They ran.
There was no strategy, no formation, just a desperate, adrenaline-fueled flight through the collapsing heart of the inferno. The roars of the wounded Guardian were quickly swallowed by the louder, more immediate screams of a dying building. Great stone blocks and flaming rafters crashed down around them, forcing them to swerve and duck. The air was a choking, black soup of smoke and ash, and every breath was a searing pain.
Ben led the way, clutching the glowing book to his chest. The Echo pulsed with a soft, steady light, a serene beacon in the middle of utter chaos.
They burst back into the main entrance hall, the same way they had come in, only to find their path blocked. A huge section of the ornate, vaulted ceiling had given way, burying the shattered front doors under tons of rubble and burning debris. The way out was gone. They were trapped.
"No!" Elara cried, her voice cracking with despair.
The floor beneath their feet trembled violently. Another section of the ceiling groaned, threatening to give way.
"This way!" Ben yelled, his voice sharp and focused. He veered left, away from the impassable rubble, and pointed down a corridor they hadn't taken before. "The lower levels! The archives have a loading bay on the north side of the building! It's our only chance!"
They plunged down a set of marble stairs, the heat intensifying as they descended. The lower level was a maze of narrow corridors lined with metal shelving, all of it warped and twisted by the fire. The air was hotter here, the smoke thicker.
As they rounded a corner, they found their path blocked again, this time by a solid wall of roaring flame that stretched from floor to ceiling, fed by a ruptured gas line.
They skidded to a halt. It was a dead end.
"We're trapped," Elara coughed, her eyes streaming from the smoke.
But Kai saw something. His Observe skill, combined with the desperate clarity of the moment, showed him a pattern. The flames weren't static; they were being pulled inwards, drawn towards the massive energy source of the wounded Inferno Guardian back in the Special Collections wing. The wall of fire ebbed and flowed, and for a few seconds at a time, a narrow gap would open near the floor.
"There!" he yelled, pointing. "It's a current! When I say, we go through, low to the ground!"
He watched the rhythm of the fire, a deadly, dancing curtain. "Get ready... wait for it... Now!"
He dropped and rolled through the gap, the searing heat licking at his back. He came up on the other side, his lab coat smoking slightly, and turned. "Come on!"
Elara followed without hesitation, then Ben, who shielded the precious Echo with his body as he scrambled through the momentary opening. A split second after he was clear, the gap closed, and the fire roared with renewed fury.
They were in the loading bay. It was a vast, cavernous space, filled with smoke but blessedly free of fire. At the far end was a massive, roll-up steel door. Their exit.
They ran to it, only to find the electronic controls melted and useless. A heavy manual chain hoist hung beside it, rusted and stiff.
"Together!" Kai yelled.
He and Elara grabbed the thick chain, their hands burning on the hot metal. They pulled, their muscles screaming. Ben added his weight, and with a groan of protesting metal, the heavy door began to rise, inch by agonizing inch.
Above them, the concrete ceiling cracked, a spiderweb of fissures spreading from the center of the room. Dust and small chunks of debris began to rain down on them.
"It's not fast enough!" Elara grunted, her feet slipping on the grimy floor. "The whole ceiling is coming down!"
"It's enough!" Kai roared, giving one last, desperate heave.
The door was open maybe three feet from the ground. It was all they were going to get. "Go! Go!"
Ben slid under first, clutching the book. Elara followed, scrambling on her hands and knees. Kai was last. Just as he dove under the steel lip of the door, the ceiling gave way with a deafening, final CRACK.
He threw himself forward, landing hard on the concrete of the loading dock outside as the entire library collapsed in on itself behind him. The steel door buckled and slammed shut with the force of the implosion, and a massive, roiling cloud of black smoke, ash, and fiery debris billowed out from the crushed structure, turning the gray sky black.
They lay on the loading dock, gasping, coughing, their ears ringing. They were covered in soot and grime, their lab coats scorched, but they were alive. They were out.
Ben sat up slowly, his glasses cracked, his face streaked with ash. He looked down at the object in his arms. The ancient leather book was completely unharmed, its soft, internal light a silent testament to their impossible victory.
They had done it. They had their second Echo.