The deeper he got the more extravagant bookstands got. Some of them had mysterious carvings on their sides, others had some reliefs sculpted there. Even the books were changing, from subjects like philosophy, sociology, math, chemistry, and physics to language and history, and then to novels. First historical, then s-f, and finally something that pre-catastrophe could be called pure fantasy. Then to the occult, magic, and other different subjects.
Minutes turned to hours, and he was getting deeper and deeper. To discover what the gnome was saying was right. This place was weirder and weirder the deeper you got.
The bookshelves started to move with just a bit of noise, as they slid across the marble floor, shifting, and changing the layout of the maze they were forming. At first, it scared the boy, but then he got used to it, as he made his way further.
Some even had archways inside them, leading to spaces that looked completely different. Like there were libraries inside the library.
He got closer to one of them and peeked inside. There was a staircase there leading down, which was actually straight ahead of him. It was very deep with books on shelves placed on the wall surrounding it. Each level had a couple of torches made out of metal and bolted to the walls with flames sustained by magical means. It was going so deep, that he actually couldn't tell if it even had an end. This kinda scared him, so he took a step back.
He decided to not go there, and instead look around some more. Eventually, though, his body started feeling the exhaustion of a full day filled with walking and running. It was there long ago, but when the excitement switched sides with boredom, caused by the silence and the same view over and over, no matter how many steps further he made, he started to feel the need to take some rest.
Soon after he stopped to take a break, as he sat on the marble floor, with his back against a massive wall of books, with the skateboard resting right next to him, leaning against it. His stomach growled at him demanding food, but because of the prank, he actually didn't have anything in his backpack, so he just remained there, looking around for a moment before his eyes got tired, and eyelids strangely heavy.
It was so peaceful and warm there, that sleeping for a few minutes didn't sound like a bad idea. Falafel warned him about monsters and ghosts, but he didn't see a thing so far. There was nobody else he managed to meet during his travels, so his anxiety died with time. It got replaced with a strange feeling of comfort. Boredom even.
He passed out before he managed to realize it and found himself in a completely dark place. The blackness was moving, twisting itself. Soon he realized it was dissolving into colors. At the same time, he felt a surge of power entering his veins to the rhythm of the heartbeat. It was like a fire that was burning but not to the point of discomfort. With the light coming from all the browns, dark oranges, and the slowly emerging reds he tried to look at his hands, but they simply weren't there.
He didn't have a body, which was frightening. He quickly realized it was a dream, but despite it, he didn't wake up. This pushed him to decide to watch what was transpiring even with the panic slowly gaining momentum in his mind.
The twister of colors split even more changing into a slowly swirling rainbow. It was mesmerizing. He couldn't look away, completely focused on the strange view ahead of him. He was like a small child, glued to the TV screen, watching a cartoon.
Then Trevor realized something, which hit him like a fist to the face. He was just staring at the colorful covers of hundreds of books standing on the multiple shelves ahead of him.
He was in the same library he fell asleep in, with the backpack and skateboard by his side. Sitting actually quite uncomfortably, with even more volumes behind him. He quickly picked himself up, suddenly, and painfully realizing that such an uncomfortable sleeping position took a toll on his body.
Pushing through the pain he somehow got back on his feet and looked around. Everything surely was the same and he still had no idea where to go. He felt hunger, but there was this determination in his heart to seek the magic, which was the key to his future. He didn't want to end up in the fifth district, stuck near the all-powerful barrier, which, as the rumors said, was slowly making people change.
Hew started walking, and just as he passed the corner, he also realized that he was wrong. During his sleep, a lot changed. The immediate vicinity of his sleeping spot looked like the only part of 'The Grand Library' that didn't morph into something else.
Ahead of him was a grim view of the twisted bookshelves made out of black wood, with sharp thorns sticking out, and volumes with names on their spines clearly indicating some forms of dark magic arts. There was also this thick black fog covering the floor almost everywhere, and in some parts, even completely obscuring the sight of what was further. The light also got dimmer, despite it being quite bright just behind him.
He immediately turned around, gasping as fear climbed its way to his mind, just to discover the same behind him.
- Shit – escaped his mouth.
He swallowed his spit as his lips were trembling, looking for courage in his heart to keep pursuing the goal which led him so far, but there was not much of it left.
- Trev… You have to go – he said to himself. - You have to go. You have to.
He tried to reassure himself with the simple words, and clenching his teeth took the first step into the unknown. As he made it further his confidence grew, but it soon shattered with some strange low sound reaching his ears. He froze and slowly looked around, but didn't catch on anything, and then he heard another noise. A simple thud of something rather heavy hitting the ground not too far away from him. It was followed by a snarl, and then a growl.
He managed to locate from which direction it was coming from and decided to head to the opposite side. Slowly and carefully, to not make any unnecessary noises that could indicate his position.
He stepped into the corridor created by the tall, black, and covered in large thorns bookstands. The thick fog was sticking to him in a strange manner. It became clear in the next few minutes, that it was slowly climbing its way on the boy's body. This scared the shit out of him, and as he moved instinctually to get rid of it with his hands, he dropped the skateboard, which fell on the ground, making some noise.
Trevor immediately froze, listening carefully if whatever was making the noises before, caught onto that. For a moment he could hear only silence, and he used this time to slowly take a few steps back, as he remained facing the direction he just came from, but then a sound of something heavy falling onto the marble floor reached him from behind. It was accompanied by several loud clicks of the sharp fangs colliding with the stone.
Trevor immediately turned around, as the wave of black fog, pushed by the impact, reached him. A few meters ahead was a large creature with a long snout and jaws filled with large yellow teeth. It was covered in dark-grey fur, which even judging by a glance seemed to be very rough in touch. The creature's eyes were almost orange because of the bloodshot, and it was looking straight at him with saliva slowly dripping from its mouth.
The werewolf growled. Trevor didn't need another signal. He bolted running straight ahead, in the direction which he had just come from.
The beast let out a howl, and on all four started its pursuit.
For a moment boy thought that he is just simply dead. There was no way to run from such a terrifying monster. He was wrong though, the creature seemed to have some problems with gaining momentum on the slippery polished stone, which was the lifeline the boy desperately needed. He quickly changed a direction just as the wall of massive bookstands ended, hitting its edge with his shoulder. The smaller thorns ripped his clothes and dug into the flesh, causing a lot of pain.
He let out a groan but didn't slow down at all. Panting heavily he glanced around searching for a place to hide, but there was nothing, so he just ran straight ahead, and after a few long leaps, changed direction again.
Beast was still behind him. He didn't even have to look since the growls and snarls were a loud enough indicator of how close the werewolf actually was. He took his backpack off, opened it, grabbed his pencil case turned for a second, and threw it at the monster, which was struggling with the balance, as it kept slipping on the marble floor. It got hit by it, but it didn't do anything more than annoy the creature.
Trevor turned back to face the direction he was running towards, badly wanting to somehow lose the werewolf by changing directions, as the creature clearly was struggling with that. Monster slammed into the dark bookstand a few seconds later, making a few tomes fall off the shelves, which gave the boy a little bit of additional distance. Then his eyes caught something. There was light in all of the surrounding darkness, mainly because of the black fog. A bit further was one of those strange entrances straight into one of the walls covered in books. He headed for it.
As he got there, he discovered a wide spiral tunnel with tomes all around, on walls, ceiling, and the floor. He didn't even look once over his shoulder, just rushed forward. Gravity immediately changed, and his feet missed the floor. He went into freefall. A loud scream of panic escaped his mouth, but he managed to cover his mouth with one hand and block it, as he attempted to grab onto something with the other one. His fingers reached a book, but it just slid from its shelf and fell alongside him.
In an act of panic, he attempted to do that again, but it was too late. He slammed to the ground. His vision became foggy, but he noticed some shapes and colors before losing consciousness.