THE LIBRARY

The staircases spiraled downwards across the outermost walls of the old tower, tinted in a subtle dark purple that reflected the colors of the twilight sky on the white salt. Vertical windows that extended from the treads up to the roof, could be seen about every quarter of a circle. Since Inai and Fennel were walking down the staircases, they could see how the surface of the sea was closing in with every new window.

Every time they finished either a full circle or half of a circle around the spiraled staircase, they would find a locked room with a keyhole at its center. Most of them also had small plates with names on them, describing the content within each floor. The rooms closest to the entrance seemed to have more recreational content such as fantasy, historical novels, speculative fiction, among others. As they got closer to the level of the sea, they found rooms tagged with themes such as medicine, natural sciences and philosophy.

"This library is huge." Commented Fennel, as he saw how new rooms kept on appearing on their way down to the lowest floor. "I can’t believe no one is using this place."

“This was the greatest library in Rossmaria back in the day." Murmured Inai. "That’s why it’s so close to the palace. However, most of these texts were stored more efficiently inside the royal library or are being sold in stores across the kingdom. It’s sad, but I can see why people stopped coming here."

As the researchers passed beyond the sea level, they could see how the scenery outside the windows got darker, barely allowing any of the underwater scenery to be seen. The spiral of the staircase also started to widen slightly, and the outer walls started to change its angle, revealing how the foundation of the tower grew larger as it got closer to the seabed. Even though the natural light got dimmer, the passage maintained its luminosity, as the energy stored by the tower lightened the way in a delicate yellow.

New sections of the library appeared on the way. They found a section for history and maps, the watch-room required for every tower in the kingdom, and some private collections named after their owners, such as Marian, Liano, Nindia, Taoro and Maer. This caught Fennel’s attention.

"Aren’t these names too similar to those of the previous guardians?" Asked Fennel with curiosity. "They’re just missing the 'A' at the start."

"That’s because guardians are named after their support team’s lead researchers." Replied Inai. "Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed the similarity between the names of Miss Elia and Lady Aelia."

"It’s the first time I hear that. I thought it was just a coincidence." Said Fennel surprised.

At last, after what seemed to be an eternal walk downstairs, they managed to reach the lowest floor of the tower, where they could see at one side, the rocky floor of the seabed, and on the other side, a door, just like all the others they had found on their way, with a keyhole at its center, and a plate that read “Codex Archives”.

"I’m really thankful that most towers use elevators these days." Said Fennel with a tired expression.

"Just wait till we have to go up again." Replied Inai with subtle annoyance, as she took the key and chain that was given to them by Laos, from a pocket in her researcher uniform.

As Inai inserted the key inside the keyhole, and awkwardly tried to turn it around to see how it worked, Fennel looked at the plate of the door.

"It almost feels like we shouldn’t be here." He said.

"Well, we’re avoiding the royal library because we don’t want to be seen by others, so it’s not very far off." Responded Inai, as she finally managed to turn the key in the right direction. "However, there is no such thing as a prohibited text. Everything in this library was open back when I was a kid, so don’t worry about it too much."

Inai pushed the door open, revealing the huge room at the other side. Since they had reached the lowest point of the tower, this was by far the largest room. It was at least three times their height, and the roof was shaped as a near perfect circle, except for the section right before them, that left a geometric space for the spiraling staircases to ascend outside of the chamber. The light that was emitted from the roof, was the brightest at its center.

The few vertical windows that extended from the floor up to the roof, revealed the ocean floor and a hint of the surface. Every space remaining on the outer walls, was filled with books of multiple widths and heights, folders, glass tablets and even rock plates. The shelves they were kept in, emerged out of the walls, and were made of the same material as the rest of the tower, so they glowed as well. Moving towards the center, multiple rings of similar bookshelves were distributed across the room, resembling a circular labyrinth, with a few spare tables and chairs they could use to study. At the center, there was a circular table where about five people could sit comfortably, lightened by the central light, that was clearly intended to help them study. However, old lamps could be found in every single table, revealing how this library had been designed for a different era.

"So, Fennel." Opened Inai with a poker face. "What exactly are we looking for?"

Fennel stood perplexed looking at the massive library chamber, as the task at hand now seemed far more complicated than he had anticipated.

"Um. Yes. We need to find the texts that state the rules of the palace and that determine the official methods on which guardians are trained." He said.

"If I’m understanding correctly, you’re trying to find out if there’s any rule that might be twisted to prove that Lady Aelia hasn’t done anything wrong?" Deduced Inai.

"That was a good guess, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for." Fennel responded. "First I want to see the official roles, responsibilities and procedures of both guardians and their support teams. All the rules we currently follow are those from Miss Elia and Lord Ataoro. But what if things don’t have to be that way?" He continued. "Maybe there’s a chance to help Aelia grow as a guardian, with methods that are more suited to her. If that’s the case, we might be able to give Aelia the motivation needed to progress in an accelerated manner during the following week, if we prove that things can be different."

Inai looked at Fennel with concern, and then took a deep sigh.

"You might be able to achieve something if you manage to bypass Miss Elia or Lord Ataoro with this plan." Stated Inai. "But I don’t think this will have a positive effect on your relationship with our leaders."

Fennel seemed to be worried, but committed to his decision.

"I know that. But as long as we stay within the rules, and it works, I’m sure they’ll understand it." Said Fennel with some hesitation. "I’m sure neither Lord Ataoro nor Miss Elia really want Aelia’s position to be taken away. Maybe this can give them options."

Inai took some seconds to think, and after reflecting on it, she agreed.

"Alright, I’ll help you." She said. "But this plan won’t have my name on it, and I won’t do anything else that might get me into trouble. Our whole careers as royal researchers are at risk."

"I know." Thanks Inai.

"It's funny how you're showing your true colors now that things are getting out of control. I wouldn't have guessed you were such a gambler just from the past week."

After that conversation, Inai and Fennel began their search of the bookshelves that might help them. Many interesting books and folder titles appeared during this process, mainly because they didn’t really understand what they could be about. In a section dedicated to the history of rossmarian royalty, they noticed books such as “The Ilkkan”, “Separation from Argevieh”, and “The Lost Era of Communication”. But even though they were interested, they simply glanced over them in favor of finding information about the guardians.

Both of them spent about an hour looking for the section dedicated to guardian and palace rules, and began their study session, starting with the books Anise had recommended.

The hours passed, and they kept studying deep into the night, having some brief conversations, including how vigilants used to carry internal power sources before the Chrysalis Method was created, and that objects such as the orbs used to train guardians or Lord Ataoro’s levitating swords were conceived together with it. There were also many other military and combat-specific advancements that had been developed using the energy within the city.

Once they managed to find the texts they needed, things didn’t look very promising. The texts stated that since the training of a guardian was a priority to the kingdom, they would be kept inside royal or military grounds, and should follow every command from their supervisors. This meant that Aelia could only dwell inside either the royal palace, or the faraway peripheral islands, where military bases where kept to protect the borders of the kingdom. This also meant, that by all official means, the words of Lord Ataoro and Miss Elia were considered to be law.

The texts were hard to read, since they contained a lot of legal jargon, and more filler text that was probably needed. However, as their mental energy was starting to run out, and subtle light from the submarine view started to announce the beginning of a new day, a single line of text appeared to light up their hopes. It read as it follows:

“The application of this mandate may permit reasonable adjustments or exceptions to prior decrees, subject to approval by the reigning monarch, provided that such modifications support the primary objective or spirit of this document: to cultivate the proper development of guardians who shall, in the future, safeguard and defend the kingdom of Rossmaria.”