The Library

Act III: The Stranger

It was at this point, when Atlas had all but given up that the stranger appeared. It had been a particularly unprofitable day spent in The Library. Atlas could not even remember what he had read, it all blurred together. All he knew was that none of it had been useful to him. He sat on his bed and stared blankly at the wall in front of him, he felt so empty.

"Is it worth it anymore?"

Atlas looked at the mirror next to his bed and someone else stared back at him. It couldn't be him could it. The being in the mirror's eyes were sunken in, with huge purple bags hanging under them. Bones could be seen outlined on its skin. Atlas moved his arm in front of his face and the creature mimicked his action. He stared at the arm now in front of him, it was the same as the person's in the mirror. How did it come to this? Everything he ever had was gone, and now even his body was fading away.

Then from the door came a soft thumping. Was it a knock? No, surely it was just his threadbare mind playing tricks on him. But then it came again, louder, with more urgency, calling him to come and answer. It was late into the night at this point; who could be at his door? Atlas slowly got to his feet and crept towards the door cautiously. The knocking came one more time, this time pounding, begging him to open the door. Atlas reached for the door handle, almost as if in a trance, he could not resist, he had to appease his curiosity. He swung the door open revealing an imposing hooded figure silhouetted by the dim light of Atlas's room.

"Atlas, I have come to give you a chance to change your fate," the figure spoke.

Its voice seemed familiar and alien at the same time, distant yet close, sinister yet comforting. The figure walked past Altas into his house, taking a seat at Atlas's table as if he belonged there. Atlas closed the door and followed the figure, as a dog follows its master.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Atlas asked, still unsure if this whole scenario was not just a hallucination.

"Who I am matters not, what I can do for you however, matters quite a bit," the hooded figure answered, "I can grant you what you desire."

"You have the secret to immortality?" Atlas asked the hooded figure, his interest suddenly piqued.

"Yes, if you do what I ask, you will never die, but be warned, it will come at a terrible price," the hooded figure told Atlas. "First you must do something for me, and in order to do this you must retrieve an item from The Library."

"What? You know of The Library?" Atlas asked, surprised, "well then you must know that finding something specific is impossible in that place. Trust me, I have tried."

"You are right, if you try to find what you desire through your own means, you never will," the hooded figure explained. "In fact, I have come to believe The Library specifically withholds information from the seeker. There is a way around this however. The 'Fonte Veritatis' in The Library's foyer holds an index of the location of everything The Library contains, every scrap of knowledge, every lost secret, and every weapon stored in its halls. You will use it to find me a relic known as the Tenebris."

"If what you say is true, then I could simply use the 'Fonte Veritatis' to discover the secrets of immortality. Then I would not need your help at all."

"The 'Fonte Veritatis' is not so easily navigated," Azazel retorted. "Exposing a mortal mind to that much knowledge takes a toll on the mind of the reader. I am sure you have already experienced some of The Library's negative effects on your mind and body. You could find what you desire most in the index, but by the time you did, your mind would be lost. However, if you were to look for something The Library was not expecting you to look for, it would not be prepared to hide it so easily and you might just be able to find it before losing your sanity. There is still of course a risk, but the odds are much higher of you succeeding if you follow my instructions."