Eh! Sir Butler? The man she wanted to avoid this entire time.
"Miss Charlotte, I've told you countless times to never enter the Magic Garden. I believe this is your second warning. I will be reporting this to the Young Lady. Your punishment will also be in her hands. Please take this as a future lesson and avoid the Magic Garden from now on. Am I clear, Miss Charlotte?"
The young girl trembled as she responded, "Yes Sir! I am very sorry Sir."
The Butler walked away from the bushes but the girl stayed on her knees. Once he was a good distance away, I walked up to the girl and sat down next to her. With the way she was sitting, could she be crying?
"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to- "
Well, this was unexpected. I leaned in to check if she was crying but wow, was I wrong. The uncomfortable neck angle was so she could hide the expression she was making. Her anger was probably seething at this point. The reason her voice trembled was because she was biting her lip to calm herself down. Seeing her rebelling so hard just made me smile for no reason. Although this girl came up to me and looked for me because I might be trouble with the others, she did not look all that safe either. Her uniform looked old and dirty, and did not fit her size either. It's almost like she's aware of her status but seethes at her inability to do anything against it.
"Ugh, I was sure this time he wouldn't find me. It's so ANNOYING."
Right after her mini fit of anger, she got up, crossed over the bushes, and once again stretched her hand out to me ushering to do the same. I crawled around the bushes and made it to the other side of the garden. In front of me stood this large manor built purely for the purpose of providing accommodation for the servants. It wasn't exactly hidden but the main house was quite a distance from it.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then!"
"Ah wait, one question! Sorry this might be weird but can you quickly give me a small intro of who I am. Please!"
"Hah, that's so weird, but okay. Your name is Kai, you're 14 years old. Duke Carlos picked you up after the Great war. You're currently a new servant for Carlos Duchy."
"Thanks a lot… Charlotte!"
The young girl flushed at the call of her name, "Yeah yeah whatever."
I started walking towards the dorms, until I remembered the most important question!
"Wait Charlotte! What's my dorm room number?"
"Pffft- its 404."
"Thanks again!"
The trip to the dorms was way harder than actually reaching my room. I stood in front of the 404 door and felt a series of emotions. I've never had my own room, and now standing in front of it, it's such a strange feeling. I opened the door and walked into the cramped room. It was a small room with a closet, a desk and a bed to sleep on.
The fatigue of the day just hit me instantly, I collapsed onto the bed.
*******
-Stabs-
"JULIEN! HOW COULD YOU!?"
A woman? Why is there a woman in the room? Am I back in the hospital? Is it Mom? No- it can't be. That's not Mom's voice.
Wait- did someone just get stabbed!? Ugh it's so blurry, I can't see.
"You know that we can't do anything! The library does not belong to us! We do not have access to it either!" She pleaded with a raspy voice.
A man in his mid thirties dressed in 1800s style clothing approached the woman. In his hand, he held a long sword dripping blood and pointed it at the woman's neck. "Lies! LIES! How could the direct descendants of the Cesare bloodline not have access to their ancestral heritage!?" He yelled in response.
"It doesn't work like that!" The woman spoke with frustration. "The library is not one where anyone is allowed entry. To enter the Enchanted Quarters, one needs the key. Only the person with the key can access the Enchanted Library."
"So where is it?" He responded sternly.
The woman sitting on the floor grabbed onto the man in her arms. The person I believe is her husband had horrible injuries and was most likely on his last breath. The woman clenched onto the man's robes and replied with a choked voice, "We don't have it, Julien."
Julien's eyes twitched and he moved his blood soaked sword from the woman's neck to her husband's heart. "How unfortunate, if you had just told me where the key was, both of you could've had a better outcome. However, fate is not in your hands!"
The man armed his sword to attack.
"The Library will find its owner! This world will find out what true magic is, and you! You will remain in this world watching all of that happen with your own eyes. Your greed will become the end of you! Fate!? Pfft- Fate is not in your hands either, King Julien."
The man lunged his sword, "Curse you Julien! CURSE YOU!"
With a single strike, my vision went completely red.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a room.
Tap - tap - tap - tp- Someone's coming.
Their steps were soft but defined. As they came closer the sound became louder. Although I was unable to see who it was and where exactly they were coming from, I wasn't afraid. For some reason, this person didn't scare me.
Tap - tap. They're here. Right in front of me.
"-sigh- Clap- Clap-"
Upon his command, flames lit up from the walls around me one by one, lighting up the dark surroundings. Beside each flame appeared to be shelves, but not just any shelves. Extremely large shelves that reached five or six stories up to the ceiling. And in each of those shelves were books. Hundreds, thousands, millions of books.
"It's incredible isn't it!?" The man spoke once again.
I turned to face the man who had been standing in front of me the entire time.
I gasped. He looked like the real life version of Howl. (#Studioghibli)
Brown formal shoes accompanied by lean and enviably long legs, wearing silk black pants. A slim waist that stood out from the white victorian blouse. A navy throw over coat that sat on his shoulders held together by a single gold chain. Atop that stylish outfit, an inhumanly gorgeous face with bright blue eyes that were looking straight at me. He looked even more tall considering I was still on the floor. His golden hair fluttered as he reached out his hand to me. Enchanted by his charm, I grabbed his hand and he pulled me off the ground.
"Sorry about that, can I ask where exactly this is?"
Howl No.2 smiled.
"I apologise, this is the Enchanted Library of Cesare! I welcome you, its new master."
Eh- you mean this is the place the woman was talking about in that weird dream earlier? And I just walked into it like no problem?
Wait.
WAIT.
"Master? Me? What are you on about!?"
Okay, I admit. These past few days I was getting too dramatic with my delusions but this- Oh this is new! I went as far as killing dragons with bare hands but not becoming the new master of some ancestral magic library. Don't get me wrong, I love the power but not the responsibilities.
"I sincerely apologise for this must be very sudden, but I don't have much time to explain."
Hmmm… cliche.
"This is indeed the Great Library, however for a number of reasons the library cannot be opened. The first reason is due to the missing books."
As Howl No. 2 explained:
The Enchanted Library closed itself from the world two years before the vision from earlier took place. This brought great havoc upon the kingdoms causing disastrous misunderstandings. Unfortunately, he was a bit late in figuring out the cause of the sudden closure. After thorough research, the causes are as follows:
The library centres around five books; the first five magic spell books written for each element. Those five books were distributed among the kingdoms under certain conditions as per a peace treaty. The library would remain open until the conditions are met. The sudden closure of the library can only mean one thing: One of the kingdoms broke the conditions.
Great danger follows if the library remains closed for too long. The first signs have already begun showing; Demonification. Up until now, demonified creatures have been spotted around the empire and their population continues to increase overtime.
"So basically, we need to get the four books back to stop the demonification? How does that work?"
Howl No.2 smirked lightly, "How do you imagine the Enchanted Library got its name?"
"Hmm. Not sure. I'm bad at guessing games."
"The Enchanted Library is known for its vast knowledge, however that information is attained by the library itself. It evaluates the current trends and threats of the world and updates each and every book in its possession to those trends. I understand this might be complicated but I truly find it fascinating." He spoke with utmost pride and excitement. However, this description reminded me of something else, something common;
"… So it's basically Google."
TBC