~ Chapter 3: Searching for answers -Part:3 ~Nieka~

It was late and Nieka, all fed and clothed, grew restless. She didn't want to go back to sleep because she knew she'd just be woken up from another nightmare all sweaty and panicked. So, she sat in the dark and studied her surroundings as a distraction. Her curious nature was itching her like a bad case of poison Ivey. It itched so bad it hurt. The longer she sat awake the more the questions piled up, gnawing at her. Things like who were these people? Where was she? How did two humans kill all those demons without a scratch to show for it? Was she safe here? Could she learn from them? Could she trust them? Why were they so suspicious of her?

Simpler questions crept into her mind too. Ones like: why are the walls slightly curved? What did they use to whitewash the walls and ceiling? Why are there no windows on the walls she could look out? Why was the ceiling so oddly tilted and have tiny little windows? Where does that door lead? What's down the hall she'd seen Master Robin and Murin entering and exiting from? What does the rest of this so-called castle look like?

More and more questions piled up repeating themselves and shouting to be heard above the others begging to be answered. Finally unable to take it anymore she slid quietly out of bed and tiptoed in her borrowed socks to the door. A quick glance around the room told her no one was watching... and she turned the knob and carefully opened the door. It screeched loudly on its hinges. She froze, looked up and down the hall, and hearing no response she darted out, randomly picking a direction. She felt like a kid sneaking out of bed on the eve of winter solstice; When you know you shouldn't, and you know you're likely to get caught and therefore in trouble but... the curiosity... is just too much. The pull was too powerful, and she lacked restraint.

The hall was plane and dim with no windows. Torches hung at intervals on either side of the hall casting the white walls with flickering yellowy-orange light. The walls were defiantly curved and if she had to make a guess, she'd say she was in a large circular building. She walked by the door after door, wondering what was on the other side but too afraid to look.

Then she came upon a set of double doors, they were wood like all the rest but beautifully carved with torches on either side. She traced her fingers over the intricate wood carvings. The main image on the left door was that of children huddled around reading and on the right door, the same kids were playing with swords and equipment too large for them. Around the borders were smaller carvings depicting men fighting daemons with rocks and clubs, then with spears and shields, and so on. The weapons and armor changed but the fighting did not. The door handle was of polished silver a circle split in half by the gap between the doors. She leaned gently against the doors, her ear to the carved wood, and listened. Hearing nothing, she pushed one of the heavy doors and it swung open on silent hinges.

Inside was beautiful and big, she turned around slowly awestruck by the sheer size of the library she was standing in. She was not much for books herself but with this many options, she'd be hard-pressed not to find a stack of books that would interest her. The room was two stories high, and perfectly round, she must be in the center of the castle now she realized. The curved walls were made up of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with ladders on tracks so you could reach the top shelves.

The second floor was the same except that it had a ledge that overhung the floor below and wrapped around the whole room even over the door she just entered. There were two twin staircases on either side of her that led to the balcony. The ceiling was arched and whitewashed but the walls being bookcases were made of a warm rich colored wood. Every fifteen feet or so there was a one-foot spacer between shelves made of polished silver that reflected the light of the strange torches mounted on them. Only six torches were lit that night and the big shadowy room seemed to amplify every sound in the silence.

The first floor was broken up by more bookcases and study tables and in the middle was a round podium style desk and it was labeled with a sign reading "Index" she walked up to find it had several books around the podium style border and in the center above that was a thin but worn metal book whose spine was labeled 'index of indexes'. She decided to take a look at this first.

It had lists of every major topic you might normally see in a library and those were broken down into subsections and each subsection had a corresponding index book. For example: under history were subsections on bow and arrow making, bow and arrow usage… castle defense, castle building… demons, demon fighter journals… knife fighting, knife throwing… swords, sword making… and so many more. During her skimming, someone must have snuck in behind her; their soft footfalls, far too close to have not seen her, stopped her in her tracks.

"Is there anything, in particular, I can help you find?" although his voice was kind and helpful, Nieka jumped, turning to the voice in one startled motion. It was the nice blond-haired guy from earlier and his expression matched his kind tone. Realizing she wasn't in danger or trouble; she relaxed a little.

"No, not really, not unless you have something here that might help me storm a demon lair, kill all the demons and free my sister and the other captives. But I wouldn't have the first idea where to look for something like that or even if something like that even exists in a book" She replied.

"Well, you came to the right library for that. Probably won't find something that specific, but I'd start in the 'how to' section" he turned and waved her to come with him.

"Makes sense. Hey…where's your scary friend?" she asked.

He laughed "You mean Takal? He's a good guy once you get to know him."

"That's not the impression I got from Robin, and I don't want to get to know him. Something about him scares me beyond reason. And I can't figure out why." It surprised her that she was being so honest and open with someone she barely knew. He was just easy to talk to.

"He did save your life you know." The blond defended.

"No, he didn't, he did his job, then he almost killed me. His decision to interrogate me first bought me some time. But I could tell earlier that he hasn't ruled it out. I'm not much safer here than I was with the demons. Death and pain just hide behind prettier faces here. I owe him nothing, gratitude least of all." she could still feel his cold eyes and a colder steal against her throat. And his accusations earlier didn't improve her impression of him.

"Wow, that's um, pretty dark."

"Maybe, but it's true. A few weeks in hell can be quite insightful. That's one good thing about it I guess; I no longer see the world through a pink haze." She would always be more weary of things now.

"Maybe it's just been replaced by a black haze instead."

"Maybe." She agreed somewhat sorrowful.