In a room that was barely lit by a candle, a man sat behind a desk while holding a half-destroyed book in one hand, and a quill in another. He vigorously wrote notes, or rather, copied what was written on the half-destroyed book into a new piece of paper.

Suddenly, the door in the room was kicked opened, then a woman stepped in. "Archmage Hoss, I see you are still glued to that junk since we returned from the abyss two weeks ago." The woman said and uninvitedly sat on empty chair in front of the desk.

"This is not junk, Archmage Velvet. This is historical evident." Hoss disagreed immediately.

"Says you." Velvet crossed her arms.

Hoss put down both the quill and the half-destroyed book on the table, and messaged the bridge of his nose. "Look, just think about it. Only human write things down. The elf, the meadow grazers, and the forgeborn... they never do this. They passed things down by telling tales instead."

"This book...", Hoss picked up the book and held it up close to Velvet's face, "... is the only thing we found at the bottom of the abyss, aside from the Scorched Spirits and the other monstrosities, of course. But you know what I mean. With this book, we might find a clue of who exactly had closed the Gate of Hell that was opened two hundred years ago." He said excitedly.

Velvet spared one hand to gently shove aside the book that Hoss held up too closely to her face, "And what exactly would we get from finding out the identity of the Hero from ages past?" She asked cynically.

Hoss blinked and went silent for a second, "You are not interested in individual who saved this world? Have you forgotten how terrible it was when the Gate of Hell opened and kept pouring down the Scorched Spirits? We and the other Archmages could fought three of them at once, but they outnumbered us so severely. Even when humanity joined forces with the other three species, and us Archmages teamed up with the Valley Vanguards, The Golden Forgers, and The Tree Templars, we still couldn't get near the Gate let alone tried to destroy it."

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Velvet loudly clicked her tongue, "I am not denying the importance of what the Unnamed Hero had done, nor do I denying that he had saved our lives. But I didn't help you get to the bottom of the abyss and fought the trapped Scorched Spirits and other monstrosities there just so you can preach me about how glorious the hero was. I tagged along because you were so confident you would find a clue on how to prevent such disaster from happening again. But all we found there were creatures of abomination... and that book."

"Sorry." Hoss apologized meekly and cleared his throat, "And yes. That's why this book is important."

"But that book is a junk. It is half-destroyed, You and I can't read it, and even Archmage Liya who is a linguistic expert who have deciphered numerous lost languages from thousands of ruins can't understand it. Why are you still keeping it? Even if it does contain the information of how to close the Gate of Hell, or even better if it contain a way to prevent the gate from ever opening again, that information might had been lost because it was written in the destroyed pages. And Seeing you still clinging to that book frustrates me." Velvet ranted, her voice mixed with anger.

Hoss, seeing his long time friend's distress, put down the book and leaned on his chair. He stayed silent for awhile and considered the words he was about to speak next, "You are right. You are absolutely right. It is foolish and childish to cling to something so uncertain like this book. But it is the only clue we got, and I would rather be a fool and a manchild rather than throwing the only hope we have to prepare us against the calamity, if it was to happen ever again."

Velvet looked at him in the eye then sighed, "Whatever, tell me immediately if you ever figure out something about it." She rose from the chair and was about to exit the room.

"About that..." Hoss trailed, and velvet stopped in her track, slightly turning around to look back.

"I have figured out something out of it." Hoss continued,

"Oh," Velvet said, slightly surprised, "And what that something is?"

Hoss glanced at the book briefly before he looked back at her, "I think this book is a diary of some sort."