IN BLACK AND WHITE

After succeeding in finding a few historical books which she kept on a little desk she luckily found in the unending stacks of books some minutes before she abandoned them to seek for more relevant books, arranging them together on top of each other on the desk beside a chair at a convenient spot in between two enormous shelves of stacked books, Emma went back to scour around the library for another book, leaving her handbag behind right where she left the books neatly arrayed on top each and eventually arrived at the eastern hall, and checked out the title of each book with her eyes as she walked by the aisle right in middle of two pillars on both sides with the thought of having to look for something relating to detailed works about the culture of ancient civilizations but so far she got nothing despite her persistent in enduring the search which was yet to yield any positive result in her quest till she somehow came across secluded section where she caught sight of a peculiar brown book amidst some other ones of dissimilar colors stacked up together on a shelve on the eight row that was more rather quieter and more silent than the other areas in the hall though for thirty minutes after she began her search in the maze, there hadn't been any noise in the library and the readers present including Emma had been trying their best to keep to the instructor's instruction to the silence. Long before she spot the book with a brown hardcover, she had picked up only six books to look for vital info for her research which she possibly believe would be of good help to figure out if the city of Raza ever existed in the world or was just a title of some kind her father had referred the dead corpse of a King in his old letter. Emma wasn't much of a historian herself back in high school and even after she finished college but she had learned a bit of the culture of most people living around the world from unplanned visits to the city's museum and partial information about the origins of modernity from documentaries set up by financed explorers seekingj to enlightened the minds of the public viewers but she had never possess a deep interest in that aspect even back in her schooling days as a young teenager where all she cared about was to have good grades and to have some fun with boys like other girls in her class dream of rather than longing for the desire to explore things of the world like nerdy boy named Jacob Thomason, a shy fellow who topped her class in the final college examinations with the highest grade on questions based on sociology. She had wished and dreamt to have some passion in various aspects of sociological life like Jacob did in her class especially her father whom she knew was his hobby not only because he had the acumen and capabilities to succeed in his career but rather, he loved it like the way he loved himself tantamount to the love he had for her mother including Emma as well but for her, it was different and rather, so not the kind of life she dreamed to achieve herself irrespective of her father's achievements in past when she was still growing up as one of the those ignorant young teens who cared less about the dreams and aspirations of their parents.

To her, the library served as place to get rid of negative feelings from her mind and to clear stressful thoughts from her head with a lot of stories from the books she reads whenever she comes around after a tireless day at the office before she stopped visiting the library a month ago. Something in her heart told her to take a closer look at the book and she obeyed taking the book from the shelf as though she was being controlled by some force.

She felt the thickness of the book a lot heavier in her hands than the way the book first appeared to her and peered at the title of the book on the front part of the hardcover boldly written in gigantic Tahoma fonts which arrested her attention and got her even more interested in having a good look at the contents of the hefty book.

"Ancient Chronicles of lost Empires written by professor Lesley Livingstone and Edited by John E. Whitney ",

She said to herself and then she opened the book to the first page of the book where she saw the author's foreword followed by some fancy design of printed drawings.

"All Copyrights reserved and published by Gutenberg printing press in the year 1968.... Fifth Edition"

She mumbled as she started to head back to where she had left the other books through the aisle and accidentally bumped into the young man carrying some large amount of books who didn't see her coming neither did she see him as well. The books fell off from her hands alongside the books of the other victim as a result of the unexpected collision and both crouch down at once to get the books from the floor. Emma was dumbfounded to see that the a lot of books were lying on the floor and quickly joined the young man in picking up the books from the ground though the expression of the man was quite different from what she had expected him to be.

"My bad. I'm so sorry about this",

"Don't freak out, it isn't only your fault but mine as well",

"What's so funny, huh?"

She questioned in utter perplexity when she noticed a smirk across his lips.

"Nothing amusing. You must really be a bookworm judging from the way you were engrossed with that book over there before we bumped into each other, that you did not hear my voice when I tried telling you to move out of the way",

"I'm really sorry about that. I'm really not a fan of history myself that much but the book got my mind off where I was heading to",

She replied giving him one of the books to arrange properly as she squatted in front of him, helping him out to sort out the books scattered below their feet.

"No harm done. History's good though surely meant for those who love to read too much and I ain't one of them",

"I totally agree on that",

"You do?",

"Trust me, I'm absolutely a hundred percent sure that you are right about that. My dad was one of them before he passed away",

"Sorry for your loss",

"It's okay. You do math?",

Emma asked the moment she saw the name of a book dealing on trigonometry beside the right foot of his red sneakers.

"Yes, I do. Actually, kinda my thing back in high school and now it's all I needed the most even though I'm done with high school",

"That's nice",

She replied giving the last one she could find amidst the scattered books and stood up when she was done helping him out but the young man remained crouching with one of his knees touching the ground with one of his knees touching the ground beside the huge pile of mathematical books he was arranging before he would depart from her.

"Thanks for the help",

"No problem. You sure you don't want any help? I can help you out if you let me",

Emma suggested getting a bit more attracted to his handsome facial figure.

"Nah, I've gotten used to it by now. Don't bother about helping me out and go your way",

"Alright",

She said leaving without having to collect the brown book.

"Hey, you forgot this. Here's your book",

He called out to her, and stood up with it as soon as she came back to retrieve it from his hands.

"Oh! Thanks a lot.....",

"Steve",

He retorted.

"Yeah, Thanks Steve, for the book",

She replied feeling a lot shy than before and left him smiling a bit as he continued staring at her back and shook his head before going his way a few minutes after she was no where to be seen.

Emma wasted no time in getting seated on the exact the same she placed beside the table where the rest of the book are and where she laid the brown book that got her curious to know if her long search had come to a fruitful end. Flipping from pages to the next one, she ironically found nothing of good importance, only old stories of numerous forgotten race that had a lasting notable influence in their respective empires that once thrived in the world and may have been a threat to other kingdoms of the world though the author centered most of the origins of such Kingdoms in the Asian continent and that of Europe but none of them actually depicted a place or the location of the city of Raza which got her frustrated with all of her efforts wasted. She was already halfway skimming through the book and was about giving up when her weary eyes luckily caught sight of a reference to an ancient civilization of a lost city, now disputed as a mythical city located in the heart of a secluded region off the coastal harbor of Southern Russia's Montane habitats once inhabited by extinct tribesmen with a vast empire enough to pose a threat that of the Pharaoh's living in Egypt at that epoch.