"I think this is our last stop."
They stood before its doors, overbearing with great presence, it made them look small. Pierced into its wood-metal amalgam surface, was four sets of legs packed in twos. The sturdy, razor-thin edged feet stretched upwards connecting to the rest of the sculpted figure, a spider-like construct bearing female features from the waist upwards. They could feel its dark, wooden eyes follow their every move.
"I... I wonder what's the stinger for..."
Its end gleamed, boasting of a destructive capability that could, at its best make light work of weak opponents and at the very worst, do major harm to well-seasoned opponents.
"Do we just knock or..."
"!"
As if listening in, the sculpture came to life, neither a rumble nor a sound, as it crawled onto one end of the massive doors, whilst gently shifting its weight. It carefully lifted a leg from the surface beneath, extended it towards the opposite side, and in one great push, opened up the remaining other end, finally giving clear passage into the building.
They gave an awkward bow to it before walking right in. Assuming the weird greeting, the figure withdrew its leg back in place and remained motionless. The earlier driving force within it, now gone.
"Looks like you're our first visitors for today."
"Ow!"
The duo simultaneously felt it. They reached their slightly burning fingers into their mouths, momentarily sucking the pain away. They could hear strange utterances right before the light flooded their eyes.
"Wow...!"
"These are for you."
Neatly folded notes covered in a red layer of light settled into their breast pockets. Park fished his out and read out the instructions written on them.
Please say the following words with your hand stretched out...
"... Elemental Magic, The 1st Formula."
Amidst the many books littering the space, a pair heeded the call. Well-maintained without a tear to be seen, descended from the high shelves, coated in that signature red hue and settled well within their grasp.
"Looks like the spell's functioning okay, enjoy yourselves."
"..."
"Oh, and welcome to the library."
Standing at an incredible height, with an insane area to spare, its interior bore the same if not, more awe than the great doors did. Overhead, metal bars caved into the room wrapped with what appeared to be vines. Thick, green and luscious, they complemented each other rather well.
"I know I shouldn't tell you this, given you have the luxury of having eyes," he tapped his shroud, "but if you see you're in a place that you're definitely not supposed to be, don't be. Stick to the guidelines along the paths, they do quite the terrific job."
"..."
"Now if you'll excuse me..."
The blind, light as air, flew towards the higher shelves, a chain-link of books in tow. Gionne and Park stared in amazement, although one a bit more expressive than the other.
"I wonder how, that, feels."
"I'm sure the answer's somewhere in here. Come, let's check the place out."
"I hope we can find a better replacement too while at it," She sealed another bit in place, "Or I'll lose my tastebuds soon..."
"Animals."
"..."
It was slowly but surely, the area in which they stood slowly became illuminated, dark shadows cast on the books behind them, gradually grew. They altogether looked up, catching sight of an orb of light, it slowly descended right in front of them, and began trailing away, pausing mid-length.
"!"
"I think it wants us to follow it."
The orb bobbed in agreement and proceeded on, the trio right behind it. It drew them forth from the midst of the shelves they were in and back into the open clearing. Right before their eyes, in a burst of speed, it slammed into one of the shelves' sides, absorbed almost immediately. An indescribable language carved itself onto the wood before succeeding into a much more easily understandable phrase,
"Care of Magical Beasts."
"Nice work."
It struck him.
"!"
"...we can't have our dirty laundry strewn out for others to see."
Very nice work.
A way to deal with a certain fateful encounter. Since he didn't want to make it obvious to them, he too, tried to come up with something, as Gionne did.
Tree...
"Wrong."
"Uh, did someone do something?" they both turned to look at Park, "Park?"
"How could you call forth something that you don't even know?"
Hah.
"... I may have a plant problem."
"I thought it was the other way round?"
"What way?"
"The treants?"
A book lit up at the end of the shelf.
"The who?"
Another orb chanced upon them; this one was bathed in blue.
"I think we have to be careful here, sorry! ," the orb fizzed away into tiny blue specks of dust presumably reporting back to its station.
"So, treants," Gionne began as they walked over to where the glow was, "what about them?" he kneeled over picking the book and handed it to him.
"Could we look for a place to rest, please, my legs are killing me!"
How does that even work?
"..."
"You know, that's quite a noble reason that you're doing it," he said, barely lifting his head from the book he was sunken deep into.
5:00 PM
"You lot are still here?"
The librarian settled right at the entrance of the alley opposite to where they sat, "and," setting the last book into place, "done!"
He jetted off to the vines above, now with a bottle in hand, prying off the cork, the librarian caught five consecutive drops just in time.
"That was sudden."
He lowered himself clearly feeling the curious onlookers' gazes below, "How's been your experience so far?", and gladly dodged them. The clever bunch catching on, "I think that's enough of treants on my side, how about you?", spared him the otherwise hard query.
"I found a way to fix Lily's problem, unfortunately..."
"... you're not yet declared ready to visit the gates."
"...yeah."
"Hmm... is it the sinews of a goblin?" he said bringing forth a box from beneath his desk, placing it right where they were.
Gionne, ecstatic, reached within, "wow! Right place, right time I guess!"
"We used to sew books with it, but we got better material."
An extra strand flew into the box.
"Till you become clear to begin plundering them, I think those should hold just fine."
"HIC! THANK YOU, KIND SIR...!! HIC!" Gionne and Lily profusely showered him with gratitude, all their avenues filled with tears and snot.
"Get up before I decide otherwise..."
"I think we're ready to go, right Lily?"
"Y to the yes!"
"Right Park?"
"I guess...?"
"Alright then," Gionne picked them both up in comical fashion, "See ya!", and dashed out of the library.
He bid the statue farewell too,
"Bye scary lady!"