I want to believe in you but only time will tell if you mean that or not. Anyway, let’s move on, time to get my hands dirty. And I mean it. Since I know that I will be sneezing like a clown laughs in the circus or in other words, I might as well end the world thanks to the consequences of my sneezes as they will be unnecessary loudly and violent that I might “accidently” use a magic spell, one that will “accidently” be some sort of explosion or close to it. I jest of course. Maybe. Probably. I hope so. Ahem, carefully so that the end of the world does not start prematurely, I slowly start to search around in the pile of debris or I would as I quickly find that, there really is a crap ton of dust, one that slowly and without my consent at all, enters my nostrils making me slow down drastically… Until I stopped of course.

  Sneeze!

  Yep, here I go! Yay! Way to go my sensitive nose!

  Sneeze!

  Ah man, this one was so loud that, I think even those that might be outside ready to ambush us once we have acquired what we came here for, have heard the damn sneeze.

  Sneeze!

  The entire library shook with violence as the sheer power behind this sneeze was strong enough to send an “air wave” towards the ground, hitting it with such force behind that, not only the library shook but the entire world also shook and those adjacent to it either followed the same drastic movements or at the very least felt it.

  “Ar-Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine, it’s just that myyyyyyyyy- Atchun!”

  “Uhm, stay still, I can help you out…”

  Magic noises!

  I have no clue what she did but, I’m not feeling itchy on my nose anymore, in fact, I think I have stopped sneezing completely. Wow, that happened in an instant! What did she do though? I mean, I know that she used magic, an Anemo spell to be more precise, but what was it? Now this got me rather curious and surprised at the same time.

  “Oh, I’m feeling much better now, thank you! However, what did you do?”

  “Nothing special, I just used an Anemo spell to clean the air around your nose.”

  I mean, if we break it down in terms of difficulty then yes, she did nothing special at all. I mean, yeah, not only she used a spell from cross dimensions, she in fact used two instead. Yep, nothing special at all, indeed. Sigh, this is going to take a while it seems… Her confidence that is but, I will explain what she did. First of all, she created a rather small gust of wind around my face, in front of it to be more precise as she was aiming towards my nose. Then, she enchanted the gust of wind with a “buff” spell, one that purifies the air or maybe could’ve been the Anemo spell Pure Air instead of a buff but either way, using two spells at once is not easy at all as I said a few times ago. Even if they are small and simple spells like these two, as the first one she used to seem to be Gust of Wind. Not only did she use two spells at once with ease (I think), I also barely felt the usage of such to the point that it almost made me miss what she did. Her magic control was perfect, or if it wasn’t, it was very least close to being perfection itself however, not only she quickly solved my natural, biological and definitely not annoying issue that will definitely happen again since this place is my natural enemy, she also did it so discreetly. So much so that I believe more than 99% of those that are fortunate enough to be blessed by her magic, will miss it in its entirety. They won’t even notice what hit them per say and that’s a shame as they won’t be able to express their amazement, boosting her confidence with it.

  But, enough of me expressing my amazement to what Miss Pink Orb just did, let’s continue with my eminent demise. I mean, I still haven’t properly looked through the damn pile of debris and I’m already close to dying… Or causing the end of the world by mistake.

  Debris noises!

  Welp, I’m praying to the goddess of luck that Miss Pink Orb spell will last for as long as we need as otherwise chaos will be unsure and I will transform into the Devil itself. Moving on then, there are a few pieces of wood here as I briefly mentioned before and from their damage, I think something collapsed on top of them rather than with the passing of time becoming rotten and therefore collapsing. What I mean is that, think of this scenario… I grabbed one of the Crystal Knights and threw him towards the ground with such force that the ground crumbled thanks to the heavy impact, making him hit the floor beneath because of it. This is what I think happened here, above us in this case. Then, there are a few pieces of concrete, all broken, crumbled and destroyed. I think these ones are the culprit for all of this unnecessary dust. But all of this to say that, either there was a fight above us that caused this or thanks to the “tornado” it caused something to fall into the ground, making it collapse thanks to the force behind it.

  “Can you see that?”

  “Uhm, you need to elaborate a little more as I have no clue what you are referring to.”

  I do mean that and I hope I transmitted that correctly as I did notice that my tone of voice is for the confused side and I also think the look on my face is the same as I did turn around towards her after doing a quick search around in the debris trying to figure out whatever she’s referring to. In that quick search and mind you, I did it by using both Magic Sense and Magical Eyes, I’ve found absolutely nothing out of the “ordinary”, just debris after debris after debris and of course, dust and more dust. Did I say dust? I’m sorry, I actually meant more dust.

  “I’m sor-I-I mean, over there in the ground, right in front of you. There is something sticking out from the dust and the debris.”

  Oh wow, she’s right, how the hell did I miss this? Wait a second, if I use magic to see my surroundings this thing disappears! No wonder I found nothing! Sneaky little unanimated object! But, do you see? What did I say about my scouting abilities being bad? I rely so much on magic that the thought of checking my environment first with my good ol’ eyes is the last thing that crosses my mind if at all. If I don’t find anything with magic, how will I find something without it? Sigh, lesson to be learned. I hope so.

  “Nice one! I would actually miss this if it wasn’t for you! For some reason this thing hides itself when we use magic. If you use Magical Eyes you will see that there is absolutely nothing here and of course, with Magic Sense the same happens.”

  “I did notice that and that’s why I said something… I did what you asked me to do.”

  I mean, you don’t have to be quiet at the end but, whatever, I can feel a little bit of joy in your tone of voice, so I’m happy. Not that she has to make me happy or anything like that, it’s just that, she’s trying to better herself and that alone warms my heart. Even though we have just met a few minutes ago, I genuinely want her the best. Enough of my yapping though! There’s no need to go on a tangent right now! Let’s just pick up whatever this is. And so, after a massive internal conflict has been solved, where I was about to break down as my will to go on a massive tangent is this close to control my body and mind but, thankfully, I was strong enough to stop it. Maybe.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Anyway, I pick up said object and it’s in fact another book. Part of me already knew it was going to be a book as otherwise it wouldn’t make much sense but, since we are in a place like this, I have to be prepared for odd and weird situations. However, the moment I pick up the book I instantly feel the magic from it and if I use both of those skills I can see and sense the magic present in the book. It seems it has some sort of spell that makes the book disappear the moment you look at it with magic but when you touch it, since you have physical contact with it, said spell becomes useless. This can easily explain why I was unable to see it or sense it with those two skills. Anyway, just like the previous one, my curiosity is screaming and begging at me to read whatever is inside of it but before that, I do have to test something out.

  “Hey, I have a question for you. Right now, since I’m holding the book, I can actually see and sense the magic on it however, what about you? I know you can physically see it but, what about the magic on it?”

  There is a simple reason for this, nothing out of this world but depending on what she will say then, we will have to divide our rules per say. Although, whatever she says the same will happen but, I will explain what I’m thinking about. Think with me, I was only able to see the book when I was not using magic, this means that the book is invisible to those that try to see it by using magic. This can be caused by two reasons, one of them I’ve already mentioned but the second reason is one where we are kind of limited in terms of ways to counter it as it can very well be a rule of the universe itself. If it’s a magic spell I could easily use Dispel to remove all spells around me or in a specific area but if it’s rule of the universe then, this spell is completely useless as it won’t affect it. This rule can say that those who look around with magic shall find nothing. In a sense it does not make much sense as the previous book was not hidden to magic so, this rule might as well be a fragment of my imagination and simply a reason for me to overthink about it. Without magic at all Miss Pink Orb here was able to find it, not only quite easily but also quickly. This can mean that there are things in the library that are hidden to magic as I doubt this is the exception. That’s exactly why I said that we will have to divide our “roles” as one of us (me) will use magic to scout and search the environments while the other one (her) will simply use her trusty and ol’ eyes for such.

  “I cannot see it at all... That’s bizarre though, with Magical Eyes activated I see that you’re holding nothing, just the air itself. When I stop using them, I’m once again able to see the book.”

  “Yeah, I was hoping you could see it if I came in contact with it but it seems the only reason that I can see it with magic is that I’ve physical contact with it. It cannot hide itself as by being in physical contact I’m able to feel its magic and therefore, making whatever spell it has useless. Though the same does not happen to the outsiders as you just said.”

  “Now what then? Do you think we have missed something because of this?”

  Straight to the point, are we? I like that. When she’s not feeling “down” her train of thought is quick to follow the situation at hand, so much so that she quickly understands the implication of what’s happening, what could’ve happened and what will happen. Ah man, I really like to be around people like her but, don’t get me wrong, even if she couldn’t do anything at all, follow what I’m trying to say and so on, the fact that she’s here for Kiana, that alone makes me wish to be next to her. Argh, enough of this before I yap too much.

  “That’s a possibility and it might happen in the near future which is why I have a proposal for you.”

  “Uhm, do you want to split our jobs? One of us will use magic to search while the other will not?”

  Seriously, she’s good!

  “That’s correct! I will be the one using magic as I’m physical here while you won’t use it. Anything that you see, say it and don’t bother to use magic to confirm it as I think there is no need for that.”

  I hope that she can bite what I’m trying to feed her as otherwise, I will have to find a way to convince her to do what I’m asking as I really don’t want her to use more magic than needed. Not only she’s using magic to be here, add Magical Eyes, Magic Sense and any other magic spell and she’s simply overextending herself for no reason whatsoever. There’s no need for her to do the heavy lifting if I’m here, something that I’m trying to say and transmit to her. Though I can only hope that she truly understands it as I simply have no way to stop her from using magic.

  “I have no problem with that.”

  “Alright, let’s get going then but, let’s take a peek at this first...”

  And so, after saying “alright” a little too loudly and with a smile on my face, easily showing my satisfaction with it, I carefully open the book and right after that, I read it out loud. The title for this one is the following;

  “The Forgotten Boy.”

  “Years have gone by and they have forgotten about him, well unaware that he still lives within them, carefully and meticulously conducting himself in a way that none would be suspicious of him and his origins. The gods themselves seem to also have forgotten about him and the sins that he committed right at his birth but also every single day afterwards, as his existence on itself is nothing more than the gravest sin one can commit, even above adultery and murderer. However, it does not mean that his days are not counting down, he hasn’t much to live but he’s none the wiser as his only worry is to survive. And it will always be till the very end.

  As the years go by, he grows taller, stronger, faster and wiser while at the same time, his chaotic nature gets even more chaotic so much so that he's able to curse the world with his despicable creation, the “Shadows” as those who will be tormented call them. These are beings whose nature is unknown, not even him knows what they are, he’s only aware that he can create them, control them and make them disappear at his will. At the end, even with this forbidden power right at the tips of his skinny fingers, he knows well if he uses these “Shadows” he will be quickly discovered by the villagers and potential by the gods themselves, sentencing to an eminent and unescapable death. What can he do then to prevent that? The same as he has been doing, he just needs to be completely forgotten by all of them, himself included. Truly becoming the Forgotten Boy with it.

  But the world is not that kind. He will not allow such an atrocity to happen to its inhabitants.”

  “Isn’t this tragic? I mean, being forgotten by the world itself seems kind of...”

  “Sad?”

  Ah, the word was forced out of my mouth without even me noticing it. The conclusion she got is nothing more than the same conclusion as mine; however, that is only correct if we exclude the last sentence of the story. With it I can somewhat say that, there is more to it although at least in this book nothing of that sort is present. It’s quite similar to what happens in the previous book where it starts to “talk” about other subjects, one that in this case, it talks about human psychology and several topics related to such. For example, human behaviour towards another human that is far different from the “norm”, one that is different from their culture, their race, beliefs and so on. It actually goes quite deep into said topic and while my curiosity is way up there, begging to be satisfied, we simply don’t have the time for it.

  Going back to what she just said, I can only imagine the pain of being forgotten by the world. With the title of Hero, I think it will be hard for me to actually be forgotten however, an average joe? It happens every single day. I mean, how many of us remember our great-grandparents? Hell, some of us have never met our grandparents! And in the cases of those who have not met their grandparents then, knowing about their great-grandparents is close to “impossible” as humans don’t have the tendency to talk about our ancestors unless they were someone important, whatever good or bad. Whatever they were a tyrant that massacred their own citizens, ones that he supposedly rules or, a martyr that did its best to protect the citizens from the tyrant. The complete opposite to each other and yet, both of them will be remembered throughout history. And I’ve yapped once again, let’s move on, there isn’t much to gain from all of this thinking.