How to Find your Way in the Incomplete Archives

Fourteen

The debris settled to reveal the deviant Holy Maiden, Luna. She was engaged in battle with a tall man, dark of skin and blond of hair.

The Holy Maiden attacked with her signature ranged-assault spell, Wind Arrows. In the novels, this particular spell had claimed the hearts of many mighty victims quite literally.

The man, however, survived the brunt of it through his quick response time and a powerful, defensive spell of his own, Quagmire, a portal ability native to his kind.

The arrows were absorbed at his end of the portal, amplified and released back closer to the attacker. The Seer of Light, not to be outdone, protected herself with Earth Shield, one of her weaker enchantments. The result was an explosive impact that destroyed the shield, spewing dust in a foggy cloud.

It was this impact that the Librarian and the Archivist watched unfold on the camera records.

'Is that the thief's accomplice?'

'No. Do you think they'd be fighting if he were?' the Librarian was brimming with excitement, 'It's him! The Advisor to the Princess.'

'Someone from that series you're recently all neck-deep into?'

'It's not like that! I read it because I needed to verify if the story was indeed incomplete,'

'Right. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the steamy little encounters between the heroine and her lover.'

'It wasn't that generic!' the Librarian defended their favourite couple, 'And if it were, then well deserved. They are perfect for each other. You haven't even read it,'

'Alright, I'm not questioning your tastes in stories,' the Archivist lifted their hands in a pacifying gesture, 'So who exactly is he?'

'I'm sure that's Arlan. He's the one that discovers how to defeat the Holy Maiden and reclaim the Crown of the Shadow King,'

'Makes sense. He looks like one of those stiff, no nonsense side characters,'

'He's not stiff! There was this really cute scene in the story where Archaea is looking at the night sky, and,'

'Calm down, Boss! This isn't the time to discuss your character bias,'

'He's not my bias!'

'Sure, he's not,' the Archivist turned to their desk, 'I'll just save a recording of this conversation for future reference,'

'What? Delete that file, hey! Give that recording back,'

'No can do! This could be a useful point of discussion in the future,' the record-keeper stored the file into a private system segment, 'Now, if we can focus on the problem here. What should we do about those two?'

The destined foes continued to exchange blows. Magic and swordsmanship clashed in an array of colourful sparks.

Luckily for the Library, the books were already under the Guardian Protocol and still covered by the hardened glass.

The ruckus drew the attention of the activated gargoyles but they were not motioned into action. The stony guards were programmed to act under two circumstances – a direct order from the officials of the Library or if the books were being damaged – and since neither condition was met, they hovered undecided over the fighters.

"Filthy demon swine! Die!"

The balance of power was tipping in favour of the Seer.

The man dodged the frost daggers that hounded his every step. The barrage of projectiles made it difficult for him to stand up, let alone, counter. He focussed on escaping the onslaught and took shelter behind the toppled shelves.