061-The Corruptus

—For good luck—said the bear with some anger—All creatures that affect the mind are dangerous. It was better to attack some lunatic.

Adam resisted the smell and continued to watch as his arm slowly healed back to normal.

—And why did you say we were still at risk? Adam asked hesitantly.

—The last part was supposed to be the most complicated—answered the bear with some sadness—But it won't be more complicated than this, so don't worry so much and enjoy it.

Adam listened and decided not to ask any more questions, he waited for his body to heal, and he got out of the pool. When the wooden boy came out he reappeared, but with very nice white robes, they were even engraved with little flowers in several places.

—Have your new robes—the wooden boy said as he handed the robe to Adam.

—These are much more comfortable—Adam commented as he tried on his new tunic—Thank you very much!

—Don't be thankful, your ancestors won this—said the wooden boy with a smile.

Adam thought for a long time. He had never considered that somehow the comfortable life in the cave was thanks to librarians who got promoted, just like the school and a lot of things that he always used for free. Perhaps this service was so insanely good that he made him further consider how important promotions were to the society in which he lived.

But before Adam could think further, the wooden boy came over and handed him a book.

—A gift from the house—Said the wooden boy with a smile—To make your path to promotion more comfortable.

Adam saw that the book was quite small, it was the size of a notebook and its covers appeared to be made from human skin, the spine of the book was covered in black hair.

—Thank you very much—said Adam, this book seemed to be a magical book because of its unusual appearance. The bear looked at the book in Adam's hand for a long moment, but said nothing.

With his new robes, Adam left hexagon 8 and ran towards hexagon 6 to get out of this floor as fast as possible. Upon reaching the stairs, the bear gave the new instructions:

—Let's go to the lower floor 2 of 5, hexagon 7 of 18. There is nothing strange on that floor, except for some crazy people, while we go down I will explain to you about the creature we are facing.

Adam nodded and continued down the stairs, along with the bear, and when they were halfway there the bear continued talking:

—The creature is a 'Corruptus', meaning a librarian who lost his mind altogether and turned into a weird creature. This one in particular is blind and is being protected by the bookshelf in the flat where he lives, so we can only try not to draw attention to him.

The bear saw that the boy had stopped to ask his godfather when he heard the creature's name; however, he went on to explain the plan:

—The hex where the Corruptus lives is infected with the smell of corrupted people. That's why we needed the scent to camouflage your presence.

—So I just need to get in and out with the box?— Adam asked hesitantly, his godfather just wishing him luck.

—And don't let it find you, the scent only protects you from smell—answered the bear—but you have to be careful not to make too much noise.

With the plan armed Adam and the bear went down to the lower floor 2, when they left they ran to the door of hexagon 7, but to Adam's surprise: The door was boarded up or rather the giant marble frame that led to hexagon 7 was covered with wooden planks.

It was the first time that Adam had seen one of these giant frames being covered up, he didn't even know that you could do that, for him that might offend the shelving that looked after the hexagon.

—How do we get in?—Adam asked, looking at the wooden planks.

—There is a loose plank that can be moved—the bear answered, swimming to one of the planks that covered the giant frame—The couple that brought the box moved this one from here.

—Are we stealing?—Adam asked, very suspicious of this bear.

—No, not at all, we're helping them, believe me—the bear replied, moving along the board, as if insisting Adam to move it—remember not to make any noise inside and follow me! If we see the Corruptus just stand still and don't move.

Adam tried not to think too much about it and moved the plank to go inside, it seemed that most of the lamps inside were broken, so the corridors of this hexagon were very poorly lit.