Adam opened his godfather's biography and wrote:

'The bookshelf is asking me a question, and it seems like nothing bad happens if I get it wrong, but I'm not managing to find the right answer.

The question the bookshelf is asking is: "What is the name of the person who resides in this room?" However, my father's name is not the correct answer.'

Adam's writing dissolved into the biography, and his godfather's response began to appear more slowly than usual:

'The answer is your name.'

—Adam...—the young hero murmured, bewildered, not understanding why that could be the answer.

—Correct, like all wizards, you're very clever—responded the woman with a kind smile and a gentle voice —You may proceed, young wizard, and good luck.

The woman sank back into the marble walls of the hallway, leaving the young hero stunned in the corridors. The correct answer was his name! Although he couldn't grasp why that was the correct response to the question.

After a few seconds pondering the question, Adam managed to snap out of his daze and realized the most important implication of solving the riddle: the chance to be reunited with his father!

With trembling hands due to the nerves of the encounter, Adam placed a hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly. Then, with little force, he pushed the door, and it opened as slowly as he pushed.

But then, Adam caught an unpleasant odor coming from the room, and a hunch formed in his mind. The young man violently swung open the door, hoping his hunch was wrong, but unfortunately, upon seeing what was inside the room, Adam understood his hunch was correct.

The room had all its walls scribbled with his father's ramblings, so the white marble had long been replaced with a dark color. There were still no lamps in the room, and the only illumination came from some edible cave mushrooms that were still scattered around the room.

Even though the room was dimly lit by the bluish hue provided by the mushrooms, the body of a man dressed in a white tunic lying in the middle of the room was clearly visible.

The body lay face down, making it indistinguishable, but the red hair indicated to Adam who that person was. The smell of decay and the lack of reaction upon opening the door indicated to the young man that his father had died a long time ago, and no one bothered to attend to his corpse.

Adam wanted to hold back his tears and be strong; deep down, he knew that his father's death due to his madness was quite likely. But no matter how hard he tried to hold back his tears, he ended up crying inconsolably as he ran towards his father's corpse to embrace it.

The young man didn't care about the smell of death or the dirtiness of the room; what Adam needed most now was to see his father's face, which he hadn't seen in almost 15 years.

He needed to hug his father once more, even if it was just a cold corpse lying on the floor. Adam truly wanted to tell his father that he had achieved his dream and obtained the black tunic, but cruel fate had snatched that opportunity away.

Adam reached his father's corpse and turned it over to see his face, but upon doing so, he was petrified by what he saw. Just to be sure, Adam lit up his thumb, bringing light to his father's face. He noticed he wasn't mistaken: his father had the exact same face as him as an adult!

—This can't be...—Adam murmured through tears.

The young hero hadn't seen his father's face in 15 years; he only remembered his red hair and the black stains around his eyes, making him look like a raccoon. But now, as he had his father in front of him, he immediately recognized that it was his own face reflected back.

However, there were differences in his father's face that Adam didn't recall: his father's face no longer had the black stains around his eyes; instead, his eyes were completely black. What caught Adam's attention was that his father had two horns on his head, and his teeth seemed to be sharp fangs.

Adam didn't believe he could have forgotten that his father had horns, so something was amiss in this situation. An idea formed in Adam's mind, and with some fear, he looked at the shadow of his father's corpse; his idea was confirmed: his father's corpse cast a red shadow!

—Did he want to die with bad karma?...—Adam murmured, inspecting his father's body.

It didn't take him long to notice that his father's wrists were blinking due to the effect of his glasses seeking clues. Adam brought his thumb closer to his father's wrists and realized they had been cut with a knife.

—So he committed suicide...—Adam murmured, stunned —But that wouldn't bring bad karma... how did you manage to amass such a quantity of bad karma... What madness did you commit before you died, Dad?

Adam looked over the body in search of more clues; naturally, he wanted to understand why his father took his own life. Adam found no more clues on the body, so he looked around the dark room for answers.

But the young man didn't need to use the effect of his glasses to find the clue: upon careful observation, Adam noticed there was another corpse in the room.

The lifeless body was sitting in a corner that wasn't visible upon opening the door, making it impossible for Adam to see the corpse from outside the room.

The deceased body had a paper pinned to its forehead with a knife, and at this moment, the paper was catching fire. Adam quickly realized what was written on it with a single glance,however he could not understand it.

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Adam couldn't understand how the paper was catching fire since there was no one else in the room who could have lit it. Before he could formulate a solution to explain what he was seeing, the clue-seeking effect of his glasses started blinking on the floor.

Adam approached and picked up the blinking thing on the floor; it seemed that a string was connected between the door and a tube lying on the floor.

The young hero recognized the tube as a lighter, so he assumed his father had set up the room so that when he entered and answered the question, this paper would catch fire.

Suspicious, Adam approached the burning paper again, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand what was written on it: the message was written in a language unknown to him.

Adam didn't remember having seen the face of the person with the paper pinned to their forehead, but he recognized and remembered the ragged violet tunics that the corpse wore: it was the same man who was repairing and cleaning the statues in this hexagon the day he was expelled from his home.

—No, no, this can't be...—Adam murmured, looking at the corpse with desperation—Could it be that the reason for the purge today was because of this burning paper... Then my father orchestrated the purge, and that would explain the changes in his body. But why would he do it? Just to amass bad karma? It can't be, right? I mean, all this happened after his death, and yet his corpse changed like this... but why would he be so eager to achieve this? I never saw anyone so desperate for karma, and my father never wasted time on bad actions in his life... it doesn't make sense... Nothing makes sense!

In search of answers, Adam sat on the floor and picked up the biography of his godfather; he had many questions to ask him. But as soon as his pencil touched the biography's page, his godfather wrote to him:

'Tell me who I am?'

Adam read the question several times, and he began to understand the tragic story of his past and even more tragically, the story of his father. He burst into tears, and with tears staining the biography, he answered:

'You are my father.'

His godfather crossed out the response as if he were angry and quickly wrote with messy handwriting:

'Wrong, I am Adam: You have no parents, brat!'

Adam, still sobbing, asked with trembling hands:

'Then, who am I?'

His godfather crossed out the question and hastily wrote:

'Do you doubt it? You are Adam'

With anger, Adam wrote:

'How is it possible for such a coincidence to exist? Among a pile of biographies, I happen to choose the biography of my father who just committed suicide.'

Adam's question disappeared into the biography, and his godfather replied with neat handwriting, seemingly trying to calm the young man with his slow writing:

'One always chooses the biography that best fits one's soul from the available biographies.

If your very soul is among the available biographies, it's impossible not to pick it: even if there were a sea of biographies! Isn't it curious?'

Adam read the message and wrote again with anger:

'Couldn't you be with me without killing yourself?'

The words dissolved into the biography, and his godfather wrote again, slowly trying to calm the young man to prevent him from doing anything foolish:

'I was dying, boy...

Without knowing how to read, I had no way to truly revive. So, I made a drastic decision and duplicated myself into two bodies using the power of a secret hexagon I discovered through the religion of the builders, what you should know as the brotherhood of hidden paths.

One part would retain the memories, but that would drive it insane and lead to its death. Its duty was to become the biography of the other part and die with dignity before it turns into a beast.

The other part was delivered to me with a delay, so that it could be raised by the part that still retained its memories.

That way, I could finally change my wretched life.'

Upon learning the truth, Adam asked:

'So neither of us made the decision to carry out this shitty plan; it was just something that occurred to a past Adam?'

The words dissolved, and with neat handwriting, his godfather replied:

'The memories of a person define that person. Therefore, I am the Adam who was initially duplicated. But it is also true that neither of us had parents; however, we had each other, supporting each other all the time.

You should be happy to know the truth: the person you called father never hated you for what you did in the past; he loved you and sacrificed his life for a better future for you.

That's why I threw you out of the house; as a child, you wouldn't have accepted this truth as something good, but now you should be able to understand me and understand why it was the best decision.'

Adam pondered his father's words; he was indeed right. This truth was much better than hurting his 'father' in his previous life. At least his father didn't hate him, and there was some reason for being thrown out of the house at the age of 10.

It seemed the old man without eyes was right, and this was helping Adam to lift a burden off his shoulders. However, there was still something he didn't understand, so he wrote to his godfather, asking:

'Why is the paper burning? Is it because of the purge? What would be the reason for wanting it to happen?'

The words submerged into the biography, and other words appeared in their place:

'For many reasons, but the most important one was to ensure that you leave the middle floors and start exploring the lower floors.'

Looking at his father's response, Adam wrote with anger:

'Did you condemn all the librarians who inhabit the middle floors just to make sure I go to explore?'

His godfather crossed out what Adam had written and hastily wrote with messy handwriting:

'But of course! Their lives are worth nothing! The important thing is that you go explore the lower floors.

You stopped doing good deeds, didn't you? Or have you lost your mind, brat? ...

Knowing the truth, you should understand the importance of exploring the lower floors and the black book.

In my previous life, I was a builder. Many of the secrets I discovered died with me. But the maps you create with the black book's ability can reveal those secrets, because you are also Adam.

Do you grasp the importance of our mission, boy?

Imagine librarians being able to access hexagons that allow them to duplicate themselves without any restrictions. That's the future I wanted to achieve as a builder, and together, we will achieve it, Adam. We will change the fate of this library with our maps!

You must understand that having good or bad karma doesn't mean you are a bad person. It means you have created a negative debt with someone else. That's why even villains can help future generations. People like me, willing to purge a few floors for the future well-being of our race, are necessary in this library.

I died with bad karma. But when these maps are created, I assure you, I will be a hero, or ever more: i will a god!.

We will achieve great things, kid, but you need to go explore and find a way to learn the language of the black book to achieve it. That's why I made sure you were forced to explore the lower floors; it was too important to leave it to chance.'

Adam read the message and wrote with anger:

'Why don't you ever respect that I want to go to the upper floors? The lower floors are infected, and almost no librarian goes in that direction.

The few wanderers who come from that direction tell terrible stories, and I encountered many of them during the war for the ascents on the middle floors.

It's a bad idea to go to those floors.'

His godfather waited for the words to dissolve, and calmly replied:

'I am more than sure it's a bad idea, brat... But I have already wasted hundreds of years exploring the upper floors above where I was born, and in this life, I will explore the lower floors: whether you like it or not...

You have no other option now: check the corners of the room if you want to survive the purge.'