"Maleficent, honey, those are guns."
My eyes widened. "Guns?" I repeated, my voice barely a whisper, the word feeling terribly out of place in this magical, ancient library. Mira, who had been so calm and composed moments before, now had a tight line to their lips as they approached the slumped figure of ‘Professor Milway.’
Ginger's relief evaporated, replaced by a renewed tension. "So, who's Professor Milway?" she asked, her voice hushed.
"Mira Milway, Professor Milway's twin sibling," Mira replied, their voice a low rumble. They were now right beside the professor's desk, their keen black eyes scanning the scene.
Their prosthetic arm, gleaming in the faint light, moved with precision as they lifted the cloth covering what I'd first mistaken for simply more papers. Beneath it lay a collection of broken-down gun parts – disassembled barrels, shattered grips, and twisted firing pins. It was clearly the remnants of the firearms I'd glimpsed earlier, now rendered useless.
"My brother left for the Isle and never returned," Mira's voice was a low rumble, heavy with unspoken history. "No contact or forms of communication, overtime," They paused, their black eyes narrowed towards Ginger, as a complicated mix of emotions swirled within them. "I grew a horse's ass. Before he left, he told me to keep protection with these broken parts and gave me his robe for his memory.” They held the teal robe tightly in their hand, rubbing the fabric with their thumb. "Milo hasn't been here for two and a half years," they stated, their voice barely a whisper, the weight of the years heavy in the air.
Ginger nudged me, her eyes wide as she whispered, "Those legs are made of metal." I followed her gaze, and sure enough, beneath the hem of Professor Milway's robe, peeking out from under the chair, I could clearly see the glint of metallic, articulated joints. They weren't skin or cloth; they were clearly a pair of highly advanced prosthetic legs.
This new detail added another layer to the mystery. Professor Milway wasn't just in a magically induced stasis; he had undergone a significant physical change, or perhaps this was why he left for the Isle in the first place. The implications were chilling. Was this a result of whatever happened to him on the Isle, or a pre-existing condition that only now became apparent? And how did a man with prosthetic legs get into this deeply hidden library, especially if he'd been gone for over two years?
"He didn't have those before," Ginger breathed, her eyes fixed on the metal limbs. "Not that I know of."
Mira, catching our hushed conversation, turned their gaze to their brother's legs. A flicker of surprise, then grim recognition, crossed their features. "Now that's a metal copy that he made of himself before he left and after Ginger's last visit." They looked back at us, their expression resolute despite the growing enigma. "We need to find answers, and fast."
The revelation landed with a dull thud.