In a hospital, a man in his green scrub suit just went outside the operating room and is now seen drinking coffee. From his eyes, he still has not a proper sleep.
"That was a good and fast operation Dr. Alab," a woman also in her green scrub told him as he was walking towards his quarters.
Alab flashed a smile and went inside his quarters. Suddenly he felt a chest pain.
'Ugh... Here they come again.'
He took a pill and placed it under his tongue.
'This will do. Today was toxic, rather, these past few days.'
He has been on duty for 84 hours and has been taking naps in between.
That was how the healthcare system shifts in his place works.
Inside his quarters, there were two tables near him. On the shorter table were three cups, which have leftover coffee, and plates from his previous meals. The longer table just beside the bed have stacks of medical books, a jigsaw puzzle and one law book.
He stood up and got his bag hanging behind the door, scooped inside his hand and pulled out his cellphone.
He opened it and browsed a novel which he was reading already for a week.
Suddenly, a message popped up on the top of the screen of his phone.
"Alab! I just learned about it today! Congratulations on winning the case!'
Alab was also a lawyer. He never had a case of malpractice issued on him, but he protected his fellow doctors.
He noticed the still unfinished jigsaw puzzle on the table given to him by a friend few days ago and decided to complete it.
After inserting what he thought was the last piece, he looked at it:
"It's done. 'Beautiful life' huh?"
The puzzle had a header of "Beautiful Life" which illustrated him together with his colleagues in the practice. Underneath the picture were words: "It's always a great day to save lives."
'It seems something is missing though'
Truly there was something missing. On the bottom left area, a piece is still not in place. He could have missed this because of how dim the light is in his room.
He sighed and laid on his bed. He raised his right hand to the ceiling as if it was the night sky and pointed his index finger upwards and scribbled his thoughts:
'35, doctor and a lawyer..Happy? Yeah... I think so...'
Alab's eyes were tired but were also sad. He suddenly grinned and thought everything he achieved. He thought of how he never wanted to be a doctor and how he wanted to be a lawyer but eventually still felt something missing.
'I've basically tried almost everything but only to a certain extent. The Medicine and Law years were perhaps long, so I was not able to venture in other courses. Somehow, I envy those who know what they really want from the start or those who found what they want along the way. Only the smiling faces I have helped make me half full… but truly, I am half empty.'
"Maybe I can take a break and travel. I'll file a resignation letter next week, and maybe I can tour around the world."
Alab fell asleep. When he woke up, he was already lying on a sofa in a room with two windows, the open ceiling showing the plain blue sky. Above were also floating doors. It was so bright he had to rub his eyes.
'Am I hallucinating?'
He turned his neck to his right and saw two men sitting on the sofa chair. The first was a bald man around his 30s and another was an old man which had a patch on his chest and is somewhere around in his 70s. His vision was still a bit blurry. Just behind and above them was a painting on the wall which showed the same image of the men and sofa they were sitting on.
The bald man started speaking.
"Welcome! We know that you are surprised.
How are you feeling?"
'How am I feeling?'
Those were the words he usually asks when patients wake up from their surgeries. This time, he felt he was the one operated on. Before uttering any words, the bald man continued.
"You are not in your world anymore. This space is what we called Mozzafiato, a space between worlds."
The wounded man followed.
"Good day young man. I am Polo, like Mr. Merlin said, this vast space is called Mozzafiato... You are summoned here because you will be my successor."
'Successor?'
Alab instantly stood and went near the man named Polo.
"I remember you! You were my patient in the ward!"
The man faced him.
"Yes, I thank you for treating my wounds, doctor... Now, give me a chance to treat yours."
'My wounds?'
"Like they say, not all wounds are seen. Yours is a hole ready to filled up"
Alab was clearly confused and wanted everything to be cleared and asked,
"Wait, successor for what? And what criteria are you talking about?"
As far as Alab is concerned, he did not apply for any kind mentorship or discipleship. To him, their words are nonsense.
"Alab Juno! You are the next carrier of the power of a librarian of Mozzafiato."
"Librarian?"
"Yes, you will be entering a new world named Gaia, as the librarian of Mozzafiato. A world so much bigger than you can imagine, a role larger than you can expect. You can be free as a bird and you can have the heaviest responsibilities, or you can even not care at all."
Deep inside Alab's mind, this man does not know how to orient people and the more words they say, the more he is bombarded with his own questions.
"And these criteria you are talking about???"
The painting changed to a Jack and cards appeared out of it, floating in the air and continuously rotated around Polo as the center. He picked and read one card.
Criteria No. 1. A Jack of All Trades
A person who can do passable work at various tasks
"Yes. The world you are about the enter has different mysteries waiting to be discovered. Today is the best time to be the librarian because Gaia is changing so fast. Do you not want to have this opportunity?"