Creation - The Path of a God

Chapter 15

Eliionia Nightborn found herself inside of the Academy's library once again. The library within the Academy contained almost all the known knowledge within all the nearby nations. It even contained some of the more obscure pieces of information gathered from distant lands. Ever since she was accepted into the Academy, Eli had been spending as much time as possible inside of the library, trying to learn as much as she could about the Overflow.

Though the library had a lot of information about the Overflow, many of it was anecdotal evidence from those who lived through it. There was no information related to what caused this nightmarish event to occur or how to stop it. Eli, being a part of the royal family, had a strong sense of duty and wanted to figure out a way to end the suffering of her people. Somewhere within these books, she hoped that there was information that would help her mother with creating a weapon to fend off the monsters during the Overflow.

"Damn it!!" Eli slammed her fist on the table. "I have been through nearly all the books that are connected to the Overflow and have come no closer to learning how to fight this."

The problem was that Eli wasn't sure whether the lack of information was due to natural reasons or unnatural ones. There may be nothing known about how to fight against such an event or it may be connected to the mysterious organization that tries to prevent anyone from fighting the event.

Getting up from the table, she stretched her arms and tried to shake off the sleepy feeling. Looking out the window and seeing the black night let her know that she had been inside the library for several hours. Looking around, the library was completely devoid of any fellow students. Most of the mana stones were turned off, so there was an eery feel to the area. Bookshelves created shadows to further represent the knowledge hidden from her.

Taking the books that she grabbed, Eli went to put them back where she found them. With how often she studied in the library, there was no need for her to grab one of the portable lamps. There was still plenty of ambient light to help her. To help prevent students from accidentally using a fire spell the people who created the library created a magic suppression array. Only the mana stones would be able to work in this location, providing light for everyone.

The place she was sitting at is a study area within the library. Set up in a corner, the area felt like the destination within a labyrinth, where the bookshelves were the walls that you had to traverse between. At the intersections, there were lamps placed, with directions on where to go.

Permeating throughout the library was the smell of aged books that have been inside of this place for ages. Walking down the paths caused an echo to be created from her walking on the wooden floors. Though she enjoyed being inside of the library while there were students and teachers walking around, being inside here when it was empty was a lot better. Being a Princess, Eli always had to pay attention to how others perceived her, so she valued the moments of silence and emptiness that this place provided her.

Finding the empty spot and inserting one of the books into it, she sighed thinking about another dead end in her research. Walking away from the book, she continued towards the next spot. As she navigated her way through the bookshelves, she thought she heard a tapping noise.

"Hello?? Is someone there?" Eli called out into the dark. It was unusual to hear any noise this late, which made her curious.

After waiting for a reply and getting none, she shrugged her shoulders and continued deeper into the library. Reaching the spot, Eli placed another book where she had grabbed it earlier. Each of those books was relatively thick, so her arms felt better for not needing to carry them.

A part of her thought about heading back to her room and getting some sleep. Not being able to find any additional information that could help her mother was disheartening. Everything that she tried to do to learn more seemed to hit a dead end. Even the ruined city that she traveled to didn't have any useful information.