Gilgamesh and Florence moved through the Library together, her flying slowly and him walking slowly.
She wondered whether he would be able to keep up with her or not, but when she paid closer attention to the way he walked, she noticed that the natures beneath his feet were gliding along, allowing him to both walk on and slide along with them.
It was a marvel to witness, and she surreptitiously tried to figure out how exactly he was doing it. She could clearly see what natures he was relying upon to do it, but she couldn't figure out how he was manipulating them.
It seemed far too natural; there was nothing for her to pick up on- no method or anything of the sort.
"You're good at that," She noted without looking him in the eyes. "I should expect no loss from her perfect creation."
Gilgamesh rubbed his nose, "I kinda... sorta... gleamed the inner workings of every nature of true energy..."
"All of them? In the entire library?" Florence asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah."
She turned to look at him, smiling. Gilgamesh had thought that she would be shocked or surprised, or show even a hint of disbelief, but that was not the case.
There was relief in that smile. Florence seemed pleased to know that, and she nodded in satisfaction.
"That should make it easier for you, then."
"For me?" Gilgamesh blinked.
"See this?" Florence pointed at the void they were traversing, and her finger moved in a circle, indicating that she was referring to everything around them.
"This is the part of the Library that contains writings. It's a space designed to house Omniverse-sized dimensions, while simultaneously perpetuating separation between the other divisions of the Library."
Gilgamesh stopped, and when Florence noticed him stop she halted and turned to face him.
"Other divisions? So there's more to the Library than this endless sky of Book Collections?" He pressed, seeming agitated.
Florence chuckled, "Of course there is. The Beginningless Library is the very height of scriptural complexity. There are overlapping layers to it, all separated by fields- or barriers- that, for all intents and purposes, don't even exist."
"If you don't know about them, then there's no way for you to ever find out about them."
Gilgamesh watched as Florence turned and kept flying. As he wondered after the meaning behind her words, he also found himself inspecting her appearance further.
He did not understand her, and that thought occupied his mind so much that he had barely even gotten a close look at her.
He moved to follow, and they continued on their way.
"Each of the Library's layers are responsible for isolating key elements, allowing them to interact with the rest of the Library while making the opposite impossible."
"One of those key elements... is the Story."
Florence stopped, and Gilgamesh stopped right next to her, looking over at her. He had to look up a bit; she was quite a bit taller than he was.
"How... do you know so much...?" Gilgamesh asked, sounding out of breath due to his bafflement.
"I know more about the Beginningless Library than anyone does. Even her." Florence did not so much as bat an eyelash after such a bold claim, then she directed Gilgamesh attention elsewhere.
"If you can tap into the true energy natures of the Library, then you can open a pathway into one of those other layers." She pointed at the space in front of her, and gave Gilgamesh a silent command with her eyes.
"You can open a pathway to the Story. Do that, and you can witness firsthand why she has to go."
Gilgamesh looked between Florence and the empty void she was directing him toward. He was at a loss for a moment before he put the pieces together.
He was still hung up on Florence's statement, wondering why she would say that. "I'm sorry, what? A pathway? How do I do that?"
Florence scoffed, "If you don't know, find the answer yourself. Your mind is just as perfect as you are."
With a pause, Gilgamesh looked around with wide eyes. "I can do that? For something like this?"
Florence's foxy ears twisted, and she rubbed her mouth as she lightly coughed, like she was stifling a laugh. "Maybe. Think about it and see if your mind reveals anything to you."
"If you're destined to find out, you will."
Gilgamesh froze up, meanwhile Florence just folded her arms and stood there.
He was reminded of something Ateah had said to him. Something she told him he would say to her a lot, whenever she asked too many questions.
Gilgamesh felt the murky bitterness of his emotions rising, out of his control before he could even realize what was happening.
He smiled at the warmth of the memory, but his smile fractured as pain set in. He fought to hold it back, but the more he did so the easier it was for his emotions to press through.
There were far too many cracks in his determination to remain unfeeling. Cracks that appeared the instant Florence said those words.
She noticed his internal struggle, and tilted her head. Her foxy ears were cocked, like she was listening closely to something.
"Your heartbeat's weird, and your thoughts are in a mess. You want to cry as well, don't you?" She frowned.
"What is it?"
Gilgamesh thought back to what little he knew about her. He thought that she knew, and was throwing the words back at him.
Taunting him. Using his pain to hurt him.
But why would she?
Reason did not seem to be retained in his mind for long.
Gilgamesh frowned. "Do you really not know?"
"Do you really not know who was the last person that said those words to me?"
Florence blinked, at a total loss.
Gilgamesh shut his eyes and took deep breath after deep breath, trying to grasp onto the calm that was eluding him.
"What are you on about? Did I touch a sore spot or something? Who said those words to you? Your girlfriend?"
"Did she kill your girlfriend?"
Florence was trying to figure out why Gilgamesh's mood had changed the way it did; Gilgamesh then realized that she seemed to actually have no idea where he had last heard those words.
"Listen, I don't care about your dead girlfriend, okay? If I said the same things she did, it's purely coincidental. In fact, your girlfriend's lucky to have said words like that in her lifetime."
"Those are some of the words I live by. She must have been a pretty awesome person."
Listening to Florence, Gilgamesh bitterness faded without him even needing to push it down. She took his thoughts off of the pain, and he focused only on the warmth.
For the first time, he chose to feel something.
"She was my... little sister..."
"The 12th Gilgamesh."
Florence nodded slowly, "12th, huh? I didn't know about that one. You were the last I saw before..."
Florence cleared her throat.
"I didn't think there would be another after you. You were pretty much exactly what she wanted from the character."
"Why did she create a 12th?"
Gilgamesh shrugged, "It doesn't matter anyway."
"Exactly," Florence took a breath and refocused on the empty space in front of her. "What's important is finding out whether you can open a pathway or not."
Gilgamesh swallowed and nodded, "Mm."
Focusing his mind, he pondered the thought.
Seeking understand with every fibre of his being, his perfect mind set about wondering: Can I create a passageway into another layer of the Library? How would I even do that?
As he thought about it, his mind began to breach ornamental limits and shatter the conceptual guidelines of Gilgamesh's perceived reality.
His soul was opened to endless possibilities, but only one of them opened itself to him. In that moment, the spectral Nature of Enlightenment appeared in his eyes.
Florence's brows twitched and her ears perked up as soon as she saw the light in his eyes.
Gilgamesh saw more weird visions and things he did not understand. He saw memories that he knew were not his, and learnt things he had no right to learn.
In the end, before his sight returned to normal, he began to ponder the concept of Florence herself.
That was when all his visions went away, and his mind was left in the dark. All he saw was the image of a woman with hair made of paper. Countless hands continuously wrote in her hair, recording things that Gilgamesh could not read.
When he blinked, he was staring at Florence's eyes and his enlightenment had ended.
Florence had two beautiful yellow eyes, filled with colors and lights that left Gilgamesh in a temporary state of awe. Coupled with the visions, Florence's eyes made for a deadly double whammy.
He gulped and wiped his face. Florence moved closer with a questioning gaze.
"Well?"
Gilgamesh nodded in affirmation. "I may be able to do something."