Enter Abyss

Chapter 24; The library.

It was the middle of the night when Archer heard the knock on his door.

"It had better be bloody Thaddeus coming to get us to take us home." Pip growled, her voice still thick from sleep. "I won't accept any other reason for pounding on the door at this hour."

Rising from his bed, Archer only had time to pull on his trousers before the door swung open and Galen hobbled in, leaning heavily on his staff. 

Archer grinned, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Galen! I say, it's bit late for you to visit. If I'd known you were going to be bursting in like that, I would've worn more than trousers--"

Galen waved his hand, almost impatiently, and it was then that Archer noticed that the boy had a feverish look to him-- a look of excitement. "No need to appologize," he said, "It is I who should be sorry. But I simply had to tell you when I remembered something in the night."

"Does it involve cheese?"

"What? No."

"Thank heavens..."

Galen smiled softly, his eyes glittering, "No, it involves your parents. Specifically, what happened to them."

At that moment, both Pip and Cogs sat up in bed, their eyes alert.

Archer himself could not believe his own ears. With a whoop, he pumped his fist in the air excitedly and asked that Galen tell them what he remembered before he nearly lost it.

"It as a book-- a collection of journal entries you mother wrote about her expeditions. I did not recall it when we first spoke, thinking it had been lost with her, then I suddenly remembered that we had found it at the very place where the three of you had come into the Abyss."

"You mean the place where all the sacrifices that we throw in land?" Archer asked, almost breathlessly. Could this be it? Was he about to find out who his father was? His mother? Was he about to find out who HE was?

Galen nodded in answer to his question. "We were confused by this find... she usually never left such a treasure behind, even when she went on expeditions."

Archer felt his excitement wither slightly as Cogs laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. 

"Arch," the blond boy said solemnly, "She might not be alive."

Shaking his head stubbornly, Archer clenched his fists, feeling the gears in his head turning. It was possible, all too possible, that neither of his parents could be alive. 

Exploring was a dangerous buiseness-- not to mention that his mother was an Abyss explorer, so there was the illegal side of things as well, which didn't help. But, try as he might, he still felt a thrill of hope, of excitement bubbling up within him.

They could be dead... or they could still be alive.

Looking Galen in the eyes, he beheld the young king's pale, innocent gaze, knowing that whatever truth lay before them, his friends would be there if he needed them.

Thus, taking a deep breath, Archer whispered the words that would lead him to his past.

"Show me."

                                ......................................

The book was kept in the palace library, accesible only by the royal family and the king's advisors.

"I used to spend hours here," Galen said as they made their way through rows of shelves lined with dusty books as big as Archer's head. "I would mostly stay in the prophecy room, trying to decipher what the carved words meant. I suppose that's Mordren's problem now..."