Chapter 45 CHAPTER 45
The library was as quiet as ever, the lights a bit dim but my eyes adjusted the further I walked in. My skin prickled with nerves as I wondered if anyone was hiding here, trying to attack me.
Being on some maniac’s radar was ruining my nervous system and I hated it. Shadows moved in my periphery but I ignored them, clearly, I was imagining things.
If anyone were in here with me, I would smell them, or hear their feet. My senses were that heightened and as much as it freaked me out sometimes, it was very useful now.
But my nerves were still shaky as I moved towards the part of the library that had books on doors and portals and magical stuff.
It was four lines, left and right, with Tomes and books heavy as lead.
But I had the perfect excuse to give my roommates – I had slept off in the healing room – and that gave me from now till tomorrow morning to get back to the hostel.
Besides, tomorrow didn't have much physical training, just bow and arrows for me alone, and meditation for everyone else. The rest of the day is also free for all but I had Master Florian later in the evening.
I could stay awake for as long as I needed and I wouldn't get crushed during training the next day.
I found the first book, Portals and Wizards, a guide to not get lost, and I flipped through the contents even though I knew it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.
Why did they even have wizards down here?
Flipping over to the last page, I put it back and moved on to the next book, repeating the process. I didn't know exactly what book would have the step-by-step guideline on how I could blink back but I was ready to comb through this entire library looking for it.
After sifting through five lines, I was now simply looking at tables of contents and the references. And so far, one name had been consistent through them all.
The Book of The Beginning.
So I focused on finding that instead. This place was not just rich in magic, but they preserved and documented every bit of it so I was confident that I could find what I was looking for soon and I would be able to get out of here.
Even though I was tall in the general sense, the shelves grew so much farther than my reach and I began looking for the ladder instead of books.
I'd toured around the place so many times and I was probably lost at this point when I finally found the wooden structure and to my greatest excitement, it had magical wheels.
Magical because it was floating on air and I didn't have to pull it all the way back to my starting point again. I just got on it and leaned in the direction I wanted to go. I don't know how I figured that out, my brain was on autopilot and I was in librarian mode. All I needed was a pair of glasses to complete the look, but then, my wet clothes would still ruin the aesthetic so let's focus on finding my way back home.
My thoughts spiraled as I began searching again, I was whispering to myself, picking and dropping books as time passed by.
Probably looked like a mad woman but hey, anything to get out of this weird simulation I'd fallen into literally.
“Why does this place have any sort of order to its arrangement?” I grumbled as I moved to another aisle as the other didn't have the book I was looking for.
I wasn't even opening books anymore, just sifting through titles, picking out some while searching frantically for the one that almost all of the magical books mention.
I found one on the mental state of one who wants to move from one realm to another and I placed it on top of the ladder atop three others that I found interesting and moved to the next aisle, lost in my thoughts.
“You have the most beautiful, curious eyes.”
“AH!” I shrieked, making the ladder shriek too and sending my screaming self down towards the ground, my eyes flashing before my eyes again.
But I didn't make it to the ground, warm hands catching me immediately.
“You are not about to hurt yourself on my watch New girl,” he said, that delicious voice vibrating through my body.
I jumped down from his hold as though he'd dipped me in a glacier.
‘I really need to stop falling for hot men in this world,’ I told myself as my eyes adjusted to look at the man before me.
Did someone hand-select the most breathtaking men in this world and send them my way?
He had a bulky build, but not too much. Like he could carry me or snap me like a twig but not hulk, carrying a car type of bulky.
And his hair was long, almost the length of mine, falling over his shoulder in loose waves that made me wonder how it looked right after a shower; probably made his hotness go from a hundred to one thousand.
His eyes were a stormy gray that pinned me to the spot but –
“You're wearing glasses,” I breathed, “dragon kin don't need glasses, why are you wearing glasses?”
‘Why are you losing your composure, Alira?!’
He smiled and shrugged.
“Well, this one does. What are you looking for?”
“Nothing!” I squeaked, realizing that telling someone about my reason for being here would get me in trouble, a bit too late.
“I seldom expect you to be going through the library shelves without any particular book in mind, especially at this time of the night. Come on, I won't judge, talk to me.”
“You won't understand,” I shook my head, “I've got it anyway. Just going to search through the last four aisles and I'll find it.”
“There are five hundred aisles on magical things. You really think you can go through them all in one night?”
His words made me frown, and I looked to my side down the wall that was at the end of this journey.
Only it wasn't actually a wall, it was a stack of books coloured the same, red in colour, making it look like there was a painting on the wall instead of it being just books.
I looked through a small hole, my view adjusting as I blinked, to discover that I was indeed going to be in here for a very long time.
Or I could tell my new friend here about the book and leave out the context; afterall, it doesn't specifically talk about one thing alone.
“I'm looking for one book,” I whispered, realizing I was trusting him without knowing his name. “What's your name?” I asked, stepping back to look closer at him.
“I'm Zade and you?”
“Alira.”
“Alright Alira, what book brings you to my library?”
“Your library?”
“That's hardly the name of a book.” I rolled my eyes and he chuckled before answering me. “Okay, I'm in charge of the library, in fact, everything you learn through books in this Academy, I control. So in a way, it is my library. Has been for the last twenty-five years.”
“You must be really old,” I whispered, looking at his skin as though he were an artefact in a museum.
“Yes, to you I must be. But tell me what brings the new student to where no one cares to visit?”
“You must be lonely in here all by yourself.”
“Loneliness is a mental concept that I disagree with, I'm alone but I'm in a different world every time I pick up a new book. Now, name.”
“You have no beards, I thought –”
“You're stalling. Why are you stalling? Are you looking for a sexual book? Are you trying to charm a boy into falling in love with you?”
“Ew. That's insulting.”
“I'm sorry, you're very accurate. Any man would be willing to cut off his left arm to be with you.”
“Well there's no need for that, and I'm not interested in anybody.”
“That's good. Tell me what book you're looking for, Alira.”
The words finally carried a power that enveloped me like a warm blanket.
“The Book of the Beginning.”
“Nope. Not giving you that Miss,” he shook his head and walked away.