The Library II

How long had 039 spent in the library now? How many days, weeks, months, years, decades had passed?

"A Room With No Blood" had come up in hundreds of books, it was an all powerful being, it was the result of years of research, it was hell embodied. No book was exactly the same, but each with this mysterious book would end in tragedy. Why did every book end so soon, right as each "039" gets to the good part the books just end! Why is this library never-ending!? Why were they all called "039", why did they have her name? Why why why! All 039 could do was ask questions.

It was pointless, she was going nowhere.

It was as if her eyes had opened for the very first time, it all became clear to her. Maybe she had just gone crazy, but right now she was 100% sure the library itself was her enemy. It was laughing at her, taunting her by continuing to only give her unfinished books. It fed her curiosity just enough to keep her hooked, but never enough to feel satisfied. The library was her enemy, she had to defeat the library.

She walked through the library looking for the exit, in her foggy memory she remembered a voice telling her something.

"Once you are tired of the room, when there is no more in that room that can hold your interest, when not a single page of any of the million books inside can hold your attention, you may move on to the next room."

The exit would never appear in her current state, she had yet to truly tire of the library. There were still things inside the library that kept her here, like chains made of her own curiosity they would never let her leave like this.

039 shook, she could not stay here any longer, she wanted to go outside. How long had she been here? How long had she been reading for? How many books had she read? 100,000, no, 500,000? She had stopped counting days into her reading, only now did she regret that.

She ran through the library, running to the center ring where the balcony let her look down into the abyss that was the library's lower floors. Running over to the closest book shelf she grabbed a handful of books, stacking them up in her hands she carried them over to the balcony. She threw them over, the books souring down into the abyss of the library. She ran back to the shelf and retrieved another handful and threw them over as well. Running back again she slammed her body into the back of the book shelf, the tall shelf tipping slightly.

039 flung herself onto the bookshelf, she climbed it's shelves until she reached the top. Pushing off the ceiling she brought the bookshelf down. It crashed down, books flying off the shelf as it hit the ground. 039 slammed into the back of the shelf, crashing into it. Her whole body hurt, yet there wasn't a scratch on her.

Destruction. It was the only way to escape the library.

As long as there are books inside the library she would never leave.

She grabbed broken pieces of the wooden shelf, rubbing them together until finally she created a small flame. She quickly introduced the fire to a pile of books, their old pages igniting almost instantly. The fire grew quickly, engulfing the bookshelf and moving quickly into the other shelves. Millions of words, hundreds of stories, all lost in moments.

And yet, still so much of the library remained untouched. The fire continued blazing on, and yet so many other floors of the library existed. This flame might burn for hundreds of years as it devoured the library slowly and still never touched more than 1% of the library.

039 walked down the spiral staircase once again, going down deeper into the libraries seemingly never ending abyss. As she passed floors she grabbed a few books and skimmed them, her eyes darting around the pages hoping to find any sort of mention of The Room With No Blood. When a book inevitably told her nothing she threw it over the side straight down into the abyss.

Eventually she grew tired of walking down the stairs, looking up she could barely see the bright glowing embers of the floors she had set aflame. As she flung herself to the ground she listened for any sound that might intrigue her. She thought perhaps she could hear the sounds of a light breeze, but it seemed doubtful she could ever find the source where that wind could be coming from. How long ago did that wind enter this hell? The cool breeze she heard might have been blowing through this library for thousands upon thousands of years before it reached her ears.

Escape seemed impossible, how could anyone believe in escape after what she had felt. Never aging, and never needing sleep, and yet she felt so tired. Not tired as in needing sleep, just tired of simply existing.

A thought popped into her head, "Are there perhaps other people here?"

She dismissed it immediately. What did it matter if other people were trapped in this hell with her? She was still trapped either way.

Did she wish she was back outside in the white rooms? In the white rooms she never knew what to expect, and if this would be where she died. But she did know more there then here. She knew the rules about that place, unlike here where the only rule is "Read until your heart is satisfied." In that place she would either be given instructions or be the one giving instructions to someone else. Outside made more sense then the library did.

039 didn't even think about what that said about her as a person.

When was the last time she heard another person's voice? Any voice besides her own? She longed to hear the voice of an administrator telling her to do something. She would have done anything they said if only they would tell her to now. But the library continued it's silence.

"I want to die."

It seemed too simple to work. Immature and too childish for her to think that death was even an option. If a bullet were to enter her brain, who's to say the Administrators wouldn't just take it out?

"I have no control over my life. It isn't really my life anymore now is it?"

039 had memories of a life she once called her own, but a person without a name can't be called a real person now can they? 039 started to question even her own memories, perhaps they were only one of the millions of books she had read in the library which she was mistaking for her own memories. Could she prove they were real?

She climbed to her feet, slowly walking over towards the balcony. Looking down into the never ending abyss of floors filled with shelves. She had to do it. She had to see what would happen. She raised her left leg over the balcony, now half way over it.

"I have to. I have to. There isn't any other way.", she whispered to herself.

She brought her right leg over the balcony, now having both of her legs hanging over the abyss. She pushed off the balcony, with nothing to hold onto she simply dropped down into the abyss, soaring downward into the unknown.

You never really think about how it feels to think you are about to die. Who would want to think about that kind of stuff anyway. 039 wanted to just hit the ground already, and yet she continued falling.

She was right, it was a foolish fantasy to think it would be possible to die in here.

As she fell she watched as she passed by a group of 5 burning floors, flying downward for who knows how long until she would pass it again.

Looping.

A never ending nightmare.

How long had it been since she got here?

Eventually falling became tiresome, swimming through the air she eventually was able to roll back onto a floor, rolling into a bookshelf. She lied there for a bit, wondering if she should even attempt to have a bookshelf crush her.

She shrugged and gave it a go. Nothing to lose anymore.

Pulling a bookshelf down she slid under its path, flinching as she anticipated the crushing weight. A calming feeling flowed through her body as the weight of the bookshelf touched her, it felt comforting as it and the floor brought her into a closing hug. But after all the weight was on her the nightmare continued.

The bookshelf shattered around her, breaking around her to make sure she was untouched. The library must have been really laughing at her now, mocking her for even thinking that would work.

She continued lying in the broken pieces of the bookshelf, books scattered carelessly around them. She thought about what she wanted to do now. But she knew what she was really supposed to be doing, what the library wanted her to do, it wanted her to pick up a book and start reading.

The younger her enjoyed reading, the younger her found the library to be a fantastical place, the younger her was truly naïve.

She reluctantly picked up a book which lay beside her, inside she found the same story as always. A baby referred to as "039" was born, he had a super great childhood. Enters school, does school, graduates school. Oh wow, "039" went to college to become an archaeologist, that's a new one. He got a job studying ruins out in a deep forest in the rainforest, where he and his team would study recently discovered ruins left by some ancient civilization. The ruins seemed to be some sort of warning, but whatever could they be warning us of?

As she read on it became clear what it was. The walls of the ruins were covered in images of some sort of book, ancient words alongside it spelling out, "A Room With No Blood". As "039" and his team explored deeper into the ruins they would come into a crumbled sealed room. A room which seemed like they didn't want anyone going into. Inside was a huge locked tomb, being archaeology they couldn't help but open it up. The tomb was covered in warning which they decided to ignore, inside was a single final message. It was not a warning, but a prayer for whoever opens the locked box's soul to die easily. "039" and his team broke the final seal on the box and pulled out an ancient book, the cover reading "A Room With No Blood". The team suddenly vanished, the ruins now empty besides the presence of the freed book.

The book ended there, of course it did, why would any of the books in the library actually let 039 know what happened with the book. Or what it was, or who really made it? Scientists? Ancient people? Aliens? Every book told a different story. There was only one conclusion 039 could come to.

The book must have created itself.

This all powerful being calling itself "A Room With No Blood", it must have created itself.

If anyone else thought they created it, it was only because it let them do so.

039 looked around the library, sighing.

She was in "The Room With No Blood" right now wasn't she. Once she realized it she couldn't unsee it.

The white rooms, the library, "The Top Administration", they were all just part of the books games.

This being had devoured her and every other person inside this place, they were all just toys for the book to play with, plaything for it to abuse until it was bored of them.

A bright light appeared in front of 039, it was the exit.

She hadn't any more she could learn from the books, so the exit appeared.

With a deep breath she walked forward out of the library and back into the death games. No longer as someone who thought they could one day escape, but as someone who knew if they kept playing there was a chance they could one day meet "The Room With No Blood"

039:

Total Time Spent In Library:

One Million, five hundred and ninety six thousand, four hundred and seventeen years. (1,596,417 Years)

Total Books Read:

Four hundred seventy one thousand, two hundred and eighty two books. (471,282 Books)