Back then, my grandma knew that this could be the last time she sees me. Her skinny arms were holding onto my shoulders as she tried to keep me from turning away.

"Eliot, please, reconsider it," she begged me about a hundredth time this week alone. "You don't have to study at the university. It's too dangerous. You can do so many other things with your life. Why risk it just for some books and wisdom?"

I grabbed her arms. "Granny, you know why."

"Your granddad wouldn't have wanted this."

"You don't know that. Maybe he'd be proud that I want to follow in his footsteps."

"Don't say that." She did her best to hold back her tears. "I don't want to lose you too."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer. "You won't, I promise," I whispered in her ear.

It was strange. For the past seven months, I've been doing my best to prepare for this very day. I've built up my strength, stamina, and endurance, and yet, as we stood there, hugging each other, my heart wanted nothing more than to just stand there and hold her for as long as possible. I could not bring myself to ignore the possibility that I wouldn't return from the entrance exam.

I let go of her perhaps too quickly. The surprised expression she gave me indicated that she thought I wanted to push her away. There was no time to explain myself, however. If I told her my real feelings, she would only use them to persuade me to stay at home.

"I'll see you soon," I told her and the moment she broke into tears, I turned around. It was selfish. I didn't want to see her cry. It would only cloud my judgement, which was something I could not afford that day. My mind had to stay clear. There was still much to be done.

Walking those few metres around the corner of the corridor and into the main hall felt like ages. In a desperate attempt to drown my feelings, I began revising what my goal looked like - "A small notebook with a silver symbol of a tiger in the middle. Most corners should be folded. It was grandpa's way of avoiding bookmarks. How barbaric. The pages should be yellow due to the time he kept the notes hidden from the library. Lines should be thick and oftentimes disobeyed when it comes to the writing inside. In the back..."

There was no more time for thoughts. I entered the main hall and suddenly, all the inner monologue I prepared for my own distraction was pushed away by the spectacle that was the central room of the academy. That night, it was buzzing like a beehive. Professors and fellow scholars dressed in fancy clothes were sipping fancy alcoholic beverages from their fancy glasses, stuffing themselves with fancy tiny appetizers, and eagerly awaiting the start of the next expedition. As I walked through the crowd, I could feel them looking at me. No wonder. I was, after all, dressed like a delver. These people were here partially also because of me. I was one of the main stars of the show. To ease the anxiety all their attention was giving me, I looked up at the walls. Just like for every entrance exam, even tonight, there have been banners of all the sponsors hanging on the walls, almost completely covering the beautifully ornate architecture. Most of the flags belonged to Teach & Co. Their logos were everywhere, overshadowing the advertisements of almost all the other sponsors. Briefly, I looked at my folding knife. The inscription there matched the text on most of the banners - "Teach & Co. - Reliable education equipment since 1457 of the third age." Even the gear I was given for tonight was made by them. As I approached the central platform, I wondered why they decided to sponsor tonight's delve more than the other ones. Usually, there were fewer of their posters, as far as I remembered.

"Their business must be going really well," I thought and put the knife back into the socket on my belt.

My eyes moved even higher, above the propagandistic banners. The glass dome they installed for the ceiling was beautiful, yet awfully disappointing. The lights from the hall were reflecting on its surface so much I couldn't see a single star. "Damn it," I thought. "Assumed I'd at least see the stars for the last time, in case I don't come back."

The voice of the organiser came through the transmission orb and snapped me back to reality. "All delvers, please approach the central platform!" That was my cue. As the message was heard by everyone present, I didn't even have to push my way through the crowd. They all automatically moved aside, creating a nice narrow corridor for me. Now I could no longer call it quits. The shame it would bring to me and my family would be worse than anything that could await me in the library.

I ascended up the central platform. The strange yellow metal with round engravings, often connected by various straight lines, was so typical for the library's design. Many have spent their lives trying to decipher what those symbols meant but to no avail. Whoever built the infinite library must've had their reasons for engraving them though.

"Alright, delvers, you have..."

"WAIT!" Somebody shouted from the main entrance, interrupting the headmaster just as he was about to start his speech. "I have one more book to add!" I turned around to see a scrawny man with rectangular glasses run through the corridor the people have made for me. He was frantically repeating the phrase "excuse me" while firmly holding a hardcover book in his hands. He ran all the way up to the main platform.

"Please! Let my book join the library before you start the exam," the man spurted out and kneeled before the headmaster.

"Well... we still have some time. I suppose I can skip the speech tonight," the headmaster agreed as he looked at the watch embedded into his bracer. "Is there a priest?" he yelled out into the crowd.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" I heard someone call out. A middle-aged man put down his glass and plate with food and quickly ran up to the central platform. He wiped his fingers, slightly greased by his meal, into the darker part of his black and green robe.

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"Alright, son, are you ready?" he asked and the man with the book nodded.

The priest pulled a small satchel out of his robes and began tossing tiny golden flakes onto the man's book.

"Is this book your child? Has it been written by your hand? Is it yours and yours only?"

"Yes," the author replied.

"Have you written it with care and love? Did you work hard to produce this work of art?"

"Yes."

"Has anyone else aside from the ordained editors seen its contents?"

"No."

"Are you at peace with its judgement? Will its acceptance into the library bring you joy? Will its rejection bring you sorrow?"

"Yes," he replied to the final lines of the ceremony and handed the book over to the priest, who quickly dusted off the golden flakes to see its title.

"Then I bless the judgement of Castle in the Middle of Nowhere. May it be accepted by the library and bring much joy to its readers!" With those words, he briefly raised the book high above his head before finally tossing it over the edge of the central platform and into the massive hole in the middle, only known as the Pit. Everyone who could looked down, waiting to see what would happen. The book landed on the translucent gelatinous membrane that marked the entrance to the library which lay below it. For a moment, the book floated on the surface. Silence filled the room. Would it sink or would it be spat out? Would it be judged worthy, or worthless? Would the author be praised, or shunned? It did not take long to find the answer. After a couple of seconds, the green goop emitted a satisfying "blob!" as the book sank into its depths.

"The infinite library has accepted your book!" the priest yelled out, which prompted the crowd to erupt into cheers.

The author let out a sigh of relief and stood up again. On his way down from the platform, people were patting him on the shoulder and congratulating him on his first successful contribution to the library. I smiled at the sight, wondering if perhaps one day, I'll receive the same amount of applause when I rewrite grandpa's research.

"Please, please, calm down everyone!" the headmaster called out to the crowd, who slowly quieted down again. "Five minutes until the library shuffles. Delvers, on your positions! Final instructions and you're green to go." With a clap of his hands, the headmaster disappeared in a flash of light, going most likely back to his personal quarters.

I did as instructed and stepped closer, standing near the very edge of the Pit. Looking down at the solid five metres between me and the green goop made my stomach turn.

"Hey!" somebody called out to me. I lifted my head to see an older boy, possibly in his mid-twenties, crouching on the ground next to me. "Connect your rope!" he said.

"Oh, right, I forgot, sorry," I replied and reached for the small plug on my belt. As I pulled it out, a green, glowing string followed. I slid the end of the rope into the safety socket built into the platform and pulled on it to test its strength. The magic seemed to be working without an issue.

"Alright, you lot, to your places," I heard one of the professors say. I quickly checked the rope one more time before returning back to my spot along the circumference of the Pit.

"Okay, so there's only six of your tonight. Great, at least this should be over quickly," said the professor, who really seemed to be ecstatic to be there.

"Honestly, all of you should already know all the necessary safety information, but I've been told that it's my job, apparently, to repeat the basics with you, and I can't make any more mistakes or I'll get fired, so let's get to it." The teacher sighed and pulled a thick stack of cheat cards out of the pocket of his robe. "You're heading into uncharted waters. Since the library always changes, it's impossible to say what you can expect down there, so expect everything. You'll have an hour before another shuffle. Get out of there before then or you can get stuck. That doesn't mean you wouldn't be saved, but I'd like to avoid filing the protocol about a lost delver tonight. Descending too fast can cause... let's see... where do I have the list? Ah! Here it is! If you descend too fast, you may suffer from feelings of pressure, nausea, vomiting, temporary loss of sight, smell, or hearing, internal and external bleeding, spontaneous skin ruptures, sudden bone fractures, organ damage and failure, and even death. The University of Ritena is not responsible for your carelessness during the delve and so you will not be compensated in the case of any injuries caused by the descent alone. Alright, now that that's out of the way, what else do I have here? Ah! Yes! The university will also not compensate you for any harm caused by the Guardians. Should you wish to avoid them, stay in the middle of the library. And finally, and this is for rookies only, failing to bring at least three books for your future thesis will result in you failing the exam. Retake is possible 1 year after tonight at minimum. All understood? Good, no questions. And we still have a little bit of time. Heh, I'm still good at this." He hid the cards back into his robe and leaned against the railing of the observation platform, waiting for the time to announce the start of our delve.

During the wait that felt like an eternity, I looked around at my fellow delvers. As the rules dictated, any number of rookies had to be accompanied by the same number of experienced pros. Just by looking at the six of us, one would be able to tell who was who. Not only did we newcomers look significantly younger, but there was also pretty much nothing special about us. In our gear, we all looked as random as any other person you'd meet on the street. The only difference was the girl next to me. Although I could tell she was also a rookie, unlike me and the other boy, she wore a truly massive backpack. I partially wanted to ask her what she has inside it, but then I quickly dismissed the idea, as not everyone would probably want to disclose the contents of their bags to a complete stranger.

The other half of our group looked much more interesting. When my eyes first landed on the young woman opposite me, I could feel my heart skip a beat. She was beautiful. Her skin looked smooth like the highest-quality silk, and her long dark hair was like a waterfall of night flowing over her shoulders. Unfortunately, no matter how much I looked at her, she did not seem to even register my presence. All her attention was given to the big blue notebook in her hand, into which she kept writing something.

The other two could not be more different from one another. The first one I recognised. It was the one who reminded me to secure my safety rope. Everything about him screamed perfection. I could tell just from the first glance that he would be the idol of anyone who'd find men attractive. Tall, muscular, with short blond hair and eyes so blue I could tell their colour even from the other side of the Pit. His only imperfection was the freckles, which, on the other hand, made him at least look like a casual person, and not some model, whose appearance was heavily altered by illusion magic.

The last member of the trio gave me the creeps. His unkempt hair and poorly-shaven face made me feel like he wasn't taking the whole situation all that seriously. What struck me as even more strange, however, was his equipment. It looked almost archaic. His bracer, knife, and even backpack all looked like they were produced long before Teach & Co. began making their products those fifty or so years ago.

"You got a problem?" he growled when he caught me eyeing him up and down.

"No, sorry!" I yelped and quickly turned my eyes away. Out here, he wouldn't dare to hurt me, but in the library, it was every man for himself. No laws held power in there other than those of nature itself.

"Alright, get ready everyone, we're about to dive!" the professor called out. We all took a step forward, standing now on the very edge of the Pit. Leaning forward just a tiny bit would toss us inside.

"And here we go! Three... Two... One... Good luck!" I took a deep breath and just like the other five delvers, I jumped down.