We were all yawning like crazy as we watched Rogier carefully walk across the bridge towards the fortress in the middle of the lake. He was taking small and careful steps, always waiting for a second or two just to see if his approach wouldn't trigger some deadly trap. His caution made sense and we certainly didn't have anything against it, but that did not take away the fact that it was painstakingly boring. The water was churning a little, creating waves that sometimes made the bridge swivel from side to side. It certainly must've been a terrifying feeling walking across it. The lake seemed bottomless. The water was dark and my imagination was certainly not sparing me thoughts of what sorts of terrifying creatures might lurk in the depths. The fact that the bridge didn't have any sort of railing, and was basically just a set of planks tied together by a rope, made the whole situation that much more tense. Nevertheless, the waves were not strong enough to knock Rogier off and with his cautious approach, it seemed like no danger would really surprise him.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, he jumped off the bridge to the small floating garden. We all watched as he inspected the plants there. If they were indeed edible, we would have found ourselves the much-desired shelter.

"It's tomatoes!" he yelled at us a few seconds later. "And Cerian herbs! And Rurlick!"

We all cheered at the other side of the lake. Luck really seemed to be on our side. We thought we found a place to stay on the first go. It even seemed so gorgeous! However, the library rarely plays fair. There is a reason why people say that it's a place where hope goes to die.

Rogier managed to pick a few tomatoes for us when suddenly, we heard a roar. Not a roar of a beast, but the roar of falling rocks and tearing wood. We all watched in terror as something I can only describe as a brick head began rising from the fort, levitating above it, accompanied by countless books, which seemed to be orbiting around it.

"Get out of there!!!" we all shouted, but Rogier certainly didn't need us to tell him that. As soon as the noise came, he bolted, heading down the bridge with so much speed, he made it sway way more than the waves ever could. The giant head, however, did not stop its pursuit. It flew after him, raining down a hail of heavy books at such speeds that they might as well have been counted as projectiles.

"Don't just stand there! Run!" Rogier yelled at us and pointed to one of the nearby corridors. We certainly didn't want to wait for the head to switch targets. Without a moment to waste, we retreated back into the hallway we came from. Its small size was now our greatest weapon. At least here, the head would never be able to follow us.

Moments later, Rogier joined us in the corridor. As he ran inside, several books flew after him. One hit me in the shoulder and even though it didn't seem to do much else than bruise it, it certainly was a painful blow.

"Well... huff... That was something," Rogier spoke, slowly catching his breath. "But we got three tomatoes from that. Each at the price of two bruises on my back. Not a very good purchase. Ouch..."

"Glad to see you still have your humour," I commented on his behaviour.

"W-Well, what now?" Corwyn asked, carefully looking towards the end of the corridor. "That place looked perfect!"

"Yeah, but I don't think we're allowed to get too close. Or maybe there is a requirement if we wish to enter and take the crops. Who knows. I'm certainly not someone who'd want to experiment with it. The place is off-limits, kiddos. End of story."

"So what now though? A different Glassroom?" Amy asked, finally a bit snapped out of her previous shock.

"Yeah, I don't see a better solution. We took some turns in this corridor, so we'll just go back and take different ones. Sooner or later, we'll either find a place with food and shelter, or we'll die."

"Rogier!" I scolded him when I heard a tiny yelp escape Amy's lips.

"What?"

"Maybe you can be a bit... you know, more optimistic? Would certainly help the morale," Corwyn replied.

"Fine. But stay realistic, alright? We're in danger. There's little room for error."

"What about these?" Corwyn asked, holding one of the books that the monster threw at us.

"Good point," Rogier praised him. "Anything interesting in this heap of ex-projectiles?" He waved his arms over the few books that landed in the corridor and swiftly began picking them up. We didn't wait long to join him.

"King Rund's festival speeches," I read out loud. "Probably nothing for us."

"Agricultural reform of 568 of the Second Sunrise. That makes my head hurt," Amy added a title to the pile. "These many pages just about a reform?! Who wrote this?"

"A-An agriculture specialist? Look at this one. Chronicle of a good king Mirdan." Corwyn showed us his book.

"It's like half the size of the agricultural one!"

"Maybe King Mirdan didn't live very long," I smirked at the idea of perhaps a greedy king doing so little in his life it barely was enough for a biography.

"Hey guys, let go of all that rubbish, I got something interesting!" Rogier called us. "Ligascho... Peisha... tur... Futuri. Futuri? Future? That's something with future, no?"

Amy sighed. "That means Fish Hunting for the Inexperienced."

"You know that language?" I asked, impressed once again by the knowledge.

"Yeah. I know six languages," she replied and my admiration for her grow even more.

"Okay, but this is actually useful. Any protests about me slurping this up?" Rogier asked but neither of us could give him a reason not to read it. I had doubts that we'd find the time for fishing, but nevertheless, it may have been useful at some point. "Alright, here goes nothing," Rogier opened the book. We saw as letters flew from the page and into his eyes until the book eventually slammed shut.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"S-So?" Corwyn asked after a brief moment of silence.

"I think the language made it difficult to understand, but I think I got it. The author forgot to mention it was spearfishing though."

"Better than regular fishing, no? I doubt that bottomless bag of Amy's has a rod in it?" I turned to her but she resolutely shook her head.

The other few books that managed to get scattered around weren't any more useful. From diaries, through architecture notes, to poems, they really had everything but something useful for us. Just like that we were done with our brief reading session and doomed to once again roam the seemingly endless corridor. I kept on nervously checking my watch. Twenty minutes. All this transpired within the first twenty minutes. At this rate, we would be able to visit at least two Glassrooms every hour. If each would contain such dangers, then our chances of lasting even a couple of days were drastically slim.

Five minutes of walking later, Rogier suddenly stopped right before we turned a corner.

"What? What is it?!" Amy asked, taking a few steps back.

"See?" He pointed at the wall ahead of us.

"See what?" I couldn't understand what he meant.

"The colour. There is a hint of red light coming from around the corner. It's not moving though so it's unlikely to be a Guardian."

"W-What is it then?"

"A Glassroom. Most likely." Very slowly, he approached the edge of the wall and peeked towards the source of the light. "Holy shit..." he gasped.

"What? Is it bad?" I demanded answers.

"Come check this out. This is really fuckin' freaky."

We did as he asked. Now that I think about it, he could've been leading us to a brainwashing trap and we wouldn't even question it. Fortunately, that was not the case. Nevertheless, the sight ahead was indeed fascinating, albeit rather creepy. The corridor continued for a while before leading into a Glassroom of sorts. The dim lights both here and there were preventing us from seeing any specific details. However, there was one thing we did manage to see - tendrils. Metal tendrils that seemed as if they had woven themselves into the hallway's walls. They were dark, with a couple of red lights embedded in them, which resulted in the entire place suddenly having a faint, crimson hue.

"What the hell is that??" Amy asked and her face twisted and scrunched up with disgust.

"It's weird. I have never seen the contents of a Glassroom spill out into the outside like this." Rogier scratched his chin. "But I don't think it's like a disease. There would be no reason for it to cling to the wood like that. Amy, do you have anything wooden in that backpack?"

"Umm... I think I have a ruler."

"Okay, then give it... Thanks." Before he could even finish, she was already handing it to him. It was the same ruler one would see renovators use when they were measuring which piece of furniture would fit into the different rooms. It was foldable, and therefore easy to carry around, and yet it could extend up to two metres in length, giving Rogier the perfect distance for poking the metal tendrils.

"So? A-Anything?" Corwyn asked after Rogier had spent about a minute slowly prodding them.

"Nah. I think this is not something that could harm us. Still, have your knives ready. If it moves, we're gonna be cutting and running, okay?"

We all slowly moved forward, looking like a turtle formation. That is to say, not the one with shields and spears, but rather a group moving about as uncoordinated as a turtle flipped on its shell.

I naively thought that at this point, no Glassroom would surprise me anymore. Thought I'd seen so much weird shit that day that my brain was already accustomed to expecting the worst. However, the library still held many surprises for us.

This place was as far away from an ideal home as it could've been. If Rogier would've told me that this was where we were staying, I would've replied that I'm willing to keep exploring for countless other hours just to get out of there. Unlike the previous room, this one was relatively small, with only the ceiling being rather tall, reaching at least ten metres. The entire place seemed to be composed of the same metal tendrils as those we'd seen spilling into the corridor. It was almost like dark vines, which have woven this entire place into existence. They covered the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, where they culminated into a large spike with a brightly glowing tip. I assumed that was this place's equivalent of a chandelier. The room had no books. Instead, the walls were filled with what looked like honeycomb shelves with glowing, red boxes sitting in each of them.

"What is this place?" Corwyn asked as we walked deeper inside.

"No food, no water, no shelter. Nothing for us. Let's just keep moving along the walls. I can see another exit over there. No reason to stay here any longer than we need to," Rogier instructed us.

Our little unit kept moving in the exact same pattern. Our backs were more or less pressed against one another and glowing knives were resting firmly in our hands. If something was to get a jump on us, we couldn't be more ready.

"Shit!" Corwyn hissed out and we heard something metal hit the floor. Immediately, we all turned around, weapons at the ready. "Sorry, sorry, I knocked over the box," he explained as we looked at the small glowing cube in front of us.

"What if it explodes?" Amy asked and shuffled further behind my back.

"Unlikely. It would've already blown up by now. But I wouldn't stick around too much to see what it's for," said Rogier.

"Sh-Should I put it back?"

"Yeah, just in case. But slowly and carefully, alright? Don't grab it with your bare hand." As Rogier instructed him, Amy quickly pulled a large napkin out of her pocket and lent it to him. Corwyn sighed and carefully picked the object up.

The moment he did, he was propelled backwards like a bowling ball. Since he was crouched down, he slid across the floor so perfectly that he managed to knock the rest of us over.

"FUCK! Everyone okay?" Rogier shouted as we quickly began picking ourselves off the ground.

"I'm good!" I replied and picked up my knife.

"I think so," Amy added.

"Corwyn?!" I shouted at him as he was slowly standing up.

"W-What the... the fuck did I just see?" he gasped, his left hand holding onto his head.

"What's happening? Headache? Feelings?" Rogier asked.

"I... I don't know. I... I'm fine, I think."

"You're even more quiet than usual. That doesn't seem fine to me."

"J-Just... Shut up for a moment!" he snapped at the hunter and took a couple of deep breaths. "I think... yeah, I think these things surely aren't bombs or explosives."

"Then what are they?" I couldn't keep my curiosity in check.

"Books."

"Books?!" Amy said, her face turning into a disgusted grimace. "Since when are books cubes?"

"I... I don't think they're our books."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw... a different place. Different creatures. World of metal and lights. And people... There were so many. The whole streets were flooded with them. But like... they weren't people. They were... creatures, but I knew they were supposed to be there. Citizens. Inhabitants. Their presence was normal. But I... I was an intruder. Not like a reader of a book, but like... Like I was actually there."

We all exchanged concerned expressions.

"Listen, maybe this will be fine if–" I tried to calmly approach him, only to be swiftly interrupted.

"No, this is fine, but... You guys don't get it?"

"Get what?"

"These books aren't from our home. I think... I think they came from a different world."

"Are you sure you didn't just read fiction?" Amy asked him. "That can sometimes have all sorts of weird creatures and feelings."

"Absolutely not. Think about it. The Glassrooms look like places from our home. They have swords, trees, and lakes, but here, everything is different. Have you ever heard of something like this? Metal tendrils? And the cubes! H-How come books are cubes? That's nonsense!"

"That's what I said! Since when are they cubes?"

"They aren't. They aren't books. They're... the library can hold books and literature, so why not other media too?"

"What are you talking about?" Rogier raised his eyebrow.

"For someone, this could be a way to preserve literature. Maybe these cubes are like... a form of writing from some other world! This Glassroom contains their form of literature!"

"But... that means they have access to the library. But the membrane we came through is in Ritena, so..."

We could all predict what Corwyn would say, but hearing it still made shivers run down our backs. "So maybe, there's another exit."