Lost in a Dream

Chapter 3

Shiloh raced down the steps of The Bradley's front walk, running as fast as he could in the direction of the Non-Fiction Library.

The library had gotten it's name from the fact that it's founder, Merlinon, had been such an avid advocate about the importance of truth, and knowledge, that the library had gradually begun to take on the nickname of being a non-fiction library. This was inspired by both the knowledge that Merlinon had been so keen on discussing, but also because of Merlinon's name, or at least the last three letters. Shiloh just thought it was a cheesy name, but who was he to judge.

He raced through the streets, dodging cars, and racing down alleyways. The city itself resembled New York, although he knew it wasn't New York. He'd visited the library on over a dozen occasions, and although he knew that New York was not the same place as Tempest, Tempest still bore a lot of structural similarities to the city of New York.

Shiloh nearly ran into someone on the street, mentally yelling at himself for not having remembered that person in the time loop. Then it suddenly hit him, and he nearly stopped dead in the middle of crossing the street. He didn't remember that person from the time loop. He watched as the person he nearly ran into, a teenager, continue down the sidewalk in front of him, before entering the Non-Fiction Library.

The Non-Fiction Library was set in a place that, no matter which direction you came from, you always had to cross the street. It was set on it's own island of concrete and asphalt, with no parking spaces, and no bike-racks to speak of.

Shiloh raced up the steps, following the teenager into the building. He came crashing through the library doors, stopping to catch his breath as he did. And it was then that the whispering started again.

The murmuring sound filled the air, as Shiloh looked around the room. He watched as time began to slow down around him. However, unlike the last few times, when Shiloh hadn't noticed any differences, this time was different. He watched as everyone in the library simply vanished. It was like they had been lights, which had faded into darkness. Almost as though they had never been there in the first place.

Shiloh looked around in horror, as he watched the people he had come to take for granted vanish. He looked out a window, and watched the same thing happening to the people outside. Mothers, fathers, businesswomen, even children vanished. Every last single one of them. The cars did too, the sudden silence creating a terrifying loudness in his ears.

Then a second time, the whispering filled the air, and Shiloh watched as the room seemed to change. The walls began to age slightly, although they didn't decay. They seemed to turn to brick, or rather stone, like the stone walls of a castle. The books seemed to age the same way, their covers becoming leather, and tough, some even forming padlocks on the front.

The stairwell that lead to the study room upstairs underwent the same effect, and suddenly Shiloh was looking at what could have been the grand-staircase in the titanic, a book that he had only ever read about, although he had never had the chance to see it with his own eyes.

The whispering continued until the entire library resembled an old castle. Shiloh felt a terror in his veins that he had never felt before, and raced outside, only to find himself facing an empty city. Then, something truly horrifying happened. The outskirts of the city began to fade into nothingness as well.

Turning to the only place he felt he had left, Shiloh raced back into the library, terror, shock, and anger coursing through his veins. "I don't care who or what is going on, nobody screws with my life!" He growled, as though the air would somehow take pity on him, and restore what he once had, even though it hadn't been much to begin with.

The sound of the study-room door opening made him jump nearly three feet into the air, but he turned, and with a defiant composure, strode up the newly created staircase, racing to the top floor. "Alright, whoever is doing this, I want some answers. This breadcrumb of yours better be worth something to me." He muttered angrily. 

The top floor had fared just as well as the rest of the building. The walls were made of something equivalent to that of a castle-wall stone, and the carpets had vanished. Every step Shiloh took echoed through the study room, almost as though it were trying to warn something he was there.

There were a few more shelves up on this floor, Merlinon having ordered them there for anyone seeking additional knowledge. Shiloh paced around the room, slowly now, scanning the shelves for something, anything that could give him a clue as to what was going on. The strange thing was, although Shiloh had been up here close to a million times before, he didn't recognize any of the book titles.

"Sorcery for Beginners? Basic Potions?" Shiloh read the titles out-loud, gently running his fingers down the spines of the books as he walked. "What is all of this stuff? Magic isn't real. So why are these books here."

As he said the words, the last statement seemed to ring false, even in his ears, and he pondered that for a moment. Then, it happened again.

The whispering sound began to fill the air again, and rays of light descended from a random point in the middle of the ceiling, like a hidden light turned on. It revealed a book on a pedestal, which was closed. Shiloh walked over to it, and read the title.

"The Story of Tempest : A City Frozen in Time." Shiloh read out loud. Almost at his words, the book suddenly flipped open, pages flying by before they stopped. "The Lost Mage?"

Shiloh sat down, and began to read.