How to Find your Way in the Incomplete Archives

Four

The Elder bowed her head, "I do not wish to see you suffer, Princess. If need be, I will guide us through these difficulties," the curtain of beads swayed in vehement persuasion, "You need not carry this weight by yourself. You've borne it once, it is enough. Think of the people who love you, people who hope to share a future with you,"

"Lady Erdith, those who truly love me will understand my decision. I'm sure they know me well,"

"But you may never return,"

The clatter of metal interrupted them

"Who is it?" Archaea called.

"Forgive me, My Lady, it was an accident," Arlan appeared at the entrance carrying a tray laden with bread and a cooked gravy, "I dropped the cutlery,"

Their Priest spoke first, "Never you mind, the only cutlery you need for loaves are your hands,"

She picked up the sliced bread and dipped it into the gravy, "Join us, Advisor,"

He looked at the Princess for permission.

"Go on, it's not like you weren't eavesdropping on our conversation anyways,"

The usually calm man nearly dropped the tray a second time, "I had no intention to, My Lady. I was waiting for a lull in conversation to bring in the food,"

The Priest chuckled, "I see, yes, there may be hope yet,"

****

'There they are,' The Librarian was mounted on a ladder in the Incomplete Archives in the section where they had discovered Archaea's book.

'It doesn't look very 'incomplete' to me' the words had haunted the bookkeeper for days until they could no longer ignore the suspicion. They decided to investigate.

The Librarian dredged up hidden parchments from the untidy shelf. The Incomplete Archives were too vast and varied to maintain with efficiency. Most of the records here had only been indexed once and forgotten since.

After some digging, in the same shelf, farther in, they found another bound book and a third tome with a different design from the others. Each of these were stored deep inside, as if someone had shoved them into the shelf in a hurry.

The Keeper of the Library climbed down with the texts in hand. The two bound books, like the first, were complete with print, illustrations and dust covers.

'These do look like finished products,' they wondered but The Library had never mistaken a complete work for an incomplete one before, 'I must be missing something.'

The bookkeeper returned to the Valley of Words with their find after locking the door to the Incomplete Archives behind them.

They glided between the shelves until they reached a Reading Area, a facility present in both halves of The Library. This spot was furnished with cushioned chairs and long tables to give readers a comfortable study experience.

At present, the Library was in the midst of a 'Maintenance Mode'. They were cut off from the outside world, and possible readers, but the bookkeeper still maintained these spaces with care, asserting that these were the heart and soul of a Library.

They slipped into one of the chairs and stacked their findings on the table before them. A floating flame appeared near the books. It flooded the table with a soft, white light to assist the Reader.

These flames were unnecessary, of course, since one could see the contents of their finds without the need for any physical light source but The Librarian thought they added to the quaint charm of the place.

The hooded figure put down all three books side by side and began to scrutinise them in detail. They had also brought along the other three books of the parent trilogy, the 'Seers of Light', for comparison.

At the snap of their fingers, a notebook materialised alongside a filled fountain pen. The Reader started to note down the relevant details of each book cover in a sequence.

There were three books in each series all written by the same mysterious person, Author XXX.

'Seers of Light', the series which had birthed Luna the Holy Maiden, consisted of three titles, 'Dawn in a New World', 'The Light of Day' and the 'Sunset of the Evil Crown', all published by the thriving Cloverlynn Publishing Co. Ltd. Nothing out of the ordinary, noted the Reader.

The second series, 'Keepers of Darkness', also by the same author, consisted of three similarly placed books, 'The Ruler of the Dark Path', 'Eclipse of the Soul' and 'Reign of the Eternal Night'. Of these, the first two were published from the same publishing company as the original series. Only the last book was from the little known 'Owlet Publishing House'.

This change of publishers did not sit well with the reader but that was not enough justification to mark the story 'incomplete'.

'Check publishing history,' they added on the note.

Unfortunately, the books by themselves did not reveal any clue as to what may have caused the change. They scrutinised the covers and exterior designs of all the books but found nothing wrong.

'These two series must be complementary, to take advantage of people's interest,' The Librarian had seen many such stories before, a popular book meant to end as a duology stretched into four more books of diminishing quality.

They decided to give each story a thorough read before drawing any conclusions. Perhaps the hint of 'incompleteness' was hidden in the pages, waiting to be revealed.