NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: The grand library
His horse neighed as his horse stopped its hooves.
After two days of riding, Arial arrived at the Vern Empire Capitol, but the strange atmosphere shook him.
There is only the sound of wind. That is the only sound he could hear. It was bizarre strange and eerie.
Like life was wiped out here, like it never existed in the first place.
Where were the people, the bustling markets?
Bemused by the bizarre silence, Arial searched the streets, knocked on doors and shouted at the top of his lungs, but only emptiness echoed back.
Arial eyes narrowed.
It was one of the largest cities in the Human Continent, yet he couldn't find one single person. It was clear that there had been a battle — broken glass and debris lay scattered across the streets — but not one person remained to talk of it.
Arial don't know how to feel or what kind of thing happened here.
Realizing the search was fruitless Arial gave up, temporarily ignoring the questions niggling at his mind – where had they gone, and why did they leave?
He could ponder that later, but for now he had a more important task.
He set about raiding the market stalls, gathering as much food as he could carry in his bags, along with the highest quality armor from the blacksmith shops, and health tonics and potions from the abandoned apothecary.
He collected vegetables to feed to his horse. Nobody would mind, he reasoned. How could they, when the place was deserted.
Arial's first thought was to hide in the castle, but immediately he decided against it; he would be an easy target there.
If the Demon Race Army invaded, the castle would surely be the first place they attacked.
He saw another structure that is as grand as the Palace.
He decided to settle in the Grand Library – with seventy-foot-high walls and a width to rival a palace, he knew he would be hard to find.
He walks to the Grand Library and push the door enter it and lock it tight.
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1026 AF
It has been three years since he ran away from the army
During the three years Arial spent hiding in the library not one battalion of the Demon Race Army descended upon this kingdom.
He was sure they were still out there, taking down the Human Continent one kingdom at a time, but for three years he had been spared.
At first the loneliness almost drove him to madness, and he was haunted by voices whispering to him during the long nights.
Just dreams, he thought.
But he'd take the voices any night over the visions of his old home, and what he had seen in the bedroom.
They played behind his eyes, over and over, and he wished once again that he had turned back that dreadful day; now he found he couldn't remember his home any other way.
Arial took to reading the towers of library books to distract himself.
He couldn't help but laugh one day as he pulled an old, dusty tome from a shelf.
He'd never cared for books and had hated studying before, yet there he was, living in a library with the world falling around him, reading book after book – it seemed ridiculous and utterly pointless.
He had discovered the forbidden books within weeks; books reserved only for kings and noblemen.
He soaked up every last word, learning the method of strategy, learning tricks and techniques of swordplay, and then he began practicing alone in the library's empty halls.
Arial felt a taste of bitterness that he hadn't been born into nobility – their children were taught from an early age how to cultivate and use internal energy to maximize their swordplay abilities, and as a result they grew up to be stronger and more powerful than the lower classes.
It was unfair, just like the rest of the world.
The upper class started teaching their children at the age of ten; a common farmer's son like Arial couldn't hope to have such an education.
So Arial become diligent and learned with diligence to deter the voices in his head.
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1029 AF
He is now twenty and nine years old. He is pretty old now. And still he is alive. It is quite ironic. By now, The Human Kingdoms had all fallen.
The Dark Lands finally succeeded in invading them all. The last kingdom to be taken was Renasia, two years previously.
With its demise came two years of human massacre, perpetrated by the Dark Prince Azrael. Those who survived either fled to the Ranoa Republic or to the Dry Lands amongst the Anjou Horde.
Some fled to Vorthy for anyone that is lucky enough or brave enough to sail the Weeping Sea
But Vern still stood, as if floating in a different dimension, Arial its only resident. He hadn't wasted a single day in his library dwelling; for six years, he had been learning.
And he made a rare discovery.
He had stumbled upon a room hidden within the library's twisting corridors, a room that a commoner like Arial was clearly never meant to see.
The furniture and décor inside the room was beautifully crafted and fit for royalty.
Arial had eagerly searched through the many shelves and chests, and much to his amazement he had extracted several journals, once belonging to nameless noblemen.
Finally, Arial knew why the Demon Race Army was reluctant to come here.
Days before Arial had arrived six years previously, the Vern Empire had fought the Demon Race Army here.
The nobles had known that the Dark Lands army were coming for them.
Arial read the jotted notes hungrily, plans for how to defend their kingdom scribbled hastily across the pages, back-up plans in case of a disaster.
That was what interested Arial most.
Six years of studying had sharpened his mind, and he quickly put the pieces together, the scenes playing out in his head as he did.
The Empire had surely been outnumbered, and in desperation they had turned to a forbidden and terrifying magic.
It had sacrificed everyone, including the citizens of the kingdom.
Arial sought to confirm this matter so he checks the borders of the capital city.
He found a weird runic marking that he could not make sense of. It is not in any of the language spoken here.
Not Vernian, not Vorthian neither it's the True Tongue or the Common Tongue.
The Demon Race and humans alike were fearful that the magic was still active, and it was this that had let Arial live peacefully and alone for six years.
But he knew they would come, sooner or later. They would not be afraid forever.
Arial also learned, if the journal notes could be trusted, that Azrael had invaded the Human Continent because of the Emperor of Vern.
He read how the Emperor of Vern had ordered the assassination of Azrael's beloved wife, Arianna.
Enraged, Azrael had released the largest host of the Demon Race the Empire had ever seen, to mercilessly ravage the Human Continent.
The real gem that Arial discovered, however, was the Library of Levitia.
After reading an obscure story about a hidden passage in the Grand Library, he began his search to see if there was any truth to it.
And he had a lot of time to spare.
With awe in his heart, he found that the story was all true, every word. He had found the secret door which leads to another hidden library.
The Library of Levitia.
The library belonged to the first great hero of the Human Continent, Levitia, and contained incredible treasures: his journal, his martial art technique, his unique method of cultivating energy.
Arial immediately sought the knowledge inside it.
The swordplay technique of Levitia required Arial to have strong internal energy, but he was not a nobleman and had never learned to develop it, so he just memorized the techniques.
Arial decided to make it his duty to learn Levitia's swordplay techniques.
He worked tirelessly, and within two years his internal energy level had risen greatly, and he felt more powerful than ever.
He couldn't shake the thought that if only he had learned it all when he was a child, or even during his teenage years, he might have been able to save his parents.
He thought of them every day, and he took little comfort in knowing that they would have been happy he was safe.
For now, at least as he knows this would not last.
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This is it for today. Hope you like it