Capítulo 3: Bookstore
The time passed quickly, Alex had basically heard the old man's life story. So after learning everything he could, Alex sent James away, book in hand. Luckily James was able to exit the library with ease using the same portal he came in making Alex extremely jealous.
***
"Why not? If I can't leave why can't I open doors to other places so people can see me? Everyone wants to read books that have knowledge that only one could ever dream of. All I have to do is create a separate space that looks like a bookstore, copy a bunch of books that I feel would be useful to people and suddenly I have a place people would want to enter!
I really need to do is figure out how to transform the Wormhole entrance into something that would help people want to come and see me. Of course this illusion must look like a bookstore a have created otherwise it'd be too suspicious. Perhaps I can force people to stay but... as a normal human, I do not want to jail people up just so I can speak with them. I do not want them to be uncomfortable just because I am too excited to see them.
*sigh* Well I should just do what I can for now. Maybe I will work like a charity helping people throughout the universe. Will do my best maybe other people will simply start recommending my bookstore and I will suddenly become a famous bookstore in some random City just by transforming an Alleyway into my foggy entrance! Yes! That is perfect!"
Quickly Alex got to work doing his best to create a new place that looks just like a bookstore that people would dream of having.
Very quickly a beautiful bookstore was created with grand enchantments all to make sure it doesn't get destroyed. Using all the knowledge he had gained from every single book about protection, how to create perfect materials, everything to make a better quality bookstore. Everything was made so nothing could be destroyed unless the person who entered the bookstore was even more powerful than he is.
The even the chairs had some types of enchantments to make them feel even more comfortable.
Everything was made to perfection it was only then Alex activated is clairvoyance and began searching every single World nearby in the hopes of finding a place where he can set up his shop.
It was only after looking through 175 different planetary systems and different dimensional planes did he find 20 suitable plane places to place his door. Of course, there were other places that could have been just as suitable, but when he looked at them he felt it wasn't quite right. Instead, he focused on checking the planes he decided to find a suitable place that wouldn't look out of place. The spots were almost chosen at random and set up to have a white misty fog area that allowed people entrance to the place he created. This area was made specifically for him to create his regular wormhole and allow any person to enter if fate allowed.
As he felt it was something that was truly only up to fate, Alex made it so those entrances would only be opened periodically and at random. After that, he spent a lot of time recreating this wormhole and making it look like it was an almost completely normal bookstore from the outside. Finally, after all that, Alex proceeded to officially open for business!
***
'Was there always a bookstore here? Why can't I remember such a thing? I have passed by this area so many times and yet, here stands a bookstore. This entire street block is known for being poor, so why would anyone even care to open a bookstore?'
The girl looked down at her rags, she was barely 7 years old, young enough to escape the prostitutes, too old to get the attention of anyone looking to adopt a child. Even though she was an orphan no one would take her to an orphanage that worked more like labor camps with the same terrible conditions.
Everyone knew how valuable paper was, for a bookstore in Altias it must mean some rich and powerful decided to have fun and open it just for the hell of it.
While wondering more and more about the bookstore the girl felt a pain in her stomach. Suddenly the sound of her stomach growl could be clearly heard as the little girl held her stomach and thought to herself how wonderful it would be if she could steal a book and sell it to be able to buy some food. If she's lucky she might even be able to earn enough to eat twice a day for a full month.
The girl started daydreaming about how wonderful that would be. To have a full stomach for an entire month. Not having to go several days without food but instead eating twice a day!
As the girl daydreamed, she picked herself up and collected all the courage to steal and escape as fast as possible. After thinking for a full minute she convinced herself this was the best possible thing that could happen to her.
As she stared at the wooden door with the clear glass pane inside of it, the girl quickly pushed the door open as the sound of a bell rang. Afraid of the alarm the little girl quickly tried to pick up the first book that was nearest to the door and take it out of the store as fast as she could, but just as quickly as she touched the book she felt an immense pressure weigh down on her.
As an intense power seem to flow from the book into her heart through her veins. The feeling quickly overpowered her and froze her in place. She desperately wanted to scream or just drop the book and run. Yet as the powerful energy seemed to seep into her, no sound came, it was as if the wieght of gravity had increased on her feet freezing her in place. The wieght pressed down on her chest making breathing hard.
Just as she was having an internal struggle against the invisible wieght a young man's voice came from the back room.
"Well, hello there a little customer. It's quite nice to see children curious, but that book is a bit too advanced for you. I left it up in the front hoping that it attracts some attention and help people stay in the store, I didn't realize that people would try and pick it up and read it the moment they saw it. Still, I do hope you will stay and chat with me for a bit. I hope I can find you the perfect book that will fit your needs."
As if by Magic the girl felt all that weight and pressure disappear as she quickly put the book back into place allowing her to escape. Yet, the young man's words seem to draw her in and even as desperately as she wanted to run out the store she felt as an invisible wall was stopping her from even touching the door's handle.
Taking a glance behind her she saw that the open door led to a misty area which should have been the streets. She looked at the man with newfound fear as if he could kill her the moment he decided to. She felt as if her life was simply a toy in his hands.
"Uuuhh, h-hello I think I'm just lost, can you please let me go??" The girl did her best to be respectful while trying to get out.
"Oh yes! I forgot I had that lock in place so people wouldn't get so dizzy. You would probably pass out the moment you stepped outside into that fog and back onto your streets... I apologize but you'll just have to wait a little bit. But for now, would you mind having a conversation with me? You see I've been stuck in this library for so long but I haven't had a chance to talk to other people. So you see I want to hear what your world is like on the outside.
Sure I can visualize it partially but that doesn't change the fact that it's not really experiencing it and to truly experience something means to be physically there to truly understand something means to experience it personally. I'm sure you understand, like being hurt, you can understand the concept of pain and understand it's unpleasant but the moment you are truly hurt is the moment you truly understand pain. And I am simply a man who wishes to experience what the world is like even if it has to be through someone else's eyes."
The little girl was extremely confused after all she was but a child and most people treated her as such. They always treated her as if she didn't understand, as if she couldn't understand. Yet here was this man who hadn't even known her more than a minute, speaking to her as if they were equals. Apologizing to her for blocking the door as if she was someone important. Speaking to her as if she meant something more... As if she was something more than a street rat everyone else treated her as.
So despite being afraid of his power, the girl calmed down. "Why don't you walk out with me to experience it for yourself?"
"I have tried... *sigh* Unfortunately I am still stuck here without even the slightest ability to resist."
"No ability to resist?" The girl mumbled.
"Only the ability to make small adjustments to my situation. That is why I am able to talk to you now."
The girl felt his words resonate with her life as she felt like her life was becoming exactly what he described his life had become. She had already lived on the streets for several years and knew what her fate was going to be like.
First, she would be starving until she turned 11 or 12 where she would then be guaranteed to get the life of a prostitute. On the other side of things she would be captured by the orphanage and become a slave with a less hungry stomach, but being even more tired day by day ruining her body more and possibly making her future guaranteed prostitution prospects worse. After all many men wanted softer women.
As someone without money and just living day by day, her greatest ideals could only amount to so much. Without any interference from someone special who could pull her out of the gutters, she could already see every part of her life planned out. A path she saw herself trapped on.
Suddenly she woke from her thoughts and looked at the man in front of her who seemed to have some type of supernatural powers. As she used her mind more and more her hunger seemed to to be woken and a loud grumble came, but she didn't care and her eyes became brighter as she stared at the man in front of her who might be able to change everything for her.
"You hungry?" As the young man spoke, the girl woke up from her thoughts and nodded. "Well although I can't create food yet I can take some from someone who doesn't need it, just don't tell anyone, okay?"
Hearing the man was stealing greatly surprised the girl as she viewed him as an almost all-powerful being. Just as she was thinking about it a small ball of white fog appeared above the man's outstretched hand. Soon an apple fell into his hand.
The man dusted off the apple and handed it to the girl, "Here you go." The girl on the other hand was shocked at his display and numbly took the apple. As she stared at it her stomach rumbled in excitement forcing her to focus on the food and not the power that made the food appear.
Just as the apple neared her face she could no longer hold back as the sweet scent entered her nose and she quickly took a bite.
The crunch of the apple.
The sweet juices.
All new sensations entered her mouth quickly overwhelmed her senses as everything was a new and completely different experience from the hard life she had lived up until now. For a child who had never eaten anything so fresh and not rotting or permeated with dirt, this one bite was like the start of a new chapter in her life...
The start of something better...
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