Chapter 5: Night Watch

Part 1: Daytime

I woke up early the next morning, feeling quite chipper. Today marked the first day of my role as Cornelia's night guard. I debated going to bed again in order to conserve energy for tonight, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. As such, I exited my room, and headed outside with the intent to sightsee. If I were to protect this town, I would probably have to get to know it well.

After I went down the stairs, I passed by the inn's reception. The reception itself was located in the center of the wall across the entrance, while the tables of the tavern were placed at the sides. Behind the counter, the receptionist greeted me. Even though they looked exactly like any other villager, they had a distinctly feminine voice, unlike Johnathan's masculine one. Both had that nasal tone to them, though. I'm not going to lie; I was thrown off a bit.

"Good morning, sir!" they said, bowing their head. "Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning. Yeah, I had a pretty good night's sleep. Thanks again for the hospitality..."

"Huh? Is something the matter, sir?"

"No, it's just that... I don't think I got your name."

"Oh, that's right. My name is Catherine."

"I see... Say, Catherine, would you mind telling me a bit about Cornelia's main sights? I mean, where's a good hangout spot, other than the tavern?"

"Hmm, a good hangout spot, eh? Well, you can try the library; it's a pretty popular establishment. It's that cobblestone building with the inverted V-shaped roof, adjacent to the well. You can't miss it," they said with a smile.

"Alright, thanks. I'll be off, then."

"Take care, sir!"

...

Exiting the inn, I headed towards the library, following the receptionist's directions. While on my way there, I looked around curiously at the plethora of villagers, each doing their respective job. At the distant farmlands, near the outskirts of the town, a couple of straw hat-wearing villagers were tending the earth. More specifically, they reaped the fully grown crops and sowed the seeds on the damp soil. Eventually, they gathered a few of the leftover seeds and deposited them in a block that was called the composter.

At the porch of the wide cobblestone building I was closest to, a lone villager wearing a black apron and a focused expression, was grinding an iron sword against a conspicuous stone-like block. Judging by the lava cauldron that was next to them, I assumed they were a blacksmith of some kind. After a while, they caught me staring.

"Hmm, 'scuse me, would ya please move? I'm tryna work here," they said with a gruff voice.

"Sorry."

Anyway, all of that told me that Cornelia had a thought-out societal structure. I briefly wondered who was in charge of the town, but disregarded that thought, as I continued to wander about.

By the time the afternoon came around, I got to the library. It was a peculiar establishment in terms of exterior. Unlike any other building here, it was made of dark oak wood, instead of regular oak. Its architectural style was also rather distinct, which made a part of me suspect it was either built by different people than those who built the rest of the village, or maybe it was simply built at a later date. Anyhow, as I opened the set of dark oak doors that led to the inside of the building, I took a mental note of its interior.

The inside of the library consisted of a long hallway that had a wooly red carpet covering the oak floor. Two giant bookcases that were filled to the brim with colorful books, loomed on both sides of the hallway. At the end of the hall, in front of a large window that took up the majority of the wall, was a stage, with oak staircases serving as seats, located at the sides. A lectern was adorning the middle of the stage, and in front of it, stood the same villager in white robes from yesterday.

Upon noticing my presence, they spoke up with a deep, gentle, yet rather disinterested voice.

"Greetings, young one. Welcome to the library of Cornelia. My name is Sebastian, and I am in charge of this establishment. Is there anything I could assist you with?"

"Hi, my name is Steve and-"

"I know very well who you are, Steve," they interrupted with a somewhat condescending tone. It slightly irritated me, since, in spite of their claims, they didn't 'know very well who I was'; I was new in town after all. I didn't let my irritation show.

"Tonight marks the start of your job as our night guard. Is that not right?" they continued, and I nodded.

"I decided it'd be best if I got to know the town a little better before I started," I replied.

"I see. A prudent choice," they noted, mildly interested.

"Catherine told me that this is a popular hangout spot. Is that true?"

"Indeed."

"Then...Why is it so empty?" Me and Sebastian were the only people in the building.

"That is because of the fact that, free time for us villagers, does not start until the afternoon. At the moment, everyone is out, tending to their jobs."

"That makes sense."

An awkward silence filled the room. In the meantime, Sebastian had returned to the thick book that was resting on the lectern. Seeing that, a conversation topic sprung in my mind.

"Excuse me, Sebastian. Do you have any books to recommend?"

"Are you looking for something in particular, sir?"

"To be honest, not really. I guess I could start with something popular though."

"Something popular...Truth be told, this book I have in front of me has been rather current as of late."

"What is it about?"

"It essentially contains an...ancient prophecy, of sorts."

After seeing that Sebastian remained silent for a moment, I decided to push the subject.

"A prophecy of what?"

After some brief silence, Sebastian spoke.

"A long, long time ago, our world was pure. Without rifts to plague it, our world and its inhabitants were free to prosper in peace. Until one day, the laws of nature got corrupted at the whim of a terrible dragon, and the boundaries of the dimensions known to make up the universe, were torn asunder. In our dimension, rifts that lead to the fiery depths began to appear, and with them, mobs of vicious monsters.

Ancient civilizations, after failing to decisively end the extradimensional onslaught, prophesied a hero that would descend from the heavens, with enough power to thwart the cause of the corruption. That is the legend of The Fallen."

"..."

I was glad to learn more about this world after being left in the dark for so long, but still, I simply didn't know what to make of all that. Rifts? Corruption? Ancient civilizations? The only instance of the latter I had come across was that weird, mossy spawner room, deep underground. But what were those rifts Sebastian mentioned all about? Just as I was about to voice at least one of those questions, they spoke up.

"Now, in my personal opinion, I do not believe the prophecy is real. It sounds too much like wishful thinking on the behalf of the ancients. Additionally, I find it hard to believe that a single person can restore the world to its previous state, hero or not. That being said, the legend of the Fallen has piqued the interest of most of Cornelia's residents, especially the youth...for better or for worse..."

I passively shifted my gaze towards the book on the lectern again, trying to collect my thoughts. Until a jarring question popped up in my mind.

"Uh, excuse me, Sebastian?"

"What is troubling you, Steve?" they asked, with little enthusiasm.

"Was what you told me all there was to the legend?"

"That is correct."

"In that case, what else does this book contain?" I asked, tilting my head to the direction of the aforementioned book.

"What do you mean?" they asked back. That was the first time Sebastian's neutral expression made way for a different one; a mix between curiosity and disbelief.

"I mean, what you told me would take about two paragraphs' worth of space, yet this book's width is unmatched by anything else I've seen in this library. Does it have other topics too?"

Sebastian's expression warped once again, and this time, it changed to an aggressive one. Their emerald-green eyes stared into my soul and a chill ran down my spine.

"That is not information I am willing to give out to someone who just settled here. You should be grateful I shared so many historical secrets of our world with you. Most residents of this town do not even get that much, yet they still thank me. You should not poke your nose where it does not belong."

Their voice, though still calm, carried an ominous aura that I couldn't shake off.

...

After a heavy silence, Sebastian spoke up, returning to their nonchalant demeanor.

"Oh, would you look at the time... It is approaching sunset. Time sure flies by quickly, does it not? Were you not going to meet Johnathan in front of the blacksmith's shop?"

"Uh...yeah. That's right." I gradually began to snap out of my small shock.

"Well then, you should get going, Steve. You would not want to make a bad impression on your first day on the job, would you?"

"Right. Thank you for your time," I replied and began heading out of the building.

"Take care, young one," was the last phrase I heard Sebastian say before I closed the doors behind me.

That last exchange made me feel apprehensive, but I couldn't focus on that at the moment. My shift was about to begin. Wordlessly, I made my way towards the blacksmith's shop.

'Time to put my combat skills to use.'