After the darkness, even the candlelight was a bit unpleasant to the eyes. Trying to see clearly everything around Longwei opened his eyes wide but the light was causing pain.
The man with bandaged hands was still looking at him. His tall figure was casting a big shadow on the floor. Without saying anything, the man"s eyes were shining through the darkness. But his face wasn"t visible.
Longwei feeling a bit awkward said, "I am sorry. I just followed the little wolf. He took my book."
Still no answer.
"I was chasing after him and I did not even notice that I entered to this house. I didn"t know that it is your house. I am sorry."
Not daring to look at him, Longwei"s eyes were directed downwards. His hands were shaking a bit. Feeling horror and uncomfortable aura around, he swallowed the saliva but still, there was a tensed sensation in his throat. Standing like this for a moment, he said, "If you excuse me, can I leave now?"
The man was still standing still. It was like he was a statue, unable to move, but can observe. Filling his thoughts with courage he slowly turned around and was about to leave but the man finally said, "Wait."
The next moment, the darkness faded away and the bright light filled everything around. A thousands of candles had lit up at one time. They were everywhere.
Longwei looked around. It was a wide room with lots of books around. Thousands, no, millions of books were accurately placed to the shelves, some of them were on the round tables and some of them were scattered on the floor. In the middle of the room was the fireplace in front of which were two big armchairs. In front of the fireplace was lying that little wolf. His big eyes were curiously looking at Longwei. The little book was lying next to him.
Slowly turning his head towards the man with bandaged hands looked up and finally could see his face.
Surprisingly enough this wasn"t a scary face. Opposite, it was very kind face.
Two big black eyes, so black that the sclera wasn"t even visible. Thick eyebrows which were showing some kind of tension and hatred, it was like they froze in one emotion and can not express any other emotions. But still, his eyes were very kind. A straight nose with a small bump which made his look brutal and rude and red lips which were so tensed that one could say that he is always angry. White, almost pale skin without any traces of the war and a long brown hair which was gathered in a bun. And what was surprising is that there was no sign of beard or even the stubble. Because here, almost every soldier had a rude skin and a stubble. Having no time for self care, everyone did not even take shower. But the best warrior of the First clan looked like a real gentleman.
Breaking Longwei"s meditative state the man said, "You said your book was taken by Shadow?" Taking off his heavy black coat, he went towards the place where the wolf was. Sitting on his knees, he stroked the wolf"s fur and then took the small book. He opened the first page and Longwei could see that he slightly smiled even though this smile immediately disappeared and tensed face returned again.
Standing up, the man approached Longwei. Holding the book in his hand he looked at Longwei, his look was cold but curious. "What is your name?" He asked.
"Longwei."
Making a very serious expression, the man walked away and stopped by the window which was half closed with the stack of books.
"You are new here, aren"t you?"
Longwei feeling a bit relieved made a step towards the round table with books. There were so many of them that he couldn"t read the titles. This was the real heaven for him. As the booklover, his heart was beating like mad but restraining himself, he behaved coldly and seriously.
"Yes. I just arrived."
"How old are you?"
"I am 24."
"24 and joined to the army for the first time. Why is it so?"
"I didn"t want to join the army of the clan."
"I guess you were lazily living your life and did not want to get your gentle hands dirty?!" Without looking at him, the man said, but all his attention was on the small book.
Longwei, becoming a bit bolder said aloud, "If I don"t want to do something then why should I do it?! And why are you saying like you know me well. You know nothing about me but still you are saying things about me. Or what, because you are the best warrior, you know everything about everyone?!"
Hearing the quite laughter, Longwei approached the man, "Why are you laughing?"
The man turned around, his eyes were indeed laughing. Standing before each other, they were almost the same height but still, the warrior was a bit taller.
Showing the small book to Longwei he said, "This book, where did you get it?"
"It is none of your business."
As if not hearing it the warrior continued, "It is a rare book. Very rare. Once, I traveled all over the fields and mountains in search of this book. But all was in vain. And now I finally found it."
"Don"t think that I will give it to you. It is precious to me. Very precious. My father…" Stopping in the middle of the sentence Longwei frowned and said, "Can I take my book and leave?"
The warrior closed the book and put it into his pocket.
Longwei, "Hey! What are you doing?! Give it back."
The warrior without changing his serious expression walked away, looking at Longwei he pointed towards the shelves full of books. "You can take any book from here. Take two or three or even more books. But allow me to read this book and then I"ll return it to you."
Extending his hand Longwei said, "Give back my book Mister."
Walking to and fro the warrior said, "You are the booklover, I can see it. These books, are unique and rare too. I am sure you have never seen such old books. As the booklover you will be able to find them very interesting and educative. Here, take a look."
Longwei approached the shelves, indeed, these were really old books. Feeling the intense curiosity, Longwei wasn"t able to restrain himself. Spending all his childhood and half of his youth by reading, he was so happy that he took out a few books and exclaimed, "These are the works of the great philosopher Mars! I heard about them. Here, in these books one can find the real wisdom of life and can find the answers to any questions."
Holding three thick volumes he happily looked at the warrior who was looking at him with some kind of surprise but immediately changed his mood and put back the book. "These books are great but can I take back my book please?"
The warrior with a sigh leaned back to the shelve, "You are very stubborn. Alright, let"s do this. You can come here everyday and take whatever you want. You can read here or in your house. You can read every single book."
Feeling hunger for knowledge, Longwei thought for a moment and then answered, "I read books very fast. In about a week, I can read all these books."
"By that time I will finish your book."
Longwei nodded his head and said, "Alright. But the book which is in your pocket is very precious to me. Keep it safe and read it accurately. The pages are too old. You can easily torn them. Be careful."
The warrior walked towards the fireplace. Without looking at him he replied, "You can go now."
Not knowing what to say Longwei just bent his head slightly and went towards the door. His hands were holding heavy books and the smell of old pages made him so happy that he almost forgot about where he was.
