Elias stared at the open tome, his brain a whirlpool of questions and confusion. He shifted his attention to his immediate environment, wondering where exactly he was.

The area surrounding him was littered with columns of bookshelves, stretching as far as the eye could see as if that was all that existed around him.

They were much larger and sturdier than ordinary library shelves, with all of them towering above Elias like massive oak trees overshadowing a small pine cone. Each of them at least doubled his height, littered with books of different shapes, styles, and sizes as if they were a collection of every literary piece in the world.

Far away in the distance, Elias could see two hazy figures speaking amongst themselves, engaged in somewhat of a friendly quarrel. He quickly focused his gaze, feeling like the duo seemed quite familiar to him.

He took in the sight of a lady with wavy burgundy-colored hair, perched below a playful but mature face that still retained an elegance of youth. The lady was currently talking to a glasses-wearing young girl with strawberry blonde hair, with the former dressed in a black and white academy attire while the latter looked to be in formal lady wear.

Elias instantly recognized them, as they were both people he knew, as well as worked with—Professor Doherty and Sophia.

This instantly paved the way to another wave of realization, as there was only one place in the entire academy that was characterized for having such massive bookshelves, while also being a spot where you would most likely see the Professor and Apprentice duo.

It had to be the Silent Archives!

Elias looked towards Lars, with the latter throwing with a similar look. It seemed like he too had just recognised where they were.

This brought about a multitude of questions, as Elias didn't understand why they had been transported back into the archives, the place where the entire search had started.

'Is it possible that the founder left some clues quietly hidden in the archives, the one place everyone would naturally think to look? Wasn't that too much of a troll?'

They were deep inside the archives, so far back that the professor and Sophia didn't even notice their presence.

This caused Elias to shiver, as he remembered what his senior had told him about the inner areas. They contained forbidden knowledge that could tempt the mind!

This filled Elias with a sense of urgency, as he then felt like the shelves seemed a bit more darker and eerie, almost as if he was being watched by millions of invisible eyes in the darkness.

Lars also floated closer to him, the light tremble of his shoulders also signaling his fear.

The pages of the tome before them suddenly flickered and turned to a new page, where a new string of words was present.

'I will only be able to hold back the spread of the encroaching knowledge for a few extra moments so answer me quickly, are you a good person?'

Elias and Lars were shocked at the speech pattern of the book, almost as if it was communicating the words to them rather than it being pre-written.

Their fascination about this point was pushed back, as they both caught onto the unsettling message. It seemed like they had to answer quickly or they were done for.

Elias thought over the question, thinking about the proper way to respond. He didn't want to give a wrong reply and then lose the book's protection, as he was quite sure that he wouldn't be able to make it out of the inner section before being reduced to a maddened mess.

The question itself wasn't a hard one to answer, but it strangely made him think of a lot of things.

Sure he was raised with a positive moral standing as a child of an orthodox religion, but were those values truly ingrained within him?

Being a good person entitles being a staple of positivity and goodness for others to see, upholding fairness, justice, and love, irrespective of the party or situation involved.

Now Elias had to think, was he really a good person?

He remembered walking by as a man who was getting mobbed in the slums some years prior. He did nothing to help the pitiful man, feeling like he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention and danger to himself and his family,

The True Scholar who had found himself in a perilous situation due to supervising his Spiritual Resonance Test. Elias had barely thought about him and how he was doing since then,

He remembered always watching Zane while he was getting bullied for a situation his ancestors caused, one which had almost nothing to do with him,

Would a good person refuse to offer help to those in need?

Would a good person be indifferent to the consequences of their own actions?

Would a truly good person fail to defend the weak and oppressed?

Elias smiled ruefully. He knew he already had his answer, as it was all too obvious.

He glanced at Lars, receiving the go-ahead before deciding to give his reply. His response came soon after, holding both the conviction and the sadness that was contained in his words.

"No, I am not a good person, as there are no good people in the world."

Click!

Stolen story; please report.

Immediately his answer was spoken a soft clicking suddenly sounded out, almost as if a secret mechanism was activated by his words.

The shelves in front of him split down the middle while simultaneously sliding to the side, revealing a strange swirling gate concealed quietly behind them.

This entire process was carried out without a single sound aside from the initial click, leaving both Elias and Lars to marvel in wonder.

The book which was now floating in the air then flipped to another page, a page holding a new set of words.

'Quick they are coming, so go beyond the gate. The master patiently awaits you.'

Elias read the words quietly, before turning to look at the gate before him. It seemed to be made up of a swirling mass of different gases, rather than it being solid. If he could liken it to anything, it looked like a spinning tornado that was remodeled in shape and size to act as a gate.

He then took a deep breath to steel his nerves, before taking a careful step towards the gate. However immediately he did, he was suddenly assaulted by a cacophony of voices—some near while some far, some clear while others hazy, some soft while a few loud, and finally some rational whereas the others were chaotic.

They bellowed into his ears, drilling themselves into his consciousness as if they wanted to overtake his entire mind.

'Come over here and take a peek, the secrets to the era of the Dawn of Calamity are just within reach!'

'Anger, pain, and a feeling of unwillingness. These are the thoughts of the Emperor of The Morning Star as he cast out the light just before his demise, why not come experience them together with me?’

'Who dare claim a god cannot be killed, who openly professes that there have only been five gods since the beginning? If only you could turn over the pages you would see, see how naive and foolish you mortals have been!'

'Two saints die and are bound to two swords, their cries threatening to engulf and rip apart your mind! Don't turn away. Listen, you must listen!'

The words drilled into his ears with different tones; some tempting, others convincing while the bulk of them were chaotic and forceful.

Elias realized that he couldn't block out the voices, as his ears started to bleed from the forceful implantation of these mental cues.

He felt like his brain was just a step away from exploding, before experiencing a light push from the back, lunging him towards the direction of the gate as his body swiftly faded from the scene.

The archive shelves silently drew themselves to a close, the surroundings quiet and serene, almost as if the previously nightmarish ordeal had been nothing but a seemingly real illusion.

...

Elias's vision blurred, coming to only after a short while.

He found himself standing in the middle of what looked like a ground lobby, a spire rising from the ground in front of him and stretching into the sky.

The spire looked more like a large and dark steel rod than a pillar, giving off an ethereal obsidian shine as it endlessly reached for the sky.

Twirling around the spire was a twisting circular staircase, leading up to the upper sections of the unknown space, which Elias could make out vaguely as resembling a library in both model and format.

The stairs twisted around the spire like a giant snake twirling around a dark tower, its form transparent and crystalline blue, almost as if it was made to resemble frosted ice. It looked so delicate and fragile, in a way that suggested that it would shatter and break from only the smallest of missteps.

Elias turned towards Lars, both brothers sharing a similar look as they then took guarded steps towards the stairs. Upon arriving at the base, Elias was shocked to realize that it was a lot more sturdy than he expected, even having a much more firm foundation than the stairs he was used to.

This further boosted his confidence, as the twin duo now slowly started advancing upwards.

They walked for about four to five minutes before finally reaching the second upper level, as the entire place seemed to be endlessly divided into layers.

A neatly arranged book section was slowly unfolded before their eyes, looking a lot more illusory than they were real. Every single part of the place appeared to be slowly fading out of reality, existing in a much more immaterial state rather than a physical one.

The duo could only blankly stare at the scene, feeling like they had been thrown into a different world. They simultaneously raised their heads to take in similar scenes in the above upper layers, with sections and sections of illusory books filling their view for as far as the eyes could see.

The experience felt more like a dream than a reality, as if they could liken the Silent Archives to an endless drive of books, then this place would mostly likely be referred to as the main central encyclopedia of knowledge itself.

The sound of drifting footsteps suddenly caught the duo's attention, as they could make out the image of a hazy figure slowly descending from the upper layers.

The individuals continued to descend until they came into view, prompting Elias to take a good look at their appearance.

It was a man clad in a white formal lace shirt and brown trousers, with a silk cravat around his neck of similar color to his trousers. He looked to be above fifty years of age, as his face was still calm yet mature, with his full hair of white being a testament to his age.

He had a full gentleman's beard, looking oddly unkempt and tidied at the same time. His dark-colored eyes observed Elias as the latter observed him, bearing a subtle gleam that spoke of experience and insight.

Both Elias and Lars instantly realized who he was, which led to them gawking at him nonstop as he slowly came to a pause in front of them.

Elias finally managed to speak after confirming that he wasn't daydreaming, his voice shaken and unsteady.

"Mr. Noa... Noa El-Lah?"

The man smiled casually, looking quite satisfied.

"So the first visitors I get are students from my academy, huh? I half expected a professor to be the first one to notice the clues I left behind, who would have thought that it would be a young Apprentice instead? Fate indeed does work in mysterious ways."

He gazed at Elias, chuckling as he noted the shocked and perplexed expression on his face.

"Well, that's no longer important. Shall we go upstairs for tea?"

...

Elias was now seated, watching as the man who led him away concentrated on brewing a fresh pot of tea.

He still couldn't contain his shock, as the person now brewing tea before him was a legend among legends, an Early-Day Saint who had suspiciously disappeared more than a decade ago. He was the Benign Philosopher—Noa El-Lah, the first director of the White Helm Academy and the provisional founder of the Estican Island region!

He was a living and breathing enigma, one that was responsible for pushing the supernatural sectors of science and ether forward since the early days.

The world had been clamoring for the first few years after his disappearance, with all nations jointly participating to investigate the issue. They all eventually gave up after almost five years of fruitless searches, and the person who was responsible for turning the whole world on its head was now before him, calmly brewing him some tea. It was beyond surreal!

Noa walked over to Elias while carrying two tea cups, setting down a jar of milk, honey, and sugar for the latter to pick based on his preferences.

Elias watched the man settle into the seat in front of him, before hesitantly asking a question.

"Mr. Noa sir, do you mind telling us where we are? To tell you the truth I'm having a hard time accepting that all of this is even real."

Elias said 'us' as he was talking about both he and Lars, as the latter had moved back into his mind, claiming that the space around them felt quite odd and disjointed when compared to the real world.

Noa took a sip from his tea before setting it down,

"Well that's alright, I suppose you do deserve to know." He looked towards the endlessly spiraling stairs, his voice deep and solemn. "We are in a space completely separate from the real world, hidden deeply within the impassable layers of the Spiritual Sea.

"As for where exactly we are, this place is called The Infinite Library, the abstractal representation of omniscience and... the Divine Sanctuary of the eternal ruler of knowledge."