The Library - The Complete Series (28 page)

Vanguard

As I make my way from the ruins of the Citadel, I'm shocked to see the extent of the devastation that has been caused. Aisle after aisle has been destroyed, crushed by falling debris. Many years ago, a fallen shelf would be a very rare event, and the Librarian would swiftly sent Righters out to fix the problem. These days, however, damage is left to fester, and the scene is such that I find myself wondering whether there is any way the Library can ever rise from such dark ashes.

Above, the sky continues to boil, as clouds swirl around the ball of energy that crackles ahead. There can be no doubt that the Forbidders are massing, ready to open a portal to another world. If Fig was right, and the Grandapams have taken Claire and turned her over, I fear I might already be too late. The Forbidders will surely take her and retreat to their own world, and the only remaining question will be whether they honor their promise to leave the Library alone, or whether they choose to raze the entire land to the ground as they depart.

Reaching another aisle, I find a fire burning. The shelves are twisting and warping, and the books themselves are being devoured by flames. I have never seen such a miserable sight in all my life. It is as if the Library is burning to the ground, with all hope having long since fled. Nevertheless, I know better than to give up just yet. While there is still a chance to save this land, I will keep making my way toward the spot directly beneath the storm, in the hope that I might arrive in time to save Claire. Perhaps Fig was right about one thing: my determination to save this simple human girl extends beyond my need to save the Library. I cannot choose one or the other; I must save them both.

"Help me!" a voice calls out from nearby.

Stopping, I turn to look back the way I came, and I realize that I accidentally walked past an injured man whose legs have been crushed by a large rock. He stares up at me with desperate, fearful eyes.

"I cannot help you," I say, as an icy wind blows along the aisle. "All I can do is end your suffering." Drawing my sword from the sheath, I hold the blade toward the man's neck. "Do you wish me to speed your passage into the afterlife?"

"No!" he shouts. "Just move the boulder. Please, I can't stand the pain!"

"Only death will end your agony," I reply. "I will ask you one final time. Do you wish me to kill you? I can remove your head so fast, you will barely even blink before your existence is snuffed out. If I were in your position, I would certainly accept such an offer."

He shakes his head.

"Are you such a coward that you would cling with such desperation to a life that is not worth living, and to an existence that is draining away with every drop of blood that soaks into the soil?"

"If you won't help me," he replies bitterly, "then you might as well leave me alone. I'll find some other way to get free."

"You'll be dead within the hour," I tell him.

"So will you," he spits back at me.

"Perhaps, but it seems you must remain here and suffer," I tell him. "I have tried my best to show you some mercy," I add, sheathing my sword and turning to walk away.

"Come back!" the man screams. "Help me out from under here! You can't leave me like this! Just move the rock and I'll be fine!"

I keep walking. There is no point looking back, since the man is clearly unable to grasp the reality of his situation. I do not know how many people have died in the Library since the Forbidders first came, but I am quite certain that the soil has been drenched many times over by the blood of those who have fought, as well as those who have run. For hundreds and hundreds of years, screams of pain have risen to the skies, unanswered by cruel gods who choose not to intervene. It is not my place to stop and help every dying man I find along the way. I will sacrifice everything and everyone else, in order to save the two things that must survive: the girl and the Library.

Claire

"How does it feel?" Gum asks, walking slowly around Natalia as she stands in stunned silence. "You're the last of your species, the last Grandapam in all the seven worlds."

She shakes her head, as if she can't allow herself to believe that this is true.

"Are you still in denial?" Gum continues. "Your home was destroyed long ago, Natalia, swallowed up by the darkness that continues to spread from world to world. The world of the Drazi has also been consumed, while there are already signs of the darkness in the world of the humans. Even the Forbidders do not know how to prevent the darkness from eventually swallowing everything. It will take thousands, perhaps millions of years, but this darkness, whatever it is, seems to be unstoppable."

"This is a lie," Natalia says, turning to me. "This is all a lie! Everything he says is untrue!"

"Did it not strike you as strange," Gum continues, "that the Forbidders were seeking out the first book? The Forbidders have long been known for their power and their strength, and their intelligence. Why, after so many thousands of years, would they suddenly seek to experience faith? Why would they attempt, for the first time in their history, to establish a religion? The answer is simple. They're scared. They know that the darkness is coming for all of us, and they're terrified that they won't be able to prevent themselves from being destroyed. They have no gods, no idols. This is why they're so keen to possess the first book. They believe that if they have faith in something, in anything, they might be able to survive. In their fear, they have become obsessed and fixated."
"This is insane!" Natalia shouts.

"It is fear," Gum replies. "Nothing more, and nothing less. Pure, simple fear. The Forbidders are powerful, and when powerful creatures become fearful, chaos ensues. Just be glad, Natalia, that you were not taken with the other Grandapams into their world. At least you will live a while longer, and you will be able to fulfill your duties to your master." He smiles as he turns to me. "Do you understand now, Claire? Do you see why all of this is happening? The Forbidders, one of the oldest and greatest species ever to exist in all the seven worlds, are terrified, and they're reaching out to find something that can give them confidence. In their madness, they see
you
as a talisman around which they can gather. Do you finally see why there is no way you can ever run from them? Do you understand why they will never, ever let you go? They are experiencing faith for the very first time. Faith in you."

"I'll run," I say.

"Feel free," he replies. "The more you fight, the more you run, the more they'll feel as if they're proving their faith. They're desperate, Claire. They have always been cold, logical creatures, but now they fear that they have angered the gods in whom they suddenly believe. They want to make restitution by demonstrating their faith, and they believe they can do this by pursuing a symbol. That symbol is you." He smiles. "Do you understand what that means? It means that the harder you fight them, the more they will seek to capture you."

Looking over at Natalia, I see that she has dropped to her knees.

"I guess I can't win, then," I say after a moment. "They're crazy."

"They're desperate," he says. "They fear the darkness."

"And what
is
this darkness?" I ask. "I don't understand. When you talk about it, you seem to just accept its existence as if there's nothing you can do to stop it. What is it, and why did it destroy her world? Why can't someone stop it?"

"No-one knows its true nature, or where it came from," Gum says. "It reaches out from its own world, destroying everything in its path. Its presence has been felt in your world too. I hear that both the Eldorix and the Ancient Wolf have been consumed from within. Parts of the Underworld, too. Even Gothos, if you believe the rumors. Some even say that the darkness has a face, though personally I believe that this is simply superstitious nonsense. The darkness is nothing. It is literally an overpowering nothingness that is bleeding out across the void, devouring entire worlds. It is the only thing that has ever scared the Forbidders, and it has prompted them to seek solace in things they had previously disdained. Things like faith and hope and belief. Every new religion requires a figurehead, but the Forbidders have had to look elsewhere for theirs. They have settled upon the first book that ever existed, which is why they are so determined to have you, Claire, and why their fury is becoming irrational."

Above us, the spheres seem to be rearranging themselves. Although the crack in the sky continues to brood, it seems to have lost a little of its anger.

"They could send me home," I say, staring at the spheres. "They could do it, couldn't they? Is one of those spheres the route back to my world?"

"They'll never let you reach it," Gum replies. "They know it's what you want, and they'll keep it out of your reach for the rest of eternity, or until the darkness swallows us all. It's time to stop fighting, Claire. It's time to surrender to the necessity of the situation and accept your fate. The darkness is forcing all creatures to face their mortality. Why should you be any different? Accept what you are, and accept that this is how you must spend the rest of eternity."

"But it won't help, will it?" I say, turning to him. "It won't actually stop this darkness, it'll simply help the Forbidders to control their fears."

"The darkness is spreading slowly," he tells me. "It might take tens of thousands of years for it to consume the other worlds. Are you really willing to allow this fury to reign for so long, or will you do the right thing and accept that this is your destiny?"

"There's no such thing as destiny," I say firmly, "and this isn't my fate. There's no way I'm gonna just surrender and do what they want."

The crack in the sky seems to pulse for a moment, splitting open a little wider.

"They're angry," Gum says. "Fear is driving them to new levels of fury. The only thing you'll accomplish, Claire, is a new phase of devastation in the Library. You've already seen that many people have died. The Citadel has been destroyed, and wars rage across the land. You have the power to stop that, but also the power to prolong the misery for all who still dwell in this land."

"No," I say, feeling a sense of panic rising through my body. "I don't believe you. You're just trying to trick me, the way you tricked the Grandapams, the way you tricked Natalia. You're trying to persuade me to give myself up to these things, but there's another way. I can run. I'll find a way back to my own world, and they won't be able to follow me." As I start backing away, I look up at the sky and realize that if Gum and the Forbidders had true power, they'd have stopped me by now. "This darkness thing isn't real," I continue. "It's just a story you've created to trick people into doing what you want. It's your way of trying to control the world."

"You're being irrational," Gum replies, seeming strangely calm. "Whether or not you believe that it exists, the darkness is spreading like a cancer through the seven worlds."

"No," I say, shaking my head. "I'm not being irrational. I'm being
totally
rational,
totally
logical. None of this is real. You lied to the Grandapams, and now you're lying to me. I don't care what you keep saying, I'm not going to let these things take me to their world. I'm not going to be a good girl and sit on a shelf!"

"You can't run," he says.

"Watch me," I reply, turning and hurrying back over to the nearest aisle. Running as fast as I can, I take the first left, and then the first right, desperately trying to find a way to make sure I can't be followed. Too scared to look back, I keep running and running and running until finally I have to stop for a moment to catch my breath. As soon as I've recovered a little, I start running again, making my way along aisle after aisle. I have no idea which way I'm going, or what I'm trying to find; I'm just running to get lost. Finally, I stop to rest for a moment, and finally I turn and look back to see the cracked sky still raging in the distance. There's no-one following me, though, so at least I feel as if I'm safe for a moment. Sitting on the ground, I put my head in my hand and try to work out what I'm supposed to do now.

In the distance, the sky cracks and thunders. I guess the Forbidders are pretty angry with me right now.

Looking down at the ground, I realize there's only one thing left for me to do. I have to go back to them. I have to turn around and return to the Forbidders, and I have to surrender to them. I have to find a way to revert to my old form, to become a book again, and I have to overcome my fear of death. Besides, I suppose it's not really death. Sure, I'll lose my conscious mind, and I'll become an inanimate object, but I'll still be alive in some way. I'll just be a book, sitting on a shelf, being worshiped by a bunch of angry creatures from another dimension. I mean, it's not what I thought would happen in my life; I thought I'd be a teacher, or maybe a film director, or a psychiatrist. Then again, beggars can't be choosers. Taking a deep breath, I remind myself that I just need to overcome my fear; I need to go back and face my fate. No matter what happens, I can't let a whole world be destroyed just because I'm some dumb, scared girl who only thinks about herself.

"Hello," says a familiar voice from nearby. "You seem lost."

Vanguard

"Vanguard!" she shouts, leaping to her feet and throwing her arms around my neck. "I swear to God, I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" She pulls me tight. "I thought you'd just fucked off and abandoned me!"

"Clearly, you were mistaken," I reply, somewhat taken aback by her excessive show of affection.

"Wait!" she says, stepping back with a scowl on her face. "You
did
fuck off and abandon me! Where the hell have you been? Have you got
any
idea what's been going on?"

"The Citadel collapsed onto my head," I tell her. "It took some time to get here."

"At least you made it eventually," she replies, before pausing again. "Then again, how do I know it's really you?" She looks over her shoulder for a moment. "How do I know this isn't a trick? How do I know you're not some kind of illusion, sent to distract me and make me go the wrong way?"

"Who do you think is trying to trick you?" I ask, as I see a stream of white light shining through the sky in the distance. Whatever the Forbidders are doing, they're clearly making good progress. The ground starts to rumble, and I have to reach out to make sure that one of the nearby shelves doesn't topple straight down onto us.

"The Forbidders," Claire replies. "They're after me. It's kind of complicated, but they want to turn me into a book and take me back to their world and worship me as part of some kind of religion that they think will help them fend off something called the darkness and..." She pauses for a moment, a little out of breath. "This can't be happening," she says eventually, her eyes wide and shocked, almost as if she's reached the limit of her credulity. "This is all just in my head. I'm in a coma. I was right first time. I'm in a coma, and I'm at home in bed, and there's a bunch of doctors standing around and the big white light in the sky is Heaven and it's like I'm being tricked into accepting death instead of fighting to live and I'm -"

"You're not in a coma," I say firmly.

"I must be," she says. "Why did I let myself get dragged into this? I'm -"

"You're not in a coma!" I say again, grabbing her hand as an ominous rumbling sound starts to build in the distance, "and you're not at home in bed. But you will be. Soon. You just have to trust me. Come this way."

"Where are we going?" she asks, as I pull her along the aisle.

"I'm taking you home," I tell her. "It's something I should have done a long time ago. You need to be somewhere safe while I deal with the Forbidders."

"What do you mean by 'home'?" she asks.

"Home," I tell her. "
Your
home. The world where you lived as a human. The world where you grew up with your parents. I promised to help you find a way back when we reached the Citadel, but at the time I didn't understand how important it would be to get you out of here. I became distracted by other things, even though the answer was staring at me the whole time."

"The answer?"

"You."

"Me?"

"The Forbidders want you," I continue. "That's why they're ripping this world apart."

"I'm a book," she blurts out. "I mean, that's what people keep telling me! I know it sounds crazy, but, like, quite a few different people have said it now."

"It's true," I reply, pulling her through into another aisle. "I was blind before. I didn't see the truth, but now -" Suddenly, there's a huge crashing sound from behind us. Turning to look back, I see that a massive ball of white fire has burst down from the sky, slamming into the ground and destroying another section of the Library. Chunks of wood are sent flying into the air, as a second ball of white fire comes down even closer. The ground shakes, and a large crack appears in the soil beneath our feet.

"What was that?" Claire shouts, her voice sounding fragile. "Vanguard? What the hell was that?"

"They're angry," I tell her. "They're lashing out, trying to destroy the entire Library."

"Can they do that?"

"I believe they can."

"And this is my fault?" Claire continues, turning to me. "All of this is because they want
me
?"

"Don't let it go to your head," I tell her.

"Maybe Gum was right," she says. "Maybe I should just accept my fate. I mean, my life isn't worth a whole world. I'm just one -."

"Wait!" I say, turning to her. "Gum? Did you say Gum?"

"He's the Emissary of the Forbidders," she replies.

"No," I say. "I have met the Emissary of the Forbidders, and it was not Gum. Not unless..." I pause, as I realize that Gum must be up to his old trick of 'borrowing' new heads whenever he gets the chance. I should have killed him when I had the chance, instead of spending so many years out in the wastelands of the Library, recovering from my injuries.

"He looked like your friend Daniel," Claire continues. "Remember, the guy from the Library?"

"Daniel?" I take a deep breath as I realize that Daniel must have been killed by Gum. "I shall deal with Gum in an appropriate manner when I find him," I say eventually. "For now, it matters little what he or anyone else says. The most important thing is to get you away from the Library, so that I might find some way to defeat them."

"But if I..." She pauses for a moment. "Vanguard, I don't want to cause all this death and destruction. I don't want to have a whole world burn just because someone wants to get hold of me, especially if they're just gonna find me some other time anyway. If it'll save lives, and if it'll save this world and maybe my world, then I'll do it. I'll do whatever they want."

"Do you honestly believe that your sacrifice would stop the Forbidders?" I ask, as the ground shakes again. "Their anger knows no bounds, Claire. Their panic is absolute and unrestrained, spreading from one world to the next. If you surrender to them, they'll take you with them to their own world and they'll try to use you, but eventually they'll realize it's not working and they'll panic again. They'll come back, and they'll keep coming back until time itself runs out and darkness overwhelms the seven worlds. Giving them what they want is not an option. We must either die, or defeat them."

"But how are you going to fight them?" she replies. "There's only one of you!"

"I'll find a way," I tell her.

"Have you got a plan?"

I shake my head. "But don't worry. By the time I face them, I'll have thought of something." Another ball of white fire crashes into the Library, closer than ever. Shelves are being cracked apart, and fires are raging. The full rage of the Forbidders has been unleashed, and the Library is entering its final moments. From horizon to horizon, smoke and flames rise up from the burning shelves. "Come on!" I shout, pulling Claire along the aisle. We make our way as fast as possible to the nearest perimeter wall, and then finally we find a small door that leads out into the orchard that surrounds the Library. We won't be safe out here for long, but there should just about be time to get her on her way before the wrath of the Forbidders reaches this far.

"This is where I started," Claire says. "I woke up here!"

"Not here," I tell her, pulling her along as I head for the trees, "but somewhere
like
here. Fortunately, there's more than one way to break through from one world to the next. The Forbidders tend to use brute force, ripping great links through the void, but -" A massive impact shakes the ground, and I turn to see that the white fire of the Forbidders is spreading rapidly across the Library. This is it; this is the day of death and destruction that I've dreaded for so long. "There are other ways," I continue, turning back to Claire and forcing myself to focus. "Small, subtle ways. Ways that are known only to a few. After all, how do you think Sharpe got you here in the first place?"

"I can't leave you like this," Claire shouts, as another explosion shatters part of the perimeter wall, sending pieces of stone flying across the grass. "This is my fault!"

"It's not your fault," I tell her. "You were just a book, sitting on a shelf, minding your own business."

"But if I give them what they want -"

"It still won't be enough!" I say. "No matter what you do, the darkness will still be out there and eventually the Forbidders will become scared again."

"So I'm supposed to just run away?" she replies. "You want me to just turn and run and hide?"

"You were not built for war," I tell her. "Human bodies are weak. Bits come off very easily, and you have a tendency to leak blood all over the place when you're injured. Honor and valor are important, but there's no point throwing yourself into certain death just to prove a point. Like it or not, your body is human right now, and you have no place in this battle. I can throw myself at the Forbidders a thousand times if necessary, and it'll take them many years to kill me. You would die in the blink of an eye."

"But -"

"You have to know which battles to fight," I continue. "Trust me. Go back to your world. If we're both lucky, you'll be safe there and the Forbidders will never come looking for you."

"I just want to help," she says.

"You can't help me," I say. "If you're here, it's a distraction that I cannot accept. I'll spend half my time worrying about whether you've been captured, and the rest of my time making sure you're not killed. At least if you go back to your own world, you'll be safe for now and I'll be able to focus on the battle ahead." Hurrying over to a nearby tree, I search the bark for the inscription that should be here. Sure enough, I find the letters scratched into a branch, just as the ancient texts described. "You must stand here," I say, grabbing Claire's arm and pulling her over to the correct spot. "Right here. Do not move. Do not move one inch."

"How will I know what happens?" she asks as I step back. "Will I ever know if you survived? Will I ever know if you managed to save the Library?"

"If you live a long and happy life in your own world," I explain, "with no sign of the Forbidders coming to find you, then you'll know that I prevailed. If I fail, you'll eventually see their influence, and one day they'll find you."

"And can I ever come back?" she asks.

"That, I doubt," I reply, before pausing for a moment. It's strange, but in just a few short days, I've become surprisingly attached to Claire. Then again, perhaps I am merely allowing myself to become sentimental. That unexpected meeting with Fig reminded me of past failures, when I allowed people to die. For the first time in my long life as a warrior, I'm finally going to save someone. Taking a deep breath, I whisper the inscription from the tree, and the ground collapses beneath Claire. The last I see of her is her shocked face as she tumbles into the darkness.

"God speed," I say quietly, before turning to face the full wrath of the Forbidders. There are now several spheres of white fire, burning in the sky, and the Library is being consumed by flames. Drawing my sword, I walk back to the wall and through the gate, eventually emerging in an aisle surrounded by burning shelves. Up ahead, a dark shape is moving in the flames. At first, I assume it must simply be a denizen of the Library, running for his life. After a moment, I realize that it's something else. Something bigger. Something strangely familiar. Finally, the creature comes toward me, knocking down the shelves that stand in its way. Its eyes stare straight at me, before it raises its head and roars into the burning sky.

A Forbidder.

It's strange, but I was sure that when I finally came face to face with such a creature, I would somehow know what to do. Instead, however, my mind has become completely blank. All I can think is that I need to hurt it; I need to make it bleed, to make it feel pain. I am, after all, a warrior; this is what I do. This is how I was born, and perhaps it's fitting if it's also how I die.

I am Vanguard. I am a Lord of the House of Lacanth. I have slain ten thousand men. I have led armies around the entire circumference of the Library, and I'm the last of the Soldiers of Tea.

With my sword raised, I run screaming at the beast.