Ravenfire

My uncle used to hate it when I’d sneak out at night to go to the field and gather parts for machinery. I suppose all that experience in stealth paid off, allowing me to leave the dormitory undetected and make my way towards the library.

When the clock struck midnight at the academy, I saw someone familiar standing in front of the library’s doors as I silently approached it. He was alone with no other companion but his enchanted snake, standing probably in contemplation about what he had planned to do. A little misstep was all it took to alert him of my presence.

“Remina Ravenfire,” Salamander said my name unhappily when he noticed me. “To what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you at this ungodly hour?”

“Let’s skip the hostile pleasantries. Why are you here at the library?” I stopped in front of him.

“To borrow a book. What else?” He had on his usual annoyed smile.

“At night when it’s closed?” I raised a brow.

“You’re here for the same thing aren’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have subjected yourself to a conversation with me.”

“Obviously.”

“Well then, shall we get it over with and head in?” He reached for the door and opened it.

We stepped inside the dark library of hanging tentacles. I lit up a few candelabras to at least give us enough light to navigate. We looked around for any sign of Bartholomew the librarian. Little did we know that he was well-concealed in front of us this whole time.

The librarian stepped forth into the light. “Ms. Ravenfire, I take it that you’re here for either another round of tea or some forbidden book you’re hiding from the professors.” He noticed Salamander. “Oh, and I see you’ve brought a friend with you.”

Salamander and I both cringed when he called us friends.

“We would like entry into the Endless Library,” said Salamander.

Bartholomew smiled. “A bold request. However, students aren’t allowed in there without a teacher accompanying them.”

“How do we gain access?” I asked.

“Hmm… You’re a pair of interesting students, so perhaps I should give you a kind offer. I might turn a blind eye if you can acquire a bottle of the headmaster’s vintage wine for me. It should be in his office.”

“You’re asking us to steal his wine?” I was surprised.

“He won’t miss it. I’m sure.”

“Very well. We’ll bring you his wine,” Salamander accepted quite easily.

Bartholomew was pleased. “Excellent. I’ll be waiting.”

I followed Salamander out of the library and towards the direction of the headmaster’s office. He seemed to know where it was located. We carefully hid from the patrol golems before making it to the office door.

Salamander turned the knob. “It’s locked, as expected.” He then looked at me, expecting something.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

“Surely you have a lockpick.”

I sighed and pulled out my emergency lockpicking set. I hated that he easily guessed my habits. After gently pushing him aside, I hurriedly picked the lock before the patrol golem came back. We went inside and closed the door behind us.

Salamander walked over to the wine rack and fished out a bottle of expensive vintage wine. “There we go. Found the wine. That was surprisingly easy.”

I was still having second thoughts. “We’re really doing this? Scheep might expel us if he finds out.”

“Over a bottle of wine? We’d get detention at least.”

I suddenly heard footsteps approaching and they didn’t sound like golems. “Salamander, people are coming. We need to hide.”

Without giving it much thought, we both jumped into an empty closet. It was cramped inside, definitely not made for two people, but there wasn’t time for us to look for another place to hide.

“Is this how it feels like to be sardines in a jar?” I muttered softly.

“Stop talking! They’ll hear us,” Salamander whispered angrily.

We heard the door open and close. It sounded like there were two people in the room with us.

“The headmaster’s office? We’ll get in trouble!” It was a familiar female voice.

A recognisable male laugh followed. “Don’t worry. He won’t find out.”

We peered through the tiny opening from the closet doors and saw our two classmates, Toad and Leslie, making out on top of the headmaster’s desk. In addition to being in a claustrophobic situation with one of my least favourite people in the world, I had to put up with this display of romantic affection between two classmates.

“Is that… Leslie?” My face was filled with disgust.

“And Toad?” Salamander was also grossed out.

They lingered for about ten minutes doing their… thing. We waited impatiently for them to finally leave the room before we went out of the closet. I was glad to get some air again and be freed from the torture.

Salamander looked almost traumatised. “Ugh. Gross. I did not want to see that. This better be worth it.”

“Let’s just hurry up and return to Bartholomew.”

We slipped out of the headmaster’s office after making sure we left no evidence of a break-in besides the missing wine. Thankfully, we made it back to the library without incident.

“Here it is. The wine you requested,” said Salamander while presenting the bottle to our school librarian.

“Beautiful. I’ll be having a taste of this while you bide your time in the Endless Library.” Bartholomew gratefully accepted the wine and set it aside on the table. He walked up to a tall, ornate mirror and whispered something to it, turning it into a portal leading to the Endless Library. He then turned to both of us. “Enjoy your stay.”

I walked into the portal after Salamander and saw before me an indescribably large room that seemed to go on forever. There were tall bookshelves everywhere I looked containing books that had been lost forever in their original world. It was far from a book ‘heaven’. The dim lighting, no different from the school library, and the dreary atmosphere made it look more like a dull purgatory than a jolly final resting place.

Salamander and I walked forward, looking around for any signs of a librarian. The place seemed empty and quiet like it had been abandoned for years. The uncanny silence and the lack of subtle wriggling tentacle noises I had grown accustomed to made the Endless Library feel alien.

We continued on until eventually, the librarian found us.

“Welcome to the Endless Library,” a pale-looking male librarian with horns similar to Bartholomeow’s greeted us. “We have only one rule here: Don’t attack the librarians.”

“Visitors can just take the books?” I asked, astonished by the lack of rules.

He laughed at my ignorance. “Some have indeed tried and were disappointed to discover that the books can only exist in this space. Now, what book are you looking for?”

“Emrys Blackthorn’s diary,” Salamander and I both said in unison then immediately stared at each other, flabbergasted.

“Salamander, why is it that we’re both looking for the same book?” I folded my arms.

“You tell me, Remina. I’d love to hear your theory,” he said with a sarcastic smile.

“I’m sorry, but the book you requested is not in our collection,” said the librarian calmly.

“Not in the collection? So a copy of it still survives?” I was not expecting that.

Salamander was disappointed. “Great. Now it’s even harder to find.”

“Why are you looking for the diary?” I asked.

He frowned. “None of your business. I’m surprised you even heard of it.”

“I could say the same for you.”

The librarian, seeing that we needed no further assistance, disappeared and left us alone.

Salamander took a step towards me. “It’s not surprising for someone who grew up within the magical society to know of the diary. You, on the other hand, a girl who knew nothing about the existence of magic before the professor picked you up, is looking for the first headmaster’s diary? It’s highly suspicious if you ask me.”

He moved closer to me until our faces were inches apart and I had my back against the bookshelf. “I have my eyes on you, Remina Ravenfire. If you get in my way, I will do everything in my power to eliminate you.”

Suddenly, we both heard an uncanny sound of chains. I could tell that Salamander also found it unusual.

“What was that?” I turned my head.

“Don’t change the subject!”

I glanced to my right and saw some black phantom-like reaper with a plague doctor mask and a sharp scythe just looking at us. The stuff of nightmares.

“Well, Salamander, if you fancy eavesdropping grim reapers, then by all means carry on.”

“This better not be some diversion…” He turned his head and immediately cursed. “Run!”

The moment we ran, the phantom gave chase. We found ourselves running for our lives through a labyrinthine library with no end. It was a living nightmare.

“What the hell is that thing?” I shouted as we both ran.

“I have absolutely no clue! What the hell did you do?” he shouted back.

“You’re blaming me?” I reacted strongly.

“Between the two of us, you’re the one who’s a danger magnet!”

Using its chains like a lasso, it aimed for me. I jumped out of its way, but it caught my foot and sent me flying towards a bookshelf. A pile of books fell on me and buried me. Thankfully, the phantom was too busy chasing Salamander to stop and end me for good. I decided to stay still and pretend to be dead.

Minutes later, Salamander walked over to where I laid on the floor. He was catching his breath. By the looks of it, he managed to escape from the phantom. “Are you still alive or are you finally dead?”

I met his eyes with a piercing glare. “Just know that I’ll still haunt you if I become a ghost.”

“Ah. I see you’re still unfortunately among the living.”

“My will to live is pretty strong when I know my existence torments you.”

“Lucky me then,” he said sarcastically.

I got myself up and dusted my clothes. I noticed that we had gone completely off-track from all the running and were deep in the library. “Where are we?”

We both noticed a skeleton at a corner wearing the same uniform as us and clutching an iron lantern. An ominous reminder of what our fate could be.

“I wish I knew.” Salamander yanked the lantern away from the remains of the unfortunate student and lit it up with a simple fire spell. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Any idea how to find our way out?”

“If we can get the attention of the librarian, he could probably show us the way out.”

“That thing is still lurking here. If we make any sort of noise, it will find us too.”

He rolled up his sleeves. “If it finds us, I’m going to stay and fight it. It caught us off-guard the first time, but not this time. There are no rules for fighting phantoms here. No Scheep to stop us either.”

“Do you think Bartholomew led us to a trap?”

“I doubt it. He gains nothing from dead students.”

We picked a direction and walked forward. Everything looked the same so it felt like we were just going in circles, even though I was sure we were covering a considerable amount of distance. Our feet eventually ached, so we decided to recover our strength.

“If we’re going to die here, can you at least tell me why you’re so prickly?” I suddenly said as we took a rest.

“Are you seriously asking me that question?” He must have felt like I was making fun of him.

“Yes.”

“Unbelievable.”

“I guess I’ll never know, huh?”

I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I was already starting to feel the exhaustion from not sleeping at the proper hours.

“Do you want to sleep? I’ll keep watch and wake you up in fifteen minutes,” said Salamander when he noticed.

I opened my eyes and shook my head. “No. You might leave me for dead.”

“Understandable. I wouldn’t trust myself either.”

While we were staying in place, wondering what the best course of action is when you’re stranded in a magical library, we heard the sound of chains coming closer.

“It’s coming,” Salamander announced and readied an ice spell. “Get ready.”

I quickly got up. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Feel free to run, if you’d like.”

“I would prefer to make sure you stay alive. If you die, it will lessen my chances of survival.” I summoned a flame, ready to be hurled.

“Thank you for the concern,” he said sarcastically. “Please tell me you brought your explosive devices.”

“Why would I bring them to a library?”

His mouth dropped open. “Why do you not have them at a crucial time?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realise being attacked by some phantom was part of the schedule,” I said in an annoying sarcastic tone.

“You should at least be prepared and bring a weapon! Anything can happen when you’re digging up past secrets!”

“Anything can be a weapon!” I threw a book at the phantom the moment it appeared in front of us to prove my point. “See?”

When we realised how indestructible the library’s books were, we began throwing them at the phantom like proclaimed believers casting stones on sinners. The books provided an adequate shield whenever we needed to parry its attacks. Salamander and I were thankfully nimble enough to evade the most fatal strikes, suffering only minor cuts and bruises.

We started to hear footsteps coming towards us. For some odd reason, this startled the phantom and made it retreat. We made no effort to chase it because it would have been foolish.

The librarian arrived at our location then looked at us calmly. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“So all we had to do was just to make a mess for the librarian to notice, huh? I bet the dead student wished he’d known that,” Salamander said once we were back at the school library.

“We were so close to ending up like him, you know,” I pointed out.

Oh, I was so glad to see the happy little tentacles wiggling above me! I never wanted to step inside the Endless Library ever again.

“Did you find the book you need?” Bartholomew was seated at a corner with a glass of wine, a pen, and a piece of parchment with scribbled poetry. Just seeing him peacefully enjoying himself while we stood there exhausted from our close brush with death somewhat irked me.

“No. And we also nearly got killed by a phantom who couldn’t decide between being a plague doctor or the grim reaper,” I said calmly with a smile.

“Sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Exciting.” Bartholomew gave an amused smile and took a sip of his wine.

“Why was that thing there?” Salamander demanded to know.

“Who knows? I’m just one of many gatekeepers. I have no control over who the other gatekeepers let in.”

“Remind me. You’re the only gatekeeper in this school, right?” Salamander was starting to have his suspicions.

“As far as I am aware of, yes. Us gatekeepers like being around places of knowledge and books, such as libraries. If there was another, chances are that they’d hole up in this library too,” Bartholomew answered calmly and glanced at the grandfather clock nearby. “It’s getting late, children. Better get some proper sleep for your classes tomorrow.” He took one last sip of wine.