Page 3480 -- CCXCI.

Chapter Two Hundred Ninety-One: ‘Thy primordial glimmer...’
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Man, the Library sure felt quiet, lately.

Well. Quieter, he supposed. It wasn’t like it had ever been particularly noisy to begin with it. At least, not in the conventional sense.

But there was definitely something different about it now, Ibai Blackburn thought. And it probably had to do with Gohvis, the Keeper of the Library, not being here for the first time that Ibai had seen.

He’d been trying to figure out the exact nature of the difference ever since Gohvis left, but it was difficult. What was a giant, sentient Library supposed to feel like, anyway?

Maybe it was apprehensive without its master around to protect it? Or maybe it was actually feeling uncertainty with the bit of freedom that it now had? Gohvis certainly had an oppressive presence when he was around, though most of his mutant followers didn’t seem to feel that way.

Gohvis had taken several of them with him, Ibai noticed, so that doubtless contributed to the quietude, as well. The refectory was emptier, as were the recreational rooms.

But it was really all the book rooms that made Ibai so curious.

So his current objective with his writing was to hopefully, somehow, gain some sort of clue about the curious puzzle that was this ancient Library of Erudition.

He’d been trying for a while now, writing original stories so that he might gift them to the Library and thereby gain its affection, and his first work had been a rip-roaring success.

Probably.

Okay, yeah, it was a little hard to tell if the Library had actually been pleased or not, but it definitely felt less hostile towards him, he thought. Why, just the other day, when he took a book off the shelf and started walking away with it, the Library waited nearly ten whole seconds before trying to kill him with a serpentine stream of ardor-infused, razor-sharp papers.

A few months ago, it would’ve only been five seconds. Progress!

So with this current story that he was writing, he was thinking that perhaps the narrative should in some way be related to his objective with the Library. Metaphorically, that was.

He’d decided to make it about two guys who were struggling to get to know and trust each other during a period of civil unrest under a despotic regime, where trusting one another carried even more risk than usual.

And he was just. About. Done. Putting the finishing touches on it.

Yeah.

In the end, true friendship won the day. The two men became lifelong buddies and took down the evil dictator oppressing the land.

Perfect.