place of knowledge

 After Blue was satisfied with exploring the sports facility, he decided to continue exploring the island. The next obvious stop was a fancy-looking building in the distance

upon arriving, it felt as being transported to another country; people’s uniforms were classier, most of them were holding or reading books, the architecture was covered in decorations that gave it an air of importance, luxury even.

Blue felt the most out of place there, his rudimentary clothes alone made him stick out like a sore thumb to the classy students there, like a caveman who stumbled into a prestigious university in Europe. He powered through the discomfort and stares because his curiosity for exploration was greater

inside the building, there were less people around, the hallways were long and the ceilings were tall, a sublime composition to make the average user feel small and possibly insignificant

Blue: (I guess the building gives a humbling feeling because people might get too over their heads and fall into pedantry and laugh like “oooohohoho”)

the feeling of walking through empty hallways, going up and down long and ample stairs, and seeing endless rooms with unknown contents was like entering a special place that somehow expanded the dimension of space to be even bigger than what the outside frame could contain.

Blue: (this is delightful, truly a liminal space, I feel I could simply get lost here exploring forever)

no matter how much he coasted, he could no longer avoid the biggest landmark, a huge room which entrances were the spaces in between pillars. inside, countless chandeliers and lights hanging at different heights, like if there were stars suspended in the vacuum of outer space.

Upon entering, he realized what that place was thanks to the endless rows and columns of book shelves

Blue: (I always wanted to visit a library this fancy. I wonder what the books are even about, might as well take this chance to learn about this world)

he scanned the surroundings for a clerk or bookkeeper, but could only see students quietly reading or noticing him. Not many shelves were obvious in their content, finding books on the story of the world was going to be a titanic task inside such a library

Blue: (its getting uncomfortable if people are looking at me instead of reading their books, as the cheshire cat once said: “if you don’t know where to go, a step in any direction is good”, a book on anything is good to start)

he grabbed the first book that caught his eye and scanned for a nice table to read, most were already in use, so he just kelp walking inside the ample library for a more solitary spot. He identified a dimmer part of the library which people seemed to avoid, perfect for his purpose.

He sat down and opened the book, which once again had him in a state of awe, once again, the language was evidently different to what he knew, yet he could understand it perfectly. It was a book on the geography of some place, he skimmed through the pages trying to recognize the places, to see if he was still on earth, but the maps were so zoomed in to the particular region, it was hard to tell.

Suddenly, he heard a page flip, he looked around and realized the table wasn’t empty, someone else was reading there, a girl with huge metallic gloves, she was reading a book that stood still midair somehow, she glanced at him for a second, then returned to her reading.

Blue: (seeing things like this, it should be obvious im not on planet earth, I should even be surprised at this point)

flipping the pages back to the beginning chapters and actually reading confirmed his obvious suspicions: the book was about a region that was clearly not from planet earth, his curiosity simply intensified. He decided to return the book to its shelf, grab another one and hope for a good pull like if he was gambling with knowledge

as he traversed the aisles, he could hear the murmurs and whispers of some students, not sure if they were talking about him, and still powering through with sheer curiosity. He grabbed 2 books and headed back to the table, sat carefully to not disturb the girl reading, and continued reading

after repeating the process 2 times, he began to understand why people avoided those tables, the dim lights were weighing on his eyes

Blue: (I guess that was enough reading, this place is definitely not earth, I really have been isekaid)

the realization didn’t land like a heavy pill to swallow, it was instead a mix of uncertainty, sadness for what was left unfinished, and relief

after putting the books in his place, he exited the building, with a new humbling perspective; a new world, and no known way to go back. Stepping out of the building and feeling the light of day again was a peculiar experience, like if he had spent an eternity studying and was once again facing the world with renewed knowledge, a feeling that he wondered if it was an intended effect of the sublime architecture