A few hours later,
James, Melaich and Silvie walk on a fairly empty road leading towards a huge Temple-dome structure in the distance, passing by one or two farmers, adventurers and regular people along the way. During this time, James and Melaich decide to educate Silvie on what The Archives are.
Melaich: The Archive used to be a haven for information brokers and Adventurers alike in the past. It was public, technically free-of-charge and at the time, not run by stuck up extremists.
Meliach: Then, a few years back, the leadership changed after the old leader died. Now, it's run by a stuck up bastard called Alexis Kingsly.
James continues,
James: When he came into power, he removed all information he deemed inappropriate even though the information was extremely valuable. Even though The Archives can't actually stop Adventurers from coming in, The people in charge look extremely down upon Adventurers.
James turns to Silvie
James: A bit weird considering we're the biggest consumers of The Archives resources
Melaich: That's why I usually don't go there. The once haven of the empire got turned to shit cause the people voted for the wrong man to be the leader.
Silvie: Oh- maybe we should turn back then
James: No. Because, even though its the last place we want to be in, It's still the best place to find information. Plus, there are over 10 Archives in the Empire and this one is the one that has what I want
The three stand in-front of the huge gate of the temple-dome. The door opens slightly and from inside, comes a bald Dark-skinned, brown eyed man, wearing white liturgical vestments with gold trims. His eyes look young almost late twenties, but his face shows age, probably from stress.
The man lays his eyes on James and nods.
James: Hello Vesuvius.
Vesuvius: Hello James, you too Melaich. And you are….
Silvie: Name's Silvie. I'm James's sister
Vesuvius: How Unfortunate must one be to be this Idiot's Sister, Now..
James gets slightly pissed. Vesuvius turns his attention to James and Melaich.
Vesuvius: The Leaders, is not going to like this.
Melaich: Your Leaders owes me. And just between the both of us, they're annoying
Vesuvius: I cannot emphasize with your statement James.
Vesuvius opens the Giant door just enough for all 3 to get in.
Vesuvius: (Deep Breath) Very well. I give you permission to Enter.
Silvie whispers to James,
Silvie: Who was that?
James: A friend I made as I started Adventuring back in the day. He helps me out like this from time-to-time.
Silvie turns to James shocked and confused,
Silvie: You sure he's your friend?
James turns to Vesuvius.
James: Vesuvius, We need to get into the Restricted Section.
Vesuvius replied calmly.
Vesuvius: We don't have such a section.
Melaich: Oh come on, Vesuvius. You expect me to believe that the Leaders burnt all of it?
Vesuvius: I… You'll have to ask them inside. The restricted section does not come under my control.
James: Awesome! Where are they?
The Trio follow Vesuvius into a hallway. The hallway had shelves of books at its sides, from the side, these Shelves look almost endless. There are many benches and chairs for those who wish to read there. There are quite a few adventurers and Information brokers and even normal people there who are there on personal time or there for a quest.
James notes that there are more regular people than before. Might be because of Alexis but James doesn't give it much thought. At the end of the hallway, are 2 big arched doors.
Vesuvius: Beyond this door are the higher members. All I can grant you is an audience.
James: That's all I need.
James taps on Vesuvius's shoulder, knocks on the door and comes in. Melaich and Silvie follow James. They all enter a room with three golden thrones in front of them. On these thrones are Old men, adorned with Jewels and a visibly more expensive version of the outfit Vesuvius is wearing. Around the Directors are shelves with pristinely hardbound books.
These Old men are called Archives Directors or The Leaders.
Archives Director: James Mgrath and Melaich Vildogord… And someone else.
Archives Director 2: James and Melaich. You dare to come to the Archives? After the stunt you both pulled in Witchbottle!?
James very annoyed and pressed for time, partially because there's a Demon in him, also because he finds it the most irritating thing to talk to stuck up assholes like The Leaders
James turns to Melaich for him to take over
James: Melaich, can you-
Meliach: Yeah, yeah
Meliach steps in front and turns to the Directors.
Meliach: We just want a look into the restricted section and get some info OR we can just report this to the higher-ups. I hope you make the correct choice
The Archives Directors look slightly annoyed. With a nod of approval amongst them,
Archives Director 3: Very well.
The Director wave's his hand, a magic circle on the ground glows momentarily and disappears and right in the centre of the room, a spiral staircase forms that extends downwards.
Archives Director 3: This staircase will take you to the restricted section.
Silvie looks a bit skeptical but James puts his hand on Silvie's shoulder and walks in front to assure her and winks his eye to show Silvie to trust him.
The three of them descend down the stairs. As they get deeper, they start to see the huge underground library. With columns made of bedrock to ensure the library doesn't collapse, orbs of magic flame that latch itself onto the stone columns, lighting the area in a dim orange light.
Silvie: So, where do we start?
Melaich: We should start from books on possession. James's symptoms closely match those of a possession.
James: (sulking) Possession….
James, Melaich and Silvie split up to find books on James's condition. James wanders around, semi-looking for the book and more so interested in roaming around. As he walks around, he stumbles onto an empty space with no shelves. All he sees is a path with torches lit on either side.
As James walks on the path, he starts to see the faint outlines of a huge statue that reaches till the heights of the underground Chamber.
James: Holy Flame of Iron, I command thee…
James starts an incantation and shoots a ball of energy at the statue. The energy turns into a ring of fiery energy around the statue, allowing James to see the Statue more clearly. Underneath the foot of the statue, there's a name written. James goes forward to look.
James: Sir David, Captain of the Rebel Knights, Hero of the…
James suddenly falls down, visions flooding his mind. He sees snippets of visions,
A red sky, an enemy with flying ships in the air, towns on fire. A being made of metal towering the sky. And a war between all of the World's might against an enemy. An enemy that…
James: When was this? Whose memories are they?!
James had no idea what he was saying. Silvie and Melaich come to James after seeing the ring of flame and hearing him fall down.
Silvie: James!
Melaich: Dammit, this idiot and his eyesight
Melaich and Silvie rush to James and lift him up. Green sparks emerge and fade just as quickly from James's body
Silvie: Are you alright!? Any wounds or scars? What happened?
James dusts his clothes
James: I'm fine I just got… startled I guess. Did you find what we're looking for?
Silvie holds up a book, with an old worn out, leather back.
Silvie: Yes. This has some information that will be important in my analysis of the possession and soul capacity you possess. It's time to put this to the test.
James nods and starts leaving with the others back to the surface. And right as he was about to leave the area with the statue, he noticed something weird. There were fresh footprints around the statue.
The Archives Restricted Section had been operating for 5 years, and as far as he knew not many went down to the Restricted Section and so, for a place filled with dust and cobwebs, those footprints looked out of place.
James: Hmm… Interesting
As James went to the top, he asked Vesuvius about the footprints.
Vesuvius: You really believe an intruder managed to get into the restricted Section?
James: Probably. If none of you went there, then yeah. But, I'm not helping The Archives without decent pay. Send me a letter or post a request at the Guild. Either way, no pay, no help.
Despite Vesuvius's pleas to help or explain further, James, Meliach and Silvie leave the Archives with the book,
Study of Souls and its relation with Magic.
The gang heads back to the Town, Orliave. James, from a distance looks at the place where the huge man crystal was unveiled. It was a curious thing however. James had heard that only once in a decade did such a huge leyline of Mana be found. To give the public, almost unbridled access to it was a curious thing.
"Why had King Jones done this", James wondered.
James notices something even more interesting
After the Demon Parade Members Attacked the party happening there, they were looking for him of course but for the sake of maintaining King Jones's public Image, 4 new Magic High Royal Knights were placed to guard the crystal.
James: (Mind Voice) I doubt I could fight them all on my own. They have such refined Mana Signatures, not to mention their stance. I wouldn't be surprised If they were trained by a High Class Warrior.
James puts his hands to the back of his head and looks up into the moody dusk sky as he walks behind Melaich and Silvie
James: (Mind voice) But If I tried my best, I could probably win… No, I have to win. For only the strong reign supreme in this world.