Chapter 1: Library of the Multiverse
Like any other planet with a sentient population, Earth went through the process of developing technology, conducting wars, and making loads of money off of people's existential crises.
Earth was as typical a planet as any other, until in 1994 when the Library of the Multiverse opened its doors and spewed out its books containing the stories and adventures of heroes and villains from across the multiverse.
Spewing is a very crude way to describe the event. What actually happened was a great floating palace of nephrite jade opened its massive doors and thousands and thousands of nephrite jade shards headed for different places across the Earth.
Ever shard would find a great city, or the greatest city of the region and plunge its tip into the ground and dig deep into the Earth.
Once it took root, a magnificent building seven floors high grew from the ground It would take on the characteristics of local architecture as well as some designs that seemed alien but also very mystical.
When people investigated these beautiful buildings, they found they were filled with books.
The books weren't just stories, they had the power to synchronize with human beings. People started calling these books Multi-Vs.
When a Multi-V synched with a human, the human could focus on the ability or skill held by one of the characters in the book, and that ability or skill would become theirs.
After that, they would never be able to synch with that book again. It meant they had one shot to get something good.
A first time Collector also needed to consider the direction they wanted their ability hierarchy to go in.
If you chose a character who was a scientist and you wanted their scientific genius; you couldn't then synch with a Warlock character from another book. You had to choose one path.
There were also some abilities that were impossible to acquire. The most notable exception is Time Travel. Those who attempted to gain the knowledge to create a time machine were often driven mad.
It was also discovered that books written in your native tongue synched better than books that were only translated.
It took the people of Earth a little while to figure out the best way to use the books.
There were a lucky few who were clear on the path they wanted to travel down or they were just lucky in their selections.
These first Collectors became the top powers on Earth. Known as the Lugal and they became the rulers of Earth.
For the most part, most of them didn't bother messing too much with the governments they took over.
There were some who radically made changes and others who just replaced the previous dictator as the new dictator.
In the United States of America, its Lugal, George Lincoln an African American, took the role of a public servant.
He believed in democracy and felt he shouldn't interfere with the government Americans spent many generations and lots of blood protecting and developing.
He was known amongst most Americans as Mr. Patriot.
***
Arlington, Texas was the number one growing city in the US in the nineties. Now, it was clogged with traffic up and down I-20, and on almost any of its major roads.
The main mall was always crowded with people. Even though it was updated and expanded over the years, the extra room quickly filled with people as if patrons took it as a personal challenge to fill the place up!
In South Arlington, at Sam Houston High School, Jay Reeves was closing his locker and heading to his second period Geology class.
Jay's locker was filled with papers, trash, and even dirty socks. Like most boys his age, he was a mess. It was a point of pride to have such a disgusting locker.
Of course, it had its downside. He was always trying to stuff the falling papers back into his locker. He spent more time shoving papers into his locker than he did grabbing his books for class.
Jay's locker was on the second floor, so he didn't have to go up to any stairs to get to class.
He did not like Geology. It was mainly focused on looking at rocks and talking about boring things like, well, geology. He remembered when science class taught you cool stuff about dinosaurs and other things.
His favorite class happened after Lunch, English! His dad told him that before Multi Vs most kids hated English class.
Reading was much more boring when it was just reading. Now, reading could make you strong. Who didn't love to read?
It was hard to believe there's was a time before Multi-Vs. He could imagine how boring life was. Of course, the reading they did in English wasn't reading Multi-Vs.
They spent their time become scholars of the stories contained in the Multi-V Library.
Even though there were a lot of Multi-Vs in the world, there weren't so many that you could find them in every Middle School in America. Not to mention America, even the rest of the world didn't have enough books to do that.
The Multi-Vs Libraries grew in the capital of every State in America. If you lived in Texas, you had to go to Austin to get access to the Multi-Vs.
Every library holding Multi-Vs in the world had the exact same books. It seemed the shards were all exactly the same even if their current design looked very different from other Multi-V libraries.
The books of other countries and Earths were translated into the regional language. An epic tale about a Japanese hero, for example, could also be found in any American Multi-V library.
Because of this most Americans would choose English books.
America entered a Renaissance of English literature classics. Of course, this made the English speaking European countries extra snooty, but whatever.
Another point, kids weren't allowed to synch with Mult-Vs until they reached fifteen. Scientists determined the physical and mental growth of kids at fifteen was the best age for boys to synch with their first Multi-V.
Girls were ready at fourteen but it was decided to keep things simple and wait until both boys and girls were fifteen before they read their first Multi-V.
At least, that's how it was in the US and many other male-dominant countries.
There were exceptions to this rule of course and those exceptions were spelled M-O-N-E-Y.
Most kids who had the money to get early access to Multi-Vs didn't tend to go to public school. There were exceptions of course but those were rare.
At their school, the exception was Alejandra Reyes. The entire student body agreed she is the most beautiful girl in the school.
Even if she didn't have the status of Collector she would still be popular because of her good looks.
Although, her relentless steely resolve on the matter of justice caused some people to groan when they saw her.
Jay never thought much about her, she was way out of his league.
Even though most kids turned 15 by the end of their freshman year, the school waited until the beginning of their sophomore year in High School before they let the kids synch with their first Multi-V.
Every year schools across Texas would send their sophomore High School students to Austin, Texas, the state capital. They would step into President George W. Bush Multi-V Library for the first time and greet their destiny.
Originally, it was called William J. Clinton Multi-V Library because the Library of the Multiverse delivered its gift during his presidency.
In fact, most Mult-V libraries around the country named their library after Clinton. When George Bush won the election in 2000; Texas immediately changed its name to George W. Bush Multi-V Library.
Texans felt no one would miss having one less William J. Clinton Multi-V Library. Besides, most Texans didn't miss having him as president.
Jay was especially excited today; he learned that a week from the upcoming Friday, it would be his class's turn to make their trip to Austin.
This meant taking a bus there with his friends, limited adult supervision, and romantic opportunities that such a trip naturally made available. Best of all, he would synch with his first Multi-V and become a collector!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
FramJam
FramJam Welcome to my novel The Book Collectors. This is my entry for the Writing Prompt Contest #132: Alternate Reality.
My alternate reality is a world where everything was the same as our earth.
It has the same history and everything until 1994 when the Library of the Multiverse gifted the planet with books called Multi Vs.
Well, you've read the first chapter so I doubt I need to repeat the story.
If you enjoyed the story, I hope you will support me in my bid to win the competition.
Even if I don't win, I think this is going to be a fun book to write!
Thanks for reading!
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