Rickard and Boris, who had just charged wholeheartedly into the unknown, found themselves running in place; floating freely in space. As they felt themselves moving forward slowly, or what they though was forwards, the space around them started to increase in density. It started give more resistance and almost felt like it was turning solid around them. The space started to feel soft and brushed them gently; actually it was tickling them. From one moment to the next they could feel solid ground under their feet again, and could distinguish a forward direction again. This hadn't helped them visually, however, and they were forced to walk forward slowly, hands ahead of them, probing ahead in the hopes of offsetting their completely dark surroundings. They walked on in this fashion for a while before the soft tickling of the air around them suddenly and abruptly ended as they found themselves walking through a scarlet curtain, they had finally reached the other side. They had walked through a smaller version of the gate they walked into, now staring in awe at a magnificent and seemingly massive library.
The doorway through which they had entered the library led them immediately unto a balcony overseeing a large open space filled by many floors and shelves of books. They both walked slowly towards the edge, overwhelmed by the size of it all. The were looking at the inside of a large sphere, and everywhere along its edges were offshoots of stone that formed the floors that were entirely dedicated to the shelving of countless books while leaving a clearly visible spherical absence in the middle.
A sense of weight fell upon them. This was far too many books for them to check. Without communicating, they each ran in a different direction towards the nearest bookshelf, rummaging through a couple of books frantically in the hopes of finding a start point. This was problematic. They quickly confirmed with each other through glances that they couldn't really make heads nor tails of most of these books. They did not seemed to be in any order they expected. It was not alphabetical, it certainly wasn't by author, or genre or even the colour of the covers.
Rickard snapped himself out of his mesmerised state and ran over to the nearest bookshelf. He skimmed through a few books. He then ran over to a different shelf and did the same. By the third set of books he turned over to shout his findings at Boris.
"The books are arranged by theme," He shouted, "I'm not sure how better to explain it, but we need to find books with a royal flair."
"What now?" Boris said as he snapped out of his amazement, "What does that even mean?"
"Those shelves over there were all earthy and regular looking," Rickard began, pointing to the shelves he had just investigated, "Their content reflected that. We need something that is shiny and impressive, very much the opposite of that."
A moment of silence hung in the air.
"I think that we'll know it when we see it." Rickard added.
Rickard walked back up the balcony railings overlooking the library.
"If you go that way," He said as he pointed towards the left, "And I go this way, we will cover the most ground."
They both started running in opposite directions.
"Remember," Rickard shouted over his shoulders, "Shiny, new, regal, something with prominence, we don't have much time. Meet back here as soon as possible."
Rickard, very aware of the tight deadline, maintained the fastest pace he could while still giving himself enough time to look past every shelf. The further he ran the more the though settled in his mind that their task was impossible, the library was simply too big. He had only run what he estimated was about a quarter of the distance he had to cross and already he had noted three separate corridors worth investigating. As he continued to pace he tried to imagine variables with which to eliminate potential aisles to check.
By the time he had reached the halfway point, he had already noted ten shelves he would need to go back to, so any way to limit the books he would need to look at was more than welcome.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the library, Boris was not covering his ground as quickly, though luckily he had not yet seen any important shelves yet. He tried to keep up a jogging pace but he was constantly running out of breath, needing to walk along for a few bookshelves in order to catch himself. While he was walking at a slower pace, as he was about a third of the way, he spotted a special display of books between some distant shelves.
He walked over to spot three big pillars, each displaying a massive ornate tome. The space given to show off these three massive books was easily the size of two entire aisles and each book was larger than he was.
Aside from their impressive size they were also decorated with so many intricate details; gems and gold along the edges of the cover. Boris noticed that though the gold and gems were brilliant, the cover itself was worn and dusty with most of the writing adorning the cover too faded to identify.
If there was something that evoked what Rickard told him, these were certainly them. Boris slowly approached the book in the middle reaching out to the large lock that kept the tome shut. When he got close enough to touch it, he stopped himself from doing so as he noticed that the text on the cover had become much clearer, and what seemed like dust seemed to be part of the fabric of the cover. The books had looked older and damaged from a distance, which up close they entirely shone with a radiance that fazed him. The sound of dripping followed by a loud thud snapped him out of his paralysis and he turned around to face the direction of the sound.
He looked intently at the shelves of books but saw nothing out of place, no movement or presence to explain the noise; forgetting the titanic books behind him entirely.
He ran over quietly only to find a book on the ground, face-down. Though he could not read what it was called he did identify that it was also adorned with gems and golden edges. He picked it up to read the title, before rushing to open it, almost dropping it. The few pages he went through had him worried.
On the other side, Rickard had finished running down his entire area in a preliminary skim, at which point he had identified twenty set of shelves of note. It was at the moment he was trying to work out how best to go through them that he heard the Boris should his name in the distance.
"Rick… Rick… Rickard!" Boris' voice echoed, "I found the book, we can stop looking."
Rickard was in absolute disbelief and needed a moment before he headed over to find Boris. It didn't take very long for them to
"I found a few more books that are definitely worth a look over there," Boris said as he pointed behind him, "But I found this on the floor."
He held up the book to Rickard.
"Two Kingdoms At War: Perpetual Torture" Rickard read out loud, "That can't be, right?"
He took the book from Boris and tried to skim through pages quickly but carefully.
War. Marriage. Shrines. Royalty. Map of their kingdoms in a style he had never seen before. He couldn't find any name to identify the kingdoms nor the map but it was too close to be a coincidence.
"We need to get this to Svetlana as soon as possible," Rickard explained to Boris as he handed him the book, "You take it to her and I will investigate those other books you were talking about. There should be some time remaining for me to do so before the doors close."
"But Rickard," Boris protested, "Svetlana will need you to decipher this book, you are far smarter than I am. You should go in my stead."
"If that was the case," Rickard began, not used to Boris protesting, "What's the point of you staying here to investigate the other books? This book cannot contain everything, so I best investigate before we get out of here."
"Well, Euh, Okay," Boris hesitated somewhat, "I hear what you are saying, but you might want to see the books first."
"But more importantly," Boris said, more quietly this time, motioning Rickard to come close, "I don't think were alone in here."
"What are you talking about?" Rickard said plainly, "We are in a library that has clearly not been visited in a who knows how long."
"Rick," Boris said in a serious tone, "I didn't tell you what happened before I found this book. When I was inspecting those other books I told you about I heard a noise, this book was on the floor when I investigated."
"Books don't just fall off the shelves…" Rickard then finished in Boris' stead.
Rickard nodded in agreement, though it still didn't make sense how it was possible.
"Show me where it happened," Rickard said as he stood up straight, "We'll decide what to do then."
Boris led the way and before long they arrived at the site where Boris had found the book. While the library seemed overall clean and well maintained, it was still possible to see the slightest accumulation of dust everywhere around, including where the book had clearly fallen to the ground. What struck Rickard as he quickly looked around the area was that there were no books missing anywhere on the shelves around them, each one of them filled completely with old dusty books that had otherwise remained undisturbed for a very long time. He then asked Boris to show him these other books. Rickard was impressed when he arrived at the three pedestals supporting the three gigantic tomes. They were large, they were beautiful looking and Rickard immediately realised they were not going to be useful at this moment.
Rickard visibly stopped everything and stood there thinking for a minute.
"Right." He announced, "Let's go, Boris. We found what we need for now."
He then pulled Boris a little close.
"I can't say I have noticed any sign of life in this library," He said in hushed voice, "But I think you are right, something isn't right here and we may not be alone."
What Rickard hadn't mentioned and managed to hide carefully from Boris is that he was actually quite worried. The book that Boris found, while seemingly exactly what they were looking for, could not possibly have been placed here by accident. They needed to get out of here before they met whom- or whatever orchestrated this.
Rickard signalled Boris to give him the book and they started running for the door they had come in through. As they were running Rickard took a good look at the cover again. So many questions rushing through his mind. He couldn't trust this book, yet it seemed so important while also being their only lead so far.
Rick saw that Boris had gotten slightly ahead of him and he put the book under his arm in order to run faster. He quickly caught up to Boris on the set of stairs back up to the viewing balcony. As Rickard reached the top of the staircase they heard a loud and low thumping sound coming from the door just ahead.
"The doors are closing!" Rickard shouted, "We should have had more time!"
Boris was still struggling up the stairs as the curtain interior of the door waved violently as the stones started sliding closed.
"Don't worry… About me…" Boris heaved, "Just get the book… Out of here!"
Rickard nodded and tightened his body, focused his mind and took a short but power breath. Something inside him surged with power and he undertook the hardest sprint of his life. He clutched the book hard unto his chest when he got close enough to jump, spearing himself through the small opening remaining.
Boris got to the top of the stairs in time to see Rickard throw himself into the velvet curtains, the door about to close. Just before Rickard was swallowed out of the library he could see as Boris was left behind with no hope of making it.
The door slammed shut. Silence hung as Boris tried to get his breath back. Eventually he walked up to the stone door and put his hand firmly against it, taken aback by how cold it felt. He didn't move his hand despite desperately wanting to, he was coming to terms with the reality of his situation. He simply stared at the door feeling sweat dripping down his face.
Suddenly, everything seemed a little darker and the feeling of a looming shadow grew on his back. The sweat on his face turned violently cold; he was definitely not alone anymore.