With a dark-brown cloak dangling on my little body, I ran through the night breeze, stopping at a thicket a few meters away from the library’s entrance after sighting some guards. The guards were patrolling the database, inhibiting entry to the library. Great. Now what do I do? I grit my teeth in frustration and hid in the thicket, covering my head with the cloak. I was short of ideas but returning to the dorms wasn’t an option. I had to find out what The Convergence Point was.

As my right hand rested on my shorts, hiding in a squatting position in the thicket, I felt something rigid protruding from my right pocket. I remembered the ‘academy card’ I’d been given the day before, and quickly slid it out with a trembling hand. Right. The academy card—how could I forget?

Since the card was the only thing I had to show that I am a harvester, I thought I would be granted entry to the library if I showed it to the guards. As the nation hadn’t embraced technology to the extent other nations did, the card was only a printed, laminated paper with the holder’s name, age, level and camp details. A small picture of the holder was placed against the details. The card also had the Harvester’s badge on the center and the name and signature of the Archharvester behind it.

I gripped the card and slowly rose up to my feet to unsheathe my entire body from the thicket. I started walking toward the guards who hadn’t noticed me yet, uncovering my head so that my face could be seen. As I got near the area that was lit, one of the guards noticed me and shouted, “Hey! You there!”

I held up the card at the guards. My limbs shook violently but I managed to grasp the card with both hands. Having no hand hold up the cloak, it fell to the ground and I was left with no extra covering against the cold. I shivered and quaked feeling the chills and fear at the same time.

Another one of the men questioned, “What’s that?”

I was genuinely confused. I always thought the library was kept open, but that day I realized that it even had guards assigned to it. It was almost unthinkable, but considering that I hadn’t visited the library that late a time, I tensed up a little less. With what little was left of my courage, I answered the man, “It is an academy card, sir.”

Noticing that I had stopped moving forward to them, the same man who had questioned me started walking toward me. The other four men remained behind him. Each step the man took toward me made it feel like my heart was being squeezed by a fully-grown grizzly. I barely kept myself from peeing my pants.

“Kid,” he grabbed my card on reaching where I was standing and looked at it for a moment, “You’re only ten and you’re a junior? What are you doing here?”

Why did he have to say that I am a junior? I wondered, not having an actual answer to the question. In a short time, I came up with an answer, “I came here to do research, sir.”

“Research?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you have a research permit?”

A research permit? What’s that supposed to be?

“No, sir.”

“I am sorry kid, you can’t enter the library with the academy card alone at this time of the night. You need to provide a research permit.”

I shifted my gaze to the brightly lit ground in disappointment and started sobbing like a kid crying for candy. My lips kept wobbling in anguish at the thought that I would not get to know what The Convergence Point was.

The man knelt down to my height and said to me while I was still sobbing, “Hey now. Stop crying. I’ve got an Idea.”

I brought up my eyes and looked at him thinking, What is he talking about? I don’t have the research permit.

I started wiping my tears with the outside of my palms as I waited for him to say more.

“Only senior harvester  researchers are allowed to access the library during the night. In all my years as a harvester guard, I’ve never seen a kid come through for research,” he spoke as he gave me a soul-crushing stare, “What kind of research are you here for?”

I started devising an escape plan, He can’t know that I am here for The Convergence Point. Maybe I should just head back to the dorms.

“I-I will just return in the morning, sir,” I stammered, turning back to where I came from.

The man held my left shoulder and turned me back, “Kid. I know why you are here.”

My mouth opened wide in surprise, taking half breaths like I was suffocating. I didn’t have the courage to speak further.

“Elder Zakai told me you would come. So I just had to wait for you.”

Still gasping for air, I answered in disbelief, “The Supreme Harvester?” Impossible! How did he know?

“Yes, The Supreme Harvester. He is waiting for you, let’s go in.”

I picked up my cloak and followed him. In that moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion. On reaching the walkway leading to the library’s entrance, the guards moved aside and the door was opened. The ground shook as the heavy door to the library was pulled up by chains pulled taut by a hidden mechanism. The man and I entered through the door, and there he was, Elder Zakai. He was wearing his usual white garment with golden stripes on the ends and a golden-rope belt around his waist. His messy white hair and fairly long white beard dissolved in the bright light, which lit up the library.

The man handed me over to Elder Zakai and gave him my academy card, “Here he is, sir.”

To which The Supreme Harvester responded, “Thank you. You can now leave us.”

The man retreated to guard the library from the outside and the door was closed. I wondered if I would be cut off—the harvesters’ word for execution. This is it. I’m doomed.

The silence was finally broken as Elder Zakai decided to say his first word, “Haji.”

“S-Sir,” I nervously answered.

 “You are here for The Convergence Point, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

He instructed me, “Follow me,” which I did.

He started walking up on the stairs to the upper section, ‘About Oasisia’—which contained all historical documents about the continent.

“You must be wondering how I knew that you would come here.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

He gave a beat of a laugh that was barely audible, “Haji. Old men know everything.”

I held back my response, Really? And just looked up at him as he kept talking, “I instructed Flame to keep an eye on you. I knew you were curious about The Convergence Point, so I had to make sure you were kept under check,” he looked down at me, “It is good to be curious, Haji, but you take it too far. I like it. I knew this is where you would come because I have known you since you were a toddler.”

I looked up at him in awe. That was the first time I enjoyed being looked down on in a literal sense. I could only respond to the compliment, “Thank you, sir.”

We finally reached the top section, About Oasisia, only to find many research harvesters sitting, reading the books quietly. Elder Zakai briefed me about the men and women who were gathered there, “These will be your peers—senior harvesters set apart to study our continent and the mysteries that lie beyond it,” he gave me a condition, “If you solve the mystery of The Convergence Point on your own, you will be promoted to the senior academy.”

I couldn’t help but ask in faint excitement, “Really?”

“Yes, Haji. You are the first junior harvester to ever notice the red mark on the map. The prophecy has been fulfilled. You are the only one capable of interacting with the prophecy scroll.”

I now figured why the map was hung in the classroom, So that’s why. But what is the prophecy?

While I was lost in my thoughts, he handed me the scroll—I hadn’t seen where he got it from, “Here. You need to understand the prophecy first,” he warned, “Be careful. The scroll is infused with ultratrons. As to why and who wrote it, I do not know.”

I remembered what I had read about ultratrons—higher-dimensional particles scattered across the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond, capable of disrupting matter. Small amounts of the particles could be infused with natural objects to give them an almost magical effect when interacted with.

I nodded to what he said and took the scroll. I sat alone at a table to read through it. Elder Zakai left me and joined the research harvesters. I opened the scroll. It was titled, ‘The Prophecy’ but immediately changed to ‘The Quest’ a few seconds after opening it. The ink of the text rose like sparkling specks of dust as the title changed. I was perplexed. I hadn’t seen such a thing. I assumed it was the work of the infused ultratrons and started reading.

To the man reading this prophecy, congratulations. If you are ready to start the quest tap twice on the scroll.

TAP…TAP

The content of the scroll changed.

You have been chosen to become The Liberator! You are to carry this scroll with you wherever you go. You will be given a universe at the end of the quest.

I tilted my head. Everything I was reading was bewildering, I absolutely had no clue what it meant, A universe?

I tapped on the scroll twice again to change the text.

 TAP…TAP

If you fail the quest, you will be cut off. Do exactly what you are instructed.

Dread gripped me, I turned to look at Elder Zakai across the balcony. He looked back at me and smiled. I continued reading.

TAP…TAP

First, look into your desire. Fulfill it. If you are falling asleep, remind yourself why you woke up

I quickly understood this, Right. So it’s telling me to not lose track of my goals. I must stop the Archharvester.

TAP…TAP

To the north, destiny calls. Go to where your heart longs.

From there I knew that I had to go to The Convergence Point. But I still had to look for more clues in Wastelandia: Where is Earth?

This may be a mission of no return. I have to prepare.