The 14-year-old boy James finally stopped running after he figured he lost the bullies. He heaved and coughed, trying to catch his breath. Curse the day those guys found out his kinks...all of them! And the leader of the bunch keeps threatening to tell everyone, and ruin his life even more. Why were people like this? Was it just human instinct, to pick on people with kinks like his? He scoffed at that, overthinking things as usual. It sure would be great if his kinks weren't a bullyable offense.
He grumbled and looked around, he was definitely in a part of the town he rarely visits. That's fine, he knew his way well enough to tread back the right direction home. He barely started walking when his eye caught a small store that was painted light purple, standing out from the drab greys around it. An old sign was boarded into an even older building that read "Magic Library". James was definitely curious to say the least.
He shrugged, deciding to check it out. He walked in, and was greeted by the librarian. She had a sweet lady feeling to her, while her back was hunched over severely. "Welcome to the Magic Library" she croaked in the most kind great-granny voice James could picture.
James looked around a bit, puzzled look on his face. "So what's so magic about this library?"
The granny just stood there, looking at James, there was an awkward pause and then the librarian asked. "If you're trying to talk, speak up!" Which jarred James to the point where he stuttered as he repeated his words, louder for her to hear. The Librarian shakes her head. "No sonny, it's not magic, although the contents are all magic books! Someone suggested that the name would attract more customers, looks like he was correct!"
The granny cackled softly as James thanked her and started browsing the shelves. There was one shelf at the very back that was covered in cobwebs. He's never seen so many cobwebs, it kind of fascinated him, so he got closer and closer until he noticed there was a book buried in the webs. Curiosity grew as he braced himself to quickly grab the book and dust it off, which he did with minimum effort. The cover of the book was written in some foreign language with lots of runes. He opened the leather cover and on the first page, it read "think about what you want to know and then turn the page". He continued his last thought from before he saw the shop.
"I want to know what the human instincts are"
He turned the page, and was met with two blank pages that soon started to write in itself. James' eyes was opened wide as he read: "Humans have two instincts: The strongest is the need to survive as long as possible. The secondary instinct is to be as happy as possible indefinitely."
James was amazed, this was some weird ass AI, how did they make the machine look and feel like a book...especially one clearly as old as this? ...What was this? James' curiosity was through the roof, he had to take this, but how to make sure the librarian doesn't know? It seems very valuable, if she sees it, she'll probably remember it, luckily her eyesight is bad. He grabbed a huge, wide book that said "101 Magic Tricks and How to Perform Them". He then held the leather book in the middle of the back cover of the magic tricks book, managing to just barely hold it there with his thumbs as he grips the sides of the larger book.
He approaches the librarian, showing her only the front cover. "May I check out this book, ma'am?"
The granny squinted to see the large print and smiles and nods happily. "Sure thing boy! What's your name so I can remember you checking it out?"
"James Wilder" he blurted out, so nervous from trying to keep a straight face from stealing that he didn't think of choosing a fake name.
"Ah James, thank you! Feel free to check it out as long as you like! We don't have due dates, there's no point when it's as slow as we are." The Granny seemed sad for a split second but then perks up. "You have a great day James, enjoy!"
James backed up and braced the large book and the smaller one tightly on his chest, and waved with his other hand, making sure both books were secure. "I'll return it eventually, thank you!"
James ran straight home and got to his room. He belly flopped on his bed, clutching the book as he opened the cover again. "think about what you want to know and then turn the page"
"Are you and AI or a machine?"
He flipped the page, reading, "This book is neither, it is magic" James was still not convinced.
"Prove to me that you're magic"
He turned the page, "You can change the rules of the universe to whatever you want."
This was some fever dream. Did those bullies do some damage to him? He thought about the human instincts again, wondering what to change.
"Humans have two instincts: The strongest is the need to survive as long as possible. The secondary instinct is to be as happy as possible indefinitely."