolled into his field of vision. The being in white lost sight of him and Marc accelerated again. Concentrating on his run, he couldn't even see what was in front of him. The effect of the air on his face and the sensation of going faster and faster were so pleasant that he forgot everything else.
But the exit was still nowhere in sight. He turned left, right, left and right again, but nothing revealed itself to be an exit. Marc began to think he was trapped here. The crimson-red light coming from the window disappeared. The people in white were swallowed by the dust. All that remained was Marc and his race.
He thought back to his family and friends. He thought of the man in black watching him from the back of the cathedral. He thought again of Goagi. Their bodies seemed to materialize in the dust behind him and their voices echoed in his head.
"Give it up."
Marc began to slow down. The dust was getting into his clothes.
"Give up."
Marc thought back to the day he had condemned innocent people to death out of sheer curiosity.
He slowed down again.
"Maybe I should just..."
But suddenly, another silhouette in the dust seemed to cry out to him to the contrary...
"Don't stop, Marc!"
It was the silhouette of Elie.
Marc opened his eyes and began to accelerate again.
"If you stop, you're a dead man."
Nathanaël was there too.
"I told you to ask for help."
His mother was there too.
"I'll always support you, son."
His father was there too.
He then thought back to the conversation he'd had with his mother, to whom he'd said...
"What if the help isn't enough?"
Marc knew it wasn't his mother he was going to save from the man in black. It wasn't his father who was going to fight against Goagi. It wasn't Elie who was going to protect him from these people. It wasn't Nathanaël who was going to get him out of all this.
"You can do it master."
Marc smiled as he heard Jin's sentence.
And finaly, thought back to his mother's answer.
"Help will always be enough."
For the moment, it was.
They were enough for Marc. A second breath came for Marc as he began to run faster again. He saw a wall straight ahead. It was clearly a dead end, but if he was going to try anything, this was it.
A few meters from the wall, he heard people supporting him.
"Go for it!"
Marc attempted a final leap towards the wall as the dust began to swallow him. But with one last look, the silhouettes could be seen stretching out their arms to push him towards the wall.