Long ago, the Aeturnus Bibliotheca was founded. It all started when the first human was to write their book. Paper had just been discovered, yet they were the only people with this discovery at the time. After a year of writing, he finished the book before looking at it, with a sense of pride and then beginning to show it to their village. The village in bliss of this new way to immerse themself in a new world, and a way to gain knowledge, began to write books. Books continued to topple upon each other until a plague swept the lands. Almost all of the villagers died, with the few who survived, gathering what they could along, with some of their most loved books. The villagers, reaching a conclusion decided the best course of action would be to leave the plagued village and head west. One by one, they fell until only the man who made the first book was the last to be alive.
The sun burned against the bloodied back of the man, who looked up at the sky before looking in front of him. A large pyramid, that pointed up to the sky, lay upon the sand as the man fell down. Sand brushed against his feet, as the man stretched his arms out toward a shadow of a person.
"???" asked a tan man, with black hair as he rode a camel over. He hopped off the camel, before quickly grabbing a waterskin he had on him and putting it toward the bleeding man's lips.
a
Books slid onto a bookshelf, as a hum came from the person putting away the books.
"That's all of them for now, your Holiness," the person spoke, as he walked with the person watching him.
"This'll be the last time, we'll visit this place." replied a person with brown hair, "This will be their only chance they'll have to stop their works from corrupting and fading throughout time."
"So the first one, will be here soon?" asked the man with blonde hair, as they left the large building and its pavement before walking onto the grass.
"Any last things you want to do for them before we go?" the brown-haired man asked.
"No," he replied.
"Very well," the man with brown hair said as he put his hand on the other man's shoulder and snapped his fingers.
a
Where am I? I asked as I looked around at the silent building I awakened in. Last I recall, I was on my deathbed in one of the temples of some sort of pyramid. I had just gotten out of the mountains, and was now in a land of sand, after having been deeply wounded by a bandit. As I got up I heard a letter fall to the ground, which I picked up. A small seal covered the front, with a lion's face on the front of it. Trying not to break such a well-made seal, I slowly opened the letter, as I pulled out the contents from within it.
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To whom may question this,
As you read this, you may be wondering, as to why you are here in the Aeturnus Bibliotheca. Fate is a rather complicated thing, and as time passes people and other creatures may try to rid you of your works. As His Holiness has ordered, you and soon-to-be others will be given a chance. A chance to rid yourself of the fate which may steal and destroy the works you poured your everything into. Shadows will appear constantly, emanating from books that need cleansing. From now on you'll live here, for eternity, your goal being to keep yours and others' books cleansed from what may destroy what you so much loved making. We will only be able to hold off all shadows from seeping through books for a year before they will arise. After that time we leave all of humanity's books in your care. So in that time, I suggest you build yourself some self-sufficiency.
Sincerely,
Messenger of His Holiness
Ah...It's a good thing all of these books are here... Otherwise I'd be living outside...
a
Day three hundred and sixty-five in this new world, I don't know how many days are in a year, but I know one thing for sure, I want meat. In this land there only seems to be edible plants, yet no animals. I mean it, you can only eat so many fruits and vegetables, before going insane. Lately, I've also gone in search of a lake to fish in, but I've had no success. With every day that passes I wonder when this "year" will come to an end, and what the letter means by having to "cleanse" a book. With this, I end my entry.
As I flipped the book close, I sighed before putting a leaf against my thumb to keep the blood from getting all over the book. I got up and looked at the night sky as I paced toward the large building that had books. It will ring soon, I thought to myself as a loud toll began to ring across the building. What's happening? I asked myself, as the lit torches I placed around the building went out. A cold dark silence crept upon me and the room as I rushed out to my small house to get a torch.
A
A dark aura seeped from within two separate books that lie on a table. I look at the two, with interest and fear by what may lurk within each of them. One was titled, "As The Moon Bows Before The Sun" while the other was one I had written from my past called, "Lies at Sunrise". Why did it have to be his book and mine? I don't know how long these books take to corrupt before they fade... It would be wrong to not save his book, but... That was one of the few decent books I wrote! Ignoring, the large temptation in my head I flipped to the page of corruption in my best friend's book.
a
The characters' ink on the book began to fall to the ground, as the ink slowly expanded. The dark ink swelled as it began to enshroud the man.
"W-What's happening!?" the man exclaimed as the ink formed a cocoon that, soon after swallowed him.
A
"Wh-where am I?" I asked grimacing in pain. Jumping up, I looked around at the forest I had just awoken in. Ignoring the beauty of the forest, I ran towards a cliff nearby and looked around for any signs of well... anything. It couldn't be... I said to myself as I looked down the cliff, tears beginning to fall from my eyes. A small village that resided below the cliff was surrounded by paddy fields, but that wasn't what caught my eye.
"Cows..." I cried.