When they finally calmed down, Arsh explained the situation as far as he understood.
"So you're saying Bera is here too?" Mr. Herman asked.
"Most likely, yes. I was able to follow Walter inside the trap, but there was only a single golden thread. Normally, there isn't just one—there are multiple threads showing different paths to my target. Now I can see several threads, leading to everyone inside this place."
"I see…" Mr. Herman rubbed his forehead. "So, everyone is here now. Then who's going to report this?"
"For now, no one will even notice we're missing until that guy comes to take the key of the library," Walter said.
A brief silence followed.
Somehow, they would have to endure until help arrived. But even if help did come, none of them had any idea how to get out of this place. It was possible that if others came for help, the result would be more people falling into the same trap.
"Then let's not split up. Maybe Mes knows more about that creature. Can you find them again, Arsh?" asked Mr. Herman.
Arsh was already tracking the others continuously.
"Let's go. Follow me." he said.
…
After parting from Arsh, Bera wandered aimlessly through the library. He had heard Mes mention Apeirolimos in the exhibition hall. Arsh also talked about the same thing just before he vanished.
This was not something new to him. He had encountered strange creatures that seemed to emerge from the depths of forgotten history and legends several times before. In recent years, they had begun to face such incidents more frequently. Reports showed that similar events were increasing not only in Tirsit or Symran but also in various parts of the world.
Throughout history, many stories about supernatural events, monsters, ghosts, and genies had been passed down, yet no one had ever truly encountered them before. But now, the time had come when these creatures were beginning to walk among humans.
What was strange was the scale of this creature's power. Bera was aware of the illusion created by the creature. The illusion had enveloped the entire library and cut off all connections to the outside world. The library had suddenly turned into a labyrinth, and when he looked outside through the windows, all he could see were more bookshelves. He now understood why Arsh had been unable to find the missing people.
But for him, the most important thing right now was to find Mes. In a place like this, if he encountered the creature Mes had mentioned, he would be too weak to escape or defend himself. With this thought, he was aware that he could not control his anxiety, even though he normally kept his emotions under control.
He still remembered the day he first found him. A weak, small child hiding in the corner of the basement of a ruined building, wearing blood-soaked clothes that had turned into rags. His head was buried between his legs, trembling with fear. When Bera tried to approach, the child trembled even more, yet he still held himself back from crying.
Bera slowly approached and picked him up from the cold ground. After a while, the child calmed down and looked at him with large, wet eyes. At that moment, Bera felt his heart break more than it ever had since he lost his own family. From that day on, neither had the child left Bera's side, nor had Bera left him. Although Mes did not remember anything about his family, Bera had been old enough to remember everything when he had lost his own. He treated Mes—who did not know what a family was—as the family he had lost, caring for him like a younger brother. This was why he lost his composure when he saw Arsh with Mr. Herman and Walter, while Mes was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Mes? Why didn't you find him first? It's impossible for him to survive here alone," he said as he rushed toward Arsh.
Arsh looked at Bera for a moment without speaking. He already understood how attached Bera was to Mes. But at that moment, he realized that this overprotectiveness was exactly what kept Mes's self-confidence so low and made him feel inadequate.
"He didn't understand that the creature follows sound. And let me tell you, Mes is more likely to survive here because he uses his brain better than anyone else. I'm sure he was the first one among you to understand what was really going on here." Arsh said in a stern voice.
Bera didn't say anything further. He was trying to control his emotions and suppress his anxiety. At least, he kept repeating to himself the fact that Arsh had seen Mes safe.
"Let's find Mes. He is not far away," Arsh said and started to walk ahead of the others.
Walter followed them from behind, scolding himself for his own stupidity. Bera was right—he did have the capability to save himself. Arsh was also right, because he had truly relied on the comfort that invisibility gave him and lived without paying attention to his surroundings. Until today, when he encountered a creature that followed only sound, he had believed that with this power, he would never be caught by his enemies.
…
It did not take long for them to find Mes. He was still hiding under the desk. He didn't change his position still hugging his own knees, his face between them.
When Bera saw him like that, he remembered the first time he had found him again. But this time, the small child was not trembling. When he heard their footsteps, he lifted his head and looked at them with a smile. Then he regained control of his emotions. The familiar blank expression settled back onto his face.
As Arsh slowly pulled the chair back, Bera helped Mes come out.
"Is everyone here? Are you all okay… Walter, are you alright?" Mes examined everyone from head to toe to make sure they were fine.
"Don't worry. We encountered Apeirolimos for a short time, but we managed to escape. Just as we predicted, it reacts to sound. I thought it was blind, but it seems like it can see a little."
"Speak for yourself. It's been following me for two hours. I used all my power. If Arsh hadn't come, it would probably have swallowed me long ago," Walter said. He was trying to prove to Bera that Arsh's decision to help him had been the right one and hoped Bera's anger would subside. Bera rarely got angry, and when he did, things usually did not end well. After saying this, he checked Bera's condition out of the corner of his eye. When he realized that Bera had returned to his usual state, he let out a deep breath. Then he remmebred another problem
"But how are we going to get out of here? Even when I try to pass through the outer walls, I find myself in another part of the library." he said.
Everyone turned their gaze to Mes. Among them, he was the only one who knew the legend of Apeirolimos.
"Well, uh… actually, the legends say that no one has ever been able to leave the Limos trap… I also don't know how to get out here" Mes said.
This time, even Mes turned his gaze toward Arsh. At that moment, everyone thought they were lucky to have fallen into this trap together with Arsh. After all, he had said that once he knew what he was looking for, he could find anything—not just people. Finding the exit would be easy.
"But we have Arsh, right? Can't you try to find a way out of here?" Mr. Herman said. His voice was calm and hopeful.
They were truly right. Finding an object, a path, or the entrance of a building especially for things he had seen before was easy. If the thing he needed to find in this labyrinth had been the entrance of the library, that would have been easy as well.
Unfortunately, what they did not know was that the moment Arsh had fallen into this place, the first thing he checked was where the exit was. Even though he tried several more times afterward, the result was always the same.
He closed his eyes and tried one last time to find a way out. When he opened them, the only thing he saw was the curious eyes looking at him. He let out a deep breath and cleared his throat before speaking.
"Unfortunately… there is no exit from here."
"…"