The Last Experience Point

The airport was small: much smaller than any of those Zach had been in up until this point. To that end, there wasn't even an air bridge to connect the jet to the airport's lone terminal. Instead, Zach now climbed down a few steps and began walking directly across the tarmac with the others. Right away, he felt somewhat underdressed as a wind that was chillier than expected for this time of the year blew over him on his way towards the very modestly sized building ahead.

So, this is Dragon Squire, huh?

Of all the regions in North Bastia, Dragon Squire was by far the least discussed and arguably the least important. Not only was it the only region that did not contain one or more cities, but Drake's Wing was the only place in the entire region that actually had a meaningfully sized population, with just shy of 200,000 humans living here. Outside of that, Zach recalled learning that there existed no population centers where the population exceeded 50 anywhere else, and what villages did exist were few and far between. Otherwise, the rest of the region's inhabitants were individuals or small families living by themselves in extremely remote locations where emergency services could not reach them and were essentially off the grid and on their own, completely disconnected from society.

I should try that sometime.

As Zach walked with the others through a revolving door, he noticed right away the stark contrast between Drake's Wing's only airport and the one he'd just departed from. The atmosphere here was incredibly laid-back. Nearly all the seats at all the gates were empty, and there only appeared to be a few departing and arriving flights per day. There wasn't even a gift shop! At an airport! Then again, it did track with what Zach had heard about Drake's Wing; namely, that Drake's Wing was an extremely ordinary, mundane, and mostly uneventful town that had average food, average schools, average accommodations, and nothing particularly remarkable to make it noteworthy—except for its surrounding mountains.

As they exited the airport and stepped onto a chipped, but mostly intact sidewalk, Jimmy, Lienne, Rian, and even the Elves began spinning around with delight on their faces. "Wow," Lienne said. "It's beautiful!"

Zach also spun around—and he had to agree with her, for the sole defining characteristic of Drake's Wing—and likely the only reason it got any tourism at all—was that the land was built on a mountain basin that was surrounded on every side by massively tall, snow-topped mountains. It was to the extent that no matter which direction one faced, there was always a mountain in view. This, and this alone, gave the region its one defining feature. Because other than that, there didn't appear to be a single exceptional trait about this place.

"The Grand Library should be within walking distance from here," Zach said. "Five miles straight down the main road."

"Which main road?" Jimmy asked.

"Literally that one, Jimmy."

Zach pointed to the two-lane, modestly trafficked street just ahead of them off the sidewalk where a DEHV was pulling out of a DEHV-wash before soaring down the road. Not far from them was a diner, a clothing store, and a hardware shop. And everything just had a real "old-timey" appearance about it. Nothing looked decayed or in disrepair: just really old. The signs marking each location were done in a faded paint, and the buildings themselves had a wooden, homely look. It felt like one of those rural towns in Whispery Woods.

A bit like a larger version of Den of Ziragoth, actually, Zach thought, shuddering at the memory.

"I can't believe the Royal Roses even bothered to capture this place," Rian said as they began walking together to the Grand Library. "Why even waste their time?"

Zach paused at a DEHV crossing, then bent slightly backwards, needing to stretch after the 4-hour flight. "I think it was more of a symbolic thing. I don't even really see any guild presence here. It's kind of like the way Whispery Woods was my entire life: ignored and forgotten." After a moment, Zach added, "Well…except this place, I guess, is still much nicer and not crumbling to pieces."

The more Zach saw of the Drake's Wing, the more that belief became reinforced. There was nothing spectacular or great about this town. It just sort of "was." But even that would be preferable to growing up in the crime-ridden, criminally underfunded city of Whispery Woods which, despite being the city with the largest human population in the entire continent of North Bastia, had been neglected to the point where Zach had literally fallen through the ground into his very first mob spawn. And while Drake's Wing was equally as ignored as Whispery Woods, one could clearly make the argument it didn't actually "require" any attention. It was the kind of place that could be safely left to its own devices. It was doing just fine on its own.

I wonder why this place even needs a Grand Library, though, Zach thought. I guess they just really wanted to have one in each region.

Coming up to their left, Zach spotted a series of four-story apartment buildings. Kids were out front running around and playing. Zach walked a bit faster, and so did the others. He wasn't in the mood to get bogged down signing autographs. Then again, nobody would ever expect someone like him to show up here, so anyone who looked his way might just second-guess what they were seeing. The same would go for Tyson Revel as well.

Tyson…

Zach, walking frontmost, paused and turned around. "Tyson," he said, the guilt once more rushing into him. "I just want to say that—"

"There is no need," Tyson said, raising his palm. "I would've hit me too. I was quite the burden, and your disdain is warranted. You're not wrong to hate me."

Zach shook his head. "I don't hate you."

"You do, and you should," Tyson said. "So please don't mind me. Let's just keep going."

Before proceeding, Lienne gave him a strange look. Her eyes were partially narrowed, but not in an angry way, and she moved her lips as though she was going to speak, but she said nothing. Rian was also acting strangely towards him now that he thought about it. Neither of them were making much conversation with Zach, and he was pretty sure it was all because of what he'd done to Tyson.

They haven't seen that side of me before, he thought. At least not like that.

Though they'd been with him during that daring retreat from Archian Prime, when Zach, acting purely out of self-defense, had killed several Elves, the circumstances back then had been totally different to the one in the airplane. Zach had knocked a guy's tooth out without any real justification or right to do so. He knew it was wrong. And he felt it with every step. For this reason, he hurried forward as Tyson began gaining some distance. "No, wait. Tyson, stop."

"Hm?" Tyson asked, turning around, a loose strand of his red hair falling in front of his eyes. "What's wrong?" As he spoke, Zach couldn't help but notice that he was missing a front-left tooth. It was impossible not to see. Zach winced at the sight of it.

"What I did wasn't okay," he said. "And I'm really sorry. And tomorrow, I'm going somewhere to get a few more healing stones. When I do, I'm going to give you a red." He pointed. "To get your tooth back."

"That's a bit of a waste, no? A red just for a tooth?"

"It's not a waste. Please use it and heal back to how you were before."

He shrugged. "If you insist."

"I do. And I really am sorry. And also, uh…"

"Yes?"

Zach lowered his voice. "I'm so sorry about your dad. I didn't know he died. And I don't know if that had something to do with why you, uh, you know…but when we get back, I think you should talk to Jascaila."

He laughed of all things, and his mood and energy shifted immediately. His eyebrows rose, and his lips formed an O-shape. "I'd love to talk to her," he said gleefully. "Do you think she'd be willing to talk to me? Also, why are you recommending that? Did she say something? Did she say she wants to? You can tell me if she did. I mean, you wouldn't just tell me to talk to her for no reason, right?"

Listening to his energetic reply, it only just now occurred to Zach that Tyson had no idea what Jascaila actually did for a living. "Tyson," he said, "Jascaila is a therapist. I'm sorry if I didn't lead with that. It should've been obvious you didn't know. Sometimes I forget that not everybody knows that. Anyway, I hope finding this out doesn't…upset you."

"Upset me? No, not at all," Tyson said happily. "She's hot and I get to trauma dump?" He actually skipped. "I cannot wait to return!" He skipped again. At this point, he was practically frolicking with happiness, moving ahead of all of them as they proceeded to the Grand Library. "I wonder if there's something nice that I can buy for her in this dump of a city."

"Town," Rian corrected. "And yeah, this place does suck."

"I think it's fine," Lienne said, to which Seiley and Trelvor agreed.

Tyson, practically bouncing merrily from street corner to street corner, began composing love poems to Jascaila, and for the first time, Zach actually found him to be not so entirely terrible. Because it seemed he had at least one skill, if nothing else. He was actually pretty good. And everything he said appeared to be right off the top of his head.

"A moment's meeting,

a fleeting greeting,

Jascaila, since seeing you, my heart keeps beating.

Your eyes, an endless ocean,

On a tide that keeps me hoping,

you saw value in my soul,

your words of wisdom make me whole.

Oh, Jascaila, you are the light that shines the brightest,

and betwixt thy legs,

I bet your pu—"

"Stop!" Lienne shouted. "Don't say it!"

"—is the tightest," he finished. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"You are," Lienne said grumpily. "That was so beautiful until you ruined it at the end there. Oh, Gods, I can't get that out of my head now. Gross, gross, gross!"

Zach twitched, Trelvor gasped, Seiley blushed, and Rian released a roar of laughter. "Best poem ever!" Rian called out, applauding in a way that actually looked sincere. Hell, it probably was. "Especially that last part. That was my favorite."

Tyson spun around, and in front of strangers who were watching him in awe and confusion, he placed his left hand on his chest and his right by his side, and then he bowed, bending all the way forward. "Thank you," he said.

Rian shook his finger at Tyson while nodding. "You gotta recite that to her, buddy. You have to."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. And word for word, too, make sure you don't change anything."

"I will not."

"No, I'm serious. Don't change a single word. Every part of that, especially the end. Make sure you tell it to her just like that. If you do even one thing differently, it won't work. It has to be exactly the same. And I also have to be there to watch."

Tyson straightened his back, but he did so almost as though Rian's praise was a physical force that was actually uplifting him. "I will do just that," he said, raising his hand and brushing a strand of his red hair out of his eyes.

Zach, caught between two opposing states of shock and amusement, decided to say nothing and to merely keep walking forward. He could actually see the Grand Library up ahead. It really stood out, as it was directly between a tiny little convenience store on one side and a DEHV recharge station on the other, and it formed a very harsh contrast, with its white, decorative pillars and the massive, gold-colored handles on the door of its front entrance.

Stepping inside, the six of them immediately turned to look at Zach as if for a clearer explanation of what, specifically, he wanted them to do and what they should be looking for. And it was here that Zach realized he had a bit of a dilemma, as there were some things he could say, and some things he could not say. Then there were things he was "allowed" to say but he wasn't sure if he should. And further complicating things was that everyone with him had a different level of knowledge regarding his reason for being here. Whereas Jimmy knew almost everything, the Elves knew only about the World Eater—but not Albion-4—and Rian and Lienne knew about Albion-4 but not the World Eater. Then there was Tyson, who knew nothing at all.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Zach pointed to a booth large enough to fit all seven of them near the Grand Library's cafeteria, which was almost completely empty. Actually, there were very few people in the library altogether. It once again reminded Zach of how pointless it was to have one here. Even still, the cafeteria was fully staffed, and it seemed there were a few customers eating. The people of Drake's Wing likely viewed the entire library as nothing more than a place to grab lunch.

Well, at least we'll have some privacy.

The seven of them approached the counter, bought some sandwiches, and grabbed a seat together at the booth. With that, they began to eat, and upon slurping some cola out of a plastic cup through a straw, it was Lienne who asked the question that Zach knew was on all of their minds.

"So," she began, "what's so special about this place anyway? And how does it have anything to do with Albion-4? What should we be looking for?"

"Eh, excuse me, but what exactly is Albion-4?" Tyson asked, looking at Trelvor, who happened to be across from him.

"I myself do not know," he replied. "I've never heard that name before."

"Really?" Lienne asked. "I've never mentioned it to you, hun?"

"No, not that I can recall, my flower-maiden."

Zach knew he had no chance whatsoever of avoiding the laughter that came as a result of that last one, and Rian was already burying his face in his hands. Leave it to Trelvor to choose a term like "flower-maiden" over something normal like "hun." Rushing to hide his head behind a menu, it appeared both he and Rian somehow managed to conceal their chortling—at least from Trelvor, anyway. And yet, with his eyes hidden behind the foldable menu, Zach could tell that Lienne had not been fooled; no, he could clearly hear Rian croak as Lienne either elbowed him or punched him in the gut.

"And here's one from me," Seiley grunted as, from the sound of things, she also jabbed him.

"Forgive me, my flower-maiden," Rian said to her.

Zach, who had just put down the menu, had to put it right back up as even Seiley cracked a smile at that. And somehow, Trelvor remained oblivious to all of it.

"Anyways," Lienne continued, clearing her throat. "Based on what I've heard, Albion-4 is a planet that the Explorer's Brigade has spent like a really long time or something looking for. Zephyr told me that they pieced its existence together from various item descriptions over the years. And Zephyr thinks it's a T2 planet as well: meaning it represents the next step in our journey as adventurers. But we don't think anybody in history has ever actually made it there."

I know for a fact they haven't, Zach thought, though that minor detail was likely one of those "things" he was forbidden from sharing with anyone but Jimmy, Mr. Oren, Donovan, Zephyr, Kalana, Olivir, or Kolona—oh and Tena, too.

Following Lienne's explanation, Tyson made a satisfied-sounding "hmm" and smiled, and now, once again, Zach had to suppress his guilt; the sight of the man's missing tooth reminded him of what he'd done. "So then," Tyson said as though seeking clarification, "we are all here to look for a planet in a…library?"

"I think so," Lienne answered. "This is where everything becomes really confusing, though. Because we know that, for some reason, the clue to finding it is somewhere in this exact Grand Library we are currently sitting in—and only this one." She paused to take a bite of her toasted sandwich, and a crumb fell over her cheek. She wiped it away with a napkin then added, "But I don't know how we know that or why we know that." Now, she looked suspiciously at Zach. "It has some to do with you though, doesn't it, Zach?"

Put on the spot, Zach became uneasy as he struggled to think of some way of explaining this to everyone. And struggle really was the right word for it. There were so many things he wanted to say, and he actually had to carefully consider whether he was allowed to say each one. The result was everybody staring at him demandingly while he sat in absolute silence, causing them to send him questioning glances.

"Zach?"

He opened his mouth then closed it. This only caused Rian and Lienne to prod him even further. But it was Trelvor who came to his rescue.

"Wait a moment," he said. "Zach, does this have to do with the forbidden knowledge?"

"Forbidden knowledge?" Zach asked nervously.

Trelvor nodded. "The Great Goddess told us that there exists forbidden knowledge that only you and a small number of others are permitted to freely discuss in private, and you are not permitted to share it with anyone else."

At this, Zach gave a firm nod. "Yeah. I can only really talk about it with Jimmy," he said, grateful that Trelvor had found a way to make this easy for him.

"That makes this very simple, then," Trelvor continued. He gestured off to the side with the palm of his hand. "The rest of us should leave and allow you to confer with him until you both come up with a path forward that we can help you with."

Immediately, the expression on Rian's face turned bitter. "Wait, what? Why not us too?"

"Because the Gods didn't will it so," Seiley whispered to him, placing her palm on top of his and interlocking the fingers on both of their hands. "Don't be upset."

"Well, I am upset," he replied defiantly. "I just plain don't accept that."

"Me neither," Lienne said. "Zach, what gives?"

Zach opened his mouth to reply, but Seiley interrupted him. "Please don't be upset, you two. Trelvor and I don't know this forbidden knowledge either. And it's not for us to decide who gets chosen to do what. Questioning the will of the Gods is a big no-no."

"Yeah, but…but Jimmy knows," Lienne argued. "Not that I'm against him knowing. I just don't understand why we can't also know. Did we do something wrong?"

"It's not like that, Lienne," Jimmy said. "And trust me, I didn't exactly go around asking to be part of this shit. There's more about my life that I wish I could tell you guys. Way more. Like, about how I got here and what my life was like before. But Eilea told me I would be in a shit-ton of danger if I ever revealed it."

Trelvor gave a firm nod despite clearly having no idea what Jimmy was talking about. "And rightfully so. The Goddess is warning you that she will smite you if you betray your purpose. I am also honor-bound to attack you if you even try."

"Man, what?" Jimmy asked, his lips peeling back as if in disgust. "Attack me? Why? How's this got anything to do with you?"

"You have just admitted that the Goddess forbids you to speak more on your origin than she has allowed, did you not?"

"Nah, man, it's not like that at all. You got it all ass-backwards."

"How so?"

"Well, for one, Eilea—"

"Great Goddess!" Seiley fired in, to which Jimmy sighed.

"For one, the Great Goddess wasn't talking about her coming after me herself. She meant that, if I started talking about it, I would end up 'slain.'"

"Yes," Trelvor said, his tone as rigid as his posture. "She will slay you, which would break her kind, loving heart. So please do not force her to do so."

Jimmy groaned, and it was a sound that carried the unmistakable note of frustration. "No, no, you're still not getting it," he said. "She wasn't talking about she herself slaying me. She meant it would be because of some enemy or whatever."

"Nonsense," Trelvor replied immediately. "The Gods have no enemies. If they did, they would simply wipe them out of existence."

"That's not even true, though. Actually, you know what? Fuck it. I'm about to tell you some shit that'll blow your mind since I know none of you are my enemy. You guys are the closest friends I've made since I came here to Galterra: even Rian despite being a punk-ass bitch. So, there's no reason I gotta hide this from ya'll anymore." His expression turned deadly serious.
"Look, I really am from Earth. That's not a lie. But there's a lot more to it than that. The truth is I actually traveled here from the p—ammmmvvv!"

Trelvor, gasping, reached across and slapped his hand over Jimmy's mouth. "You must never reveal the forbidden knowledge to those who have not had God's blessing to hear it!" he shouted way too loudly, drawing the attention of the few people who were actually in this cafeteria while simultaneously embarrassing the shit out of Zach. His embarrassment doubled as Jimmy struggled against Trelvor and knocked over a napkin holder, clinking loudly in a way that disrupted the typically quiet atmosphere of the library.

"Forgive him!" Seiley cried, folding her hands against her chest as though she were praying. "Great Lord, Great Goddess, and all the Gods and Goddesses of Elvadin—we heard nothing!"

"We heard nothing!" Trelvor added, making a scene. He screamed out the words while stifling Jimmy. "Your knowledge has not slipped from Jimmy's lips. We beg your forgiveness!"

"We heard nothing!" Seiley shouted again as several customers began heading towards the exit door.

Jimmy stopped struggling, and Zach realized he was having a hard time breathing. But thankfully, right before he went to intervene, Trelvor released his hand, fixed Jimmy with a murderous gaze, and said, "Never, ever do that again."

Jimmy, panting, nodded. "All right, all right. Just please don't kill me."

"Believe me, Jimmy, harming you is the last thing Seiley or I would ever want to do. We may have only met you recently, but we do care about you. Having said that, if it ever truly came down to it, I assure you it would be better to die by our hands than to disobey the Gods and face the eternal fire."

"You're right. That would be bad," Jimmy said, clearly lying, as Zach knew for sure he didn't believe that. "Don't want that. So, we cool?"

"Hm? Cool?"

"He means are you two still friends and not enemies," Seiley whispered to Trelvor.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Oh, yes, of course. You are a good man, Jimmy, so please, do not disobey the Great Lord ever again."

"I won't. That was the last time."

Throughout all of this, Rian had been completely quiet. And now, studying his face, Zach realized he actually looked really hurt, and so too did Lienne. Just from that alone, Zach knew he had to at least say something to them. But it had to be something that wouldn't cause him to get into a wrestling match with two Elves, because Zach had his own set of issues. And he knew that if they stopped him from breathing even just for a few seconds, it might trigger something in him, and he didn't know what he'd do if that happened: or more importantly, who he might hurt.

I'm starting to fear my own self, he thought. But he shook the thought out of his head and focused his attention on Rian and Lienne, who were definitely not happy with him right now.

Zach knew very well why they were upset—and how could he fault them for it? From their perspective, it must have felt like he'd completely shut them out of everything. Maybe they thought he didn't trust them. Or maybe they thought that he didn't consider them worthy of knowing these so-called "forbidden" pieces of knowledge. But the truth was something so much simpler. The truth was that it had nothing whatsoever to do with any of that. And after thinking a moment on how to word things, he finally spoke up.

"I just want to make something clear," he said. "Rian, Lienne: it's true that I can't tell you many of the things I know, and unfortunately, I also can't even tell you the entire reason of why I can't tell you them. But there is one thing I can actually say."

"Oh yeah?" Rian asked, frowning. "And what's that?"

Zach took a breath before continuing, and then he released it. "The only reason you don't know what Jimmy knows is because of pure coincidence. Seriously. It actually is because of nothing more than random chance. Here's the thing, guys: both of you were always intended to be in my little group of, uh…of people who are allowed to know the stuff that I can't tell you."

Rian squinted at him. "Zach, I have no damn idea what you're saying. Li?"

"Same. I'm completely lost."

Rian and his sister both stared at Zach with a blank expression, so Zach tried to elaborate without running afoul of the deal he'd made with Adamus. Once more, he took a few seconds to ensure he was wording things in a way that wouldn't create problems for him later on.

"Basically," he explained, "for a period of time, through a means I can't tell you, I was able to learn things in secret that aren't allowed to be known by anyone. At first, I only told one other person what I found out. Actually, this person happened to be there with me when I found a lot of this stuff out."

"Who was it?" Lienne asked. "Kalana?"

She was right, but Zach didn't know if he was allowed to confirm it. "I can't say."

"It was, wasn't it? Just tell us."

Zach laughed. "Okay, yeah, fine, it was Kalana."

"I knew it!"

"Duh, it was fucking obvious, Li."

"Shuttup, Rian." Lienne glared at her brother a second before returning her attention to him. "Okay, go on."

Zach slowly nodded, and yet again, he paused and ran his words through his head just to make sure he wasn't going to create a problem with Adamus or the two Elves sitting with him. "Okay, so anyway," he continued, "using this method I can't discuss, I was able to continue to find out more forbidden things. But as I learned more and more stuff, I very, very slowly began bringing in other people and expanding the number of people who were in the know. And you and Rian were going to be next. But eventually, after having a conversation with one of the, uh…with one of the Elvish Gods, I—"

"The Great Lord, Adamus," Trelvor cut in. "I apologize for interrupting, but you are permitted to say that."

"I am?"

"Of course," he replied, as though these stupid "rules" made sense intrinsically and should be obvious. which they clearly weren't! As if sensing Zach's confusion, he said, "It is important that it be known what the Great Lord Adamus commands of us; that way, one who defies his will cannot later claim ignorance."

"Oh," Zach said. "Okay, well then in that case, yeah. It was the uh…the Great Lord. So…where was I?"

"You were telling us how we were about to be the next to learn your secrets," Lienne said.

"Oh yeah, right. Okay, so, one day before I planned on filling you and your brother in on everything, I happened to have a conversation with the Great Lord, and from that point on, I wasn't able to tell anyone else. So, in other words," Zach concluded, "the only reason I can't tell you what I know is because of timing and circumstance. That truly is the only reason. If my conversation with Ada—the Great Lord, I mean—had taken place just twenty-four hours later, you and Rian would know everything that Jimmy does, because you were never intended to be kept out."

"Oh yes they were!" Seiley interjected, a sudden heat in her voice. Trelvor looked annoyed, too. "And you're being very disrespectful, Zach. Either that, or dishonest."

Utterly baffled, Zach looked at her. "How so? You think I'm lying?"

It was Trelvor who answered. "Not on substance, no."

"Then on what?"

He made a slight grunt. "The very idea that any of this is 'chance' or 'coincidence' is completely false. You are being delusional, Zach. It is obviously the case that you learned only what the Great Lord allowed you to learn and when he allowed you to learn it. And while you may believe you chose the members of your inner circle, you did no such thing. The Great Lord personally selected them for you, and in your arrogance, you have dared to take credit away from our Great Lord. Honestly, I find it insulting: to actually believe that your little 'human plotting' was anything more than the Great Lord exercising his will—preposterous!"

"Exactly," Seiley agreed, nodding. "The Great Lord wanted you to learn whatever it is you learned and with whoever you learned it. It was by his divine will!"

Oh boy, Zach thought. These people…

Zach knew better than to argue the point. Like, they were totally wrong, obviously. Well…mostly. They were right that Adamus did know that he was in the privacy room in Angelica's, and Adamus probably did surmise the nature of what he was talking about in there, but it certainly wasn't by his will or with his permission. Even still, arguing with Elves over their religious beliefs was a one-way ticket to getting kicked in the face, so he did the only sensible thing and apologized.

"You're right," he said. "I'm sorry. I forget myself sometimes. I apologize to the Great Lord."

Seiley and Trelvor stared at him a moment, and then both slowly nodded with approval. "We all make mistakes," Trelvor said. "It only matters that we recognize and correct them."

"I also apologize to the Great Lord," Tyson said.

Seiley glanced at him, confused. "For what?"

"Nothing. I just want to be included."

Trelvor and Seiley gave Tyson a strange look as though the man had mentally put them off balance. But then, as if deciding not to waste his brain cells, Trelvor grabbed his beverage and his tray, and he stood upright. "All right," he said. "I believe we should stop here before Zach accidentally reveals too much. Come, let us give him and Jimmy some time to discuss their knowledge. Please call us back whenever you are ready."

Rian grumbled to himself but nevertheless stood up. Zach was relieved to see he no longer looked hurt, which meant he probably believed everything Zach had told him, which was good, because Zach had told him the truth. But while there was no longer the wounded look of betrayal in his eyes, he now appeared frustrated and annoyed. "This is bullshit," he muttered.

Seiley chuckled. "Don't be jealous, Rian. The Gods may choose you for something really important in the future."

"I hope so."

One by one, they filed out of the booth and moved to a separate booth in the opposite corner of the cafeteria. Tyson was the last to join them. Now, Zach and Jimmy were alone, and aside from a general ambience of coffee being poured and people chatting—at least those they didn't already startle off—it was otherwise fairly quiet in the Grand Library.

"So," Jimmy said, folding his hands on the table. "What's the real deal?"

"I'm pretty sure you already know."

"Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. Let me guess: we gotta find Albion-4 to power up for the World Eater?"

"Yup."

"…and you want me to help you find it?"

"Also yup. I have no idea what to do, and I was hoping you could use your simulation knowledge to figure it out."

"Eh, I dunno if that's gonna work this time around."

"Why not?" Zach asked, his mood suddenly plummeting. "That's the whole reason I brought you here. I was sure you'd be able to figure out some secret or whatever."

"Why, though?" Jimmy asked him. "This ain't some video game thing, Zach. It's library research. There's a pretty big difference between the two. I mean, what you're trying to do is comb through old books to find out some ancient secret, and my gaming knowledge doesn't help with things like that. It helps with things like that," Jimmy said, pointing casually and disinterestedly at something all the way across the library. Zach traced the direction of his finger with his eyes, but he was still unable to determine what Jimmy was indicating.

"What are you referring to? I have absolutely no idea what you're pointing at."

Jimmy waved his hand dismissively then ate some more of his sandwich. "Man, it doesn't even matter. I was just trying to make a point."

"No, tell me. I want to know."

"It doesn't even matter."

"Just tell me!"

"Fine," he said, pointing a second time. "Look."

"Look at what?" Zach asked. "Jimmy, you know I won't see it. Just fucking tell me."

"Seriously? Like, for real? How do you not see that? Come on, Zach."

"I just don't!"

Jimmy buried his whole face in his hands for a few seconds. "Wow. You Galterrans." For the third time, he pointed. "Look past the staircase, Zach. Like, all the way across the room. Past that dude sleeping in the chair, the two rows of bookshelves, the 3D-VR-book-section—or whatever you call those—and right across from that emergency exit door."

"They're called holobooks, by the way."

"Whatever. Just look, Zach."

Zach looked exactly where he indicated, but there was just nothing there. Nothing out of the ordinary, anyway. Was he referring to the mop? Was he talking about the dirt on the floor? The LED lightbulb overhead? He had no damn idea.

"I'm not…I don't get it."

Finally, with a sigh, Jimmy said, "Do you really not see those five equally spaced, unlit torches?"

"Oh," Zach said. "Yeah, but…what does that have to do with anything?"

"I got 20k gold that says if you light all five of those, that wall behind it opens up. I'm not gonna say what's in there 'cause I got no idea, but I bet it's at least something related to the adventuring world."

Zach laughed, loudly. "Oh, bullshit! No way. There's just no way. I know you've been right about crazy stuff like that before, but this? Come on. That's the most random thing I've ever heard."

"Call me on it, then. Go ahead. If I'm wrong, you make 20k right now. Call my bluff, Zach."

"Jimmy…they're just torches!"

"No, they're not just torches. They're video-game torches."

"What does that even mean?"

"Bruh, look at the top of them."

"What about it?"

"They got that big-ass bowl that basically screams 'light me!' That's how video game torches look: with that big, bowl-looking top part. And there's an indentation in the wall behind it. That's the smoking gun."

Zach again laughed. "You know what? After we learn what we came here to learn, I might just call you on that. I know it's probably dumb to doubt you after you've proven yourself over and over and over, but like…there's a limit to how ridiculous things can be. Jimmy, they're just torches."

"Okay, and why are they there, then? Why are there just five, random-ass torches against a wall like that?"

Zach threw up his shoulders. "I don't know. I'm not an architect. Whoever built this library just thought it looked nice."

"Pfft. These Grand Library building's ain't even human made."

Zach rolled his eyes. "Really? And how do you know that?"

"Isn't it obvious? We use the portals in these libraries to get around, right? There's no way the devs would put portals in player-made objects."

"I don't know what that means, and I'm not even going to ask. But if these buildings aren't human made, how do they have electricity and cafeterias?"

"I dunno, maybe people came along and built that shit after? Maybe they weren't even libraries in the beginning. And also, don't forget: Trials of Nolak was in the basement of an abandoned school, so we already know people can build around them. But whatever, Zach. You can either believe me or not. But if not, put up the 20k. I'm right, you're wrong. End of story."

The confidence in his voice was convincing—very convincing. But this…this was just so random and made so little sense that he just couldn't bring himself to agree. "There's no way you're right."

"Zach," Jimmy said, frustration and annoyance now evident with each word he spoke. "I know this might sound hard for you to believe, but listen to what I'm telling you, okay? Literally any dude who's ever played a video game before would look at that and know right away it's a secret. An easy secret. It's not even well hidden. It's five torches right in front of an indentation in the wall. Everybody would know what that means. Shit, I scoped that out on the way in here."

Could he actually be right?

Jimmy released a slow breath as though Zach's disbelief had aggravated him. "This was a waste of time. Like I said, it doesn't even matter, and we're getting way off topic. The only reason I even brought that up at all is to point out that that's what I'm good at." Upon taking another bite of his sandwich, he sat up straighter in the booth.

Zach had to agree with that much at least. They were diverting too much from what was actually important. "So, basically, you're saying you don't think you can help?"

"Well, I can at least try, so don't get all down on me just yet. Maybe you and me can figure something out that everybody else missed."

Zach smiled. "That's what I want to hear. But…where should we start?"

"Uhh…how about we start by talking about what we know? Yeah, let's start with that."

Zach twisted his lips. "Uh, okay, but what do we really know?"

"A couple of things, actually." Jimmy raised his index finger. "One, we know that Eilea specifically asked you to come out here. Right?"

"Sure," Zach said. "But that's about all we know."

"Nope, not true."

"It's not? Why, what else do we know?"

He held up a second finger. "We know that the Explorer's Brigade has been scouting this place out for weeks, and that they can't seem to find anything. That's actually an important clue."

"Think so?" Zach asked, leaning forward somewhat and lowering his voice. "How do you figure?"

"Well, think about it, Zach. Why is it so important that you come to Dragon Squire?"

"I don't think it is."

"You sure?"

"Well…well maybe, I don't know. I got the impression that it was just important that someone comes here. I didn't take it to mean that it had to be me and no one else."

"Maybe, but then why hasn't anybody found anything?"

"Like I said, I've got no idea. But let's say you're right and there's a reason it has to be me. What do we do about it?"

Jimmy grabbed his sandwich and took a bite, then placed it back onto his tray. "I think we need to search around for information involving you or your name. I think we gotta just assume that if they had any information about Albion-4 that was searchable by something related to it, Zephyr's boys would've searched it up already. The fact they ain't found shit is kinda proof I'm right."

Zach made a small humming sound as he thought over what Jimmy was telling him. He was skeptical. He couldn't help but be. Why would his name have any kind of connection to Albion-4? He sighed. "I guess it couldn't hurt to try."

"Yeah, it's at least worth a shot, right? Oh, and we should call the others back. Even if we can't say why, we can at least tell them to search for any books or records by anyone named 'Calador.'"

"No, not just 'Calador,'" Zach said quickly. "Francis Calador."

"Who the hell is that?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know. Just some ancestor of mine, apparently."

"How do you know about him?"

Zach briefly told Jimmy about the conversation he'd had in his mind with Eilea on his way to Shadowfall Coast; specifically, he mentioned how she'd slipped that name to him while explaining how she'd screwed up and accidentally drove Peter IV mad by raising him from the dead. In earlier conversations, she'd referred to his "ancestor" but did not name him. Putting two and two together, Zach reasoned that "Francis Calador" was the name of her most trusted cohort and a likely target for investigation here.

"That's definitely something that checks out. So, what do we do about everyone else?" Jimmy asked.

Zach looked over his shoulder. They were all staring at the booth he was sharing with Jimmy. He smiled, raised his hand, and made a waving motion, beckoning them over. To Jimmy, he said, "We'll just have to tell them what—or rather who—to search for without telling them why."

"Sounds good," Jimmy said, popping the lid off his own cola and downing some of it. "But are you sure we can't tell them why we need to get to Albion-4? You're allowed to talk about the World Eater, after all."

Zach considered the question. The only people who didn't know were Rian, Lienne, and Tyson. And only Tyson couldn't be allowed to know yet. And so, as the five of them strutted over, Zach got up from his seat and held out his palm. "Actually, Tyson, I know this might sound mean, but I have a good reason for it. Can you go back over there?"

The red-haired man shrugged. "Uh, sure." Without a fuss, he turned back around and sat down on the table he'd only just gotten up from. Jimmy also got up, and he whispered to Zach that he was going to get a head start in their search. With that, he took off.

"So, what was that all about just now?" Rian asked. "Why'd you send Tyson away?"

"Because I want to tell you and Lienne something," Zach said. "Something everybody in the world is going to know eventually, but for right now, I can't risk getting out. That means you can't repeat what you're about to hear. Can I trust you?"

"Of course you can!" Rian rubbed his hands together. "Finally, some 'forbidden knowledge.'"

Zach chuckled. "You won't like hearing this."

*********

Rian's jaw dropped open, and Lienne was hugging Trelvor. He was right. They didn't like it. But at least now they knew.

"So, wait a second," Rian said. "In under five years, a boss is going to spawn that can turn our entire planet into what Earth looks like?"

Zach nodded. "That's why Earth looks the way it does. It was the World Eater."

Lienne gasped. "And there's no way to stop it from spawning?"

"None. It's coming. The only thing we can do is get to Albion-4, level up as much as we can, and get others to level up as well. If we don't do that, we don't stand any chance. This thing is supposed to be like the most powerful boss that has ever existed anywhere."

Trelvor and Seiley looked at one another, and then both in turn comforted Lienne and Rian. "Don't worry," Trelvor whispered to Lienne. "If this world is destroyed, we have Archian Prime."

"But it's so cold there!"

"Only during winters. Our winter takes place during your summer. It is not always frigid, and indeed, it can be quite beautiful during its warmer months. In time, I am sure you'll grow to love it."

She shook her head. "I want to save this world."

"We will try, of course. But if that doesn't work out, you will always have Archian Prime…and me."

Rian, having bought himself a bottle of water, gulped down a bunch of it then looked like he might cough it back up. "Gods, this sucks. How long have you known about this, Zach?"

"For a while now."

"And this is not the forbidden knowledge that you can't tell us?"

"It used to be, but it's not anymore. And if that doesn't make sense, I'm sorry."

Rian chuckled. "Well, whatever it is you can't say, I doubt it's more shocking than this."

Zack firmly shook his head. "Oh no, Rian. It is."

"Stop fucking with me."

"I'm not. I swear on my life. It's ten times worse. It's so bad that when I brought in Mr. Oren and he found out, he wasn't able to speak for a half-hour and he almost cried. You should actually be glad you don't know."

"Are you screwing with me, Zach?"

"Not this time. In fact, if anything, I'm—"

"That's enough," Trelvor said, his lips dropping into a frown. "You're coming dangerously close to crossing the line of disobeying the Great Lord. Can we not focus on finding out how to save Galterra?"

"Yeah, for sure," Zach agreed. "And sorry." With everyone having finished eating, he stood up and looked around. "So, do you guys all know what to do?"

Lienne nodded. "We need to search for anything with the name 'Calador', and um, if there are multiple, prioritize anything associated with the name of 'Francis.'"

"That's right," Zach said, giving her a thumbs up. "We'll go through each and every—"

"Don't waste your time," a glum voice said from behind him. Zach turned around to see Jimmy approaching with his hands inside his fancy-looking, boss-dropped robe and a look of defeat on his face. "There's nothing."

"What do you mean there's nothing?" Zach demanded. "You couldn't possibly have searched through everything already."

"True," Jimmy said. "Unless, of course, there isn't anything to begin with."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I went to every librarian in this place while you guys were talking. There are no books written by anyone named Calador. None. At least not anything they've logged into their records. This is true of the ones printed on paper and the holobooks."

Zach scratched his head. "What about books that just have the word Calador in it."

"Checked that, too. The string 'Francis Calador' never appears."

"What about just Calador?"

"Millions of times in about two-thousand books. A lot of it is nonsense, cooking books, fiction, nothing important. But there are just too many to sift through by ourselves."

Zach swore. "So you're telling me we failed before we even had the chance to look? No, I'm not going along with that. Jimmy, we have to at least search a little harder."

"Okay, and where?" Jimmy asked him angrily. "Zach, dude, you're welcome to search the same shit I just searched and see for yourself. I don't care. But you're not gonna find what you're looking for that way."

Tyson, who had finally been allowed back over, asked, "What's everyone discussing?"

Jimmy explained to him the situation. Then he asked if the man had any ideas. "Hmm. We could pay a hundred people to search for us. I'd happily put up all the money."

"That's…definitely possible," Zach said. "But I don't know. None of this makes sense. What the hell are we supposed to find here?"

Zach walked away from the booth and decided to get some space alone where he could think. He reflected on the conversation he and Jimmy had just had, during which they had discussed the only two things they actually had to go on: the fact that he'd been asked to come here personally, and the fact that the Explorer's Brigade had likely already tried everything obvious and failed.

This really was a dead-end, wasn't it? But it made no sense. It just didn't make any Gods-be-damned sense! If Jimmy was right, and it was clearly Eilea's attention for him, personally, to come here, then what did she think he'd find? There must be a reason why. There had to be. What could he possibly do that no one else could?

Nothing, he thought. At least not when it comes to doing basic research.

There just wasn't anything special about Zach that would enable him to find what was hidden. He was, if anything, the least suitable person. The Explorer's Brigade were much more fitting, but they couldn't find anything either. So why him? Did Eilea have a specific reason? Was there some…some possible, explainable purpose for which she had deliberately called upon him to head to Dragon Squire? And not only had she called upon him to do it, but it was apparently so important she'd waged a mental battle inside his head with Adamus in a desperate attempt to get him there.

Is there anything else? he asked himself. Anything. Any other fact to this. Some piece I'm missing.

Zach was becoming more and more frustrated, and his mind began to think in circular patterns. Because no matter how impossibly complex this problem seemed, he just kept coming back to two simple, yet critically important facts: the first was that getting everyone to Albion-4 was one of Eilea's most important goals, and two, that she knew Zach's temperament and capabilities. He considered himself to be pretty decent for a 17-year-old when it came to age-appropriate subjects in school. But he wasn't some academic with a Ph.D. He wasn't the type to spend days, weeks, or months perusing a library all the way out in Dragon Squire hunting for a clue. She had to know that.

So why, then? Why did she want him here? Why hadn't she made it a priority to ensure that he knew what he was supposed to do when he got here? This was what caused Zach's mind to circle. Because he just kept coming back to this over and over. Eilea may not have been perfect, and it was plain to see that she had numerous flaws, but she wasn't some idiot. No, for her to want Zach to be here, it meant she must've assumed he would march into this library and know right away what he had to do. Sort of like the way that Jimmy had walked in here and just right away noticed that whole thing with the—

Gods! he shouted in his mind as it all slammed into his brain. Of course!

"Jimmy!" Zach shouted, curling his finger. "Come here!"

"You find something, Zach?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"What?"

"You!"

Jimmy made an amused expression. "Uh, what?"

Rian, Lienne, Trelvor, Seiley, and Tyson all turned to look at him as he beckoned Jimmy to follow him to the opposite end of the café where they could once again have another chat out of earshot of the others. But this one was going to be quick.

"I figured it out," Zach said. "I get it now."

"Get what?"

Zach laughed. "Remember when we were going over the facts before? And we agreed there were two of them: two facts, I mean."

"What about it?"

"There's a third fact: you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you! Eilea did some really crazy shit to get you here, Jimmy. And the more I ask myself why she didn't just tell me what to do when I got here, the more I realize it's because she didn't think she'd have to."

For once, Jimmy seemed to be the person who was confused. "You're losing me."

Zach pointed to the five unlit torches. "You said that the moment you walked in here, you noticed something, right? How fast did you notice it. Just tell me."

"Oh, right away. I walked in here, and I was like, 'Oh, look, a torch puzzle.' It was that fast. The door didn't even shut behind us yet."

"Then that's it. That's the answer."

"I still don't get what makes you say this, Zach."

"Because it's the only thing that makes sense. Eilea must have just assumed we'd walk in here, and you'd know right away what we were looking for."

Jimmy was quiet a moment. He stared downwards as though in thought. Then, he lifted his chin, met Zach's gaze, and his eyebrows raised. "Oh, shit, you might be right. Oh, damn. But I thought you didn't believe I was right about the torches?"

"To be honest? Part of me does and part of me doesn't. But I'm nowhere near confident enough to bet on it. But since lighting a few torches is not exactly something difficult to do, let's just try it and see what happens."

Jimmy made a fist and tapped it against Zach's chest. "Hell yeah. Now we're talking. Let's do it."

Filling with eagerness, Zach waved enthusiastically at the others, and they eagerly came strolling over. Their eyes were aglow with expectation and a renewed sense of optimism. It was as though the excitement in Zach had sparked some of their own. "Tell me you found something," Lienne said.

"Jimmy did, not me. But yeah. I think we got something."

"What is it?" she asked.

Zach grinned. "We'll show you."

With that, Zach and Jimmy hurried their way over to the complete opposite side of the Grand Library on the first floor, and then they paused just in front of the unlit torches. Lienne looked confused—and so did Rian, the Elves, and Tyson. Zach certainly couldn't fault them for that, though. Because he himself would be confused if he was in their shoes. Hell, he was still confused. They really did just look like regular, decorative torches.

"In fairness," Jimmy said, almost as though reading his mind, "without knowing the importance torches play in games, I probably shouldn't have expected this to mean anything to you."

"Importance?"

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, torches have been a big part of RPG and adventure game puzzles forever. Zelda made that shit popular, but tons of games have done it since. Nowadays—or then-a-days, actually—everybody knew what to do when you saw something that looks like this." He slid his palm down along the wall. "It's second nature."

"What's Jimmy talking about?" Rian asked. "I'm so lost."

Zach snickered. "Jimmy thinks—and now I'm starting to believe him—that if we light all five of these torches the wall will just open up and reveal a set of stairs or something."

"Haha. Sure."

"No, he really thinks that, Rian."

"Why? Why would that even happen?"

Jimmy made a sneaky, devilish smile. "You're all about to look dumb for doubting me," he said. "Okay, who's got a match?"

"Step aside," Seiley said, brushing right past him. She removed her staff, chanted a few words in Elvish, and tapped it against the leftmost torch. Like a stove, it suddenly lit up, causing flame to fill the entire bowl and rise upwards, though the color of the flame was a surprising dark blue as opposed to yellow. It also generated considerable heat for a single torch.

Seiley put away her staff as Jimmy took several napkins out of his robe. He dipped the first into the flame, then dropped it into the second torch; this, as two librarians came running over and shouting. "What are you doing?" they screamed. "You're starting a fire around books! You fools! What in the name of the Gods do you think you're doing in our library?"

"I believe this will explain exactly what we are doing in your library," Tyson replied merrily. He turned around and began strolling over to the men. Then he began to speak to them, though Zach didn't pay much attention to what was said. Whatever it was, though, it actually seemed to work, because the librarians' protests seemed to grow weaker and weaker until they stopped protesting entirely.

"Well, I guess it's okay then," one of them finally whispered. And then both appeared to back away. They didn't leave the area, but they kept their mouths shut and seemed content to allow Zach and Jimmy to light fires in their precious library. Becoming curious, Zach turned around, and sure enough, he could now see a fat, gold-filled satchel in the hands of each man. Tyson had actually bribed them.

Gods, how much gold did he just give? Zach wondered as he enviously stared at the high-denomination coins visible at the top of the pile. I need to get him to start bribing me too.

With the librarians no longer making a fuss, Jimmy continued onwards, using another napkin to spread the fire from the second to the third lantern, then the third to the fourth. But now, having run out of napkins to use, he lazily grabbed a paper book, dipped it into the fire from the fourth lantern, and then, even as the librarians began screaming once more, he dropped it into the fifth. Now, all five were lit up. And it was here that Jimmy did the most arrogant, smug, but admittedly cool thing Zach had seen him do so far. He fully turned around so that his back was facing the wall, and then he made an upward swiping motion with both hands at the exact same time that the bottom of the wall began to shake and crumple.

"Told ya," Jimmy said to them.

Dust and plaster began filling the air, though only in small quantities as the shaking and rumbling became louder and more pronounced. And then, before Zach's very eyes, the entire wall raised upwards and upwards until there was nothing ahead of them but a vastness that went into where the wall used to be. Whatever was on the other side, it continued on far enough that Zach couldn't see the end of it. And this was significant: extremely, extremely, significant.

Because instead of a stairwell down into some basement area, the area behind the wall went straight. And why did this matter? Quite simply, because the only thing that should have been ten feet behind the other side of that wall was the good-old outdoors. But that wasn't what was there. No, what was there was a vast stretch of something else.

And this could only mean one thing.

"A dungeon!" exclaimed Rian and Lienne at the same time.

Jimmy; finally turning around, nodded. "A dungeon."

Zach looked over his shoulder and at the two librarians. "Hey, uh, you guys might want to close early today."