11 – RUSCKAN VILLAGE – A QUEST

Hidden under a collapsed tower, there was a small and modest library. It was surprisingly mostly intact, because the ruin of the tower had only caved its roof and damaged a part of the exterior structure but had otherwise protected the rest of the building from further damage.

It was evident by now that some monsters managed to roam the village, and the damage David saw all around was cause by them and the fight between them and the few heroes that were left to defend the place.

Now there were none left, he thought. He shook his head and washed the sad expression away. It was no time to be sad, now, because he had things to do. He wanted to get information on the village and on the monster attacks and see what changed that caused the surge, eventually bringing ruin to the village.

He stepped inside the library, though broken wooden doors that were rotten and splintered in many places. He used his telekinesis, which he had trained to the point where he was able to move considerably large objects, to slowly push the heavy planks away.

His muscles bulged as he contracted them involuntarily, as if to aid his mental strain, and the planks were dragged away and cleared a path for him to walk into the library. His forehead was dotted with beads of sweat now, but the way was clear.

He considered using more telekinesis to send the sweat flying away from his face, but he didn’t trust himself to have enough control yet to do that. Better to dry his face with the suit. It was dirty already, so it made little difference.

As his eyes adapted to the low light of the place, he noticed that the main room of the library was mostly intact. The air was dry, although a bit dusty, and pillars of light entered from the broken walls and illuminated the dust and the places where they hit the ground.

The floor was made of stone, large slabs of grey with dark fissures in between. Tables and chairs filled the room, some upturned but most of them still where they were supposed to be.

And then, on the far end of the room, books. There were few books, fewer than he expected, and only a couple scrolls and rolled up parchments. He was reminded, by the evidence he was seeing, that he was in a rural village with no access to a printing press.

The tables, filled with quills and ink, were for copying then. Those who could read and write, could perhaps make a copy of the books they needed and take them home with them.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

He sighed. Hopefully he could find what he needed from this place, help the village, and complete the mission. The more time he spent here, the more the hopeless atmosphere filled his lings and mind. he was beginning to see the grey creep back into the world, and he didn’t want that.

The books were old and heavy. He lifted one with his hands, and the pages came out because the glue that held them in place had long since disappeared. They fell on the floor randomly, and when David picked them up, he noticed that most of them were unreadable.

The ink was consumed, the pages themselves were damaged by mold and time. Some even crumbled at his touch.

He picked up another book, this time using his telekinesis to hold it floating in the air in front of him. He scrolled the pages without touching it, straining his mind but managing to read without destroying the fragile pages.

It took most of the day to go through all the books, and their content. The information was little and very diluted among a large quantity of nonsense, unreadable paragraphs that were too damaged to be even remotely understandable, and useless riddles in an archaic prose.

Eventually, though, a picture of what happened transpired.

There was a dampening crystal protecting this village. Something that was supposed to keep the monsters at bay, that was supposed to make a place like this habitable by humans.

Now, the crystal was missing. It had been missing for a long time, but the consequences of the theft were not felt at first. The search for the stolen magical item was slow and fruitless, as the villagers did not feel the danger that was looming closer with each day.

In the end, it cost them dearly. The state of the village was proof enough of this. It was the stupidity of men, that made them underestimate the threat they were exposed to. Too many years had they lived in relative safety, where just a few heroes were enough to defend them from the weak monsters that roamed the plains and the forests.

And now, they were about to be annihilated.

“Yes, the crystal. It’s been missing for many years now.” Griglir said.

“I know! That’s the reason why monsters are getting stronger. We need to find it!”

David was speaking fast, conceited. The guild master appeared nonplussed.

“We? Tell me, who do you think can go out and look for it? We’re barely alive in here, out there nobody would survive. It’s too late now.”

“It’s not! I will go.”

The dwarf grumbled. “Don’t be stupid. You will die, like all the others who went before you.”

“Then what! We wait, until you all die?”

He sighed. “Okay, then. You go, and who is left to defend this place?”

“Can you not fight? You are a guild master, are you not strong?”

The dwarf just laughed. “I used to be, yes. But now, I am old and weary.”

“I cannot defend this place forever.” He paced around the room, walking in circles while the dwarf looked at him with a tired look.

“Then go. But be quick! I will tell you what I know of the person who stole the crystal, but keep in mind that the information is old, and unreliable.”