Third Chapter: In & Out, ‘Watch It All On Screen’

The librarian sat at their desk, reading in his standard non-guest appearance. Trying to pass the eternal passage of time by doing something.

But as they were reading, a book glowed in the library and the quiet song of birds played.

It was a simple magic that was created by a friend. Time worked differently between the worlds, and this space in the void between them all. The books would only update with the results of the prophecy once those events happened in the world they were involved in. The magic would just inform the librarian that time passed and that a book would be updated, instead of the books silently updating.

Click

The librarian clicked their fingers, and the book appeared in front of them.

“Whelp, let’s see where this tale leads.”

However, once they started reading, the library began shaking again.

“I swear someone is ensuring guests only ever arrive at inopportune times.”

The physical library only changed slightly, the layout shifted, and the infinitely expanding staircases disappeared. The material changed to a more regal appeal.

The librarian rapidly aged into an old man with a long white beard, and round glasses appeared on his face.

The front door slammed open, and a young adult wearing noble attire with silver adornments said, “I’m looking for the divine child of the previous king! We know they are still alive, but we need to know their location.”

“Haa… well, that will be me.”

“Good! My target is hidden from all! So I will need your full support in tracking down their location!”

The old librarian began to give his warning, “Now, I should say–”

But the man interrupted, “Hurray up.”

“–Are you sure–”

“Hurray up.”

“Please boy–”

“I said hurry up, I’m on an urgent schedule.” The man had his arms crossed, and his fingers were constantly taping them.

---

The child hasn’t aged, and they haven’t run.

 

However, they won’t be found until the journey is done.

 

The journey shall end at the journey’s start. 

 

Falling to madness, one wishes for a restart.

 

From where tales are told.

 

Blame will be directed elsewhere, even though the answer was foretold.

---

Wait… Is this…

“Okay, thank you! I understand everything!” The man bowed and then turned around. “Now time for my journey to continue!”

“Wait a second!.”

The man opened the door and said, “See ya!” 

“Come back!” But the call was left on deaf ears.

Sigh… Not anything I can do now.

With the man’s departure, the library shifted back to its original look.

The librarian decided to forget about the incident because he knew it would be a long time before that guest would be back. So they continued where they left off, to read what happened to the kingdom of the knight.

---

Upon returning, the knight informed the king of everything she saw and was told and delivered the scrolls to the king.

 

The king was excited at the success but terrified at the danger that would face his kingdom. Knowing the cause, he vowed to ensure that it never happened.

 

The king first introduced laws that increased the tax on silver.

 

This was met with dislike but no harm was done.

 

However, the laws kept on coming. 

 

A restriction on the amount of silver one could possess, more tax, constant pressure from the guards, and the banning of silver weapons–even ones made purely for cosmetic purposes. 

 

A family of craftsmen that was never rich but happy fell on hard times due to multiple laws against them.

 

The rumour that ‘a sword of silver’ would kill the king had spread through the kingdom, leaving many to shun and harm those who worked with the product.

 

Due to sickness and brute force, one by one, the family died, only leaving a tired old man by the name of Arges Silver.

 

He left his home and found work elsewhere as a simple blacksmith. By coincidence, he crafted a sword that would be his masterpiece. He poured everything into it, but he died shortly after it was stolen from the shop, one of the many places that were ransacked.

 

The laws the king put in place to protect him initially worked, but due to the fear of what would happen upon his death, they got worse and worse.

 

Some people decided to escalate dangerous behaviour with fire and robberies.

 

Then large conflicts arose, and no one knows who did it, but one day someone got close to the king with a finely crafted sword of steel and sliced down the king. 

 

Panic and hope ensued. Panic by the public, but some in higher power hoped because the prophecies were broken. After all, the king wasn’t killed by ‘A sword forged by silver’. However, their misunderstanding didn’t save them from their fate.

 

The natural disasters weren’t a result of the king’s death, but his death was merely the time when they began.

 

This led to the utter devastation of the kingdom. Fires, storms, and even the people destroyed the land they built in a desperate act of survival.

 

King Lvens had one of the shortest reigns, however, the impact his reign had on the kingdom and the few historical records left from the destruction led future historians to inflate what happened during his reign. Telling the tale of a king at the end of his life failing to defend his kingdom from destruction.

---

“Small surprises, but nothing special. Still, it's always impressive how truly evil a simple misunderstanding can be…” 

Prophecies were always created with the knowledge that the people who would read them, well would read them. This included knowing that they would be misunderstood, but there was nothing the librarian could do, they were prevented by their prison from explaining the meaning if they noticed it.

Time continued to flow, and the librarian received a few more guests. Some asked–if they would see their loved ones again, if they would find love in the future, if they would be rich–and there was a boy who got cursed to death by hearing about his future. That one, the librarian wished they could stop but the power of the prison forced them to tell the poor boy.

Then it was time for a new guest to arrive. 

The librarian was gone completely and replaced with an enclosed space reminiscent of an old movie theatre, with a large yellow-white screen displaying static on the wall.

A young boy in his early teens pushed the double open and stumbled into the room.

Words appeared on the screen. [Do want to proceed].

Pictures of a boy in an orphanage appeared, being bullied, hurt, and abused by others and the caregivers. Pictures of him feeding cats and others on the street with the little food he had. Those pictures began to shift into a film as it showed the boy walking through the entrance of this bundling.

“I… want to find my family…” The boy pleaded.

The screen repeated the message three times. [Are you sure you want to proceed]. And the guest said yes all three times.

The large display made a rewinding sound as images began to appear.

---

The first scene played.

 

With a hammer over his head. He repeatedly swung it down, over and over again.

 

Caving in the head of a man who shared his features, he turned his eyes to a woman who shared his eyes and hair. Then he attacked her with the hammer.

Blood splats the walls.

Bones lay across the ground.

And the crying man slowly left the building into the cold, rainy night.

 

The second scene played.

 

The boy, who was a young adult, was crying by a grave in a storm. He stayed hugging the nameless mass-produced grave for what felt like hours.

 

The third scene played.

 

The boy was holding the hand of a young girl his age. Both were smiling happily while sitting on a bench and watching the sunrise.

 

The fourth scene played.

 

The boy was looking at a card with an address in his hand, he was walking through a bad neighbourhood but he didn’t mind. It wasn’t any worse than his old one. He kept walking until he found the address. The camera looked up but faded to black before the door could be seen.

---

“This can’t be me…” The boy looked away multiple times during the viewing. He felt sick.

Text appeared on the screen. [It’s your choice to believe it].

The child just stood there silently for over an hour. 

The librarian couldn’t speak or show anything on the monitor without being promoted by the boy. They were restricted by the rules of this form, which had automated responses for certain actions and limited responses for others.

The boy’s head hung down. “I… need to leave.” He continued to look at the floor and walked back to the entrance; he didn’t even see the final message.

[Farewell].