Chương 124: Krustallos (I)
<Zero>
July 24, 2054. Friday. 1:16pm
Zero welcomed the feeling of free-falling back into his body. It was exhilarating but an odd feeling. A sudden thump of his beating heart could be felt as he crashed into his human body.
He slowly opened his eyes and noticed he was back in the same room when he last woke up in Garrett's room. The warm trickle of heat from the fire in the hearth kept him toasty. It has been a while since he woke up in a clean room. No extra lights were entering the room, and only the flickering of the hearth kept the place dim.
Wait, clean room? Zero pushed himself out of bed, confused. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. Something felt familiar about this room that he couldn't remember exactly at the top of his head. The only thing he remembered was that this place was Garrett's room. Everything in the room was the same. Then, it hit him that the missing things were stacks of books, making the room feel much larger than before.
"You're awake." A familiar voice called out towards him. "I suggest you have some tea." A hot white teacup was handed to him with a small plate underneath it.
"Garrett? Where are all the books?" Zero took the tea from Garrett and blew on it to cool it down. "What happened?"
"It's a bit complicated," Garrett replied. "First off, you wouldn't believe the number of Adventurers that fell asleep in one day. All you guys gave us quite a scare. We had to ferry all the Adventurers to the inns and into spare housing. This has never happened before. Usually, we find you guys all safely already in an inn."
Zero was confused about what Garrett meant. When the players log out, their avatar body would be considered to be in a safe location. If the body was still present in the world of Noriene when they last logged out, something was not right. Did it mean now that whenever they logged out, they had to now find a safe spot to log out, or was it just this one time? It was a theory that he needed to find now.
Garrett sipped on his tea. "The city is partially saved from the invasion, but the constant attacks of monsters have impeded our progress. Losing all you Adventurers in two weeks has caused quite a devastation to our city." He continued to take small sips. "If I knew better, we all thought another epidemic had arisen."
"No. Just something happened, but we're all okay now. The Adventurers should be coming back today."
"How do you know this?" Garrett asked, piqued by Kiyro's answer. He placed the cup of tea on the table.
"It's an Adventurer thing." Kiyro quickly replied. He didn't want to go too in-depth with the explanation. He wasn't even sure if Garrett understood.
"Ah yes. The Adventurers would make sense. It seems all of you Adventurers have some kind of odd connections. Garrett became quiet as he stared off into the distance.
"Is everything alright?" Zero asked. He wondered what Garrett was thinking so heavily.
"Huh? Oh." Garrett snapped back to reality. "So many things have transpired so quickly. The waves of monster attacks that constantly impede the progress of rebuilding the wall, and also I have become the temporary head Librarian-"
"Temporary Head Librarian?" Zero cut him off a bit too quickly before Garrett could finish.
"Well, Reth has passed away from the invasion. We have lost quite a bit of our race, safeguarding the treasures of this Library. The royal guards never came to give us protection, not even once. We, the Lunar species, were the only ones standing in the way keeping our beloved home from being destroyed." Garrett's voice was filled full of malice. "If it wasn't for me closing the gates and sealing it with magic, all of my people would have died that day."
Garrett stood up, furious as he paced back and forth. "If only Reth had listened, a third of my pe
ople would not have died. Believe that the royal guards will come and save us when I know that we are considered the last on the list. The King does not welcome our kind, nor does he have any love for books.
"How do you know this? Have you met him before?"
"Have I met him before? Yes. Only for a split moment, when he was in a rage and tearing up a sacred book into pieces. Such a blasphemous act against knowledge." Garrett was so riled up that Zero thought he could see an invisible volcano erupting from his head. "Our King has no love for us or his royal Library. That stupid Reth believed in false promises."
"It leads to so many innocent lives being lost." Garrett stopped pacing and rested his weary hands on the back of the chair. He slouched forward in sadness at the thought of his fallen comrades. "So now we are back to our true route of who we once were. Collecting, learning, and deciphering knowledge that we once lost by bringing back our heritage one step at a time. It truly brings tears to my eyes to see so many of my people accept that and change." Passion burned in his voice.
"I see. Congratulations on getting the position as a head librarian, but how will you guys survive from now on?"
"The job is still temporary. Plus, it's not something you have to worry about. We have stored food that could last us a year, and until the completion of the wall restoration, we are not opening our doors to anyone." Zero was a bit troubled at what Garrett was stating. He couldn't stay cooped up in the Royal Library forever. He had things to do, the first being finding his brother in the game even though he did not know where he resided.
"Ah yes, while you were sleeping, something odd has been occurring in the Library. I could hear a strange creaking-like sound that rang throughout the whole wall. It's been giving the younger generation quite a scare." Garrett fixed his broken monocle. "I searched for the sound and found out that the noise came from the Attic where you had found the Book of Historia. It's quite strange. I would appreciate it if you could come with me to check it out." He insisted and waited for Zero's answer.
"If I go up there to help you, would you allow me to leave the Library?" Zero hoped this deal would be enough to not get him stuck in this place for too long.
"Yes. I do have a way where you don't have to open the front doors. I assure you I don't go back on my words."
Zero nodded. "I'll do it."
A new quest, Find the Noise in the Attic, has been initiated.
Garrett has given you a task to find the odd noise from the Attic where the Book of Historia was once located.
Reward: leaving the Library
Quest Level: E
This was his ticket out, and Zero pulled the blanket backward. He hopped out of bed, ready to get on with his quest. Having to finish the quest quickly was his main priority. He had to get out before he got cabin fever after being in one place too long with nothing to do but read.
"So, what exactly have you found out?" Zero pulled open the door, letting them both go through.
Garret waved his hand back and forth, accentuating his words, "Nothing much really. Just this and that. You'll be surprised by how much it has changed, though."
"What do you mean?" Zero followed behind him, trying to catch up with Garrett's long legs. Even though Garrett was walking at his usual speed, Zero, still a thirteen-year-old-looking teen, had to take faster steps to keep up with Garrett. He was sure he was slowly starting to hit a growth spurt, and he could feel his aching bones creak.
Since he hit level 150, his Origin form grew taller and slimmer, but there wasn't much change in his human form. He wondered when he would grow to adult size and how much taller he would grow in his Origin form. For now, he was sure his Origin form was even the size of a fully grown elephant.
"You'll know when we get there." Garrett chuckled. "So many things have been changing since the invasion. New passageways and rooms that have never been there appearing left and right. It's truly stunning. This Library is Alive. I swear it on my ancestors that it is."
Garrett and Zero quickly went up the stairs and into a large doorway. The last time he found his way up towards the Attic, he had to squeeze through a small door and tight corners, but now the doors' setting and placement were different. In addition, the entrance was even grander than before.
"Was the door to the entrance to the Attic like this before? I swear it was smaller." Zero asked, confused as the door opened. A long leading staircase went straight up into the darkness.
"Like I said, the Library has slowly been changing and moving like an odd contraption. This is truly fascinating, if you know what I mean. Every day we find something new, but at the same time, we worry that we might one day get lost." Garrett enters first. "Watch your step; the first one always seems to get me." He picked up the torch from the wall and lit it with magic.
The bright light of the fire crackled with life as the once dark passageway brightened. The cold, damp walls were pristine white like marbles. Each step they took towards the Attic, the wall seemed to hold more and more majestic paintings of the sky and flying bird-like creatures. Zero, for some reason, was sure he thought they looked like dragons.
Garrett lit the torches that hung up on the wall one by one, making it easier for them to climb the long stairway, but for some reason, it didn't seem to take too long to get upstairs. There were just so many paintings to look at that he forgot the passing of time.
No doors stood in their way; only the opened-up scene lay before him. Grass that wasn't once there was present as life was bubbling around it. Shrubs, trees, flowers, and vines decorated the walls, and a small pond was in the middle of the room where the book of Historia once stood. No more was there a pedestal or even the guardian that guarded the book. It was instead an oddly magical feel to the place, where he thought possibly fairies could even live.
Different vibrant colors of flowers were present as they littered the pond. A streak of light cast down upon the pond, accentuating the pond, and warmth could be felt. Zero walked towards the pond, stupefied by everything that he was seeing. Already so much has changed before him. Nothing could describe the sheer amount of change.
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