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It was too easy to fall into this job. As a graduate of Haven University, living in the world's most depressing city, a career didn't exactly jump into my lap. However, a temporary summer job in this library led to a chance to indulge my voracious appetite for reading and my love of people watching, and I stayed here ever since.
I catch my thoughts, snapping out of my daydream, as a visitor pushes the giant wooden door open. Being 9:30am they're the first to visit the library today so I make to give them my full attention.
I examine the new arrivals as they make their way around the shelves. They look new. I haven't seen them before. A young lad, maybe late teens and his pet...urm…well I'm not quite sure what his pet is actually. I make a mental note to browse through the natural history section, when time allows.
"This looks like the one!"
Sorry, did the animal just talk? Intrigued, I decide to keep watching them from the safety of my desk, as they pluck one of the vast selection of history books off the shelf.
My favourite books are of course the history ones: and this library has many. Some from even before the time of Mar. Did you know Haven was once a sleepy seaside village called Sandover? It seems weird now to say, looking across the giant metal structures and the vast urban hubbub. But it really was.
My favourite books are off the explorers of times gone by. How they mapped and charted our planet and how they came across the brink. And out of these tales of past expeditions, came the book the library novices chose.
I have to say it's one of my all time favourites, detailing the life of a man named Zeb. He lived in Sandover, around the time of the fall of Gol and Maia, and was the first to lead an expedition to the sprawling wasteland, where the baron was so fond of sending dissenters to their death.
It's not his time exploring though that fascinates me. It's that the very Precursors chose him at a young age to do their bidding. I settle back and think about Zeb's remarkable lifestory.
As a boy, he enjoyed exploring, but being young, was not allowed to stray far from his family's village. He longed every year to accompany his parents to the Precursor oracle, hidden in the cliffs to the east of the village but was too young. He longed to see the oracle close up but had to be content with watching the adults, make their pilgrimage every year, marching across the temporary bridges, led by the Sage. He pestered his parents, who assured him he was not missing much as despite being called an oracle, the stone statue was just that. Just a reminder of the Prescursors, it said and did nothing.
Finally, on reaching the age of 16, he was finally permitted to join in. He was ecstatic. He marched proudly right behind the Sage, eager to examine the idol more clearly. The Sage prayed for what seemed like an eternity then invited the villagers up one by one to kneel before the oracle. As the youngest, Zeb was last in the queue and he got more and more restless as he began to fear they would run out of time and the procession would head back towards the village before his turn However, eventually the Sage called his name and he made his way towards the statue.
As soon as Zeb knelt down, the oracles eyes began to glow, and the power cells trapped inside burst into life. An audible gasp escaped from the gathered villagers. Zeb was nervous, his parents said it was just a statue. Why was it shining all of a sudden, when he knelt down?
A deep voice thundered across the bay. "Young guardian, you are chosen to look over the true hero. You must nurture and teach him and inspire in him your love of adventure. " With this, the statue returned to its inanimate state.
All the way home the villagers talked and gossiped amongst themselves about what the oracle's prophecy could mean and the Sage ensured Zeb walked next to him for the entire walk back. Zeb felt truly special that day. He was chosen by the very Precursors. He felt invincible.
As the days and months went on, Zeb grew up and began his life exploring and charting the yet undiscovered mountains and deserts of our planet. He became infatuated with the Sage's apprentice, but it was not to be. She fell in love with another and had a baby daughter. Zeb's heart was broken. He knew you can't make people love you but how he longed for a family of his own.
Not long after the village was attacked by lurkers. Zeb held them off to the west of the village with the help of the fisherman, while the Sage and his new Son-In-Law took the eastern boundary. They succeeded in as far as the lurkers were held off, but the defence on the eastern side was decimated, all at once promoting the apprentice to the level of Green Sage but leaving her a widow with a newborn.
The village mourned their loss and Zeb returned to his expeditions with a heavy heart. The oracle's prophecy grew dim in his mind and he began to wonder if perhaps it was, what he had thought. He had been pretty eager as a child to go on the pilgrimage and in his older, more cynical state, he wouldn't put it past one of the more "humorous" villagers to orchestrate a fake prophecy as a spot of light entertainment.
It was at this low point, he was visiting the northlands when he chanced upon a man trying to make a shelter out of assorted greenery, whilst holding a small child. The child looked for all the world, like he was crying but remained silent. The man explained that he was a Green Sage from a place far away, but it had fell to war and he escaped with the child. Zeb's heart was touched by their plight and his sense of adventure intrigued by their place of origin, and he invited the pair to return with him to Sandover.
The man readily accepted, and the trio made their way back down south. It turned out only escapees from the mysterious village were this new Sage and his young charge. Zeb found he could entertain the youngster by regaling his adventures. The boy never uttered a word out his mouth but the way his eye's lit up, when Zeb started a story, spoke volumes.
The new Sage seemed to watch Zeb and the child's interaction with guarded interest, explaining that the boy was orphaned and needed someone to look after them. Zeb jumped at the chance. Even if the Precursor's prophecy was a joke, he would still get to be a guardian. And a darn good one at that. He decided to name the boy Jak, which seemed to please the Sage more than it should.
As the years wore on, the new Sage fell in love with the old Sage's apprentice. They got married and he adopted her daughter making them a complete family.
Despite feeling a little jealous, Zeb was glad. He didn't want her to be on her own forever and he had Jak now. Tragedy struck the family however, when the former apprentice went to study the flora on Misty Island, and she was killed by a stray shot of dark eco from a quicksand lurker. The new Sage was never the same. He became irritable and short tempered with almost everyone but his daughter.
Jak grew and like all young lads, had a knack of getting into trouble. Zeb found if he cornered the youngster on his own, he was quite easy to teach. Even if the boy was itching to go outside and play, he'd listen to instruction and retain his lessons quite well.
If, however his had gotten together with his friend, there was no hope. The two were infamous for pushing the boundaries and generally causing mayhem. The Sage, for some reason, decided that this would be the best time for him to take over the duo's education. Zeb didn't understand it but did admit that it worked in a fashion. The pair would grumble but did sit still for longer when the Sage had his eye on them.
As Jak became a teenager Zeb took the chance to start exploring again and he relished the opportunity. The Sage always offered keep an eye on Jak while he was away. He did feel kind of guilty the first time away from the youngster, but when on his arrival home, the lad opened the gift Zeb had given him, pulled out the goggles, eyes wide and grin even wider, the explorer felt his conscience soothe.
He was away at the time, Gol and Maia fell, exploring the wasteland. He was intrigued into what happened to the Sage and his sister so made a point of reading more. He was shocked to find out that Jak was involved. The siblings had fallen to dark eco insanity and his own foster son had taken them out. He didn't know if he was more proud, relieved, worried or angry but made to go home straight away.
On returning to the continent the bay around Sandover was closed and his ship was directed to Rock Village. He disembarked to an air of panic and his boat was immediately surrounded by villagers complete with their lives stuffed into makeshift luggage, begging him to let them on his boat.
Confused he went to the Blue Sage who informed him that Sandover had been attacked by a new type of monster, who had exo skeletons made of metal and gems embedded in their foreheads. There were no survivors, not a single one.
Overcome by grief and guilt, Zeb found himself kneeling before the Precursor Oracle just outside Rock Village. "Joke or not", he said, "you were wrong. I'm no guardian. I left my boy, my entire world to his doom." He sniffed loudly.
For the second time in his life, Zeb witnessed a Precursor Oracle come to life. "Do not fear Guardian!" the deep voice reassured, "You have done your duty and the true hero is alive but is now when he is meant to be."
Zeb's eyebrows knitted in confusion. What did the oracle mean by that?
"For your service we will keep you safe from the Hora Quan. There is an underwater city recently uncovered just off the coast from here. Take as many people and supplies and hide down there until the time comes for the land to be taken back."
And what did the oracle mean by that?!
Although tired and confused, Zeb led the confused residents of Rock Village into the underwater city, where they found a way to use green eco to artificially grow produce. Zeb stayed there till he died writing his memoirs recounting the unusual life he had led.
I look up out of my reverie, and watch the young man study the book, brow furrowed in concentration, looking for all the world, that if he could have transported himself somehow to inside the tome, he would have.
He looks at his pet, runs his hands through his blond/ green hair and mumbles something about having to study this book further. He picks it up and brings it over, passing it to me to scan along with his library card, which I check to get his name. "Thank you Mr. Torn. This will be due back in four weeks."
He simply nods and hugs the book tight to his chest, like if he let it go it would disintegrate.
He turns and makes his way back out of the library, with his animal companion scurrying behind.
I look at the due date still showing on my computer screen. Something tells me I won't be getting this book back any time soon.