Chapter 11

"I am doing great, how about you? How has the library been treating you?" asked Relik.

"Spending my life among books, it was what the seer that my mother had me brought to when I was born said, so I am happy fulfilling my destiny," said Gwenlin in a nostalgic way.

"How old is this library?" asked Ash, feeling he needed to be part of this conversation and talk to Lady Gwenlin.

"Eons old, the perception of time in the interdimensional gap is skewed; on your plane, there was just the start of life when the walls of this library were being carved," said Gwenlin.

"Yes, of course, Lady Gwenlin, you must have celebrated your fortieth birthday some time ago," said Relik excitedly. The locket seemed to be shining more than usual.

"Ah yes, you remembered; I myself sometimes forget about it," said Gwenlin.

Ash was sure forty was like twenty in human years cause she didn't seem a day older, unusually vibrant, and perk.

"So, why have you brought me this human here? I assume it was your idea," asked Gwenlin.

"Yes! And by the way, I have a name now, Relik, and this is Ash Blake, my temporary master; we are in a kind of tight spot right now, my Lady, and we were wondering what it would take to have a little vial of pure ether from the library" said Relik.

"Hmm, a whole vial, you say. Usually, we deal in something other than knowledge, but the library doesn't get many visitors anyway, so maybe we should expand. After all, helping those in need was my king's command," said Gwenlin. She took out a small green and white feather from underneath the desk; it looked like it was made of glass. She moved her fingers over it in some pattern, and a screen appeared before her.

Ash could see Lady Gwenlin through the transparent blue screen; she was busy tapping on the screen, not paying attention to them. Ash again took the time to appreciate her beauty from all angles.

"Yes, a vial of pure ether," she said, closing the screen, and a small glass bottle the size of a test tube with a cap in the design of a leaf was placed on the desk.

"But how will you pay for it?" asked Gwenlin to Relik.

"After all, though there are plenty of books in the library, this vial is still more valuable than the books you would have been allowed to read," she said.

"Yes, I was wondering if we could sign a contract; maybe you have some work for us? " asked Relik.

"Work, you say," said Gwenlin and started thinking.

"Hmmm, I could appoint you as a library law enforcer. Usually, I do that too, but that isn't appropriate for a librarian to do the dumb muscle work; very well, I will bring up a contract for it," she said and again opened the screen.

"What would be the specific details of the contract?" asked Relik.

"Keeping in mind the value of the vial, I will have to retrieve three books. They have been issued out of the library over the years, and the issuer has not managed to return them in the discussed time, so you'll have to track down those books and get them back; I'll give you one year for each book," said Gwenlin.

"Hmm, seems all right," said Relik. Ash looked around, wondering what he was getting into; no one was asking his thoughts when it seemed like it was him who was going to be the bouncer of this library soon.

The screen closed, and a scroll appeared on the desk beside the vial.

"You can look at the contract, then sign it if you agree," said Gwenlin.

Ash took the scroll and opened it; it was written in very cursive handwriting, matching the personality of the place; the words were in some other language, but for some reason, he could understand them.

It was like a contract, with many details covering most possibilities. He scanned it, and it seemed to say the same things they had discussed.

"Seems all right, what do you think?" asked Relik to Ash.

"Yeah, you are the expert though" said Ash.

"Let's sign the contract then" said Relik.

"How?" asked Ash.

"Just put your hand above that magical circle at the bottom left," said Relik.

Ash placed his palm above the red circle. It glowed and seemed to scan his hand.

"It's done" said Gwenlin clapping her hands.

"Here is your payment for the three years you will be working with us in advance" she said, placing the vial towards him.

"and here is the file on the books I want you to retrieve" said Gwenlin. A file appeared out of thin air and she gave that to them too.

"I made it just like in your world" she said and it indeed looked like a normal office file. He opened it to have a quick glance, he felt like a detective there were information and timestamps of the people who took the books. He closed it after a quick look, he'll have to deal with this later for now.

"Umm thanks" said Ash.

"No worries, feel free to drop by anytime if you need any more information, I'll be happy to help, and plus I don't mind the company it's been a while since the library had another staff member" said Gwenlin smiling.

Ash smiled on his own seeing the radiating smile, small light bubbles started appearing around him and he was transported back to the same spot at the same time he had left.

He quickly recoveree from the drastic change in the scenery.

"What should I do with the file?" asked Ash.

"Let me store it, till we need it again" said Relik.

"What? How?" asked Ash.

"I have a pocket dimension" said Relik. Ash pushed the file toward the locket it suddenly started fading away into thin air as he pushed further.

"Now take out the vial, we don't have much time" said Relik, his silent chanting had resumed, cloaking them invisible.

"You'll have to make a magical circle on the ground, with the pure ether sand" said Relik.

Ash got on the ground and poured the white sparkling sand in a circle. He followed Relik's instructions in making the symbols and letters.

"That's it, it's done" announced Relik after five minutes.

"That didn't take much time" said Ash.

"It's because the ether is the purest, we didn't have to make much complicated wards" said Relik.

"Now stand in the middle and chant and get ready to absorb some energy" said Relik.

Ash threw the empty bottle aside and stood in the middle of the circle, it started glowing on its own. Relik told him the chant, he started chanting it slowly.

"Faster" said Relik.

As Ash chanted faster, the wind in the cell started increasing, soon there was a small storm brewing in the cell throwing dirt around, in a small tornado around them.

Ash was sure the evil spirit would hear them soon.

"We are almost there, now the miasma will start getting sucked in the winds, and it will purify as it will spin in circles" said Relik.

Slowly and slowly the black vapour started seeping in around them, Ash was soon standing in the middle of a violent black tornado around him. He saw the black vapours changing into white light bubbles and they started passing through his spiritual form.

He felt like he was in a microwave, with thermal waves passing through him and cooking him from the inside.

He soon started feeling drunk and his mind startes spinning.

The whole thing lasted for a few minutes. Ash found himself on his knees breathing in and out hard.

Relik was unusually quite.

"Relik?" he asked.

"There the portal is clear now, I can see it over there in the left corner" said Relik.

Ash looked up, he was only thinking about getting out of there now. He saw the small image floating among the other scenes, it looked like the forest they were in. He grabbed Vanessa's unconscious body and jumped through the portal. The world shifted and he heard a silent scream somewhere in the back, the ghost was too weak now to do anything.

Runi and Kara had been waiting in the forest over the grave for a while.

Runi would go and check Ash's pulse through his outstretched hand that was above the soil every few minutes.

Kara after getting tired had started back on her camera taking pictures to see if she could see a ghost that looked like Ash.

They were busy doing there things when they heard footsteps and a crunching sound and looked up. Vanessa was walking from tree to tree slowly, rubbing her eyes and clutching her head. They both ran upto her and helped her in the clearing and sit on the ground.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You tell us, how are you feeling? Where have you been?" asked Runi.

"I don't know I feel like my body has been through a roller coaster several times, I am going to puke" she said.

"Where is Ash?" then she asked remembering him.

Runi and Kara looked at the grave now worried.