Title: End of Days Chapter 1
Author: Sergeant
Phoenix
Phoenixcadet
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End of Days Chapter 1-Findings
Zell walked down the main hall of Balamb Garden, heading toward the library. He had to find something to do, since the training center was closed because of a blackout that had occured the night before. The wiring needed to be fixed and the center wouldn't be open for another week at the least. He saw Irvine and Selphie coming out of the dorms and they ran to catch up with him.
"Hey, wait up!!!" Selphie yelled to Irvine, who was far ahead of her. Zell stopped and waited for them both to catch up with him. Irvine came to a halt right in front of him and looked back at Selphie. She finally caught up and slapped Irvine in the back of the head, knocking his hat to the floor.
"Hey, that's my new hat," he complained, bending down to pick it up. He placed it neatly back on his head and adjusted it to his liking.
"I told you to wait, you mean thing," Selphie said, putting her hands on her hips and sticking her tongue out at him. She turned to Zell, who stood leaning against the glass railing with one leg crossed, only the toe of his shoe touching the floor. "Where're you going, Zell...? The training center's closed, *remember*...?"
"I know that, Selphie," he said, annoyed. "I'm not stupid. I'm going to the library to find something to read, now that the faculty doesn't control the library anymore, thanks be to God."
"Me an' Selphie were going to the quad to practice for the upcoming Garden Winter Festival she invented," Irvine explained, waving his hand toward the entrance to the quad. "We just thought you'd want to come with us."
"I have no desire to tapdance again. Besides, I already told you I'm going to the library," Zell replied. Irvine shrugged.
"Suit yourself. C'mon, Selphie. Let's go," he said and tipped his hat to Zell. "See you later." Zell said goodbye to them and continued on his way to the library, his fingers fondling the necklace that usually stayed hidden inside his shirt. It looked like the necklace would belong to a girl, had it not had a burlap strap instead of a chain. The charm was a small tear-shaped stone embedded inside a plain silver oval backing. The stone was deep red in color, the color of human blood.
He entered the library and looked around at all the shelves. They were huge and there were many of them.
(Where do I start....?) he wondered to himself. He walked down the rows looking up and down the shelves for anything that might spark his interest. He liked to read when he didn't feel like being around anyone. He worked his way to the very back of the room, looking for something to read. He bumped up against the very back shelf, knocking a book to the floor. As it hit the floor, Zell heard a hollow sound. He arched an eyebrow. He took a book from the shelf and dropped it to the floor. Flat sound.
He knelt down and picked up the books from the floor, putting them back in their places. He then knelt back down and touched the ceramic tile the book had fallen on. It moved slightly. It was a loose tile. He took out his pocket knife and inserted it in the space between the tiles. He pried the large tile up off the floor. Under it was a hole with a ladder leading down. He looked around to see if he had been seen. He hadn't. He climbed down inside the hole, standing on the ladder. He picked up the tile and held it over his head as he descended down the ladder with only his feet guiding him. He pulled the tile back into it's place behind him. He fixed it back into it's place until he was sure no one would be any the wiser about what was underneath it.
Zell grabbed a hold of the ladder with both hands, climbing down. The room he descended to was completely dark. He couldn't see anything. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. He turned it on and the small burst of light that came from it seemed to illuminate the room. Skimming the light across the room, he came to a stop on a candle holder. He shone the light in front of his feet so he could see what he was stepping on.
Zell walked toward it, wary of his surroundings. He had never known that this room existed nor if anyone else knew that it existed. (There could be anything down here,) he decided silently. (Better stay on my toes.)
He reached the large candle holder and cast fire over it. He controlled the flame so that it would only light the seven candles. Wax hung stiffly from the brass base, showing that the same candles had been used and not taken out. Zell held it out in front of him and walked around the room, lighting the stationary torches on the walls.
Light flooded the large room. It was like a smaller version of the library he was just in. It could not have been smaller by much, though. But there were so many books. They lie strown on the floor in heaps and piles all over. The room had been all but torn apart.
As he looked around at the books, he noticed that all the titles were in a language he knew little of: High Centauran. The language of ancient Centra. Actually, no one knew more than a few words of the dialect, if in fact they knew anything at all. The language had virtually disappeared from the face of the planet.
(Why would anybody close this room up....?)
He walked down an aisle toward the back of the room, careful not to let the candles get too close to the bookcases. The cases were very close together, not allowing for much breathing room.
Zell hated closed spaces. He hated that feeling of not being able to breathe, that the walls were closing in on him. Not that he was claustrophobic, he would never admit to that, but he didn't like spaces as tight as the one he was in now. He took a deep breath and continued down the aisle with the candles lighting his way. At the end of the aisle was a slanted wooden desk. He looked around. It was a study.
(I gotta tell Squall about this place....) he thought. He walked back down another aisle and tripped over something. He held the candleholder up above his head as he fell, not letting it touch the bookcases that were so close to him. He got up on his knees and looked back. There was nothing there that he could have tripped over. (There's got to be something there,) he thought to himself. (I couldn't have tripped over nothing....)
His eyes drifted to the bottom of the bookcase to his right. There were no books there. He looked down the rest of the aisle. This was the only shelf without any books. He reached out and touched the bottom of the shelf. The board was loose. He took his fingers and pried it up, taking it out. He set it aside on the floor next to the candle holder. He looked down into the space.
Inside it was a midsized leatherbound book that was covered in dust. He brushed it off the best he could and blew off the rest. The book looked no different than any of the other books in the room he had seen. But there had to be something about it if it had been hidden.
He read the title. "Dek Selta rin dek Chaillu ost Diurnas," he said. "The 'blank, *blank*' the 'blank, blank' of 'blank'." He knew very few words of the language, even if he only knew simple words like 'the' and 'of'.
Zell opened up the book carefully, and turned the pages even more so. They were yellow and brittle, liable to break apart at the slightest wrong touch. The words on the page were in extremely large print. He turned the pages until finally he came across a picture that accompanied the print on the adjacent page.
It was a crude drawing of a crowd of people. They seemed to be bowing. The subject of their submission was one who stood alone in front of them. From the way it was drawn Zell could tell that it was a man. Up above them, on both sides of the page, was the sun and the moon, both with faces, and both crying.
Under the picture, this time in small print, were words.
"Dest alinon millen stragenichas, un strageniches sast ti del," he read aloud. He recognized the first word as 'for' and he recognized 'un' as 'one'. 'Ti' was 'be'. He knew nothing else.
He shut the book carefully and picked up the candle holder. He held the book to him as he went around blowing out all the candles on the walls he had lit, working his way to the beginning of the room to the ladder. When he reached the ladder, he blew out all the candles on the candle holder. He set it down on the floor and started up the ladder with one hand, the book to his chest.
Zell reached the top and stopped. He listened closely to see if anyone was up there. When he was satisfied, he pushed the tile up off the floor. He looked around. No one was there to see him. He climbed out of the hole and put the tile back in its place.
Now he only had to get out of the library without being seen. He crept up the aisle. He saw his friend Chris at a nearby table, reading.
"Chris," he whispered, looking around warily. The black haired boy looked over at him. He was Zell's age, only slightly taller. To Zell, it seemed like everyone was taller than him, even if only by a few inches. Zell motioned for him to come to him inside the aisle.
Chris got up and walked over to him. Zell pulled him inside the aisle. "What is that, man...?" Chris asked, touching the book.
"I don't know," Zell replied quietly. "I found it. I'll explain it all to you later, alright? Right now, I need to get out of the library with it so I can take it to Squall. Look at this," he said, holding the front of the book up. "It's High Centauran. And there's a lot more where this came from. There's a secret room underneath this library, Chris. There's hundreds of books in High Centauran down there. I need a diversion whilest I get outta here with this book. It was hidden down there underneath a bookcase. Think about it. A hidden book inside a hidden room? That just screams importance, don't you think?"
"How about I go to the other side of the back of the room and knock a bunch of books on the floor at once? That'll get the librarian's attention," he said. "Meanwhile, you can get out. But, you gotta show me that secret room, man. You gotta."
"I will," Zell answered. "Go knock over those books and let me get outta here."
Chris disappeared down at the end of the aisle and a few seconds later he heard a pile of books hit the floor. Zell watched through the shelves as the librarian's head snapped up and looked toward the back of the room.
"What's going on back there?" she hollered. When she recieved no response, she rounded her desk and walked down the aisle on the far side of the room. Zell looked at the entrance to the library.
(Fifty feet,) he estimated.
"Go!!!" he heard Chris whisper from behind him at the end of the aisle. Zell took off, sprinting the distance to the double doors almost silently. A few students looked up at him as he ran past. None of them said anything. There was no telling what Zell was up to and they didn't want to know.
Zell exited the library.
He was free.
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Chapter 2 is next. Hopefully I'll have it up soon. I know kind of where to go with this, but I'm not sure on a lot of things. Don't expect anything too soon. And before anyone asks, as far as I know now, no one will die. That's all I can tell you.
Phoenixcadet