Darkness into Light - Espresseleine

Chapter Forty Four ~ Another One Bites the Dust

Espresso carefully walked past one of the rickety bookshelves, looking around for a sign of some sort of exit to this room. Exploring, he'd discovered plants and flowers growing in every nook and cranny everywhere. He was amazed at how these plants were able to thrive in the darkness.

One flower that caught his eye was a dark grey colour.

A grey flower? Hm..

The mage dug for his notebook and began to sketch out the plant, noting all of its features and unique traits. The flower looked like it quite literally hadn't seen the sun ever. And even if it grew outside the ancient building, it likely would not be receiving any sunlight either, due to the thick forest surrounding it. Not only was the building keeping it captive, but its own kind too. 

But he could tell it wasn't dead. It was very much alive, by the fact that it swayed ever so slightly and the small amount of pollen that was visible on its stamen. But it didn't look alive, to him at least. It was surviving.

Perhaps.. This could replicate the sun?

He thought to himself, holding the ball of light just above the flower to see what would happen. Sure enough, its petals seemed to open up and curl a little at the edges, and it faded from a dark grey hue to a lighter colour that leaned on white. Espresso smiled to himself, jotting his discovery down in his notebook that would soon be filled to the brim.

The mage was happy for the flower. For it was no longer surviving. It was living.

"Find anything?" 

Espresso jumped, fumbling and dropping his notebook on the ground. The light orb dissipated upon the distraction, causing the flower to wilt sadly. He turned around quickly, dusting himself off and facing whoever had startled him.

Madeleine stood, looking as if he was trying to hold back a fit of laughter. The mage let out a sharp sigh, bending over to retrieve his notebook and sliding it back into his pocket.

"It depends. What is the context of the 'anything' that you're speaking of? Anything could mean anything," He rambled nervously, stepping towards a shelf to take a book, "This here, I found a book! That's anything. Oh and that vine over there, that's anything as well.."

I have been talking for way too long.

Madeleine stared at him, the look on his face telling the mage that he'd lost him. 

".. Are you feeling okay? You look ill," he reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, but Espresso panicked, backing himself right into a shelf and causing all the books to topple over and fall around them like some sort of literary rainfall.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, processing what just happened.

"Huh. Maybe 'its raining cats and dogs' should be changed to 'its raining centuries old dust ridden books." Espresso thought aloud. His face flushed when he noticed how embarrassing this was. 

Why am I so clumsy when I'm nervous? Why am I even nervous!? There's nothing to be nervous about!! Well, we are trapped in the Forgotten Library with no sign of an exit, so that's probably something to be nervous about. Oh my god Espresso, get your shit together.

These mental arguments with himself happened frequently, often distracting him from what was happening in front of him.

"Um, we should probably clean this up," Madeleine began picking up books from the ground and returning them to their spots on the shelf. When he looked up, he noticed Espresso completely zoned out, staring at the shelf he'd backed himself into.