Students and visitors climbed the white stone steps, entering and leaving the tall, majestic structure. The large circular stained glass window, featuring a variety of colours, sparkled in the sunlight, casting its floral patterns on the floor of the spacious open atrium. The atrium extended through three floors, allowing me to gaze upwards as people worked and studied, while the sound-suppressing runes maintained a low noise level.
Suspended from the ceiling was the skeleton of the black dragon that had burnt half of London to the ground just before I was born. Tens of thousands had perished when it had exploded from beneath Buckingham Palace, where the foolish king had attempted to keep it as a pet. No one knew where it originally came from, and there was a fear that your next dungeon could house another of its kind. Mum and Dad had been fortunate, as they had already been inside another dungeon near home when the call was put out, and almost every able-bodied warrior was compelled to attempt to slay it; that was their last venture together before she became pregnant with me.
The horror of its devastation prompted a wave of laws worldwide that prohibited keeping any monster as a pet without a licence, which were only issued to researchers. Occasionally, there would be a story or two about a monster breeder being discovered and arrested, but no further dragons had ever been encountered. Gazing at the skeleton suspended from the ceiling, I was always in awe of the creature's size. I never heard of them finding the mana stone, but it must have been massive, and a part of me longed to see it, to feel what its presence was like.
Taking a deep breath, I found a Caretaker sitting at one of the information desks and approached to speak with them. You could request a book on any subject, and if they possessed it, they would guide you to it flawlessly, every time. Their knowledge of the collection was awe-inspiring, and one couldn't help but wonder if they were psychic and knew everything.
“Um, hi,” I said as it raised its head from the desk in front, where it had been reading a large book on monsters. “I’m looking for information on wolves that have green fur and use poison.” I felt my skin crawl as I pictured the wolf and shivered slightly as my hair stood on end.
Nodding its head, the Caretaker stepped away to guide me, but I raised my hand slightly, and it paused to look at me. “Not just that, but one that can speak,” I whispered, feeling foolish for asking, yet there was nobody close enough to hear me. Shaking its head, it sat down once more at the table, its head lowering again to gaze at the book, as if it were a robot shutting down.
With a sigh of defeat, I turned to leave but paused, remembering the other question I had meant to ask. “What about one on something called guardians?”
It made me jump slightly when its head shot up as if I had flipped a switch, and it stood up faster than I had posed my earlier question. I felt as though I had said the wrong thing and wanted to flee, but the Caretaker rushed around the table and took hold of my hand to stop me from leaving. People nearby began to notice the Caretaker’s sudden reaction in grabbing me, along with every other Caretaker who were ignoring those they had been dealing with. Blushing, I gave up on trying to escape as the Caretaker led me by the hand towards one of the large staircases that ascended.
The library was immense, and no one knew precisely how many texts were stored within. Everything it contained was somehow related to monsters, including the folk tales that people once used to inspire their stories. There was much debate regarding why what should have been mere figments of people’s imaginations had become reality, with some believing that the monsters had always existed but had died out, and were now returning to seek vengeance. I had spent countless afternoons here with Josie and Michael as we studied for exams, poring over various reports and testimonies from warriors who had fought the beasts and documented what they had learned.
Upon reaching the top floor, the effort of climbing all the stairs in my weakened state had left me breathless, and the Caretaker had thankfully paused to allow me to recover before I continued. I had mumbled about an injury and gestured towards my back when they cocked their head to the side, as if silently asking me what had happened. The Caretaker graciously extended an arm and offered support as we walked further through the shelves, and I wondered where we were headed, as I no longer saw signs denoting the sections at the end of the rows of shelves.
As I approached the door, it appeared plain and unassuming. However, the Caretaker produced a heavy key from within their robes and unlocked the door, a wave of runes flashing before quickly vanishing. The door creaked open, as if it had not been used for many years, revealing shelves made of a different type of wood. Instead of books, these shelves held parchment scrolls that were yellowed with age. Once guided inside, the door creaked shut behind me, and another Caretaker approached, directing me away from the first, who remained standing by the door. I glanced back, puzzled as to why I had been passed off to another, my legs trembling as my fear began to resurface.
The Caretaker stopped suddenly, looked at the first one who had guided me here, and turned its blank mask back to me, extending its arm like the first one had done to support me. As I looked at the first one, I wondered if they were somehow communicating telepathically. Taking their arm, I was slowly guided at a comfortable pace down the row to what appeared to be the middle aisle, where there were some tables and comfortable-looking chairs. Pulling out a chair for me, I nervously sat down, glancing around as the Caretaker turned to leave me sitting at the table, alone.
I wanted to get up, but felt I shouldn’t, as there must be a reason why they left me here. After waiting for several minutes and checking my phone constantly to ensure I wasn’t losing my mind, I stood up and began to walk down the aisle, peering down the rows, where I found each one stacked from floor to ceiling with scrolls and tomes. There was nothing new; everything looked yellowed with age, and I was afraid to ruin them with careless touches. Upon reaching the end, the last row contained some newer-looking books, and I walked along, examining the spines in an attempt to discern their topics, but they were all blank.
I heard a door close, and I froze where I stood before stealthily creeping back to the aisle, peering around the bookshelf. I didn’t see anyone, but the table where I had been left now had a tome resting on it. Emerging from behind the shelf, I was halfway back when another Caretaker appeared. Was it the same one who had brought me here? I couldn’t tell, as they all looked the same. In their hands, they held a tray with a silver teapot, steam gently rising from the spout. Placing it on the table next to the book, they clasped their hands together and bowed slightly before leaving me alone again.
As I sat down to taste the tea, I found it a pleasant surprise, dispelling my doubts about their unexpected hospitality. Flipping open the cover of the tome that had been left for me, I sighed as I realised it was more of a folder than a book, with an avalanche of pages spilling across the table. As I sifted through the pages, I attempted to organise everything into piles based on the type of paper used. Many of the pages appeared to be records of stores opening and subsequently going out of business. While flicking through the pages, I stumbled upon the slimeball from earlier; learning his name, I wore an evil grin, feeling I finally had something on him.
After the merchants' records, there were hundreds of maps, many overlapping each other; however, I recognised a few streets by their layouts, as there were no names identifying them, only odd names at the top pages. Stacking them neatly into several piles, I discovered four pages folded roughly within the pile and carefully unfolded them. This tome was full of surprises, as these pages revealed themselves to be a hastily scribbled diary, fold lines crisscrossing it as if it had been bunched up into a ball before being hidden inside the tome.
Day 7: The captain went into the Spire again to speak with Them. We needed help setting up the town. Shelter was hard to construct on this island, and we could only remove so much material from the smouldering remains of the ship. We had decided to dismantle the whole vessel and hide the origin of our arrival. It would form the basis of our settlement here.
Day 8: The Captain returned with an overjoyed look on his face. He said Athena would release some Guardians from a vault to assist us. Minutes later, a large door at the side of the Spire opened again, and in lockstep, five hundred dark beings with blue lines tracing around them that lit up their bodies walked out of the Spire. The captain approached this one that stood out from the rest and started speaking to it, telling it what needed to be done. They moved effortlessly and without communication, which unnerved the rest of us. With their help, we salvaged more material and finally built shelters for us all. The constant sunlight made it hard to sleep, but I do not believe it to be real as even our fairest of passengers remained just as pale, without a hint of suffering.
‘There!’ I thought to myself, feeling a rush of excitement; this is exactly what I was searching for. That wolf wasn’t the only dark entity, and the blue lights coincided perfectly. So it was a Guardian, but whose? This diary mentioned that there were more—many more—and they had emerged from the Spire. Eager to read further, I glanced at the last two sheets and realised there was a significant gap between them.
Day 22: We have succeeded in dismantling the ship. We held a ceremony to remember those who never survived the stranding, and we all donned the masks we had been given, now devoted to our saviours and adamant in our duty. The Guardians who had been released to us stationed themselves around the town we had sown the seeds of. They found nooks and corners for themselves to stand in, becoming as still as statues. The Captain promised they would protect and watch over us, waiting for the Heir to awaken fully.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Day 25: I am writing this before I lose the last of my memories. When we were shown the Truth of the World, we were told that our memories would be sealed until the day the Heir would be declared. No one complained for we knew our duty was to become the care takers of this island. We swore we would be happy to serve He who saved us. I wanted to leave this diary as a testament to our survival in case the Heir never comes. I found a small corner of a cave to leave it for someone in the future to find, I must hurry though as Meadhbh seems to have become suspicious of me.
Were these survivors the ones who became the Caretakers? The diary left me with more questions than answers; in fact, I didn’t receive any answers at all. Annoyed, I read through each page again, trying to uncover some hidden meaning. There were two names: Athena and Meadhbh. One sounded like the Greek goddess, while the other had an Irish ring to it.
“Meadhbh,” I murmured to myself, captivated by the name. "Hang on, I remember seeing that somewhere!”
Looking at the stack of maps, I began to go through them, reading the words at the top and realising they weren’t code words; they were names. A rough count confirmed there were five hundred, enough to match those who returned with the Captain from the Spire. Near the bottom, I found the map with ‘Meadhbh Tamarix’ across the top. The writing was neat, unlike the diary, and turning it around, I realised that the corner of the Library was on it, as well as the grand plaza surrounding the Spire. Folding the map and stowing it in my pocket, I tucked the rest of the papers inside the red tome they had spilled out of and placed it in the strange space beyond the ripples. It felt wrong to steal it like this, but if they came after me, they would never find it.
Finishing the remaining cold tea, I returned to the door, realising my escape might have already been compromised. Pulling on the handle, my entire arm tingled as I felt it draw from my meagre supply of mana, and a satisfying click echoed as the door unlocked. Upon stepping through, I closed it behind me and looked around, discovering that I was alone, unable to secure it. Weighing my options, I hoped they wouldn’t mind and left it unlocked, pushing back through the shelves in search of a way out of the maze. Looking back at the door, I was taken aback to see that it had vanished, leaving only a blank facade of stone wall, no doubt magically concealed, a means to hide the room. I could feel the paper in my pocket, reassured that I hadn’t imagined it, my heart pounding heavily in my chest at the risk I was taking.
Walking as quickly as I could, I passed several Caretakers who were quietly sorting through books or guiding people to what they were seeking. With my head down, my paranoia screamed that I was being chased. However, when I glanced back, I saw no one following me, nor did they attempt to block my escape. Crossing the main lobby of the Library and stopping at one of the doors, I noticed that the table where I had spoken to the Caretaker remained empty. I hesitated before exiting the building and stepping into the sunshine beyond, breathing a sigh of relief for having gotten away with my robbery.
Descending the steps, I made my way to the corner of the library I remembered seeing on the map and took it out once more. It was slightly different from what I had been viewing, as one of the small alleys now had a new building obstructing it, but by tracing a route to reach the unusual mark on the map, I set off again, tucking the map back into my pocket. Locating the specific alley on the map turned out to be a tedious task as it was outdated and the entrance I had been aiming for was now a building as well, forcing me to go around.
Standing at the end of the alley, I let my shoulders sag as I held my sleeve to my nose in disgust, the alley filled with rotting rubbish and flies circling around. Picking my way through and stepping over anything too repulsive to kick with my boot, I slowly crept down, searching for any sign of this supposed guardian. Pulling the map out again, I looked around, ensuring I was standing where the symbol was, and stared at the wooden shed that had been constructed in the exact spot on the map. Rubbing my eyes, I kicked a small bucket and watched it soar into a pile of black bags, knocking one over and revealing a grey foot.
I jolted in surprise as I spotted the foot poking out from the pile of rubbish, clad in a hobnail sandal. It resembled black granite or obsidian, and I felt a surge of hope as I scanned for a stick to prod the rubbish pile it was buried beneath. Locating half of a brush handle, I grunted while my back protested, shifting the bags it was concealed under, panting heavily from the exertion, revealing that it was merely a leg. Dragging the leg from its hiding place, I propped it up against the shed and admired it like a work of art. The shin guard appeared dented and scratched, with folds in the skin around the ankle—all details too fine for a stonemason to carve without extensive practice. It was a work of art reminiscent of the old Italian masters.
Grimacing as I looked at the pile of rubbish once more, I knew what I had to do and picked up my stick again. Doing my best to dig through the heap, I caught a glimpse of another foot and redoubled my efforts to extricate the statue. Pausing to catch my breath, I glanced down towards the road where two Caretakers had halted in their patrol to observe me. Staring at them, I realised I must look quite insane, rummaging through rubbish, but they merely turned and left, seemingly content to leave me to my task.
Dragging the last bag away, I had become immune to the stench by this point and struggled to right the exposed statue of the warrior woman. She appeared to be wearing ancient Greek or Roman armour, complete with a chest plate and a type of armoured skirt. Her bare arms looked muscular, featuring several scars peeking out from beneath the armoured plates protecting her forearms. Lifting the leg, I placed it next to the stump, relieved to find that the break matched perfectly.
“Damn, you’re heavy,” I grunted as I leaned against the far wall, taking deep breaths and hoping that I was feeling sweat on my back and not blood. Looking down the alley again, I saw it was still empty and turned back to the statue, freezing in place. “You… you moved!” I stammered, realising her head had turned slightly as if she were trying to get a better look at me.
Anticipating a response, I stared at her intently before sighing, realising I might have simply imagined it. What was I meant to do now? Summoning the ripples, I stepped inside to retrieve the tome I had stolen from the Library, hoping to search it for a way to wake her up. As I stepped out, I screamed when a fist grabbed my jacket and slammed me against the wall, my feet dangling several inches above the ground, an explosion of pain roaring up my back. Tears of pain flooded from my eyes, and I opened them to see a face seething with anger mere inches from my own, her blue eyes intense beneath her furrowed brows.
“Who are you?” she hissed, pushing me a little higher. I felt my ponytail tug my head back as it got caught between my shoulders and the wall.
“My name is..." I tried to cry out as the pain in my back drowned everything else out. The pressure on my back lifted as she dropped me to the ground, and I hunched over, painful sobs escaping my lips. Opening my eyes, I was shocked to discover that three Caretakers had joined us: two helping to lift me gently and another pushing the awakened statue against the far wall.
Her head was swinging as she looked at the Caretaker holding her back, then over to me, a look of horror dawning on her face. Releasing its grip on her shoulder, the Caretaker stepped back and looked at me directly. I was surprised to see that their mask wasn’t like the others; there was a strange symbol on its forehead, and I looked up to see two more Caretakers standing on the roof above us. I felt like an idiot for not checking up there and wondered how long they had been following me. The tome I had stolen from the Library lay scattered around the alley, the pages everywhere.
“I sincerely apologise for my actions,” the statue said, awkwardly dropping to her remaining knee and using the stump of her other leg for support as she bowed her head. “I did not realise who you were, mistaking you for a scoundrel attempting to abscond with me; this has happened before.”
“Who am I?” I demanded, glancing at her before shifting my gaze to the Caretaker, who appeared to possess some degree of authority, indicated by their slightly different mask.
Lifting her head, the statue turned towards the Caretaker, who shook their head before bending down to pick up the papers scattered around. The other two beside me joined in the task, and once they had gathered everything, they returned the tome to me before turning to leave. Halfway down the alley, the leader faced the statue once more, who nodded as if they were somehow communicating, and then departed. Looking up at the roof, I noticed the two Caretakers who had been watching over us vanish as well, leaving me with the statue, awkwardly using a beautiful sword to rise back up.
The statue was no longer a matte greyish-black colour; instead, it had become much darker, with blue lines travelling down her body like highlights. The armour she wore had transformed into a golden hue, as if it were becoming metal rather than stone. She moved as freely as if she were made of flesh, and the broken leg had fallen over, unable to support itself any longer.
“We need to leave here,” she declared as she finally stood up straight, towering above me, and I estimated her height to be over seven feet. “This is not the right place for conversation; I shall remain within your core until you take us somewhere safe.”
“Absolutely not!” I exclaimed, stepping back from her. “You just assaulted me, and then the Caretakers suddenly appeared. What on earth is happening here? Who are you? Are you a Guardian?”
Seemingly sighing, I watched her chest rise and fall as if she were breathing. “Yes, I am a Guardian. My name is Meadhbh Tamarix. I promise I will not harm you and will answer all the questions you may have, but we must leave before my presence is discovered by those who should not know.”
Hunched over in pain across from her, I flicked my eyes to the rippling doorway that remained ajar as she hopped towards it, using her sword for support while dragging her broken leg. It was a peculiar sight watching her disappear inside, the doorway closing behind her. Exhaling a sigh of relief, I leaned against the wall with my shoulder and reached under my shirt, pulling my hand back to reveal a smear of blood on my fingertips. Back to square one, I thought to myself, as I slowly limped towards the end of the alley, glancing around to see several Caretakers standing nearby, watching and waiting.