Chapter 13: Abandoned Library (2)
I stepped forward. My footsteps echoed in the hushed, timeless silence. I reached out and carefully touched one of the books, feeling its cool, worn cover beneath my fingertips. The title was written in a language I didn't recognize—a script that twisted and curved in ways I couldn't quite grasp, like ancient runes designed to repel unworthy eyes.
If I searched this entire library, would I be able to find a book in my own language? Or just a book about this language will do. What's the use of this discovery, if I can't even understand anything?
I walked around. There was something unnervingly peaceful about this place. Despite the absence of monsters, a sense of danger still lingered, like an unspoken warning woven into the very walls.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't alone, that the library itself was somehow... alive.
No. Let's not scare ourselves, Jade. I'm this close to singing one gospel song loudly to scare any evil entity.
Each row of bookshelves seemed to shift as I moved, as though guiding me, or perhaps, luring me, deeper within. I was already used to them moving on their own, but I couldn't shake the feeling of a pair of eyes monitoring my every movement.
Is it a monster?
Why isn't attacking? A monster with human intelligence? Now, that's terrifying. The hairs on my neck stood, and I could feel cold sweat trickling down my back.
As I continued walking, I noticed other things too. Flickering, ghostly lights... shit. Something ominous was lying where they flew. These bookshelves and these ghostly lights hovering around me were pushing me to go on further.
I glanced back, hoping for a way out before I peed my pants, but the vortex... I don't even know where I came from. I fell, but when I looked up, even the space above had shelves spanning endlessly until I couldn't see the books anymore.
Panic finally surged within me. I can't see the exit, but what about the entrance? When will the Seekers arrive? I'm beginning to think that I might be trapped inside this strange place. There was no escaping, at least not by conventional means.