Aelita and Mr. Puck stepped through the hole in the wall, into a vast chamber on the other side.
"We can go to the back door of the library to get out of here." He said casually.
"Library?" Aelita asked.
"Of course." He gestured. The room was filled with rows and rows of shelves, with the books still on them. Light filtered through a decorated glass dome that was on the ceiling.
"This is where I got all the knowledge I have of this city. This place contains all the books written by the people of this city, and a good deal of books written before the founding too. Its pretty well preserved compared to the rest of Arcotopolis."
"Did you read all of these books?" Aelita asked, astounded.
"Not exactly. They're books, but they're still digital books, so I was able to download the information in them. Anyway, we'd better get going."
They walked quickly between the rows of shelves, until the came to some large glass doors at the end of the library, with the street visible through them. There was some other things, too, standing next to the ends of the shelves.
"Hey... what's this?" Aelita asked, going over to one of the several identical things, which was a small screen mounted in a pedestal.
"It looks like an interface to me. But it probably doesn't work anymore." Mr. Puck said impatiently.
Out of pure habit, if nothing else, Aelita put her hand to the interface. Amazingly, it flickered to life, displaying a colorful screen featuring information about the library.
"Ok... so it does work." Mr. Puck said, a little amazed himself.
Aelita began to touch various buttons on the interface, and before long, she had come to a search function. She typed the first thing that came to mind into the search bar; "monsters."
She pressed search, but nothing happened.
"See. It doesn't work. Lets go." Mr. Puck said.
"No, wait! Something's coming!"
A low whirring could be heard, and soon a small robot, attached by a metal bar to the ceiling, came whizzing toward them. It held a small stack of books in its two mechanical arms. It deposited them on a table next to the interface, then whizzed back into the depths of the library.
Aelita took the first one from the stack. The title was Gods and Monsters of Aryokan Mythology., by Arnold Sakman. It had a red and white black picture of a muscular man in armor fighting a three headed bird on the front. Aelita put it down, uninterested. The next one was more interesting. It was called Your Friendly Field Guide to Monsters and Other Dangerous Wildlife. by Aiyana Ioto. It had a picture of a Krabe on the cover, without the familiar symbol on the shell. Aelita wondered at this. Did it mean that the monsters they fought on Lyoko existed outside of it, and outside of Xana's control?
She opened it, eager to find out more, but she was badly disappointed. The pages were so worn with age that she couldn't read a thing, only barely recognize some familiar creatures, as well as a good deal of unfamiliar ones, as she flipped through them. She picked up the final book in the pile. It was called The Zenop University Encyclopedia of Viruses, Bugs, Worms, and Other Digital Monsters. It didn't seem to have an author.
Aelita flipped through it quickly. It seemed to be in relatively good condition. She stopped at a familiar figure printed on the page, and stared.
It was a silver sphere, with a wide eye. Below it was some text, and as she read it, her blood began to run cold.
Name: Solanumus Nitamus Size: About 1' by 1'. Floats in midair.
Threat rating: 4/10 Lifespan: Immortal until killed.
Combating: Any form of conventional weaponry. No anti-virus to date.
Commonly called "dream orbs", these viruses usualy roam in packs of ten to twenty individuals, although lone orbs may be seen scouting. They have the ability to instantly hack into a persons mind, read it, and then use their shape shifting ability to transform into anything in that person's memory or dreams. Usually, the form they take is of a person's greatest fear or worst nightmare, although they may take other, friendlier forms to trick their victims.
The most significant display of this virus' power came in the form of the West Edonia rampage, when an army of nearly 500 orbs went on a crusade through nearly 100 virtual worlds before disappearing into uncharted territory. An army of this size would not be possible given the virus' clan behavior without a leader, which came in the form of Robert E. Markan, who tamed the viruses, and in the process acquired all of their powers. He abbreviated his name as R.E.M, after the human sleep cycle.
Aelita read all this, and slowly, everything began to fall into place. The threat rating for this virus was only 4/10... for a normal infestation. The army the book spoke of wiped out nearly 100 virtual worlds before disappearing into the unknown... they must have found Arcotopolis! They drove the people out, and now they were still in the city, presumably with their leader, Rem.
And Mr. Puck... he wasn't one of Xana's traps; he was one of the viruses! No wonder he claimed he didn't know why the city was abandoned! And where had he been leading her all this time? Certainly not toward the city gates!
Another thought struck her. She was currently in the company of only one, begnin virus, but her friends were out there somewhere in the city, with perhaps hundreds more of these nightmare creatures, and they probably had no idea of what terrible danger they were in.
"Ready to go?" Mr. Puck asked, unaware of what she had found.
"Uh.. yes, of course." She said nervously.
They exited the back door of the library. They were standing outside on the steps when they heard a distant scream, one that was terribly familiar to Aelita. All thoughts of the danger she was in fled from her mind as she visualized her friends being attacked by hordes of Nightmares.
"YUMI! ODD! ULRICH!" Aelita screamed, and before Mr. Puck could do anything at all to stop her, she was off and running.