Mikaere looks at me one last time. "Don't try to leave. The doors won't open for you, and what's beyond them after dark is worse than anything you've faced."
"After dark? There's no sun here."
"There's no sun," he agrees. "But there's definitely a dark."
He walks toward an archway. As he passes through, it seals behind him, becoming just another wall of books. No handle, no visible mechanism. Just solid knowledge where an exit used to be.
I'm alone.
The library hums around me, not quite silent. Books whisper to each other in languages I don't recognize. Somewhere high above, something that might be wind or might be breathing moves through the endless stacks.
I walk the perimeter first, counting steps, memorizing the layout. The space doesn't want to be memorized, distances shift when I'm not looking, alcoves appear and disappear, stairs lead to different places each time, but I persist.
Seventeen possible exits, though none are currently accessible. Forty-three floating books within jumping distance of ground level. The chair Päivi mentioned is in the east alcove, assuming east means anything here. It's made of leather and wood that probably predates human civilization, worn smooth by centuries of use.
I sit, finally. A tray appears on a small table, food that's almost recognizable, water in a crystal pitcher. I drink carefully, testing. It's just water, cold and clean.
The hours pass. Or what feels like hours. Time moves strangely here, stretching and compressing like breath.
I think about Nezavek's form, the way his edges wouldn't quite solidify. The way the realm itself seems unstable in places, as if it's struggling to maintain coherence. There's somethingwrong here, something beyond the obvious impossibility of the architecture.
But that's a puzzle for tomorrow. Tonight, I need to plan. I need to understand the dynamics, the weaknesses, the patterns. Mikaere expects me to attack within the week. Perhaps I should. Perhaps meeting their expectations initially will lower their guard later.
Or perhaps I should do something entirely unexpected.
The stone giant returns without warning. One moment I'm alone, the next Mikaere stands in an archway that wasn't there before.
"Your quarters are prepared." He doesn't wait for a response, just turns and walks away.
I follow him through passages that fold in on themselves, up stairs that lead down, past windows showing different skies. The route is different from before, or maybe the architecture has rearranged itself. We stop at a door made of the same dark stone as everything else.
"Your room." He touches the door and it opens inward, revealing a space that's trying very hard not to look like a cell.
The room is stark. Stone walls, stone floor, a bed that might generously be called functional. No windows. But then, windows to what? A single mirror hangs on one wall, its surface dark like still water. There's a table, a chair, a door that probably leads to whatever passes for a bathroom here.
"The door locks from outside," Mikaere says. Not apologetic, just informative.
"For my protection?"
"For everyone's."
He leaves, and I hear the lock engage. Not a click, more like stone fusing with stone.
Finally alone, I can work.
I start with the walls. Running my hands along every surface, feeling for seams, hollow spots, anything that might be a weakness. The stone is smooth, cold, and absolutely solid. No gaps where the walls meet the floor. No hidden panels. The door fits so perfectly in its frame that I can't even slide the ceramic blade between them.
The bed is stone too, with what might generously be called a mattress. I check underneath, solid stone base. No space to hide anything, no springs to repurpose as weapons. The sheets are soft but strange, made of something that isn't quite fabric.
The table and chair are carved from single pieces of stone. Heavy, immovable, useless as improvised weapons unless my plan involves dropping them on someone from a great height.
The mirror is the only interesting thing. My reflection looks wrong in it, delayed by half a second, like it's thinking about what to show me. When I move left, my reflection hesitates before following. I touch the surface and it's not glass, it's something liquid held in solid form.
The bathroom door opens to a space that makes even less sense than the rest. Water that flows upward into a basin. A mirror that shows me from angles I shouldn't be able to see. Everything functional but wrong.
Back in the main room, I test the door. It doesn't budge. Not locked in any way I understand, it's like the door has forgotten it was ever meant to open. I could probably damage it with enough time and effort, but Mikaere would be on me before I made real progress.
I sit on the bed and inventory my weapons again. Knife, poison, ceramic blade. All useless against a being made of shadow and a guardian made of stone. I need information, not blades. Need to understand what Nezavek wants from me, why he bought me specifically.
