Adam freaked out; his godfather's words seemed to make a lot of sense. But what scared Adam the most was learning that the bookshelves could also lie to him.

Adam looked at the wooden bookcase and walked slowly away, approaching the stairs to the next floor and the old man standing next to it.

—Didn't you want to try my rules?—asked the old woman, still with a friendly smile—Well, it doesn't matter, if someday you want to try, I'll be here to help you.

Adam ignored the bookshelf and headed for the stairs to go home, but before he could leave, the old man stopped him with a few words.

—Young man, couldn't you help me? I need to get to a hex, but I can't see anymore.

Adam looked at the old man with doubts, although he did not want to follow a stranger, this person had helped him with his warning, so he did not seem like a bad person; so he accepted and asked:

—And where are you going?

—Hexagon 0 of 18—answered the old man dressed in rags.

Adam stared at the old man for a few minutes in a dazed way and asked again:

—Sorry, I heard wrong, and where are you going?

— Hexagon... 0... of... 18— The old man answered slowly; he seemed in no hurry.

—But there's nothing in hexagon 0— Adam said, looking at the old man suspiciously; It looked like they were playing a joke on him.

—... of 18—added the old man angrily, as if it wasn't right to say it in an abbreviated way—I'm looking for something in his surroundings, if you don't want to help me, you can go.I'm not in a hurry, I can stay waiting at the door of the stairs waiting for help from someone else.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

—No, that's fine, I'll take him—Adam answered; he didn't want the person who had helped him to have to wait.

The old man put out his hand and Adam grabbed it. It wasn't uncommon to see blind people downstairs, many were even Adam's neighbors, so it didn't seem unusual to help him. The path was not very long, you just had to cross hexagon 3 in the middle, after all, hexagon 0 was always in the middle of the floor.

All hexes surrounding hex 0: were the primary hexes 1-6 and the rest were secondary hexes 7-18.

But the old man walked very slowly, so the journey was taking a long time.

—How many pages are you managing to read, boy?—The old man asked, he seemed to want to talk.

—30 pages— Adam answered somewhat abruptly, not knowing what to talk about, but then he remembered that the old man also had white robes and asked the same thing —How many pages are you managing to read, old man?

—A long time ago I read them all—answered the old man while he walked very calmly and without hurry.

—And why the white tunics?—Adam asked looking at his clothes in rags, the rest of the people luckily ignored them, almost as if they couldn't see the old man or as if they didn't want to see him.

—Because it's the beginning—answered the old man with a bit of melancholy in his voice; changing the monotonous tone of voice that he had before somewhat abruptly.

Adam didn't understand what the old man meant, but he continued his walk to hexagon 0, but the old man was still looking to talk apparently and asked:

—Do you usually go around talking to the shelves like that?—asked the old man with some concern; probably the previous question was just to soften Adam and talk about this topic.

—No, but we just learned something in class about them— Adam replied, also somewhat concerned about the subject.

—You should stay away from the shelves, boy—the old man warned, returning to his monotonous voice from before—At least now that you are young, when you grow up you will only think about them until one day you realize that your life has passed in these books...

—But you won't regret that either—added the old man, showing a smile from ear to ear on his face.

Adam didn't answer, he didn't know very well what to answer, and he could already see the surroundings of hexagon 0 in the distance, so he accompanied the old man to his destination.