Chapter 34
Summary
- Livira ponders whether her world is a construct painted by the Mechanism and her own imagination. She decides to experiment with the pool-like portals that exist instead of simply visiting ones related to her past or Evar's.
- She reflects on her journey back to the portal, through forbidden library chambers. One chamber (#94) was full of mountains of books, not neatly shelved but appearing like an ocean. She had to walk barefoot over them as the Mechanism disappeared one of her shoes, leading to a treacherous and painful journey. The next chamber (#67) contained rust-covered iron shelves, the books deteriorating under the rain of rust. The third forbidden chamber she encountered (#46) was in ruins, filled with book dust instead of actual books, evoking a sense of wide-scale destruction.
- Upon returning to Chamber 7 and the portal, she feels a sense of anxiety about explaining her missing presence at the library. Despite the portal initially refusing her entry, Livira manages to get through by tethering the Assistant to a bundled pile of books that she drops off the shelving, tricking the portal into being unlocked for her.
- Livira and Evar discuss where to go next. In a new experiment, they end up in a different world with poisonous air that Livira can't tolerate, but Evar can. Again, Evar, in this world, exists as a ghost, separate from its occupants who are unfamiliar hair-covered creatures with blades for hands. The sky is also a different color from their original world.
- From their experiences, Livira theorizes that moving along their row of portals changes time, while changing columns switches between worlds. Moving in one direction takes them back in time, while the other takes them forward into their futures. Therefore, her reality and Evar's are actually the same but exist at different times.
- Suddenly the library environment they are in starts shaking and producing loud sounds, black smoke appears, followed by an attack of alien creatures. Evar, who has been taught how to fight by Clovis, protects her and takes down several creatures. However, as more beings continue to appear, they decide to retreat. Livira though, wants to accompany Evar in his quest to find Mayland, when a mysterious creature suddenly appears. In an attempt to save Livira, Evar's hit sends them both tumbling into a seemingly endless void, finally spilling out in between towering book-shelves. The chapter ends on this cliffhanger.