How to Find your Way in the Incomplete Archives

Fifteen

'And what happened to the lizard?'

'When I last checked, it had returned to its nest,'

Terrifying images flashed through their mind. They recalled the rows of sharp curved teeth lined inside the bottomless mouth as it closed in on them moments before their "death".

'Luckily, like our books, our presence in this space is restorable,' their subordinate continued, 'It'll take more a few lizards and a rogue mage to take us down,'

'Nothing lucky about getting chomped on by a fictional lizard,' the Librarian shuddered as they uttered the words, stirring up the unpleasant memories, 'What about our main target?'

'Good news on that front. I have almost completed reading the second record. So far, I believe the first work is the best fit for the version of Luna we saw. Flight, super strength, cross-genre dialogues that resemble game boss taunts. It goes well with the Maiden in a Metropolitan story's theme.'

The Librarian was impatient throughout the explanation. They spoke up as soon as the other finished, 'Good work but for safety purposes, I suggest you ban all three books until we can get the Library under control.'

'But,' the Archivist protested, 'The other books are innocent, you're going to set a bad example,'

'Is that our primary concern?' they stepped out of the hibernation pod, 'Books were damaged, shelves were thrown to pieces. Sure, it is all recoverable. But do you know how long it will take to fix all that?'

The Archivist remained silent.

'And dying is not an easy experience. Innocent or not, we need to take strong measures here if we want to survive otherwise this place will be in chaos before the patch for Maintenance Mode arrives. This is no time to think about literary freedom. Heck, there aren't even any Readers around right now,'

The other made an audible exhalation.

'Alright. I suppose that is the logical choice,' the record-keeper bobbed their head, causing their ponytail to swing from side to side, 'I'll set up the prerequisites right away but I'll need your final approval. Please return to the office once you're feeling better,'

They left the room, leaving the Librarian to ponder in silence.

****

"They shan't interfere with us here. So, how far did we get?" Luna tapped a playful finger on her forehead, "Oh, I remember, we were getting to the good part,"

The mage hurled the reticent Arlan towards the ground with incredible speed.

He unsheathed his sword, holding out the blade and steadying it with both hands to find purchase on the tall shelves. The naked blade dug into a bookcase. He leaned toward it, using his full weight to break the descent.

The shelf was still covered in glass casing due to the Guardian Protocol. His sword was buried in the outer edge of the shelf but the Advisor was left in a precarious position with no foothold.

The Holy Maiden clicked her tongue, "Can't leave you hanging like that, can I?"

The man grabbed the sharpened metal of his weapon with both hands and tried to pull his body closer to the safety of the shelf.

"No, you don't," she threw an ice dagger at him and this time, with nowhere to escape, the blade hit its mark. A blunt pain sheared through his right shoulder causing the damaged limb to fall numb.

"Why are you doing this?" he tried to stall her, "What have I done to you?"

He was yet to recollect his memories but Arlan knew with certainty that this woman was an enemy from the past.

"Acting innocent won't save you, murderer," she cast an elemental spell. Frostbite slowly crept up his spine eating away all sensations.

"W... who did I kill?"

"You dare pretend!" the cold knife cut deeper into his flesh.

"Who are you?" he questioned through gritted teeth.

"You mock the Holy Maiden with your feigned ignorance. No matter, nothing can save you now,"

The sense of unease returned when he heard that title but there was no time to think. A bolt of lightning tore through his body, forcing him to let go.

Arlan fell.

The 'Holy Maiden' was not done yet. An invisible hand caught him moments before his body hit the floor, "Encore,"

He was tossed back into the air with little effort as a burning pain seared his abdomen. A flaming knife tore through his burned flesh.

Blood droplets were momentarily suspended in air as the near unconscious warrior stopped moving up and plummeted back to the bottom at a sickening pace.

The merciless hand caught him again, tossing and toying with his broken form until he could no longer hear or see the human-skinned fiend.

****

'Everything is ready,' the record-keeper arranged the necessary documents on the table, 'Please take a look,'

With one eye on the camera feed as they continued to search for the Advisor, the Librarian skimmed through the presented documents, 'As the Librarian, I provide my approval to this request. A Book Ban is now in effect.'

As soon as the approval was stamped, a message floated in the unfathomable skies of the Library, "FORBIDDEN ZONE ACTIVATED".

The three offending texts were moved to the newly registered Forbidden Zone with immediate effect. With the fear of the lunatic Holy Maiden out of the way, a palpable sense of relief flooded the room.

'It's over,' the Archivist plopped down into a chair.

'There is still one problem left. We must find the kidnapped character and return him to his own world. And then we need to manage symptoms till the fix patch arrives. Speaking of which,'

A beeping sound interrupted their conversation. The camera had located the missing man.

'Finally, we can wrap this up,' they turned just in time to see the maddened woman thrust an icicle blade into Arlan's throat.