Stirring of Darkness (III)

"And that's going to make any difference? It's just a word change," said Zero with a bit of irritation in his voice. He did not get where Garrett was going with all this.

"Now, that's where you are wrong. Legends state that it records the life of all living beings: from birth to death, and even future events that might happen. How it works, no one knows. Supposedly it has a mind of its own. It is a powerful source of magic that has been waiting for a Record Keeper—or, in another word, a Guardian. You are lucky to be allowed even to hold onto something so sacred." Garrett chastised him like a child.

"There is only one such book in existence. My race has been watching over it for thousands of years. Sadly except me nobody knows about it anymore. My wretched race has fallen so low in keeping this library clean that we have forgotten our history, our culture, and our identity. It infuriates me that, that imbecile of a rabbit snob thinks that cleaning this place is more important than our race's history. Young'uns these days don't ever listen to their elders. It's like that wretched Reth." Garrett scoffed. "Do you know what that wretched rabbit has done to this library?!" Garrett threw his hands up in anger and curled his hands into a fist. Zero stared at the insane rabbit.

"Cleaning! I hate cleaning. If I could, I would go around and topple all of his books and mess up his personal space. It would make me so happy. It is one of my personal goals to see his face when that happens." Garrett laughed heartily.

"Garrett. You already stated that repeatedly. I get it."

"Kid, what are you talking about? You don't understand how infuriating that rabbit is. Do you know what he has done to me?"

"Do I need to know?"

"Yes." Garrett paced back and forth as he explained. "Reth, the fool, has alphabetically organized the books in order from A to Z and backwards. I leave things in certain places because I know where they are. I keep certain pages open so I can go back and read them. After he cleaned, I could not find anything. His cleaning is completely pointless and void. He doesn't even remember where exactly each book is, either."

Zero could not believe what he was hearing. He had thought that putting things in alphabetic order made things easier to find, but listening to Garrett did not make any sense at all. He just continued to nod his head in agreement and listen.

"Ah, where was I with Historia…Oh yes, so many have come and gone to wield the power of the book of Historia, but none have seen its true form."

"Well, getting it was too easy, but when I opened it, all the words were gone," said Zero. Perhaps Garrett would know what had gone wrong. Getting such a rare and sacred book had taken far less effort than he had expected, but it was useless if all the words were gone.

Garrett looked alarmed. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"It's exactly what I mean. There are only blank pages. Nothing is written in it." Zero showed the book to Garrett, but he stopped short as he noticed black ink appearing on the open page. One by one magical word appeared on the page in black ink as a voice only he could hear spoke.

To the descendant of Drezo Regalia and bearer of Historia: Welcome. You were given the gift to observe the lives of the many before you. We welcome you, our guardian, our Record Keeper. Let us journey through the past, present, and future together and fly through the endless streams of Lives.

Magic continuously swirled around the book while the words were being written in black. Splotches of colors appeared on the pages as pictures formed before him. A young lady with golden armor raised her sword and rode on a white gryphon. Her majestic and angelic appearance stood out from the page. Wind blew back her fiery red hair streaming behind her.

A guardian is chosen every fifty thousand years. Leelu, the first ever guardian of Historia: a mercenary. For hundreds of years she protected the book and kept it safe. The legends of her adventures still exist throughout the world.

The picture swirled as blotches of black ink spread. The splotches formed into black demonic creatures that devoured the whole page. The bright golden light became dimmer and dimmer as the darkness encompassed her. The sound of a female voice yelling trailed off into the distance as Zero heard the clashing between monsters and her sword. Shrieks of the dying could be heard. His eyes were glued to the book as if he was watching a movie.

The life of Leelu ended in the fight with the Mage of Darkness. With her life lost but the world saved, a new guardian has taken her place.

The picture changed and flipped through the lives of many different guardians. Then it flowed to another scene, and a young, happy-go-lucky man appeared. His green eyes glowed with power as dozens of animals surrounded him. From deer to rabbits, foxes, birds, and tigers, his brown cleric-like clothes merged with the forest.

Endowed with the power of nature, Zeno saved a major city from the fiery blaze of a volcano. His power was great and vast. But like all light, darkness followed after.

Fire-like monsters appeared and engulfed Zeno. Echoes of the dying could be heard as the page went completely red. As the red faded away, the page once again turned clean white.

Let your Story begin anew…Child of Drezo Regalia. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome

The voice trailed off and echoed off into the distance. A gust of wind blew through the cracked window and flipped through the pages till the end of the book. Just as it reached its last page, the book closed by itself. Zero was amazed at what he saw.

Ding!

Quest Initiation of Record Keeper of HistoriaPart I. History of Drezo Regalia.

As the guardian of the Historia, you have been given the task to find who and what you truly are before you can become the True Guardian of Historia. You must find the lost history of your race and record it in the book of Historia.

Difficulty Level: C

Zero was surprised. "There's no consequence for failure or success this time? That's a bit odd. What just happened?"

"Boy. You have glimpsed a bit of the history of the Historia itself. You truly are blessed to be able to see it." Garrett glanced at Zero with jealousy. "How I would love to read it." Garrett sighed as he adjusted his broken monocle. "Those who are not a guardian are not able even to glimpse through its pages."

A loud creaking sound of the door opening was heard. Zero and Garrett whipped their heads towards the door.

"Zero. You're awake," said Agnis as she entered the room. Her snow-white hair swung back and forth. Her face was just as enchanting as he remembered. Zeraph closely followed behind her like a shadow with a grin.

"What?" Zero gawked at both of them. He noticed Zeraph still had an odd sparkle around him. There were a couple of times he wanted to smack it off of him.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?" She looked at him sympathetically. "It's been awhile since you've been out for so long."

"Why, what happened to him?" Zeraph asked.

"He got a stomach virus," replied Agnis.

"Really now?"

"I'm alright so far. The pain went away; it's not a big problem anymore," said Zero with relief. He was glad that the horrible experience was over. He did not want to experience that pain any longer.

"Those stomach viruses can seriously cripple you for a couple of days." Agnis cringed in sympathy.

"I completely agree with you." Zeraph nodded with understanding as he crossed his arms.

"Zero, you have grown. You look like a thirteen-year-old now. Have you hit puberty yet?" Agnis curiously peered over him. "The last time I saw you, you looked like a six year old kid."

"I look older?" He raised his hands to see if there were any differences. "Nothing feels any different."

"Yep. You look a lot older than the first time I met you," Zeraph agreed.

"Huh." He put his hands down and remembered something more important. "Well, by any chance did you guys get the seed that people were talking about?"

One of Zeraph's eyebrows rose up with interest.

"The Seed? Yeah, I got one. It was during my real life quest," said Agnis with surprise. "It happened when I was helping someone get out of a burning car."

"Burning car?" said Zeraph, startled. His eyes widened with amazement.

So it was her, thought Zero.

"Yeah. I helped someone in a car accident. I had to pull her out before she got toasted alive in the car." Agnis smiled with glee. She rocked back and forth with her hands behind her back.

"So what did you do with the seed?" asked Zero. He was very interested in what she was going to say, especially when it came to the seed that everyone was talking about. He wondered if it was some kind of special upgradeable item one could get.

"That's the thing. Nothing happened. After I opened it, it just disappeared." Agnis looked at them with concern. "I hope it's not some tracking device that gets implanted in our character."

"No," said Zeraph without a single doubt in his voice.

"How are you so sure?" Agnis asked.

"If you looked in the forum as well as the website to the game, the company gave a statement that it is not a GPS tracker or anything like that."

"Oh." Agnis was deep in thought. "Then what about you? Did you get one too?"

Zeraph glanced at her for a moment and replied, "Yeah, I got one too."

"Really?" Zero asked, surprised.

"Three people with the seed all in the same room. What's the chance of that?" Zero looked upon them, bewildered. "I thought getting one was difficult."

Agnis looked back and forth between Zero and Zeraph. "How did you guys get it?"

Both of them hesitated before answering.

"Got it from a quest called Drezo Regalia," explained Zero. He turned his head towards Zeraph.

"Someone gave it to me," said Zeraph quickly, wanting to wrap up this conversation.

"There are three different circumstances of getting it. I wonder what other ways there are," Zero pondered.

"Either way, there is not much information on it." Zeraph brushed the topic aside. "Instead we should be focusing on what we need to be doing. We all have a task to do."

Agnis nodded in agreement. "True, one way or another the answer will be shown before us. Stressing about it too much is not good for our health."

Garrett was listening with interest. "What are you young'uns talking about?"

"The seed. Do you know anything about it, Garrett?" Zero asked.

"The seed? Plants? I do know the steps to farming. Is that what you are asking?" Garrett tilted his head as his ears flopped over.

"Never mind." Zero did not know if he should continue to pursue the subject anymore. If the NPC did not know, then how could anyone else? "Anyways, Garrett, I've been given a task to record history. What does that mean? Do I have to write down notes or something?" Zero peered towards him in a plea. He was hoping that he didn't have to do anything like that.

Garrett smiled. "There are many ways to do it, but I think it's best to go and talk with Ren. He's another rabbit like me. You should be able to talk with him on the first floor of the Royal Library. Take the stairs on the left hand side and when you exit, you'll be in a hallway. Go through it and you should arrive at the southeast corner of the first floor. He will be wearing all purple clothes. He's an odd one, that one." Garrett nodded as he pulled out a lettuce leaf from his pocket and munched on it. His foot tapped with joy.

One is enough but two? Zero eyes wrinkled with stress. He was already getting a headache from dealing with Garrett. Another one didn't sound like a good thing at all.

"So to get this straight, there is a rabbit name Ren wearing all purple, and he might know how to start to record history?" Zero asked him to make sure he was getting his information straight.

"Yep." Garrett nodded as he continued to munch on more lettuce. Zero wondered where Garrett had gotten all those lettuce leaves he was chewing on.

"So what exactly does he do?" Agnis pressed for more information.

"You'll find out. He's an interesting one." Garrett nodded and smiled.

"I know, I heard you the first time." Zero did not understand why Garrett had the knack of repeating the conversations continuously in different ways. He knew that NPCs had an extensive database of dialogues even to the point to having a normal conversation.

"Well, come on. Go on." Garrett shooed them towards the door. Zero got up from the bed. He stumbled a bit but caught himself on the bedpost. As he pushed himself up from the bedpost, he noticed Zeraph and Agnis were already being pushed out the door by Garrett.

"What's the rush?" Zero asked perplexed. "Ren's not going anywhere anytime soon. Right?"

Garrett's smile turned into a frown.

"I personally don't have all day. I need to do my work. You guys being here already took up my time in research. I am close to a breakthrough right now. I don't even have an apprentice to help me out on my research." Garrett eyes drooped in sadness. "With me being the only one to finish my twenty years of work, I do not have anyone to pass it on. So, with that being said, I need all the time I can get. I don't have time to babysit when I have more work to do. Ren will be there. So now go!" Garrett assured him as he pushed Zeraph out the door.

Zero followed right behind him without another word. He did not want to be pushed out.

"Now if you guys will excuse me. I've got work to do." Garrett grumbled and slammed the door in their faces.

"How rude," replied Agnis. "First he shows us hospitality, but when Zero is awake and okay, he kicks us out."

"I agree," acknowledged Zero. He did not expect to be rushed out the door so quickly. He thought having some connections with Garrett would make the old rabbit more polite.

"Either way, I'm going to go find Ren. What are you guys going to do?" Zero peered at them curiously. He did not mind their company as much anymore.

"I'll stick around," replied Zeraph. "I don't have anything else to do."

"Same." Agnis replied. "I got what I need for now. It wouldn't be so bad to see who this Ren guy is. Garrett was an interesting character to talk to. He had quite a lot of stories to tell."

"I thought he wouldn't shut up," replied Zeraph.

"Really? Like what?" Zero asked curiously. All three of them began to walk towards Ren on the first floor of the Royal Library.

"He was talking about an old legend that had been mixed into many religions. It's so old that different people tell it a different way. Supposedly the original is lost. Where it came from, no one is really sure," Agnis replied.

They had begun to descend the winding stairs. Its musty smell of old wood permeated through their noses. Zero listened intently as Agnis retold the story.

"He stated that this world of Noriene is connected to many dimensions. Eight higher dimensional shifts with higher frequency energy and eight lower dimensional shifts with lower frequency energy are all stacked on top of each other like pancakes. Then there is one connecting them all together. It is the physical and spiritual world of Noriene: the plane of life and death. Supposedly holding all these together is the tree of life," she said.

"The tree of life. Then does that mean in this game there is more in death?" Zero looked upon Agnis, bewildered at the depths of this game.

"I'm not sure. When you died, did you walk amongst the dead or did you choose not to?" asked Agnis, glancing back at Zero, who trailed a few steps behind them. "I personally choose not to. It was a bit too creepy for me. The weird dreary colors and odd feeling that place gave off… It gave me the creeps." She shivered with unease. "If I can, I'll try to stay out of it as much as possible. A lot of people say the same thing."

Her voice was low and subdued, and Zero sped up his pace to catch what she would say. "Yeah. I did walk amongst the dead and I know what you are talking about. It's something different…it's not too bad after you get past the dark shadowy apparitions."

"What? Apparitions?" She gave him a skeptical look.

"There were a couple of incidents that I would say are a bit out of the ordinary, but it's worth exploring," Zero reassured her.

"What about you, Zeraph?" Agnis asked, glancing towards Zeraph for an answer.

"Yeah, I died a couple of times. I usually just skip that part and log out for the day. I had other things to do that needed my attention," Zeraph answered.

"I've talked with many people and they all choose not to walk among the dead. Something about how it feels too weird deters them."

"It's just a game." Zeraph laughed. "There's nothing more to it."

"I know. I'm just going off what other people have said."

They reached the bottom of the stairs. A large picture hung on the stone wall. It showed the six heroes that saved the Fire Continent, sitting in front of a fireplace talking cheerfully with one another. They held cups of hot drinks in hand, and a snowy storm could be seen through the window of the wooden cabin.