Esoterico: A Hidden Land

Chapter Eight: The Late Night Occurrence

Ryan didn't know what time it was when Rudy awakened him from his afternoon nap. It took a while to remember what he's in Magicademia, and all about the boat journey, and the new year's ceremony. It was Rudy who informed him that two hours had passed since Ryan fell asleep. 

"Didn't you sleep?" Ryan said, standing up as he got off the bed.

"No, obviously."  Rudy replied.  

At this time, Robben's head poked in through the ajar door, who said, "Ahoy! Explorin' time! Let's get going!"

Ryan and Rudy followed Robben, who had most of the beginners prepared already. Then they set off after they had awakened Timo and Rex.

They obviously started with the common room. The common room was neat, clean, and something to look at. It had a fireplace, not lit obviously, as nobody was there. Lots of cozy easy chairs were here and there. And the floor was covered with purple rugs. It also had golden pillars similar to those in the hall. The room wasn't dark at all due to the half a dozen windows it had. And it was remarkably quiet. 

Robben said, "It's too quiet right now because the students are all in bed. Normally this is the noisiest place of all."

And that was all there was to see in the fourth and fifth floors; everything else on these floors were student apartments, as Robben said. So they set out for the busy third floor. The first thing they could see on the third floor was the massive hall, which was nothing new. 

Bob and Tom were looking around a lot, maybe identifying all the places for their new pranks and mischief. 

They arrived at the auditorium plus opera. Here thousands of seats were visible; big stairsteps went all the way down, and there were seats on either side of each stair step, leaving space to walk down in the middle. A dozen windows were on either side of the auditorium. Ryan could identify this auditorium as being fully empty on the day of the admission test. The roof was high above the head, and at the end of the auditorium, there was a big stage all the way down. The stage glared in purple, ready for any public event. 

After they left the auditorium, they gradually visited the dance hall, gymnasium, swimming pool, showers, dueling arena, soccer stadium, teachers' rooms, classrooms, medical chamber... And at last it was time for the sun to set when they entered the library, marking the end of the tour. The library was situated outside the building. An inside door led them to a dungeon, and the dungeon led them straight to the outside.  

"Woah," they gasped altogether, because they were on the other side of the campus, which had many passageways, monuments, and even a wood. The tower for higher studies was visible above all, and the second main gate was visible there too.   

The library was the closest of all to the main academic building. Robben stepped forward to the door of the two-storey library. A large one it was, with an ordinary-looking wooden door. 

Robben eloquently said to the door, "A limping lion lives inside a library of Lithuania."

At that moment, some green light engulfed the door. Moments later, a large picture of two lions holding an "M" appeared on the door in green light. After that, the door flung open.

"Come," Robben stepped into the library, and the others followed him.

In the library, it looked as mystical as possible.  Shelves—there were all kinds of them: tall, short, broad, thin—every kind. And the floor was sort of damp. All the windows were closed except two; the fading light from the setting sun didn't do much justice to the darkness inside. Ryan amazedly noticed that even the roof had shelves that had books with no hassle; the shelves didn't even have any netting.