In a small library, someone was studying. Sitting at a table beside a pile of books, beside a shelf covered in multi-coloured leather-bound volumes, a red haired girl frowned and put one another book aside, dismissing it as useless.

Gwen  sighed as she regarded the bookshelf. She'd been told there were a lot of books with spells to learn here, but she saw more than one double copy, and most of them had spells she knew.

"This can't be all of them..." She said to herself, regarding the pile of useless books then looking back at the shelves.

Standing up, she began pulling out books at random.

"Same as that one... Filled with useless spells like that one... All the same as this one but in a different order...  Harry Potter book in the wrong place... "

Her eyes landed on a book she hadn't noticed yet. Bound in snakeskin, she pulled it out and looked at the first page, where a short foreword lay.

"Within this tome lies great power, for those who seek it... Alright! Something useful?" She read aloud and exclaimed with hope.

She scurried back to the table, sitting down to read the rest of the foreword. Bringing it closer into the light she noted that some scales of the snakeskin shimmered in the light, giving off faint green reflections.

She regarded the cover. There was no title, and the only indication of which way was the front from the outside was the Aegis shield embossed on the front, complete with Gorgon's Head. Looking back into the book, she found that the symbol on the front was watermarked into each page.

"Kinda creepy... But pretty cool too I guess..." She remarked, before reading the rest of the foreword properly. Sometimes these forewords held instructions, she'd learned.

..For those who seek it. But be wary, for the powers within seek their own rewards. Only the strong and the brave can take these words to heart, and only they can continue onwards. If those seeking power should be found lacking, the book shall deny power to them, seal itself and leave them to their error for eternity.

She thought this through as she read the message, concluding that a mistake would mean the book might censor itself. She had found a book like that before, but luckily, it was one of three volumes of the same. The other two volumes didn't care much for the earlier mistake, even after the other erased it's text from view when she tried to read it.

Still, this was the first book all day with anything good, or even the prospect of anything good. She'd be careful and follow all the instructions.

Onto the next page, and she was surprised to see very little text, above some small golden marks on the page.

To unlock the secrets of the tome, one must awake the invocations below without pause, without fail, without words and without sight. Without these invocations, the words within shall remain concealed. With error, they shall be sealed.

This was actually an easy part. She just needed to focus a little energy on the invocation marks, keep her eyes closed, and then the book would have words in it. She did so, and was for a second, surprised to hear whispering.

But mindful of the warning not to pause, she carried on even as a chill went up her spine. She knew it was the book whispering, but it didn't make it any less spooky. It was indistinct, but sometimes the occasional half-word was heard.

After moving her hand down the page, the whispering eventually stopped and bid her open her eyes once she turned the page. She did so, and found to her displeasure, the first two pages were just a list of names, in tiny copperplate writing. The next ten pages were blank, bar the watermark of the Aegis.  Looking back at the names, she saw some were green, some were black, and one at the very end was red. There were many more green names than black, and she noted without surprise, that the red name was her own. Before that, dozens upon dozens of green names.

Creepy, but pretty cool. She guessed one of the other two colours meant people who were locked out and people who had passed. Which was which, she had no clue. She realised she might never find out. If she got it wrong, her name would change colour, but the book would be unreadable.

She dismissed the realisation and read on. There were more spells. Some to read, which were easy. Others to awaken, a little more cumbersome. And then, one that she knew would be tricky. It was the middle of the book, and this one wanted her to close her eyes and awaken the words. But to repeat the words perfectly as the book whispered. She had heard the many invocations whisper so far, but they had been indistinct. A few random words audible like the first of the spells to awaken the book, but nothing truly understandable.

Nervous, but without any real hesitation, she plunged in, running her fingers over the marks, hearing the voice and copying it flawlessly. The whispers were hard to make out sometimes, but she tried not to falter.

Then she made a mistake.

She gasped, and stood up, clutching the book, eyes still closed, but the whispers became the whistle of wind. She opened her eyes.

She had made another mistake.

Before her, the gold markings were spiralling into the air, from throughout the book. Holding it in one hand, she watched as the book flicked form page to page, throwing gold sparks into the air. It went to the end, then back to the start.

She saw her name turn from red, to green.

She had failed, she realised, her heart heavy. The one good book so far...

She glanced up again at where the gold marks had flown, and her eyes widened. They flew in a tornado of energy, silently expanding outwards until with a flash, they merged. They formed the shape of the embossed Aegis, glimmering lines in the air.

"You have failed, Gwendolyn Tennyson. You shall be left to your error for eternity." A voice spoke, and the lines grew more solid. The Gorgon Head became coloured, green scales and writhing snake hair, but its eyes were closed.

They then opened, and Gwen couldn't even scream. She felt her body instantly stiffen, and saw more golden light pour forth from her rigid form into the book in her hand, eyes managing to flicker back to the book just in time for her to stop being able to move them. She felt herself grow cold, and realised her skin was greying. She heard a soft sound, like flowing dirt or sand.

And then she was seeing from two sets of eyes. Her own, locked in place now staring at the book as each name vanished one by one, and from the golden apparition of the Aegis before her. The second set of eyes gave her sight of what was happening as her first vision dimmed.

She saw herself, standing with the book in one hand, turning to stone. She was almost entirely grey, a green-gold glow shining off her form in the second vision. Her original eyes still held a faint glimmer of life even as they dulled, even as she was seeing less and less light.

And then it stopped. For a second, she saw blackness and her own stone form. No glow of gold or green. Just her now grey, solid skin clashing with her blue-white clothing.

She saw the book gently float from the rigid, granite fingers that held it. The second set of eyes she saw from were drawn towards the book, and she could hear voices.

All the others who had failed to get through the book...

Without the capacity to scream, Gwen felt her mind be drawn into the book, leaving behind her empty, petrified body. Her last sight was of the book shimmering and fading away. For a brief second, she knew everything. Why she had not seen it before. The book had only just arrived in the library, and now she had failed, it was moving on to attract a new student. And closed, she felt herself going into a state of hibernation...

It was little comfort to her to realise how many others were now just part of the book when she awoke. She and the others trapped within all stared at the new reader. Many voices whispered their hopes for the new reader to succeed. Some wished they could go home. Some wept. Some screamed. Some willed the reader to fail.

But Gwen was silent until the reader, a girl barely her age again, began reading the foreword. That was when she screamed, screaming at the girl staring down to stop, to flee, to just ignore this book... The other voices still cried out their wishes. The same wishes.

Each of them was reduced to words, the same words over and over, their last attempt to communicate with the reader. The whispers embossed into each golden mark of the normal invocation spells

But the reader didn't hear any of them. Not until she read them. And even then, she would not understand what the golden marks that had once been readers were saying.