And now, we enter the twenty-second chapter. Coincidentally also the amount of years after Phantom Planet and the sealing off of the Ghost Zone in this story.

Also I screwed up on the color of the second reality gauntlet's gem. The color is actually #00ff77


Chapter 22: The Crystal Library

After a bit of flying, Ray confirmed that the trio was above the crystal library. They hovered down into the swirling green below them. Looking down, the mist looked just like the sky. Once you go down into the beyond, though, you find out that the swirling green was a thick fog. Above the fog, it was as if the sky was below you. In the fog, you couldn't see two inches in front of you. Below the fog, the fog was invisible.

When they hit the surface, they landed on the purple dirt and looked around. They were deep in a forest of dead trees, with bark as black as the night. It made it easy to spot the bright red diamond-shaped crystal hovering in the air. The trio walked towards the crystal and saw a big green building. It had the architecture of an old Greek building: Big pillars in the front holding up a large overhang. The roof was shaped in a short triangle. Unlike ancient Greek buildings, however, there were large windows on the front, and huge stone gargoyle statues more reminiscent of modern design on both sides of a stone path leading up to the building.

The kids walked the purple stone path, right by the roaring gargoyle statues, and into the building. The doors were small for such a large building. They walked into a large room. There were two floors: The first floor had walls lined with bookshelves, and three openings in each wall into more rooms. The second floor wasn't much more of a bookshelf-lined balcony lining the room, but also had openings into more rooms. Right in the middle of the room was a huge purple crystal floating above a large green book on a pedestal. On the roof were skylights that with some sort of ghostly power made the dim light of the ghost zone shining in look like bright natural Earth daylight.

"This is amazing," Heather said. She took a good look at the room, taking in the sights. Ray took a picture.

Alex walked over to the large book on the pedestal. "This must be the directory or something." Alex tried to open the book, but couldn't. A deep hum started to resonate throughout the building. It got louder and louder until the purple crystal in the center of the large room shattered into pieces. The pieces floated all over the room.

Alex stepped back in fear. "I shouldn't have touched that book," he said.

The crystal pieces started emitting a glowing green mist, then started forming into something. They made two arms, each with three fingers. Each tiny crystal floated loose, but held the form they collectively made by the green mist. Between the two arms was a cloud of the mist. Two crystals with holes in the middle seemed to make some kind of eyes, green electricity in the holes making them glow. Next came eyebrows, a mouth, and a single crystal bit as a nose. The crystal beast hovered above the ground. It took a good look at the kids below him.

"Visitors," it said with a deep voice. "It's been so long since I've had visitors. Welcome to the Crystal Library. I am the Librarian." With telekinesis, he lifted the large green book into his crystalline hand. "You must have come here for a reason... a very important one, it seems, for you to risk coming down to the surface."

Heather stepped forward. "We need information on the Reality Gauntlets. Do you have any books on them?"

The Librarian scowled. "What purpose could be so important for you to want to know anything about artifacts so powerful?"

"Well, there's a huge problem with the ghost zone right now. There is a rift in the ghost zone and it's causing the ghost zone and human world to combine. The Reality Gauntlets are the only things powerful enough to fix it, and there's only one left. We need your help to find it."

The Librarian's green eyes flickered, as if he blinked in surprise. "Where did you get this information from?"

"From the ghosts Karma and Frostbite."

The Librarian hesitated for a second to think. "Two powerful sources from opposite sides of the ghost zone. Clever. Last time I was awakened, the great ghost Danny Phantom came here. He told me his story, how he closed off the ghost zone from the human world, and how it was one of his last trips into the ghost zone. I stayed dormant, since then, not expecting any more changes in the ghost zone. How many years has it been? How else has the world changed?"

"It's been 22 years since the ghost zone was closed off. I don't know what the ghost zone was like that long ago, so I don't know what changed."

The Librarian said nothing. He opened his book, holding it in one hand and telekinetically turning the pages with the other. "Follow me. I can help you."

The Librarian led them through the left corridor. They walked through the seemingly endless lines of bookshelves. They soon came to a break in the rows with two tables to either side of the corridor.

"Sit here, children. I will grab your books."

They sat at a table to the left, under the light of a stained glass window. It depicted a golden lion rearing on its back legs and roaring, with a blue background. The lion had large red eyes and a red mane, probably inspired by some sort of ghost lion. Just like the roof's skylight, the light coming through was just like natural daylight.

Ray took a picture of the window. "Man, I love stained glass," he said.

Alex nodded. "It is pretty cool, I admit."

Heather felt peaceful in this library. Whether it was the library's magic or just the chance to relax in a quiet place didn't matter.

The Librarian returned with six books. "This is what I have. It is the most reliable information in the entire ghost zone. You can stay as long as you like, as long as you do not touch any other books without my permission to do so."

The Librarian turned to leave, but Heather stopped him. "What was Danny Phantom's story on closing the ghost zone?"

"Danny Phantom said he worked with the greatest scientists on Earth. After a few months, they found the technology to permanently prevent natural ghost portals from forming. For a few years, though, he spent his time on mapping out the entire ghost zone, coming in through his own portal, the only live portal left. He formed the Artifact Collection Team and the Spectral Physics Research Facility and created a sort of economy in the ghost zone, attempting to make this place better before he left. He spent his final year in the ghost zone making those facilities and mapping the surface world before he left. This library was one of the last places he found."

"Thank you, Librarian."

The kids got to reading. They confirmed that the second reality gauntlet existed. They still had their school backpacks with them, and used some extra paper to write down all information they found.

Heather got some good information. "The green gem Frostbite had was a gem of form. The other three gems we nee to find are a magenta square gem of life, a blue diamond gem of fantasy, and an orange circle power gem. The original reality gauntlet was a right-handed gauntlet. This one is left."

Alex sighed. "At least we know what we're looking for. These books are just saying the same thing. We need information on how to find them, not how to use them!"

"Well, I got a lead," Ray said. "This book has the information we need. There's an artifact that tracks the gems. It even tells us where to find it!"

"Finally!" Heather closed the book she was reading. "Where's that artifact?"

"Thats the hard part. It's in the lair of an extremely deadly monster. The lair is in a door. A purple door which looks similar to every single door in the ghost zone. A door in a part of the ghost zone filled with deadly monsters."

"Well, the universe is at stake here. Not much else we can do. Let's get that artifact."


oooooh lore I love lore