shimmery veil. “When it’s not acting as an early warning system to protect the library, it can be used to navigate the Solaris System.”
Oh, yes. Now that was excellent news.
Gaster placed his hand on a small panel that was offset to the veil, and since it was as white as the walls, I’d missed it completely until he touched it. “Place your hand here,” he explained, “and say divulge.”
The moment the word left his lips, the shimmery veil solidified, turning into an eight-feet-tall map. A very detailed map…
Gaster slid the screen across, zooming in on one section.
A very detailed and interactive map. Fuck yes!
“This is where we’re standing, and from here, you can find everything els—” He was cut off by someone shouting his name, a tiny figure hurrying into sight.
“A book is missing,” she said. It was clearly another goblin, looking decidedly more feminine than Gaster, with her shoulder-length golden hair and thick dark lashes.
“This is Lady Hel,” he told me. “She is a royal of the demi-fey and helps me out here as part of her right of passage to her final role.”
I nodded like I knew what the fuck he was talking about. Lady Hel didn’t even look my way, already hurrying back to the tragedy of a missing book.
“If you could excuse me while I deal with this disaster,” Gaster said with a head nod. “Feel free to navigate the directory and I’ll return shortly.”
I shot him a broad grin. That sort of blind trust was going to get him into trouble, but for now, I wouldn’t do anything too crazy. Especially not with Inky slinking around nearby, not letting me out of its “sight.”
“I’ll be right here,” I promised.
He was gone in his faster than a bullet way, and I spun to the directory, ready to learn everything I could in whatever time I had. First, I focused on the map as a whole, zooming out to see the room in its entirety. The image was about ten times larger than me, so I took a few steps back.
It was an eagle eye view of the Library of Knowledge, giving me a clear layout. I counted the doors running along either wall: five on each. They were offset and divided by long rows and shelves, and when I zoomed into each shelf, I saw that many of them held books that corresponded to the lands that had nearby doors. One near Faerie had a small glowing dot, so I pressed my finger to it.
With a ding, a message popped up. History of Faerie: Great Beast dynasty to the air folk.
Holy fucking shit. I was going to be able to navigate this bitch so well with this directory. I wished I could import the map to a phone and carry it around with me everywhere.
The ten doorways were my first priority, so I pressed the glowing dot on the one closest to me. The real door was over my shoulder; from here, I could see it had a tiny swirl of darkness in the center. “Cousin of yours?” I asked Inky, chuckling at my own stupid joke.
On the directory, the square of information popped up… Tundera. The Land of the Lost. Dark souls dwell within this world of no light, and from here, they will either find redemption or their true destruction.
Okay, cryptic and creepy. Super fucking cool.
The next door along, one I could also see in real life, was a normal, non-descript white door. The information popped up: Valdor. Birthplace of the vampire. Creatures of lust and darkness. Drinkers of life force.
Oh, yeah. Vampire town.
Wait… vampires? There were legit vampires? Were they in the human world, too?
I practically dove on the information button for the next door, desperate to know about this entire supernatural galaxy. The next door was too far down the library for me to see, so I just waited for the information to appear.
Karn: world is predominantly water. Inhabitants mostly able to exist above and below.
This one I already knew, and the information was way too brief for my liking, but thankfully, the shelves nearby had plenty more information. I just had to start reading. I pressed one of the dots on the closest shelf to the Karn door. It dinged straight away. Karn: history, rules, regulations, water sources.
I was all over that as soon as I was done here.
The last two doors on this side of the room was Faerie: land filled with original magic. Inhabitants from a range of castes,