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Roman's expression spoiled into a twisted frown. He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and switched it on, adding another much needed light source to the dim chamber.

Hector looked at Garovel. "You didn't mention that when I touched the Moon's Wrath."

'Oh yeah, well, you'd already touched it before I realized that it was a soul vacuum, so I didn't see much point in telling you after the fact.'

Hector's mouth just remained open a little.

'In any event,' Garovel went on, 'there are plenty of different things that this orb could be. Given its size and transparency, it's unlikely to have much in common with the Moon's Wrath.'

"How do we figure out what it does?" said Roman.

'Try touching it,' said Voreese.

"Garovel literally just told me not to," said Roman.

'Yeah, and now that you know what you'd be getting yourself into, it'll be funny.'

"Shut up, Voreese."

'She's actually not entirely wrong,' said Garovel. 'The direct approach could work, but before we give that a try, how about we look through some of these bookshelves, first? There might be some relevant writing on what this thing does.'

'Yeah, yeah, if you wanna be all "smart" about it,' said Voreese.

And the group split up, Hanton included, in order to do as Garovel suggested. The first book that Hector looked through was written in a language that he didn't understand, and as he was about to ask Garovel about it, he glanced over and noticed Hanton holding a book as well.

Literally holding it. Then putting it back on the shelf. And grabbing another.

The man might've been an illusion, but those books were definitely real. He could sense their shape with the Scarf.

And so he had to ask. "How are you able to pick those books up?"