"So, here's how it is. Unlike the human realm which is vast, the demon realm is smaller. We only have five territories. The north, the south, the east, the west, and the central territory where the demon lords and the ruler is located" Lily explained as she walked next to Ronnie.
She hardly talked about herself or her home, Ronnie was ultra focused on her explanation.
"So, what happens to the rest of the space where demons don't reside?" He asked.
"That's the part where these dammed souls came from. We call it the prison" Lily responded.
"Damned souls, my good ma'am, do you not mean to refer to them as phantoms?" Ronnie said, he had a silly grin on his face.
As they walked, he stole glances at her. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't make her smile. Ronnie took the hint and kept shut.
There wasn't any conversation till they got to the library.
"I wonder if they'll have any books on demons. I doubt they will" Lily said as they walked through the entrance.
"We won't know till we try, right? Let's just keep it positive. Something good might come out of this" Ronnie said.
They walked up to the librarian at the entrance desk.
"Hello, Mister, I'm looking for books on a particular subject. It might be a bit difficult to find" Ronnie said. While he talked, he noticed that Lily was staring blankly at nothing.
"hm, that's certainly an odd interest. May I ask what for?" The aged librarian asked politely.
"I just— we're occult enthusiasts. Think you could help us out?" Ronnie asked. He wore an unconvincing smile.
"I see. I hope I'm able to be of assistance" the librarian said.
He then came out from behind his desk and walked in front of them.
"This way please" He said, gesturing for them to come along.
Ronnie followed behind him for a few steps, then halted when he noticed that Lily was still standing in the same spot. He went back and grabbed her hand.
"C'mon. We might be able to find something" he said.
As he pulled Lily behind him, her face went from looking confused to wearing a warm smile.
"Here we are. We don't have a lot of books on the subject you requested for but I hope you atleast find something worth your while here" the old librarian said.
"Than—"
"You have our gratitude. Thank you" Lily said, cutting Ronnie off.
"If you need anything, I'll be at the front" the man said, moving past them and returning to his post.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Ronnie asked, looking up at the large shelves of books which surrounded them.
"You'll know when you see it. Take the left, I'll take the right" Lily said.
"Aye captain" Ronnie said, proceeding to work his way through the books on the bottom of the right shelf.
They had spent more than 10 minutes searching already and neither of them could find anything of substance to help their cause.
"There's quite a lot about demons here isn't there? The librarian made it sound like there were no books on demons here" Ronnie said. He had climbed up the ladder, looking through the books on the middle of the shelf.
"There aren't. False stories, misconceptions, myths. These books are basically fictional story books, master. I don't believe we will find valuable information here" Lily said, she let out an exhausted sigh afterwards.
"Wait, I think I might have found something. I'll just pull—" As Ronnie reached his hand further into the shelf to grab the book, he lost his footing on the ladder and fell.
Ronnie shut his eyes tightly and braced for the impact on the hard wooden floors.
To his surprise, he didn't touch the ground. Instead his call was cushioned by something soft, and warm. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself in Lily's arms, she was staring directly at him.
"Master, are you hurt? That was close" Lily said. She had a look of concern in her eyes.
Ronnie was distracted by how loud his heartbeat was in that moment.
"I'm— perfectly fine. You— you can put me down now. Thank you for saving me" Ronnie stuttered.
Lily put him down, she too was flustered in that moment but she knew how to put up a good poker face.
They stood away from each other in silence for a bit till Ronnie noticed the book on the floor, close to the shelf.
"Oh? It did fall off the shelf. I knew I grabbed it" Ronnie said.
"Lily, come look at this" he added, scanning through the book's texture with his fingers.
The book had a thick brown cover which was torn in half, on it were inscriptions Ronnie couldn't read because they were incomplete.
"Although I've never seen one like this before. I can tell it's ancient text. The type that could be found in bookholds like this one in the demon realm" Lily said as she analyzed the book.
She flipped through the pages one after the other, scanning through it.
"Is it anything useful?" Ronnie asked, his eyes held anticipation.
"Master, this book— It is a text on demon relics, artefacts, magical objects and even familiars" Lily said, her eyes widened.
Ronnie's mouth hung open, he was in disbelief.
"How— just how did a book like that get here and how did we manage to find it? This looks too specific to be coincidence" Ronnie said.
"It's not coincidence. It can't be. That librarian, we need to ask the old man. He might know how the book got here" Lily said.
"Lily hold on. This would mean that someone knows about you. They knew we'd be here on this date at this very time" Ronnie thought out loud, he stroked his chin.
"Quite the bright one aren't you, Mr. Carpenter?" A soft voice said as they heard slow footsteps approaching them.
"That voice, I recognize that voice. Stay close to me" Lily said, grabbing Ronnie's hand.