The Veridians

Chapter 1

The halls were empty. The halls were void of any sound, any movement, it was so quiet you could hear the pitter-patter of mice. That is if they had any, which seems very unlikely in this building. A mere research facility located in New Jersey, used for conducting various quests and expeditions. They would send people all over the globe to discover the hidden mysteries of this world we all live in. At first glance, it almost seemed like someplace straight out of a storybook. Yet somehow, all the mysticality & whimsy that you'd think would live in this place had been stripped from it. Most everyone there had a logical mindset. Yes, almost everyone in this building was laser focused on taking their jobs as seriously & professionally as possible. The reputation of this building was a very prestigious one. There was not a befouled corridor within these halls. There were many standards to uphold and many expectations set by society. To not accord with these standards would be sacrificing the building's reputation. And these expectations & standards culminated in a building full of silence. Quiet.

In order to increase productivity in this building, many of its employees elected to move into an apartment building connected to the research facility. It would make life easier for those who were in the process of working on massive projects. They would be able to go easily from their apartment to their workplace & back and forth however they liked. One of the many benefits that this building offered was that they offered apartments to their employees who couldn't find or afford apartments. The way things were organized, the salaries of the people who took this advantage would be cut in half. However, they would get to live in the apartment building without paying any additional rent that wasn't connected to their salaries. Many people took advantage of this. However, many didn't. Actually, most of their employees didn't. Only a select few elected to stay in the facility provided apartments. Which led to not much noise or interaction. Most of the time, there was nothing but silence. Quiet.

Yet still, in these halls of this quiet building, there echoes a sound. It seems indiscernible at first, but as you listen to it more and more, you start to hear what the sound itself is. The sound of a flow of passion fills this building, going through the halls, through the air vents, through the little keyholes in everyone's doors. Noise exulted from the door in the back of the hallway of this floor. Excitement flew through the air of that room. A completely different atmosphere from the rest of the building was painted & strewn all throughout the room in the back of the hallway of this floor. It was almost like a grand occasion in that room, but the strange thing was that there was only one man in this room. One man, living all alone in the room in the back of the hallway of this floor. Creating a symphony of hundreds. Who, who is this man living in this room?

"Julian, you are a genius!"

We see a Hispanic man sitting at his desk with books stacked all around his space. He was a small man, at least compared to many of his coworkers. He had a bit of stubble, but his hair was short & well-kempt. He was dressed very casually, almost as if he was about to go to sleep. But that was very unlikely to happen anytime soon.

"Going to the small mom & pop store was so much more cost-effective than that corporate machine that Jessica INSISTED on buying from. Hah, what does she know? Just look at all this research I'm getting done! Alright, what's the next title?"

Julian put down the novel he had in his hands, titled "Adventures of Kitty & Marv IN SPACE Vol. 15: The Crater's Talisman" The cover of the novel was a brightly colored image of an anthropomorphic cat & a wolf boy on what looked like the moon. The wolf boy was holding a blue glowing object, supposedly the "Crater's Talisman." He picked up another book, this time without a brightly colored cover, & he read the title out loud to himself.

"Verzawald: A Guide on Mythical Creatures. English translation. Sweet."

Julian put on a pair of reading glasses & began to read the book, accompanied by a series of reactions to the contents of the book.