The Lost Seeds of Adelia

The Murders

"Once all the seeds rot, the world will come to an end, and Adelia will be erased from history, though, that isn't even half as bad as the alternative of us failing to find the seeds." He huffed in frustration, "Thomas Harvey will eventually find the seeds if we don't, and he will take over the world and use all the wonderful resources in Adelia for evil, just like the power-hungry being he is. He will torture every innocent human and creature alike, and bend them to the breaking point, so much so, that any being would rather die." Angelos explained solemnly, seemingly defeated even at the thought of that happening. Coyle gave a faint gasp of fear, not wanting to think of the possibilities that will happen if they don't succeed. As usual, Coyle's stubborn mind disobeyed him and it wandered off to the deepest, darkest depths of Coyle's brain where all the horrid, worrisome thoughts Coyle had, packed up in a small corner. Sometimes, it's not just a small corner, instead, it's a huge pile of cold thoughts bundled up, but whenever that happens, in a few hours, his brain empties out all the bad thoughts, and Coyle forgets about them. Just recently, in Coyle's brain, horrible things packed up there quite often and Coyle always unwillingly gives in to his own mind and lets it settle in the darkness. Angelos wandered off, leaving Coyle to brood alone.

Angelos slinked to the center of his big, and intricately detailed carpet mat, tapped three times on the biggest of the leaves on the rug, and slowly spiraled down to the dark depths of the deep, where there was once a murder, as well as a murderer.

On ground level in the small cottage, Coyle was so wound up in his thoughts, that he hadn't even noticed Angelos disappear. He began dozing off but suddenly jerked awake at the sound of a trembling crash. Coyle, eyes wide open began searching for Angelos. 'This won't take long,' he thought. 'It's just a teensy-weensy cottage.' Minutes passed by and Coyle still hadn't found him. He grew more nervous by the second. 'What if...what if...,' Coyle's 'What ifs' began forming terrible thoughts in his head. Coyle jumped to his senses and began frantically calling Angelos' name, "ANGELOS..." When there was no reply, Coyle cupped his mouth, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "ANGELOOOOOOOOOS!" When there was again, no response, he roamed around in the next room. There, he spotted what he'd missed the first time he searched for Angelos. It was so obvious, that the idea of Coyle missing it was ridiculous. He slapped his head before peering down the narrow hole through the leaf on the mat, and hesitantly jumped down onto the automatic platform and spiraled down, just like Angelos did.

"Oof," Coyle grunted as he eagerly tried to jump off the platform. Instead, he failed miserably and landed ungracefully, face first on the cold, dusty ground. "Ptueh," Coyle spit out the remaining dust particles that got stuck on his lips from the clumsy fall, then he walked on through the underground tunnel and soon found that it was an enormous library, filled with dozens upon dozens of bookshelves aligned with books of different shapes and sizes. Coyle gaped, bottom lip drooping to the ground and he stared. Once Coyle fell out of his trance, he pushed on through the maze of a library.

Every so often, Coyle saw maps lining the walls and ladders leaning against the bookshelves. His lips parted slightly, like a cat does when intensifying its ability to smell. He smacked his lips, the sound vibrating off the walls. Coyle particularly liked the smell of the library. It smelled of the old richness of paper. It smelled of freshly cut wood. It smelled like-like his old home. Coyle's eyes widened as he jumped back to his senses. He smacked his forehead-again for being so stupid. He should be looking for Angelos, not losing himself in the smell of the library! Coyle continued calling, "ANGELOOOOOOOOS!!!" he screamed, at the top of his lungs.

Angelos scampered out awkwardly from behind one of the tall bookshelves. He had a large bruise on his head and stuttered, "Why hello again, Coyle...I-I'm sorry, you must have been so frightened. Ah! You must have heard my ladder fall and have come searching for me! Forgive me, I was just looking for a book called Adelia in, Adelia out." He said apologetically. "It's a book about spells to enter and exit Adelia. Help me find it, will you? It's in the section, "Spell Books." Just then had Coyle glanced up and noticed a sign on the side of the bookshelf labeled "Spells." He straightened up, ignoring the piles of dust his feet were gathering, and walked briskly to the bookshelf behind Angelos' where the small elf had already begun searching for the book.

It's been 3 hours since Coyle had started looking for the book "Adelia in, Adelia out," and he still couldn't find it. He'd found spell books on weather, time, protection, power, immortality, and more, even books that didn't belong in the section. Coyle's forehead gleamed with perspiration and he could feel the drowsiness rising to his head. Coyle wiped his moist hands on his dirty pants and flicked the sweat of his forehead, hoping it would help stop the wet liquid from dripping on the book covers.

Hours passed by, Coyle was dozing on and off throughout the course of the boring day, but finally, Angelos raced to Coyle's bookshelf, waving a book above his head wildly, and shouted, "I found it! I found the book!!!" Coyle's head jerked up, eyes filling with relief and he sighed, glad to not have to search anymore. Angelos, still pumped from the book, grasped Coyle's thin arm, and pulled him to his feet...or halfway up since he was too short to pull him fully up and he ran.

Angelos swiftly tugged Coyle's arm and navigated them through the tunnel without even glancing at the maps and hopped up eagerly on the swirling platform that brought them up, back to the room with the rug. Angelos' gripping the book tightly with his wrinkled hands, flipped through the pages with great care and read carefully through each and every word. Coyle overlooked the book from Angelos' shoulder and read too. When Angelos turned the page, it presented Coyle and Angelos with a picture of a glowing stone, full of light. Coyle gazed in amazement at the magnificent stone and read the caption that came with it. "Anyone who retrieves this stone of travel can freely pass between the dimensions of Adelia and Earth," Coyle narrated, in awe. Though Coyle's eyes were practically shining as bright as the stone, Angelos wore a sorrowful look and stared at the stone with a longing in his eyes. When Coyle came out of his trance, it had been almost 2 minutes until he'd noticed Angelos' glum expression. "Wha-Wha?" stammered Coyle, "Why the long face? Is something wrong? What's happening? Huh?", Coyle was most certainly and utterly confused, spitting out random mindless questions. Angelos sighed and started, "Well...a while back,- I don't even know how long back it was. You see, you mortals have a different time cycle than us creatures do- anyways, a while back, I was the keeper of the stone. The trusted one. The protection. I was trusted by Adelia. Her-Adelia's government hired me to be the keeper. I-I", he paused, taking the time to stare at the ground, embarrassed. "I failed... Thomas Harvey found its hiding spot and killed two librarians helping me sort out the books and protect the stone...I'm so sorry, dear boy..." Coyle was leaning slightly towards Angelos, yearning to hear a good story. A story. It was something Coyle hadn't heard in years since his father and mother died. They were both librarians and had brought home children's fairytale books every day after their job. Coyle longed to relive those moments again. Then he noticed Angelos staring at Coyle and he remembered the story Angelos was telling. "So what happened next?" Coyle asked. It was a question he had asked his parents over a million times when they were reading him to sleep. "Right, well back where I left off. Thomas Harvey killed two trusty librarians...and he stole the stone of travel. He has it and that's how he can freely pass between the two dimensions." Coyle thought hard. Suddenly, it hit him. The so-called fairy tales his parents read to him weren't fairy tales; they were true stories in Adelia! The two librarians murdered by Thomas Harvey were his parents. He had sensed Angelos watching him with a worrisome face, and Coyle glanced up, his sad, drooping eyes were reflected in Angelos' cool blue eyes. There was a long moment of silence until Coyle blurted out, "Who were the two librarians Thomas Harvey killed?" Right after he asked, Coyle regretted it. He didn't want to think it was his parents that got killed-he didn't want, but the world didn't care what this young boy wanted. The world was a cruel place where people don't care about a young boy's desires and wants. Coyle realized he was gripping the sides of his chair so hard, his knuckles turned white and calluses formed. He loosened his grip slightly and again, saw Angelos staring at him pitifully. Angelos dropped his gaze and whispered very quickly, "The two librarians were your parents, Coyle."