Arsh suddenly found himself among the bookshelves. But these were very different from the ones he had been walking between just moments ago. Books had spilled into the corridors, their covers buried beneath dry leaves. From the empty spaces where books should have been, tree branches stretched out between the shelves, curling upward as if they had sprouted from within the wood itself. It was as though the library had been untouched by human hands for years and left to the rule of nature.
Although he had already expected that Bera wouldn't be with him, he looked around to be sure. There was no sign of him or of any of the others anywhere nearby. If Apeirolimos had drawn Walter, Mes, and Mr. Herman into its trap so quickly, Arsh was almost certain that Bera would fall into the same trap soon after him.
"Aperirolimos… lives in the forests and captures its prey by luring them into various traps… Now it taken us into its trap. We were in the same place as Walter, but we couldn't see him. Let's find the others."
He closed his eyes and imagined the faces of the people he was searching for. One by one, four golden threads began to drift through the air, with a lingering darkness between them.
He first began to follow the golden thread leading to Mes. He was the weakest among them. If there was a hunter here, its first prey would be the weakest. Even if Mes wasn't the target, he was still the one who needed protection the most.
Yet no matter how much he followed the golden thread, Mes seemed to get farther away than he should have been. Arsh knew the library was large, but it wasn't this large. It felt as if he were passing through the same places over and over again.
After walking for a long time, he finally realized that he was close to his destination. He saw that the golden thread was pointing beneath a desk. Without getting too close, he bent down and looked under it. Mes was sitting there, hiding behind the chair, his arms wrapped around his knees, his face buried between them.
Arsh spoke to him slowly
"Mes, look here."
At the sound of his voice, Arsh saw a shiver run through Mes's body. Then Mes slowly lifted his head, and the moment he saw Arsh's face, the relief he felt was unmistakable. Arsh stepped closer, gently pulled the chair aside, and helped Mes crawl out from under the desk.
As soon as he crawled out from under the desk, Mes began to speak.
"Arsh, this place is like a labyrinth. Do you remember the bronze chest we saw? Apeirolimos… hm."
Arsh covered Mes's mouth with his hand and whispered softly, "Be quiet."
When Mes nodded in agreement, Arsh pulled his hand away. Mes continued in a low whisper.
"This is a labyrinth. In the legends, it's said to traps its prey. Right now, we're in a library, surrounded by books and shelves. You saw the branches growing out of the bookshelves, didn't you? If I understand correctly, it was imprisoned inside that chest. But after spending centuries at the bottom of the sea, it couldn't find a place to escape. Now, think about it… once it somehow managed to escape the bronze chest, it found itself in a place where everything is made of wood… You see what I mean, right? This entire building has become its forest, the place where it sets its trap. Does what I'm saying make sense?"
Arsh nodded to show that he understood. Even though he hadn't thought it through as thoroughly as Mes had, similar ideas had crossed his mind when he saw the tree branches and noticed how the distance between himself and Mes kept changing.
"You're right. The story is probably exactly as you said. For now, move as quietly as possible. If it's the one that created this labyrinth, there must also be a way for it to track us inside it. Let's move silently and avoid drawing attention."
For someone who had lived in the desert, sound was the most important sign of an enemy's presence. If a hunter couldn't see you, it would follow sound and scent instead. There wasn't much they could do about scent right now, but at least they could be careful to stay quiet.
"First, let's find the others. Follow me."
Arsh decided that the next person he should find was Bera. Physically, as far as he knew, Bera was the strongest among them.
Arsh focused his mind on Bera and found where he was. The golden thread was leading the way toward the upper floors. Until they found a staircase, he and Mes continued to move silently between the bookshelves.
But their plan changed the moment they heard a scream. The sound was so piercing that every hair on Arsh's and Mes's bodies stood on end. Instinctively, they covered their ears and dropped to the ground.
Then another voice followed—a voice relatively familiar.
"Ahhh… get away from me, you slimy twig!"
It was Walter. He was screaming as loudly as he could. For a moment, Arsh hesitated, unsure whether to go and help him or not. The man could pass through walls and turn invisible. But if he kept screaming like this, Arsh wasn't sure how much of a chance he would have even with his abilities. If, as Arsh suspected, Apeirolimos tracked its prey by sound, Walter wouldn't stand a chance.
"Mes, do you think Walter would understand that he needs to stay quiet?"
Mes hesitated for a moment. Walter's screams were still echoing through the space.
"I don't think he's that sharp most of the time."
Arsh let out a deep breath and thought for a few seconds. Even though he didn't want to leave Mes alone, going to Walter together with Mes would only increase the danger they were in. For now, since Apeirolimos was after Walter, leaving Mes here seemed like the safest option.
"Got it… Mes, hide again. I'll go get Walter and come back. Since Apeirolimos is already focused on Walter, I don't think it will find you before I find you again."
"Don't worry," Mes said with his usual smile, though this time it was clearly tense.
Arsh helped him crawl back under a desk. As he moved away, he saw Mes once again curling up, his face buried between his knees, holding himself tightly.
…
In truth, Arsh didn't even need to follow the golden threads to find Walter. He was shouting so loudly that it wouldn't have been difficult to locate him even without them. Apeirolimos's horrifying shrieks just made it even easier.
'Really… even if the monster were deaf, it would still find you with all that noise,' Arsh thought as he moved forward at a quick pace.
When he went down the stairs, he felt the sounds growing more distant. The distance between him and Walter had changed. He could no longer hear the shouting. He went down one more floor and quickly began following the golden threads again.
He continued moving silently but swiftly among the scattered piles of books. At last, at the end of the golden thread, he saw Walter, hidden behind a bookshelf, breathing heavily. He looked scared and tired.
Apeirolimos was probably nearby. Arsh wasn't sure what he would encounter, and if possible, he would have preferred not to encounter it at all. He slowly approached Walter. Walter still hadn't sensed Arsh's presence.
"Zero awareness of his surroundings," Arsh silently judged Walter.
When he finally came face to face with Walter, he was met with a reaction that was entirely predictable.
"Sh*t!" Walter shouted, disappearing right in front of Arsh's eyes. A second later, he reappeared.
"Why do you suddenly show up in front of me like that? You scared the hell out of me!"
He was still speaking as loudly as he could.
"Shut up," Arsh said through clenched teeth.
But it was too late. He could see the strange creature approaching them through the gap between the bookshelves. It was only a few meters away, moving toward them slowly.
Arsh could see the resemblance between the figure carved on the bronze chest and the real Apeirolimos before him.
The creature was over three meters tall, with a hunched body that made it look even more horrifying. Its body and limbs were thin and long, its arms hanging from its sides like tree branches. Its head was relatively small, and where eyes should have been, there were only two black hollows. From the top of its head dangled dry, straw grasses that he assumed to be hair. From the slit in the middle of its face, which he took to be its mouth, a black, mucus-like liquid slowly dripped to the floor and all over its body.
At that moment, he began to question everything in his life. Facing this strange creature made him wonder whether the rest of his life would be spent encountering horrors like this—terrifying and grotesque beings he never imagined could existed.
It was impossible to deal with this thing on their own. Even though he didn't know how powerful it was, he couldn't take the risk. They had to try to be as silent as possible and get far away for now. Once they found Mr. Herman and Bera, they would figure out how to escape from here.
While he was trying to figure out what they should do to get out of this situation, Walter tripped over a book on the ground. Instantly, the creature's entire body tensed, and it looked in their direction.
Arsh could have sworn the creature was looking directly at him through those black hollows.