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To gain access to this is a powerful thing.
Before the Libraries were created, different supe communities would take turns protecting the Records until the last holders, the Fae, decided to use that power for themselves.
Wars broke out, and battles to retrieve the Records from the Fae continued for years.
The Elders Council saw the destruction and, for fear of being exposed to the mortal world, placed them in the hands of an independent group, the Mages.
The Mages were neutral in the supe communities and created the Libraries to hold the Records. They became the first Librarians.
The Libraries and magic within them are over two hundred and fifty years old, but the Records span many millennia. Through the course of that time, they’ve been damaged in battles and lost to time itself.The Libraries and Librarians are the shelter and preservation of that knowledge.
TheElders Council, on the other hand, is a committee made up of elder supes chosen by their communities. They govern and police the laws in our world and make sure that our world is kept hidden from the mortal one.
Sure, you have humans in higher positions that know because of their money or power. Business is business. There are also those who stumble upon it, wrong time and place, but on the whole, they keep it from being publicly exposed to the world.
Not everyone would do well with knowing about things that go bump in the night or the things they dream or have nightmares aboutactuallyexisting.
People are afraid of differences, of others having something they don’t.
They covet, they fear, and then they revolt against it, turning it into something twisted to justify their own insecurities.
A golden wisp of light dances around me as the magic in the room greets me.
I watch on as Aurelian light, thread-like in shape, drifts and flows around the aged books before me.They weave themselves in and out through each open page, turning the once blank parchment into a section now covered in written glowing ink.
I close my eyes and can almost hear the sound of the magic moving in the room, feeling the slight buzz in the air as it twists and twirls around me.
Thisis why I love being a Librarian. That and being able to order so many books and pretend they're all mine.
I go to the largest book in the front row, standing atop a white marble podium. It stands center to all the bookshelves.
I place my hands down flat on the book. The ink on the pages begins to glow. It hits instantly.
A burn that starts from the sigils placed on both my wrists, like knives clawing into my skin. Slowly the burning spreads through my body, making its way through me as if it wants to punish me for as long as possible.
I know it's coming every time. Every day I have to complete thisdutyhandeddown through the generations of Librarian predecessors.
TheTransferralhas always been painful. The day I received my wrist sigils and took the position of Librarian was the first time I learned thetruthabout a Librarians duty. We Librarians don't just watch over and protect the Library and Records. We become the vessel to store their information.A backup, if you will, in case of damage or if attacked. A burden carried only by the Librarians of each of the Five Sector Libraries passed down through the generations.
This is our hidden secret.
But it’s not the worst of it. A third Sigil is embedded on the back of our necks. We call it the Vow. A special magic that won’t allow us to speak of the Librarians'trueduty to anyone else. A pain and burden we must carry alone.
I’m pulled out of my thoughts as the pain reaches its highest, which also means it's almost over. A thought I always cling to.
I wince as I feel the last piece of magic enter my frame and feel the burning ebb from my body.
A feeling of being too full overwhelms me all at once. The newly added Records always send waves of nausea through me.
Looks like I won’t be eating that leftover lasagne Isaac kept for me today.
I take a deep breath in and try to relieve myself of nausea rolling like waves through me. It doesn’t become any easier. You just learn to accept it more.
I make my way toward the door when a sharp pain pierces through my chest and down my arms, static-like energy sparking from my fingertips. I crouch downward to dissipate the pain. I breathe slowly, calming my racing heart as the static gradually disappears.
Well, that's new.
I’ve heard of Librarians suffering the after-effects of holding the Records for too long, but at twenty-seven, I was the youngest to succeed in the Librarian position. Those suffering from after-effects had been holding the Records for at least a few decades and usually nearing their time to pass on to their successor.
