The group began talking to each other, starting from a few whispers to audible conversations. Breaking the silence.
Calliope and Colton kept walking side by side, she was still reading from the book while Colton only stared at the path ahead, or glanced at the page of Calliope's book for a split second.
The fear he had earlier started to go away, feeling safer than earlier.
As they went on, Calliope started speaking to him. "How was your job in the dungeon?"
"It's been alright so far. More and more prisoners each day but the streets became safer."
"I could see that when I was coming to pick you up for this task." She smirked after speaking, happy that her friend was helping the kingdom for the better.
"What about you? How's your job of guarding the king himself?" He turned his head to Calliope, her eyes still fixated on reading.
"I just stood next to him most of the time or escorted him somewhere. In my free time the only thing I could do was just check on the royal archives."
"You were always a bookworm." Colton laughed, despite their ranks and titles. The two acted more like close friends rather than colleagues.
Soon, they went on, talking more and more about their jobs and other mundane subjects.
The only ones silent were the twins, focusing on walking with tired bodies and exhausted minds.
The walk across the path soon became more easy and less tiring as their minds were occupied with speaking to each other.
While they kept moving, everyone was getting more and more tired, until Calliope ordered another rest. This time for 10 minutes as she looked intently on the book she held.
With nothing more to do other than talk, Colton sat next to Calliope.
"Are we near that book you talked about before?"
"I don't know either. I only got more information about it."
"Like what?"
"Says here that not only will there be guards, but there may be other possible guests that await, unsure what it means by that."
While she continued on, Colton noticed that the twins were sitting across them, already asleep. Calliope also taking notice of it.
"This is really reminding me of the expeditions back in the army." Calliope commented. Memories started flooding his mind again, the expeditions he went on, the marches. Giving him some slight relief.
"At least you stayed in the tent, we had to stay outside in the cold." Calliope chuckled for a second before stopping.
"I also took watch outside in the cold you know."
"Watching from outside the tent entrance doesn't count." She laughed at Colton's reply.
"Got me there."
After a few more minutes, she ordered everyone to get up and start walking, the twins struggled to stand, but were now slightly less tired than earlier.
As they walked on, Calliope began moving closer to the bookshelves. Placing her hand on the books as she passed by, suddenly grabbing a few and storing them quickly.
The books had a mark like the ones before, preferring to store the others to deal with later.
"Are you and Miss Calliope close friends?" Celestine was walking just behind Colton, curious after watching the two talk earlier.
"Uh, yeah. We fought together before."
"Like in wars?"
"A few yes, but the rest were just skirmishes outside the kingdom." Celestine nodded her head, listening intently.
"You must have had a lot of adventures."
"Sure did."
The rest of the trip returned to silence, everyone began observing the environment they are in.
Colton was unsure how long they were even walking, nonetheless, he put his hope into finally reaching that book.
On the walk, Calliope started to speak, wishing to help pass the time by offering another passage she managed to translate.
"The world portals are meant to be safe havens for the survivors of the escape. Those who managed to enter these worlds could live forever."
The passage interested Colton. "Live forever?" He muttered to himself.
Another question rose in his mind. The escape. For now he kept it to himself, although he was curious. He was too tired to think straight, wishing to find the book and finally rest for more than a few minutes.
On the move, Colton began getting bored, slowly losing track of time again. He took out his weapon, trying to pass the time by inspecting it. Something he normally did when bored in the past.
"Is something wrong?" Calliope turned to look at him from behind.
"No, just checking my weapon." Calliope could already sense the tiredness from his voice.
"Don't worry, this walk won't last forever, we managed to gain more ground. Besides, information from here says that each bookshelf holds a million or so books. Judging by how much we passed, I say we may be near." Colton was horrified by her last sentence.
"Did you count them!?" He quickly asked, although he knew she was a bookworm, he did not expect her to also count this much.
"Most likely, we were nearly halfway. And since the passage says that book worlds lie in the middle of the bookshelf path, it's starting to get closer." She replied.
Colton looked at her with a face of shock.
"How did you think I managed to rank up to be a scout and supply handler back at the army?"
In the past, Colton used to see Calliope handling the supplies and scouting tasks given. Typically missions for the smartest of the army to handle.
"No wonder…" They continued walking down, but a feeling of relief washed over him like a wave after hearing that they were closer.
"Only a few more minutes I hope." He whispered to himself.
The group continued their march, Colton continued wiping away any dirt on his weapon, wishing that it would help in passing the time.
He noticed that the area was dustier and more covered with webs, brown dust piled on the bottom of the shelves, some even covering the books closest to the floor.
Some began covering their noses as the air was being filled with dust. The smell of old paper and wood filled the path.
Finally, Calliope stopped. In front of her, on one of the bookshelves, a massive book that took the entire part of the shelf it was on.
Everyone looked at it in awe and surprise. Colton noticed 6 smaller books were placed on both sides. All facing the front, adorned with markings and symbols.
Calliope approached the large book, putting her hand on it. She read from the book she was holding, trying to get more knowledge.
She turned around after a few moments of silently reading.
"That is one giant book." Marcus commented, walking closer to it.
Calliope walked back, reading more from the book.
"How do I activate these books?" She flipped through the pages, her words caught the attention of Marcus.
"We can just open these, y'know, I doubt it would be that hard." He sarcastically remarked.
He placed his hands on one of the smaller books, and began pulling the cover open.
Oddly, it didn't even budge, stuck in place as Marcus continued trying to pull it back.
After struggling for a while, Marcus gave up.
"Guess those years of mercenary training didn't give you that much muscle." Quill mocked. Marcus was annoyed by what she said but was too exhausted to reply.
Celestine and the clerics were busy looking at the books closely, curious.
In a minute, Calliope found what she was looking for.
"It says here that we need a spell to be cast on the main book to awaken the others." After reading for a moment, her left hand glowed white, she slowly approached the main book.
Everyone moved back, preparing their weapons for a battle as the clerics hid behind them.
With brief doubt, she placed her hand on the book's cover. But nothing happened, and the glow on her hand disappeared.
Before anyone could react, Calliope was thrown back with great force, slamming into the bookshelf behind her, causing an avalanche of books to fall on her.
To their horror some of the books started glowing, figures began to form on top of them. The 6 books that were once shut, opened instantly after, a dark red glow came out of them, the guards Calliope had spoken of before began forming.
Calliope got up, realizing the situation they brought themselves into. The entire group was fearful as more spawned from the opened books on the ground.
"Oh hell, I would be happy right now. But there are too many!" Marcus yelled.
"Shut it, keep it together, we must stay concentrated." Quill promptly shouted back at him, trying to calm him and the others down, with an arrow at the ready, aimed towards one of the figures.
Celestine was terrified, she was trembling while trying to keep a stance, her eyes rapidly looking at each of them as they continued to form.
Colton could only stay silent, looking at them all with his weapon in his hands.
Calliope's hand started to glow a faint purple, before closing it into a fist, stopping the glow.
"We went this far. We can't run away now. But if the situation warrants that we must retreat, I can summon the portal so we can escape if we are losing." She loudly explained to the group.
Slowly, the figures appeared one after the other, along with the ones from the larger books.