The Chronicles Of The Council #1: The Sun's Tears

Chapter 61: Laelia - Atarah

"There are memories that time does not erase... Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable." - Cassandra Clare

My feet touch the ground instantly, leaving me standing in awe in the biggest library I have ever seen. The ceiling stretches metres above my head. Dark wooden bookshelves rise from the polished marble floor into the high glass domes that allow moonlight to stream down. Torches emanating soft yellow light line the walls.

“Laelia?” Aedan's uncertain voice hitches as it echoes from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Baffled, I look up to the ceiling. I have no idea how I entered.

“Aedan, it is the Lost Library!” I do not tell him the ceiling is very high, because I know that my feet touched the ground instantly. Things like that are irrelevant in magical places like this.

“I'm coming down.”

I look up, but I do not see his feet coming through the ceiling. The next moment a thud resounds next to me as Aedan appears out of nowhere.

“This is huge! Look at the ceiling. It is metres above our heads. Did we fall in through the roof? I do not see the hole.»

“No, I do not think so. I looked up to see you dangling through the roof, but suddenly you were just standing next to me,” I reply.

“It is beautiful. But how do we get out?”

“Let's figure that out after we get what we want.”

Aedan whistles. “We might be busy for a while.” His words seem to echo through the library.

“Maybe for the rest of our very long lives?” I suggest and walk to a large table in the middle of the endless room.

Several of the biggest books I have ever seen are scattered on the table. Everything in the library seems larger-than-life.

“It looks as if someone was here recently,” I observe while checking the title of one of the books.

“Yes, unlike the library we came through, there is no dust,” Aedan says, lovingly drawing his hand on the spines of the books on a shelf.

I agree with him, but just nod absentmindedly as the title of one of the books grab my attention. I wish I can sit on the floor and devour the knowledge in the book.

“We have to find it. We cannot stay here for long. We do not know if there are any dangers in here,” Aedan says. 

“The shelves are labelled according to subject. This shelf says Stars and Other Heavenly Bodies. The one next to it is Plants, Herbs and Medicines.”

I walk to the nearest shelf. “This one is Cities, Towns, Dorps and Dwellings, and next is Extinct Species and Unmentionable Creatures.” I sigh. “The shelves aren't labelled in any order. We will have to search the whole place.”

“I start in this half and you in that one?” Aedan suggests. “At least there are ladders.”

I nod, draw a ladder closer to me, climb up and start to scan the titles of the shelves.

After two hours, Aedan and I are no closer to finding the diary that our mother wants us to find.

I sigh in exasperation. “I don't think we'll ever find the damn stupid diary!”

“You just have to ask for the book. Didn't he tell you?”

The air next to me shimmers and a girl appears next to me. Inexplicably, I just know that she is no threat to me.