When the colonel told us that Father Thomas was attacked and lost a lot of blood, I decided to immediately take the doctor with me to the library.

We had no time to lose, the young priest was an important part of the case. We could not allow him to die if we could do anything about it.

I held Dr. Rochard by his hand and we Ley slid to the local, without thinking twice.

We arrived in the blink of an eye.

In my hurry, I forgot that the doctor never did anything like that before.

Poor doctor.

I suspected that it was normal for him to feel weird, after using a magic form of transportation, for the first time.

Yet, I didn’t imagine seeing him like that. Feeling dizzy and nauseous. His skin was so pale that he seemed made of wax.

He leaned against the wall and coughed.

Feeling guilty by his condition, I moved to help, but he pushed me away with the free arm. He looked to me with bugged eyes and jaw wide open. Terrified and trying to understand what just happened.

After his refusal of accepting my help, I decided to give him some time to recover and I began to explore the place.

The building was a very tall black piece of architecture. Four pointed towers were constructed around a cubic structure. The towers decorated with gothic patterns. Below their pointy roof, a couple of black winged gargoyles were looking down to the entrance.

An enormous marble staircase led to an entrance arch. Above the arch, there were three prominent rectangular windows. Almost the same size of the wall they were mounted in. Parallel to each other, those windows were covered with a livid and colorful mosaic. A representation of a battle between winged creatures was assembled, like a puzzle, with pieces of the glass.

I imagined that they were describing a battle between angels and demons. However, we could not see the images in their full glory anymore.

For a lover of architecture and art like myself, it was a sad vision.

The middle panel connecting the other two mosaics was crashed beyond repair. Instead of a beautifully mounted scene, a huge opening in the broken glass leading to dim light, coming from the inside took its place.

It was impossible to value the loss of that mosaic in terms of his historical importance.

A shame to see such a beautiful art piece, destroyed by some stupid reason.

I deduced that something forced itself against the panel to invade the library.

Something not human. The hole was in a very high position for a normal adult climb without the use of a rope.

The doctor joined me and addressed me in a voice that seemed weak and angry at the same time:

“What the heck was that? How did we get here so fast?”

“We were above a Ley line so I used the mana of the source to take us to another point in that same line. We call it: Ley slide."

He looked me, with a puzzled expression, as if he didn’t want to hear anything about that anymore:

"Didn't happen to you, warn me before doing something so unexpected?"

"I'm sorry, doctor. I wanted to get here as fast as we could. Father Thomas may not have much time."

"Well, I think you had a good reason, however, you could have given me a heart attack. I am not a young boy anymore, you know."

"Yes, you are right, I was not thinking when I pushed us both to the line. I apologize."

We climbed the stairs. I helped the doctor to go up. He was calmer and his color had returned to his face.

Inside the building was very dark. By the wide opened wooden door, we could see light coming from the ceiling right before us.

Since no one was at the door to welcome us, we moved inside. 

Silence ruled the place and our eyes took some time to adjust to the sudden change in the light.

We shouted, to see if we got any answer from inside.

A woman's voice replied:

“Over here, hurry up please.”, she shouted from the adjacent room in front of the entrance hall where we stood.

We passed a series of counters until we found two security guards, kneeling beside the wounded priest.

Before attempting the Ley slide, I sent Volúpia to investigate Father Thomas's dwellings. To see if she could find any other clue that could lead us in the right direction. Also, since “Luciano” could try to enter in contact with Sarah, I asked my partner to go check on her at the stadium too.

The attack on father Thomas gave birth to a lot of new questions.

What was he doing at the school's library so late at night, to the point of being attacked?

How could he access the place when normal working hours ended?

I was sure it had relation to the symbols that I found before. The ones that kept the dimensional prison below our feet closed.

I was convinced that the seventh symbol, that was missing, had to be somewhere inside the library.

It was a pure matter of logic.

For starters, the six hidden symbols that I found, were distributed in a symmetrical pattern around the school. Analyzing that pattern, with a clear mind made me realize that, in fact, if the oak tree trunk was part of the spell that locked the prison, we would need to add several other symbols to that pattern.

Otherwise, the pattern would lose its balance and that would break the symmetry.

Magic is all about perfection and equilibrium.

The map that I was studying before, showed a perfect distribution of symbols, above the x formed by the Ley lines.

Considering the school formed by four quadrants. Both of the even quadrants had two symbols located inside them; while the two odd quadrants had only one.

Geometrically speaking, those six symbols served to focus mana energy in a single point in the middle of the pattern.

They worked like a magic lens. Absorbing and concentrating mana energy, via Ley lines. Directing the flow of magic to the prison lock, keeping it activated.

So, logic dictated that the seventh symbol had to be in the exact same point where the Ley lines crossed.

I considered the hypothesis that Father Thomas arrived at those same conclusions. He decided to investigate, by himself.

For what purpose, I was not sure, yet.

However, that hypothesis would explain why he was lurking inside an empty library building at that time.

There was another aspect of the case that I was trying to figure out:

Dimensional prisons can only be locked with the right symbols. Symbols that tend to relate to nature, or, in most cases, the name of the imprisoned entity.

They only serve to seal the creature that they were designed to imprison.

The six symbols I had found so far where: the Ankh; the Triskle; the Ouroboros; the cross of the four elements, also known as Tau or Taw; the Hansa and the pentagram.

Putting those symbols together, they represented as follows: life, soul, infinity, nature, and both aspects of the divine: Good and Evil. The Triskle could also represent the four elements and the source of all magic.

So almost every aspect of the Cosmic Vibrational Spectra was mixed in that collection of powerful sigils. Only Ether was not represented.

The last symbol had to relate to the Ether spectrum.

At that time, the six symbols and the fact that the creature demanded human sacrifices, were my clues about the identity of this prisoner.

Combining those symbols should provide another clue. However, without knowing the true identity of the creature inside, it was almost impossible to guess the last symbol.

I needed more information.

"Luciano" and Father Thomas should provide the answers for those questions.

Unfortunately, Luciano had vanished from everyone’s sight.

And Father Thomas was laying in a puddle of his own blood, by my feet.

One of the colonel men saw the broken window of the library and noticed that the door was not locked. She moved in to investigate and found the young priest. He was unconscious, behind a fallen bookshelf, that almost smashed his body. When she found him he was bleeding from many cuts. She called for support and her teammate that were examining the garden in the form of a Triskle nearby came to help. They moved the young injured priest to a better position and patched him the way they could. Applying what they knew about first aids. they called the hospital and waited for more professional help.

An ambulance was on the way to the library, as we arrived there.

As soon as we entered the room, Doctor Rochard moved to the victim. Assuming a professional attitude he begun to treat his wounds.

The young priest was still breathing, but he had lost a lot of blood. His body was cold and he could enter in a state of shock at any moment if we didn’t arrive with the doctor in time.

Following his instructions, we made a pile of books to rest his leg in an elevated position. We also gave him our coats to help warm his body.

The doctor told us that the situation was critical:

“He needs to be taken to the hospital soon or we will lose him. We need to administer fluids in order to prevent a hypovolemic shock. He lost a lot of blood and, due to the hole in the window this room is very cold. “, he showed a concerned look about the young man state. I could see in his eyes that he was worried.

Doctor Rochard was a man whose life was dedicated to saving others. He was not a man to give up without trying everything that he could.

In minutes we improvised a corner protecting the young man from the cold winds from outside.

That change of attitude in the doctor impressed me.

And to think that minutes before that, that distinct and focused man was holding his belly. Leaning against one of the outer walls of the building, almost spilling his guts on the floor.

By the look of the injuries and the ragged aspect of his clothes, father Thomas was leashed by some thorny whip object. Some sort of barbwire, slashed against his skin with violence, piercing the skin and cutting pieces of the flesh. And not only on the surface. The strange whip also left a trace of some sticky green substance in his wounds. I collected some of that ooze to perform a further analysis later.

I remembered the green giant that attacked me in the main building. That creature did not have any kind of tendrils coming out of his body to use as a whip.

I examined part of the wall where the young priest was. A few feet above the floor a portion of the concrete was crumbling, hurt by a massive blow. Some splinters that matched the wood of the shelf, pressed against the wall, were stuck inside.

That shelf had been thrown on him by brute force.

All the books scattered on the floor and the mark of the impact in the wall seemed to concur with that idea.

Nothing human could have done that, that shelf with all the books should weight at least a ton.

Father Thomas was very lucky.

The attacker missed him and the shelf covered his body. That made the thing gave up on him, after throwing the heavy object.

The sound of a  siren started to echo in the room, coming from outside.

At the same time, the walkie talkie, inside the doctor's pocket, became alive again.

“We are arriving at the library right now, tell me if you need anything, roger.”

The doctor prompted to answer the call:

“We need transportation and IV administration to the victim, roger.”, the doctor felt some relief by the arrival of the rescue unit.”

I decided to examine the room.

“I think, I would be of no help here anymore. I will take a look at the crime scene and see what I can find.”, I said standing up, ”Can we turn the lights on here, somehow?”

“Oh sorry. I was so worried about father Thomas that I didn’t light the place. I believe the light switch is somewhere near the front entrance.”, answered the guard that found the body.

She was also showing some signs of relief, knowing that his boss and the team were getting close.

I moved to a pillar by the side of the first counter and found the light switch, pressing it.

Illuminated, the library seemed a lot bigger from inside.

The walls were white and they were covered with shelves, filled with books by all sides. A narrow balcony split the height in two. Creating a narrow corridor and a second floor that surrounded the room. Two curled wood stairs granted access to that floor from both sides of the local.

But, what really got my attention was the disposition of the bookshelves in the middle of the room. Right behind a series of tables and their chairs, instead of forming parallel lines those shelves were placed radial to each other. They formed an immense circle that covered a great part of the place.

Looking up, I noticed that they were right below a circular skylight dome carved in the white ceiling. From there the moonlight could enter the building, giving to the shelves an eerie aspect.

That was the light we saw by the hole in the window.

The shelves were eight in total and equally distanced from each other.

In the center of the circle, formed by the shelves, an octagonal column, the same height of them came out the floor.

Other than decoration, that central column seemed to not have any other purpose.

I moved to the broken window in front of the circle. The floor made a crackling sound when my shoes stepped in the glass shards.

Scattered all around me, they formed a shining straight line towards the hole in the window.

The hole was big and very symmetric with some rounded edges. Part of the glass was still tensioned inwards.

I noticed that a few shards on the floor had odd small holes in them. As if a pointed object punctured them.

What caught my attention to those holes were the fact that they were only in the biggest shards. And every single one of those holed shards presented some sign of tension. and scratches in one of their sides.

I moved back to the crew and the wounded priest.

The ambulance arrived and father Thomas was being placed in a litter. The guards were helping the paramedics to administer the IV serum.

The doctor showed signs of fatigue but his face also showed some relief. He nodded to me and I understood that father Thomas would survive.

A shadow figure covered part of the doctor's body, for a brief moment. 

I got a glimpse of a human figure in the corridor of the second floor.

Someone was watching us from the balcony above them!!

Without thinking I dashed up the narrow stairs in order to intercept our guest. But when I got there everything was empty.

All I could find was a hideous smell of sulfur filling the air.

Frustrated and angered, I clenched my fists and hit the handrails of the balcony.

I looked down to find everybody staring back at me, they were not understanding anything that was going on.

And that was when I saw that the seventh symbol was hidden in plain sight!

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