Capitulo 6 : Crisis
The time passed increasingly slowly. The days were bitter, and the nights felt endless for the young hero. Adam's mind couldn't stop recalling the horrible memories of his childhood, and the few happy moments he once had at school were now overshadowed by the smiling face of Professor Aquiles, a face the young man could no longer remember... or perhaps no longer wanted to remember.
Years ago, every time Adam saw his teacher at school, he only saw a deformed face that had grown like a parasite over Aquiles' original face. The parasite had taken control of his body long ago, giving birth to the new "Professor Aquiles."
However, the professor seemed to be still alive because every day Adam could see tears trickling from beneath the grain that covered Aquiles' head. Even if the young man got close enough to his teacher, he could hear Aquiles' pained moans coming from under the parasite.
Yet, nobody at school did anything, and Adam didn't seek to help his teacher either. The young man had grown up and was now just another librarian among the many.
A few years ago, his two classmates had left school and decided to travel together to the upper floors. The two lovebirds had learned the 120 pages of the higher language a long time ago but kept it hidden from everyone. So, Adam was quite surprised when he found out about their decision on the day of their farewell.
On the last day the young hero saw Franco and Bianca, both bid farewell to Adam wearing black robes and a big smile on their faces. With kindness and affection, his classmates warned him about the school's secret and the impending purge in the years to come.
Throughout the farewell, Adam remained open-mouthed with disbelief. Not only had his classmates obtained the black robes before him, despite him wasting his youth to achieve what he had accomplished to date. But to make matters worse, Franco and Bianca had the kindness to reveal the secrets he had been keeping from them.
Learning the harsh truth didn't help Adam; it only showed him that he, too, was part of the rotten society of librarians and even as a child, he preferred to condemn his classmates to misery rather than tell them the truth and expose himself to the consequences.
In his previous life, the young hero had opposed the system and fought against this society. But he failed in the attempt, and as a result, he lost the chance to learn to read, condemning him to a life of bitterness where he had to exchange favors to survive.
However, in these 20 years of life, Adam had only been another submissive librarian who hid his head to save his own neck from the guillotine, condemning everyone in the process.
Yet, the outcome had not changed, and the young hero had not managed to escape his misfortune, just as he had in his previous life. Since Adam learned the truth revealed by Franco and Bianca, his days had been bitter, and his nights sad because he discovered that he was the most fake hero in this whole story.
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Over time, Adam learned the ironic truth that all the inhabitants of the middle floor knew about the purge and the impending war. Yet, they all chose to keep it hidden from him, and Adam kept it hidden from them, except for his classmates whom, ironically, he never saw again since the day they said goodbye, trying to save the life of the man who had decided to condemn them to death to save himself in his mind.
It was then that, on a bitter night, tears streaming down his face, the young redhead understood the truth of his sad existence: 'His classmates had the hearts of heroes and the appearance of normal librarians, whereas he wore the mask of a hero while hiding the heart of a wretch.'
That day, Adam fully understood why the masked bookshelf that symbolized the path of heroes was crying because nothing was more pitiful than living as a fake hero.
Today, Adam sat at his desk, tears still flowing from his face as he cried over page 120 of his yellow notebook and the metal plate he used as a bookmark. The sound of Adam crying and tears falling on the paper and metal of the plate was the only thing to be heard in the cold and damp cave illuminated by the bluish mushrooms.
Today, Adam had managed to read 120 pages of the required 140 pages to receive his black robe. However, the tears streaming from his face were not tears of joy but of sadness. For these 120 pages, they were just a reminder of all the wasted years of his youth spent learning this infernal language; a reminder that all the happiness of his childhood was built on lies, and a reminder that he was completely alone in a vast cave filled with mushrooms, with absolutely no one to congratulate him on how far he had come.
These had been long and painful ten years of Adam's life to finally manage to read these meager 120 pages, which were the only accomplishment in his lonely life.
At only 20 years old, Adam was the wealthiest man in all the middle floors, yet here he was, crying in front of his yellow notebook without anyone coming to give him some words of encouragement.
At just 20 years old, Adam had obtained four magic books, and yet, these four magic books were nothing more than medals earned for surviving a tragedy.
At only 20 years old, Adam had obtained a magical item that most librarians in these floors could only dream of. Nevertheless, a luxury item was of no use to him except to provide silent company.
The young man cried and cried because there was no one to enjoy all the things he had and had achieved. There was no one in Adam's life; he had no friends, no family, no girlfriend. Adam had absolutely no one in his life who genuinely cared about him: who cared for him unconditionally!!
At only 20 years old, Adam stood up from his desk, his face soaked with tears. He took the metal plate off his language book and walked to the lake in the cave. Standing on the edge of the lake, he began swaying on the edge while crying.
After that, the red-haired young man slit his throat with the metal plate. He fell onto the lake with his arms wide open and begged the gods that this time, just this once, the water wouldn't heal him, allowing all his suffering to end.
A life of great wealth, magical books, and a miraculous object. Undoubtedly an enviable life, a life with a bright future ahead! And the sad truth of this story was that this great life was about to come to an end today. Adam's blood seeped into the lake, warming and embracing the young man's body one last time, as Adam's eyes slowly closed.
But before they shut completely, his eyes gazed desperately as the water in the cave began to heal him once again, ensuring that this harsh tale would continue until it reached a happy ending. Because a hero's journey couldn't end like this... At least not in the book that Adam had been reading for these past 10 years, not in the story of the hero described in the language book. Slowly, Adam reflected on that infernal tale of heroism until he finally lost consciousness.
As the tragedy unfolded, the decrepit face of an old man peeked out from one of the corners of the cave. The stone-carved face had a pair of eyes that were crying black ink as he observed the new routine of the young red-haired hero.