Discontinued Version of Running from Eden

A Study in the Library

The old man and Skylar pulled a small, red candle from their cape. They held it against the pendant that was attached to the wall. The doors slowly creaked open to reveal stony stairs. Naomi raised her shoulders to prepare for her first step. She leaned as she walked down. As she stepped onto normal ground, the doors shut after her. She lit a candle to reveal the way.

She wearily stepped forward, eyeing the dark corridor as she went ahead. She suddenly paused, feeling a barrier stop her. The yellow light suddenly opened around her so she could walk through, since she qualified. She stepped onto the ramp and climbed her way up into another corridor. Her eyes lit up, since she could actually see a room.

She ran forward and paused as her toes dangled over the edge of the floor. She stared in awe at the large room with the floating platforms. The remaining bottom area was full of floating magic so you couldn't fall into the abyss. In the middle, there was a platform that rested on the floating magic, and parts of it were cracked. Parts of the big wall were falling apart, too. Big chunks were just floating in the same spot.

Naomi glanced around more before her eyes caught onto the big hole in the wall that lead to the library. She bent her knees before leaping into the air, flapping her wings and flipping in midair to hoist herself higher into the air.

She landed on the rim of the hole and she poked her head in. The corridor was full of books just standing there, clean and bright. They all still looked brand new.

Naomi leaped over the cracked bits and walked over to the first ladder that stood ahead of her. She climbed up and examined the first book.

"History book," She spoke out loud to herself. "Not what I need."

She turned and flapped her wings to the next area, scanning through more and more books to try finding what she needed. She got to the last room and groaned angrily, seeing all the books were about simple stuff she didn't need.

She looked down at the hole that went into the lower floor. She shrugged and hopped down from the shelf square into the hole.

She landed roughly on a slab of cracked stone. She looked around, seeing even more books. She internally screamed as she realized she'd have to look even more. After a good five minutes of scanning, she realized the second floor was also useless.

She hopped down the last big hole carelessly, landing wonkily on a slab. Her foot slipped and twisted so she tripped and fell over onto more slabs. She cried out in pain as her chin slammed onto an edge. She slowly lifted her upper body up with her arms, eventually using her legs to pick herself back up.

She didn't even bother to try flying onto a shelf, she just glanced around hopelessly. There were a lot less books in this area. Her feet sledged in the water. She arrived in a room that separated into two other rooms. She looked up at the books and her eyes widened.

"'Spirit Communications'!" She suddenly screamed the name of the book in the middle. She boosted herself into the air and landed on the shelf, nabbing the book. She sat on the edge of the shelf the book was located on, her back pressed against the wall as her legs dangled off of the edge.

She would rub her fingers softly against the pages, admiring the feeling of the paper against her fingertips. She had never actually looked through a book before, since she never really needed to. The Valley teachers had taught them verbally.

She stared at the first page, which explained what communicating with the Elders were. She skipped the page and flipped to the next page. She skimmed through it as it explained more about what it was. She flipped more pages, realizing the book wouldn't actually teach her anything.

"I don't care what it is. You just talk to the Elders! I need to know how!" She emphasized, putting the book back. She looked to the two books on her right. She glanced at the names. One seemed like a part two to the first book, while the other sounded like it taught what it would feel like to talk to an Elder. She grabbed the second one and sat back down.

She opened the book and a big picture popped up. She saw the Isle Elder, leaning down to talk to a moth. The moth held a ball. Naomi remembered when she had to bring those balls to the Elders the first time. All the sky children had to do that, it was required. So was Eden, though. Though they were in the presence of the Elders, nobody has ever really spoken to them, not to Naomi's knowledge, anyway. Apparently the blind teacher did though.

The next pages described how one would feel. 'Who wrote this?' Naomi thought as she read.

"'The child, made of light, will feel heavy, as does the Elder. The eye will see-' Huh? 'The eye will see'? Was this written by... no. That's not possible. He's blind. Unless... the old man wrote it for him?" Naomi bit her lip before continuing.

"'You'll feel as a statue. You will be unable to move your parts, except for the eyes. Your eyes will be able to see more than any child has seen. Beauties, horrors. You mustn't look too far. You are only there for the Elders. Look too far and your inner spirit will be locked, as will your magic. The Elder will shame you, so you will be unable to speak to them and the normal spirits. Resist.'"

Naomi clenched her jaw and slowly closed the book. She stood and slid it back into place. She stared at the cover of the book before bringing her hands over her face. She bleated miserably.

"I'm so tired of this already."

She stepped to her left to the three books stacked together. The three books looked like three books of instructions on how to do it. She smiled blissfully and reached her hand out before the ground suddenly started shaking. She gasped and turned to look at where she came from. She could hear rocks falling. The first level had already collapsed.

She quickly grabbed all three of the books, already struggling to carry all of them. She flew over to the room to the left that didn't lead anywhere else. She scanned the books, not seeing anything else she needed. She realized that those six books in the middle were her only instructions on how to communicate with them. No wonder the children never learned how to do it! There are hardly any resources to help them!

Naomi realized she should probably take the other books too, even though it would be difficult to carry them. She heard more cracking, which indicated the second floor was about to collapse soon.

She flew back over to the remaining three books and maneuvered them into her pile. The pile of books was so high, it covered her face. She'd have to use her flying skills to help her get out of her without crashing into anything.

She leapt off of the shelf and her wings spread out, but since her arms weren't available to control the wings, she had a lot more of a difficult time.

Using her peripheral vision, she saw the hallway that lead to the last turn. She leaned her body to the right, and she roughly turned. She quickly tried to steady herself, but she continued to shake out due to instability.

She finally got to the last turn, and she did the same as she did before. Now she flew towards a deep hole in the wall that got way too small near the end.

She felt the atmosphere shake as she arrived. She looked behind her to see dust from the area collapsing. Tons of sky children ran, flew, and beeped away from the madness.

Naomi, due to her instability, was in last place. She held her breath as she swooped into the hole, hoping to the Elders that she would somehow be able to squeeze through. She eventually slid out of the hole, slamming her side into the wall since she couldn't land in time. She somehow was able to hold onto the books, thankfully.

She opened her eyes to see the hole was enclosed. She quickly got up using her leg strength and ran towards the dark hallway to finally escape the nightmare.