Apollo's Exploration Book

⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
Here are but the moments that shaped who I am, captured perfectly on paper.
⠀
⠀
⠀

"Home."

The outside of my own personal jail.

So I came back home (for a visit), and I wouldn't blame anyone calling me stupid for doing so

Maybe I came back to see if I could get any sort of closure, or maybe I came back looking for my…captor? My mother? The only person that seemed to care about me, and who I abandoned here (I swear I tried to find her, but she's not here! if she's still alive, that is.)

I must have left this place when I was like Fifteen years old or so, I'll admit it was not the smartest decision, but staying there would've driven me crazy sooner or later, and yet..sometimes I still find myself missing the hard brick walls of my prison cell, the old red carpets and the unnaturally bright fireplace that never brought me just enough warmth, the purple-ish glow of the fire was just hypnotizing.

Walking.

On our way to a very "special" reunion.

There weren't any windows at home, but in really special ocassions I still got to see the outside. The first time I got out was when I was Five, Mother forced me to wear a face mask and warned me not to talk or stare at anyone or anything. You'd think I would be excited to finally get out, but I was more scared than anything; Mother had always talked to me about the dangers of the outside, shadows that had a conscience of their own, and things that looked like but weren't real people, whatever that meant to me at the time.

So we got out - despite how much I begged her, to my dismay the front door finally opened and I got my first glimpse of the outside world, it was completely overwhelming, my house wasn't small compared to the others in town, but it was miniscule compared to the entire planet. I saw trees, bushes, and lots of other houses as we walked - I looked up at the sky, at our three moons, and wondered just how far up would the damn ceiling be..

The Serpent's church.

For the things that are not people.

After all the walking, we got to this big, tall (sorta majestic) building. It was of course overshadowed by all the things I saw on our way there, but here I finally got to see other people, all wearing robes and face masks similar to mine and Mother's. I think I had taken her words too seriously because I remember doing everything I could not to look at them, must have pretty amusing for them.

We were in a church, though I did not know that at the time, we all took our seats respectively and a man - clearly taller than the other cultists, stepped up to the podium, he started chanting in a language I did not understand, startling the soul out of me, he sounded pretty angry but other than that I could not for the life of me figure out anything he said, still can't. I remember being pretty freaked out at the unnatural way his jaw moved - and clicked (who could've guessed these things had such sharp teeth? certainly not me), I started to wonder if that was the reason everyone was wearing facemasks.

We came to this place a couple more times before I left for good, every time the rituals they performed would get weirder, and the tall man's voice angrier. I only remember fighting back tears as I stared at the black and white painting behind the podium, an optical illusion of sorts - a snake coiling on itself.

Violet forest.

Overcoming my fears.

Despite the many disturbing things I saw, the seed of curiosity had already been planted in my head, and soon enough the walls of my own home started to feel more like a prison than a safe heaven, I was wrong - of course, but only to an extent. Mother noticed and did not react well to it, she went on another one of her rants about how it is too dangerous and I could die, but by this point I had started to think she was lying, or exaggerating, I began to resent her.

So one day I had just about enough, Mother left early in the morning like she always does and I trashed my way open, I didn't have her keys so I had to get creative (by that I mean I had to break the locks with a bucket and kick the door open), it took all the courage I had not to turn back and forget about escaping, but I took a step a forward, then another, then I ran and ran, and ran - with no clear path in mind, I ran until I couldn't feel my legs anymore.

"Love."

Bittersweet.

I must have wandered for days, but by that point I had already realized food and water were less of a necessity and more of a simple craving, Mother had always made sure that I ate well, helI - I had never even thought of not eating, but now that I was living in the streets it was a luxury I could not afford. Eventually I found myself in this field of flowers, with a beatiful purple color that reminded me of home, it reminded me of the campfire, it reminded of Mother, but now I could decide just how I wanted to feel about it. I felt powerful, like I was finally in control of myself and my destiny. I was taking that which had tortured me for years, and turning it into something I enjoyed. Sort of like what I'm doing right now - I guess, coming back to this place, writing this journal, taking these pictures.

Samuel's refuge.

For the things that were still people.

By the time I started to feel lonely I had realized the habitants of this Earth were not like me, the problem was that they had also realized I wasn't like them, so much for trying to interact after being trapped in a house for fifteen years. The sweet lady I was trying to help got rid of the cloth covering her mouth, and - well… it wasn't pretty, where her chin and cheeks should normally be was nothing but exposed bone, a simple glance of her dangerously long fangs and serpent-like tongue was enough to send me sprinting, yes - she did chase after me.

Running away from the serpent people for what was probably the third time in a week, someone finally managed to grab me, there I met Samuel - he was like Mother and me, y'know, he had a normal face and thankfully did not hunger for my blood, he also fancied clothes other than robes which was cool.

Samuel's bedroom.

Now abandoned.

One thing that I appreciated about him was his honesty, unlike Mother who was always secretive and made sure to tell me the least possible, Samuel brought me up to speed pretty quickly. Apparently my dimension wasn't always this silent dystopia I had known it for; he basically told me your typical story of man fucking up one way or another, the jizz was that the people here had found out they had been worshipping the wrong god a tad bit too late, and once the apocalypse started, the only thing humans could do was turn to another deity for help, said figure promised to help - but they wanted something in return.

The serpent promised humans to protect them from the rage of his brother, but in exchange they would have to give up that which made them human in the first place, so in a sense humans had survived the apocalypse, but at the same time they had been completely erradicated, everything that remained were twisted echoes of what once was. Or that's what they like to think, I guess. While it is true no one got scott-free, a few of us retained some of the spark in our eyes, we had to hide and pretend to be like the other freaks, desperately trying to hold on to every bit of humanity in ourselves.

My first camera.

I'm sure he was a great photographer.

Sam asked me what my name was, and I was ashamed to admit that Mother never explained to me that people have names - too, much less give me or herself one, he chuckled, and shaked his head nonchalantly. I lived with him for a couple weeks, and whilst exploring the house, I eventually found a camera with a couple polaroids beside it, he said it belonged to his brother, Apollo, who used to be a photographer. The photos sparked my curiosity, and (with Sam's permission) I started playing around with the camera, not my best shots -I'll admit- but everybody has to start somewhere.
⠀

The Doorways.

Ever visited a place you haven't to before, only to recognize from your dreams?

Is this the part where I say that I fought off the evil forces? That I went on a journey to save Mother, Samuel and all the others in hiding, like your typical action story protagonist? I'm sorry to disappoint you, reader, but I didn't stick around, maybe someone else will but not me. You only get one chance at leaving, and I wasn't going to miss mine. I don't know who heard my prayers, but my way out of here appeared in an ancient book I found while raiding one of the serpent's house, a pretty standard ritual if I'm being honest.

So under the moonlight rays, I made the ground open beneath me, I then walked down the stairs of the opening and found myself inside this (seemingly) infinite hallway, I like to call this place 'the doorways' see, every single door in here leads to an entirely different dimension - full of new people, new wonders, and new things to explore, the best gift life has ever given me, but - still, being there? it was a pretty weird feeling, I had never ever been there yet the place felt extremely familiar to me, the doors seemed not to have any sorting system, and they shifted locations every once in a while; this may have been, and still be the biggest "What" in my entire journey, I have roamed the doorways for a pretty long time, but not once have I seen another person in there, nor any clue regarding its origins, the book I found only has information on how to get inside and the Library hasn't been that helpful either.

▼Honorable mentions (Page 301-350)

▲More on volume two!

Ethereal Forest dimension.

Tall trees area.

You literally can't see the sky!

Bioluminescence area.

Blueluminescence, haha.

Raymond.

As vain as you would imagine.

God.

She who 'rules' this place.

After one year of jumping through dimensions, I had decided this was my life now, my body itched to visit all places! It was incredibly frustrating, to think that I wouldn't be able to see it all before I passed away, to be a stuck with a body that can only experience a place at a time. In one of my most memorable explorations, I walked through a doorway and fell into the bushes of the tall trees area - now in the Ethereal Forest dimension (as I like to call it) I was admittedly lost, but wandering I got to see various different places and meet really interesting, uh, people? Yeah.

I passed through the Bioluminescence area, name's a bit of a stretch ofc, there were glowing fungi and bugs, but I had no idea where the deep blue color was coming from, I'll sound like a maniac, but the butterflies themselves started talking to me once they found out I wasn't a threat, their words felt…like intrusive thoughts? like I could only hear them in my head, I don't know how to describe it; they guided me to the 'main' area of this dimension, where I met "Raymond" a fox (a talking fox - if you will), vain enough to let me take a whole photo shoot of him, he explained how things worked in there - told me his name and felt the need to proudly remark others called him "The fox" I told him that was unoriginal, but he seemed confused and asked me what I meant by "other foxes" - I didn't know how to respond.

Raymond took me to the palace, and there I met god, she was a child, and she was pretty nice.

Prime Dimension.

Pterodactyl?

History Museum. London, UK.

The theatre.

Roman theatre.

In China.

Chinatown.

"Templo Maya"

Mexico.

Prime Dimension doesn't really need an introduction, does it? I've read lots about it, the laws here are so oppressive towards their own inhabitants that it's mind-boggling, so many racist organizations out there, the equivalent of a group of people unpromptedly deciding they own the place and destroying all that doesn't fit their ettiquete. Yes, a trait most humans are known for, but I've never seen it this bad. At least the locals are nice, well - some of them are, love their architecture too, very impressive.

Winterheil Dimension.

Frozen Waterfall.

Perfect for ice cones.

Safe heaven.

Refuge for the daring hikers.

The castle.

Where the royalty lives.

What is it, surprised to see a video on a book? It's not that hard, actually! This is Winterheil, don't know how seasons work here but I must have a spent three to four months in here and the snow was still coming down steady, what I got to see here? A somewhat less developed human society, they were still sapient and everything but there weren't any electronics here, and the population was really small, a couple shacks and villages scattered around the mountains, all responding to their two kings - inside the castle.

I could tell they weren't going to respond well to outsiders, so I tried to keep a low profile (and failed) I then found out all of Winterheil is on a fucking floating island, couldn't see if there was land or water below, I also found out they throw outlaws off the border, just don't ask how I know all of that.

▼The Wanderers' Library (Page 351-500)

▲The place where you fond this book!

Dublin hub.

Don't be fooled, the shelves here are filled with much more interesting books compared to its Prime Dimension's counterparts.

Welcome to the human hub! Built specifically to be something they will be familiar with, a replica of an actual building in the Prime Dimension, I believe. The staff and other experienced patrons have taken it upon themselves to use this place as an introduction to the Library for them, they're trained to deal with people who have never seen past what the secret organizations governing their homes allowed them to.

There are numerous pamphlets explaining the nature of the Library and Tourist guides willing to show you around and answer all of your questions (if you have the coin, that is), there's a whole shelf of books dedicated to this sole purpose, mapping the surrounding areas of the hub as well as other places of interest, the rules of the Library in more detail, what should your first reads be and how to learn Planasthai speech. The Introductory Division is trying to make it so all eligible human patrons entering the Library for the first time are redirected here - regardless of which Way they walk through, don't know how succesful they've been, but it worked for me, as I found myself here after walking through a doorway, I was pretty chill compared to other visitors, some of them were quick to freak out or cause a scene, I think that's the reason there's not an exit immediately available for those that just stumbled here by accident.

Sahto's Gallery.

Upper floors, near the cloud shelves.

Man, when I walked in here my mind got completely blown off by it, some areas around here still make my mouth agape. This, is one of the biggest art galleries that I've seen in the Library, it's enormous for a pocket dimension and hosts all sorts of INCREDIBLE stuff inside it, paintings that have taken decades to finish - from the most talented of painters, photos of objects and places you could not have imagined! from the most daring of photographers, sculptures so incredibly detailed that you're left wondering how the hell were they made. There are places to work on art of your own or discuss and debate with other artists, musicians have their own sound-absorption areas where they can record their music and host concerts. You can go here and submit any works of your own in the art expositions, you can find people to comission or people to comission you, if you have no money you can be sure there will be others looking to trade.

Great halls.

Hosting all kinds of illustrations! On the celing, the walls, and in the books.

I got here following a guide I read on the Dublin hub, this was marked as a place of interest and the agonizing time it took to get here was certainly worth it, seeing all these photos of all these places inspired me like never before, it was the thing that made me bookmark the Wanderers' Library as one of my favorite dimensions, and what pushed me to get a Library card for myself, after spending a couple days here and talking to other Patrons who liked photography as much as I do, I was directed to the Photography Division, a pretty large group of people whose whole job is giving exposition and publishing photography-centered books written by patrons. This book you're reading right now is my first entry, actually! Anyway, getting along with the other members was easy, but the whole process behind joining? Not so much, I had to get a Library card, and it was extremely hard to convince the Archivists that no I had no birth certificates nor anything of the sort, their magic devices seemed to fail at recovering my "true" name, so they had to settle with what I told them my name was.

Me.

"Patron Randomly Generated Number."

Dimly lit hotel.

In a nonexistent space.

This is the famous (or, infamous) dimly lit hotel! No, really, if you turn your flashlight on in here it'll get dimmed down as if the walls were painted black, sound also seems to be somewhat absorbed, I know that sounds creepy but it's actually relaxing. Now, why are the windows pitch black, you ask? Well, it's because the outside of the hotel doesn't exist! In fact, the hotel as a whole does not exist, or - it exists in a negative space. You see, I'm no expert but as it was explained to me - all the weird space-bending anomalies happening inside the Library have created these…leftovers, oxymoronic places that do not (or no longer) exist and don't form part of the multiverse, yet matter still finds a way to manifest inside them through a Library connection. I believe they were discovered after a Way was reprogrammed to transport patrons to a different location, but it failed to update itself correctly, and ended up trying to take people to invalid coordinates.

My room.

Been renting this room for a couple months now, it serves as a kind of base for me.

So, everyone did what they do best and found a way to take advantage of it, building structures to exist in these inky black-voids, at the end these places were found to be useful, but they're not really famous for their hotels, most patrons are too creeped out to rent rooms here, which means the prices are way cheaper.

It's not that bad! Bring a powerful enough lamp and your room should light up adequately, use headphones if you want to listen to music and try not to get freaked out by the lack of sound, the hotel staff is pretty friendly despite their appearance and they've got free room service.

Garden of Eden.

Southeast, near the green thumb shelves.

Like what you see? That's the Garden of Eden, yes - you heard that right, how it'd end up in the Library I have no idea, but it's all industrialized now and the tree with the "forbidden fruit" is a pretty popular attraction, they aren't that special really - just common apples that taste like literal compressed information and a sapient tree with eons of years of knowledge that only ever talks to begrudgingly say hi to kids and whisper about how much he hates all of us under his breath, nothing too impressive.

There a couple indoor gardens that the patrons have designed, some flower shops and I think there was an aquarium somewhere? I'm not too sure about that though, Ways leading to other forests and jungles have also been created here, really - if you're a fan of nature this is the place for you; and of course, see the big fountain-like structure? The water is literally being created here, I don't think even the eldest of Library staff understand how it works, though we don't let all of that go to waste - the garden is one of the major water sources for the whole Wanderers' Library and other related dimensions.

Been here a couple times, I remember when I first had a bite of these damned (blessed?) apples I almost passed out, NEVER again, other than that I only come here when I'm visiting the green thumb shelves - to buy indoor decorations or to play with the goldenglow snakes, they're cute.

▼A little note (Page 501-510)

+Translations

Whitehills's Other Works
Entries	That time love almost went extinct. • WBI-DATABASE • Brief Moment •
Other

The Wanderers' Library

Fiction from another world.

Ethereal Forest dimension.

Prime Dimension.

Winterheil Dimension.

Cranberries are the best.