Adam waited in the room for a few minutes until Elías' grandfather returned with a bag in hand, containing Adam's new tunic. With a smile, the old wizard said:
—It's a real shame you joined a brotherhood of wizards. Elías already escaped through the market employee stairs, so I'll tell you the final details. For the rest, if one day you meet the conditions to join any of the brotherhoods of the lost characters, you will have to find another intermediary other than us.
—Has the purge started outside the shop?—asked Adam, alarmed by the information.
Although the process of choosing a brotherhood and creating the tunic seemed to last an eternity for Adam, the truth was that it took at most an hour to complete everything. In theory, nothing could have happened outside in such a short time.
—No, it seems odd to me too...—commented the old man, misunderstanding Adam's words.
The old wizard opened the bag in his hand and pulled out a black tunic, which he handed to Adam, sounding concerned:
—Either the Eternal are very thorough with their infiltration, or they haven't given the signal to start the attack yet. But I have no doubt that the massacre will happen today; unlike the librarians, magic never lies.
Adam took the tunic with some nervousness due to the wizard's words. Upon examining the tunic more closely, the young man noticed that the hood he had requested had been added, but the symbols weren't embroidered on the sleeves.
When the old wizard saw the bewilderment on Adam's face, he calmly explained:
—Run your hand over the sleeves, thinking about showing the symbols, and they'll appear. When you want to hide them, do the opposite. Most librarians feel uncomfortable revealing the brotherhood they belong to, so it's normal to conceal it in populated areas.
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Adam followed the instructions and ran his hand over one of the sleeves. As he withdrew his hand, he noticed a silver-embroidered symbol on the sleeve. The symbol appeared to be a goat's head with two very long horns and a pentagram placed on its forehead.
—That's the symbol of the Bestiary—commented the old wizard—You can sink your hand into the symbol to take out the brotherhood's book, and then you can put it back in whenever you want. The book is very important as it provides advice and, more importantly, gives a detailed description of the brotherhood's targets and rituals.
Adam followed the instructions and put his hand inside the symbol, feeling a sensation similar to when he sunk his hand into the mirror. After searching for a while, Adam managed to take the Bestiary's brotherhood book out.
The book's cover was furry and bore the same symbol that Adam had on the sleeves of his tunic on one of its covers, but there was no title written on it.
The book seemed to have many pages and was quite thick. Its pages were aged and appeared to have been dampened with water and then dried; some pages were torn, and many seemed to be missing.
After taking a look at it, Adam tried to put the book back into his sleeves. As he brought the book's edge closer to the symbol, the book began to sink into the fabric until it disappeared.
Curious about how his new tunic worked, Adam wanted to see the symbol of his other brotherhood. Running his hand over the other sleeve and pulling it back, a gold-embroidered symbol began to form, revealing that the symbol of his second brotherhood was a cardinal rose.
—Alright, I see you understand how the symbols work on your tunic—commented the old wizard, sounding somewhat rushed —Now, here's your marbles case. You don't have to pay; consider it a gift for being our last customer. Good luck surviving the purge, kid.
Adam took the marbles case, and as he did, he noticed the wizard's hand becoming increasingly transparent. Noticing the anomaly, the young man looked at the wizard curiously and saw that his whole body was becoming transparent until he disappeared into thin air, leaving Adam alone in the shop.
Stunned by the wizard's disappearance, Adam hurriedly left the shop. If the wizard had indeed used a magical ability to know when the purge would happen, he couldn't waste any more time. Once the young hero felt secure on the upper floors, he could take the time to explore the book of the hidden paths brotherhood.
With hurried steps, Adam made his way to the shelf of the eyeless old man to bid farewell and, in passing, to collect his father on the lower floors to embark together on their long journey exploring the upper floors.