Chapter 9

Summary

• The chapter starts with Evar following the Soldier down the hallway towards the reading room, which holds 'the Mechanism.' The Mechanism spawns 'Escapes' if one is destroyed, and the reading room is where they manifest.
• The Mechanism is at the center of the room, surrounded by numerous disorganized reading desks that Evar and his siblings often played and argued at during their childhood.
• Interestingly, as the siblings grew older, the playful tensions developed into serious issues and disputes, especially regarding their suspicions that Starval, one of the siblings, had murdered Mayland, another sibling.
• Evar's role is perceived by his brother Kerrol as the peacemaker of the family. He believes without Evar, the family would fall into utter chaos; Starval would commit multiple murders, Clovis would have killed out of anger, and Kerrol would have driven any survivors mad out of boredom.
• The assistant, a cold, ivory-formed humanoid figure who'd overseen their childhood learning, notices Evar's book. When Evar inquires about the book's origins, she replies that the person who finished writing the book was different from the one who started it.
• As they are pondering the book, the Mechanism shakes and a door opens, revealing Starval running away from a rapidly consuming dark maelstrom. The assistant quickly closes the door after he escapes but this results in a monstrous 'Escape' monster forming.
• The assistant fights the monstrous creature while Evar and Starval attempt to flee and hide among the reading desks. They realize that they need to draw the creature back into the Mechanism to stop it.
• Evar attempts to distract the creature but is saved by Starval. They realize the creature is slowly being sucked back into the Mechanism. In the end, as the creature gets destroyed and its remains sucked into the Mechanism, some of it escapes towards the passage.
• They also notice that the assistant is injured for the first time, revealing her potential mortality. The brothers also feel a strange force pulling them towards the Mechanism, hinting that they too might be destined to be drawn in, just like the 'Escape' monsters.