Once again, the world shifted.
Only this time, it was much more dramatic.
A bunch of swirling lights that left him feeling nauseous.
The sensation of being jostled and thrown around violently made it even worse.
Eventually, everything came to a halt.
When he opened his eyes, Richard became frozen in shock.
The Halls of Solomon was nothing like he had imagined.
'He... wasn't lying.'
Everything he had seen so far, none of it was as impressive as the sight laid before his eyes.
The Halls of Solomon were a series of intertwining corridors that seemed to stretch infinitely in all directions, as far as his sorcerous eyes could see.
And in each corridor, there were hundreds upon hundreds of shelved filled with all sorts of books, times, and scrolls.
There were also strange objects, trinkets, and some shelved that even held still living beasts of unknown origins.
Ricjard had no idea what to say about what he was looking at.
He had seen the exterior of the Monolith. Although it was tremendously huge, the interior was even larger.
'There is truly no way it stretches out infinitely, right?"
Unfortunately, he was not good to find out the answer to that today.
Or possibly ever, even.
"The Halls of Solomon are filled with all manner of knowledge and information. There is truly no limit."
He turned to Richard,
"I suggest you start from the 'History' section. There is a lot of information unknown to the general public in there."
Upon saying that, Baxter turned and waved.
Richard raised a brow,
"Where are you going?"
Baxter laughed,
"The invitation was for just you, remember?"
Richard frowned,
'Eh?! You are just going to leave me to my own devices?'
It seemed to good to be true.
"There are a few librarians floating around. If you feel lost, ask them for help."
Baxter added as he walked away.
Richard watched his leave for a moment. Just before he vanished the same way they had come, he yelled out,
"Thank you."
Baxter froze.
Then he chuckled,
"Don't let me down, kid. I'm counting on you."
Suddenly left alone, Richard had no idea what to do.
He remembered Baxter's words.
'I guess I could start there. But...'
He glanced up.
It was a wonderful thing to behold.
The corridors formed a strangely beautiful kaleidescope. The entire place was bright, and a soft fog hung around, providing a touch of mystery still to this world of wonders and magic.
He turned to his right.
There, floating right above his head, holding a stack of books was a strange being.
Its body was white, translucent almost, and it was shaped like a penguin. Yet, it had a set of divine feathered wings behind it.
It flew over to a shelf and quickly sorted and arranged the books before wiping the sweat of its brows with a satisfied sigh.
"Excuse me."
"Ehhh!"
The small creature jumped. It spun around and glanced down.
Richard smiled wryly,
"Excuse me, are you a Librarian?"
It was silent for a moment.
Then it bowed slightly,
"I— I am. Nice to meet you."
Richard raised a brow,
"What exactly are you?"
"I am a lower Djinn. A creature part of a much larger entity, and one of the many Librarians that maintain the Halls of Solomon." The Djinn said meekly.
"Oh? What is your name?"
"I... I do not have one." It glanced at him.
Its eyes were big and its cheeks were plump.
'It really does look like an angelic penguin.'
It was by far, the cutest and least depressing thing he had seen in a while.
A breath of fresh air.
He was overcome by the desire to pinch its cheeks.
He reluctantly refrained.
"If you don't have one, then I will go e you a name myself to make things more convenient. Let's see..."
"That is..." The Djinn tried to protest. But it was too late.
"How about Eli?"
After a moment of hesitation, the Djinn nodded,
"You can call me whatever you want. It is my job to assist you."
Richard grinned, "Wonderful."
He paused and turned around,
"This is my great time here, so I have no idea how to traverse these halls."
Suddenly, a strong wind blew through the Halls, almost causing him to lose his balance.
"If this is your first time, then you have to be careful. It can get windy sometimes." Eli muttered as it watched Richard get up.
"We are indoors. How the hell is there wind?"
"There are a lot of strange things in the Halls of Solomon, human."
"Call me Richard."
"This... Are you sure?"
Richard nodded.
"Now that we've got the introductions out of the way, I was hoping you could help me find something."
"The history section, huh..." Eli muttered.
Then it gestured at Richard,
"Alright. Follow me."
'This little guy sure takes his job seriously.' Richard couldn't help but think to himself.
Theaon corridor led to a door at the edge of nothingness.
The corridors spiralled in all directions, all situated in a white void filled with a faint fog that made it difficult to make out details in the distance.
"The fog is an added layer of protection. Some things are better left unseen." Eli said when it noticed Richard's gaze.
"I see." Richard said, reigning back his curiosity. He had been told multiple times already just how dangerous being curious in here was. It would be stupid not to exercise some left control.
"Come, come." The Djinn said, opening the door and floating through it.
Richard grimaced as his heart skipped a beat.
He paused for a moment then sighed and stepped through the door.
He shut his eyes tightly.
When he realized he had stepped on solid, ground instead of spiralling into the mist below, he opened them slowly.
His brows shot up.
He turned around and looked down.
He could still see the door they had stepped through faintly through the mist.
"Spatial magic?"
Eli nodded,
"A transfer spell. Makes it convenient to navigate through the Halls."
Richard couldn't help but be impressed.
"We aren't there yet." Eli said as it continued to float away.
"A Djinn, huh... From what I've heard, Djinns are one of the many creatures found within the sub-planes. Not human, not abyss creature, and part spirit. Interesting."
Eli laughed nervously,
"No, no. I'm nothing special. We Djinns come in various shapes, sizes and strengths. As you can see, I am not very powerful."
Richard's eyes narrowed,
'You say that, but I can clearly tell you are an Apostate rank. Two origin essence cores.'
If such a small creature was this powerful, Richard could only imagine what else could be lurking in here.
He sighed and shook his head.
They continued moving rom corridor to corridor, passing through the doors.
It was like trying to find one's way through an incredibly complex maze.
At some point, Richard thought they had to have lost their way.
Just then, the Djinn stopped after going through a final door.
"We are here."
It turned around,
"You will have me as your attendant for the duration of your stay, Master Bane. Please, use me as you wish."
Richard chuckled and patted the little guy's head,
"Don't be so stiff. We are friends now, aren't we?"
During the long, rather frustrating journey to get here, Eli had made sure to keep him engaged with conversation.
He had already gotten used to the little guy.
In a way, the penguin-shaped Djinn was rather endearing.
It had a serious demeanor, but seemed rather introverted.
And it took its job rather seriously.
"Friends?" Eli asked, a confused look on its face.
Richard gently pulled on its cheeks,
"Of course."
Then he turned around,
"Now then... Where do we begin?"
Each corridor was incredibly large. They had multiple shelves that housed all sorts of books, tomes and other strange items.
The shelves themselves were as high as the corridors themselves.
Richard's brows furrowed,
"It's going to be a hassle trying to get up there, isn't it?"
Eli floated over and shook its head,
"You don't need to worry about that, Master Bane. If you need any anything, all you need to do is ask me."
Richard paused, then hummed,
"In that case, let's start with any information on the History of Earth and the Abyssal Planes."
He paused for a moment,
"Also, how does the time dilation look like compared to that of earth?"
Since the sub-planes were completely independent of the Earth, the difference in the way time flowed was usually very glaring.
"I would say it is about five to one, Master Bane."
'So five days in here is comparable to a single earth day. How convenient.'
He looked around. There were multiple sitting areas in the corridor, so he just settled down on the closest one.
"Please wait a moment, Master Bane." Eli said as it flew away.
Watching the small Djinn float to the top of the shelves, Richard couldn't help but think to himself how little he knew of the world he lived in, and the vastness beyond it.
He smiled,
"Well, that's why I am here, isn't it?"
Since this was a library, he would be sure to absorb as much knowledge as was humanly possible.
His eyes were burning with the flame of curiosity after all.