In the library Boris was staring straight ahead, refusing to turn around as he inspected the circular shadow now overshadowing his own. The door had only just closed yet it felt like he had been holding his breath for hours. He saw sweat dripping from his hands run down the smooth stone of the door unto the ground.
He slowly turned his gaze past his hands, trying to get a glimpse of whoever was standing behind him without looking directly at them. Unfortunately, it didn't work. He could see nothing in his peripheral vision, yet he was still overshadowed completely. He gathered all his courage and turned around slowly. He ended up face to face with a floating black ball which did not move or react at all.
He wasn't sure why but he couldn't stop himself from reaching out his arm and trying to touch it. He got very close but couldn't actually reach the ball, something invisible prevented him from doing so. He tried to push forward in an attempt to use his weight to break through the invisible shield, but the ball was simply pushed away effortlessly; remaining untouched.
From deep within the ball a rumbling sound emerged in all directions with its extremely pungent and heavy droning. It kept going for a while before it increased in pitch until eventually it sounded like someone clearing their throat.
"Please refrain from relocating me!" The ball shouted.
The humming stopped entirely and for just a fraction of a second all noise in the library dissipated. The ball moved closer to Boris until it forced him backwards, eventually pushing his back into the door. It advanced until the invisible barrier was pushing firmly into his nose.
"I am the guardian of this library! You will identify yourself!" The ball then added.
Boris was unable to reply. He felt intimidated, driven in a corner and frankly, entirely baffled by how this voice ended up coming out of this black ball.
"I am the guardian of this library! You will identify yourself!" It repeated.
"Boris," He hesitated, afraid of what my happen if he didn't, "I am Boris."
"Name confirmed," it said monotonously, "Starting visual identification!"
Boris was unsure what that was supposed to mean, but all he could think of was to keep as quiet and as still as possible; so he held himself still as stone.
On the surface of the ball a line appeared horizontally, which seemed to unfold the edge of lips. The mouth opened wide to reveal that inside it had a massive singular eyeball which scanned him down from head to toe.
"Visual identification complete!" It eventually said, eyeball still focused singularly on Boris' face, "You may resume breathing!"
Boris hadn't actually noticed that he had stopped breathing and it wasn't until the ball said it that he had to force himself to breathe, it seemed like a difficult task until his body resumed to do it on its own.
As soon as Boris had caught his breath, the ball backed off a little.
"State your reason for being here!" It demanded in a calm but loud manner.
The big eyeball stared intently and unblinkingly at Boris it took him a moment to answer, somehow under the circumstances he couldn't seem to find the words.
"Euh…" He began scrambling for an answer, "Well… You see… I was euh… looking for a… a book."
The Guardian of the Library stared silently at Boris in its best attempt at pulling a sarcastic face, desperate to convey disappointment.
"Clarify!" It eventually managed, "This is a library, there are only books here!"
"Right. Sorry," Boris replied quickly, realising his mistake, "To you that seems obvious. I was looking for books about the kingdoms of Solace and Lunes, specifically."
The Guardian closed eye and the mouth disappeared. It hovered in silence for a while. Considering the uncertainty of his own safety Boris felt he needed to distance himself a little, and this seemed like a perfect time to do so. He very quietly and swiftly took a step backwards.
"Do not move from you current location!" It shouted, still hovering otherwise perfectly still.
Boris obeyed without delay, undoing his backwards step.
"You may also resume breathing normally!" It added.
Without knowing why the order to do so actually helped this time, and it became easier for him to calm down. It was when his breathing slowed down and his heart rate became less loud the he noticed there wasn't total silence, the Guardian was emitting a slight hum. Boris became a little impatient listening to it.
"So," Boris ended up blurting out, "What do you like to be called?"
The guardian didn't respond. The humming sound, however, started dying down and the Guardian opened its mouth again, looking out over the library and away from Boris.
"There is no such information in this library!" He announced.
"Nothing?" Boris asked, somewhat taken aback by this, "What about Prince Fried? Princess Hildegarde?"
"There is no such information in this library!" He repeated.
"That cannot be!" Boris protested, "What about the book my friend took out of the library before you found me?"
"No books have left the library!" It instantly replied.
"How is that possible?" Boris asked, "My friend took the book we found over by those three big books out of here."
"No books have left the library!" Repeated, predictably.
"Fine. Whatever you want." Boris gave in, "What about those three bigs book over there, what can you tell me about its content?"
The Guardian emitted a hum again, however it did not close its eyes to do so this time.
"Unknown!" It ended up declaring after only a few seconds.
"Don't you know everything in this library?" Boris sighed.
"That I do!" It said, almost boastfully.
Boris felt flabbergasted. He had begun to get agitated by the way the conversation was going nowhere rather slowly. He also hated to admit to himself that if there was a way to extract more useful information out of this thing, he may not be the person to deal with the cryptic and contorted way in which this thing operated. As far as he was concerned his focus should be on getting out of the library and rejoining Rickard.
"If the information that I seek isn't here, I should probably get back to where I came from," Boris said awkwardly, "I don't suppose you could open the door for me?"
The Guardian closed its eye again and stopped responding for a few moments. It started humming as well as lifting higher and up towards the middle space in the library. From the surface of the black ball a tentacle formed that flowed outwards and contorted into a humanoid arm pointing to way to a nearby staircase.
"That will take me back to the castle?" Boris said as he pointed in the same direction.
"Confirmed!" The Guardian said as he spawned two more appendages to point in the same direction.
Boris wasted no time with the Guardian and made his way towards the stairs as quickly as he could. Once he had reached the stairs he looked back at the Guardian who was staring him down from far above. He quickly climbed the stairs, heading towards the stone door. The Guardian, who was still following Boris intently, began to glow and he sound of sliding stone could be heard before he saw the stones moving apart; revealing the fluttering velvet curtains within.
He walked up to the door as it was opening, turning back to look at the Guardian one last time as soon as the door was fully open. It was no longer there. He decided now was not the time to be too worried about that and just ran towards the curtains.
He jumped in with all his might, slowly being swallowed by the silken darkness. He put his arms in first, the soft velvet pulling him quickly and effortlessly. As his body was fully emerged and he felt his body float in the darkness he caught a fading glimpse of the door as it was shutting; the Guardian was staring at him unblinkingly until the closing door broke their eye contact.