I pushed open the maroon colored door into the old building. Ah, this place needed a cleaning.

I proceeded forward, bookshelves lined floor to ceiling on both sides of me. It’s a narrow path to a giant wooden desk stood at the far end.

I peeked around the corner to see the many rows of bookshelves along the floor. Spiral staircases embedded to the far wall that led to higher level floors containing more advanced levels of books.

I took a step forward to the large desk in front of the doors. And when I say large, I mean humongous. A refined oaken table and an even larger creature behind it.

The creature had one giant eye right in the middle of his face. Horns that spiraled on the side of its head like a very large overgrown bull.

He stood up, shaking the ground a bit as he did. He leaned over the desk to look down at me, his giant eye squinting.

“Access...card,” he grunted, stretching out his large palm down in front of me.

“Give me one, the highest authority level.” I said.

Each floor is restricted based on authority level. The more magic you wield, the higher you advance. The higher the floor, the more knowledge to learn from within the books. And what floor did I want to go to? The top of course. Floor one-hundred..

I concentrated energy below my feet, the chillness coursing through my body. I put my hands behind my back and looked up. Ice formed beneath my feet, letting me rise higher until the cyclops and I were staring eyes to...eye?

“Im...possible.” He waved his hand to shoo me away.

He sat back down on the wooden stump, looking down at his desk. I walked forward to see what he was doing, the ice forming a path with each step. I stood beside him, a large sheet of azure-blue metal with rectangle holes scattered along it.

“Grr…” he grunted, closing his eyes.

“What are yo—”

BZZZT

The Cyclops turned his single eye at me, before I knew it, a bright beam of light shot from his eye. Disintegrating the platform I built for myself.

Arms waving, I tumbled backwards into a freefall. Wind slapping at me, I tried to focus on bringing my magic to bear. But another flash of light beamed in front of my eyes and I lost control.

"Ah, what a pain!" I was seconds from hitting the pretty nice tiled floor. Oh, it even had these edgy looking patterns. I wonder if my blood would add a kind of abstract feel to the black and grey swirls.

I snapped my hands together for one last try but nothing. I closed my eyes, a few days of restoration with the nixies wouldn’t be so bad. They may be devilish but they did have a charm to them.

I solidified my resolve and braced for the worst. However, the moment that should’ve been seconds, lasted longer. I couldn’t feel the wind anymore. Opening my eyes, I saw the floor looking at me with an odd expression. Saying hi, we met before. I tried to wave but couldn't move.

"Impressive barrier, show yourself." I said, scanning the room with my eyes.

“It’s not a barrier,” someone said, “It’s a time prison.”

A pixie fluttered into my vision. She flew up to the side, but I couldn’t tilt my head. In fact, I couldn’t move at all.

“Time? How could a wood pixie know time.” I said, questioned. Did I seem like a fool?

She gave an audible 'Hmph!' And fluttered out of my vision.

“Hey, how long is this?”

“Not long.”

At that moment, I fell face first onto the ground, my nose taking the brunt of the damage. I stood up, straightening out my clothes and looked around. The pixie was nowhere in sight.

So a pixie that knows time magic… don't make me laugh.

I turned back around to look up at the cyclops. I rose up high into the sky once again, this time freezing my shoe onto the platform. I rose just at the desk level so he wouldn't be able to shoot the platform.

“I don't take kindly to hostile attacks. Feel lucky you are useful."

He looked down at me, tossing a small rectangular object onto the top of the desk. I couldn’t reach it and it didn’t seem like the giant one eye was feeling too friendly to slide it over.

I brought two fingers to my forehead and stared at the rectangular piece. I blinked a few times, causing it to flick towards me. I grabbed it from the air and looked up to his eye.

I formed a tiny piece of ice between my fingers and flicked it at his wide opened eye.

I kicked my feet into the air and jumped down, sliding down a descending path of ice onto the ground while the cyclops yelped in pain behind me.

“Cya.”

I gave a to finger salute on my way out.