Young Writers Society

A young man with a hood shadowing his face watched as the lion king walked out of the library, he had been spying on the whole ordeal. He lifted his hood and stood up. He was what some of the libraries oldest occupants would call a regular, he had learned thousands of secrets and tales here.

He walked slyly over to Cal."Hello my name is Preax. What is your name and where do you come from. " he said this in his kindest voice, he already knew Cal's name but didn't want him to know that. He then stuck out his hand and grinned madly

Cal paused, slightly taken aback at the sudden curiosity from someone he'd never seen before in his life. He quickly decided to watch the guy closely. "I'm an Earthling," he said, copying the mocking smile. He stuck out his own hand and manically shook the hand in front of him.

"Sorry I've been in this library a bit too long forgot about how people act in the outside world. So why are you in the library." Preax hoped he would get a good story, usually he could tell how interesting a person would be by looking at them but sometimes it didn't work that way.

Cal cleared his throat, putting a fist up to his mouth as he did so. "I like to read," he replied coolly, and smirked afterwards. In all actuality, he had come here to explore. To find ideas; to get inspired. Looking into this guy's expectant gaze, Cal could tell he wanted more of an explanation...but why? Why was this person so interested in the boring life of Calum Degrey? Cal raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. "Do I know you?"

I quickly read the paper- it felt extremely strange- being involved in someone else's world. But now that I had this information- I didn't know exactly what to do with it. It really seemed like this... Leader needed help, and I was definitely not the best person to ask for it. Obviously the enemy couldn't be reasoned with- and since it was insubstantial there was little hope for me to punch it's lights out. I knew little of magic, but I understood it's ability to tear people apart.

It actually seemed to me as if these 'Nightshades' were simply hastening the natural order of things. Places fall apart, chaos exists, fights break out, assassins try to make a living, people forget how to care. Or they make themselves not care to protect themselves from heartbreak.

But I was getting side-tracked, the original culprit was the Nightshades, so the real question was- what caused them to come? What triggered this outbreak? If someone could find and destroy the central source of such a thing maybe the entire race of creatures would fade.

Thing is- how would you kill such a creature? Because if you could kill a minion- a larger amount of the same force could theoretically be used to kill a greater creature of the same type.

All this thought was finished in less than a minute- and I began to trot after the lion king.

"No," He said the smile leaving his face. "You couldn't know me I've been in this library longer than you've been alive, unless of course you're a regular."

Once he had said this Preax realised unless Cal knew the forces at work behind the library he wouldn't understand. Preax looked younger than Cal, but Preax had been here for much longer than how old Cal looked. But of course looks can be deceiving.

The lion king had opened the doors but they hadn't led where he had expected. His world was nothing like this one. Odd machines that looked like a mix between a wagon and beast scattered the side of the road. He ran back to the Library at the end of the street. He ripped open the doors, and roared, "How do I get back to my land!"

Cal watched Flaerwin go, then turned his attention back to the newcomer. Although it was true that he was from Earth, it wasn't as if he didn't know a thing or two about magic. He wasn't oblivious to the fact that there were other worlds at hand; other forms of life beyond his own. In fact, he had often dreamed that he would one day run into such a place, and meet such people. He supposed this was his day. This was his time, in this library that he knew was no ordinary library.

"Care to tell me a bit of your tale? You can start with your name," he looked into the eyes of the guy. Realizing he hadn't even shared his own name yet, Cal shifted his weight and his sixteen-year old self waited for an answer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the lion king storming back into the library through its double doors.

"Like I said earlier, my name is Preax. My story is old, I was chosen from my town as sacrifice. I know not very many worlds do that any more. I freed myself and left. I had several adventures after that, and I was in a particularly rough situation, where I may or may not have been a slave to the president of my land, when I found this library. I learned things, I hadn't even imagined before. I decided to stay. Occasionally I would have an adventure in the outside worlds, but I haven't had one of those in many years." Preax said this as though he were in a race. He took a while to catch his breath.

Cal nodded as he managed to follow Preax's quick, but sensible history. He'd never before met so many different souls from so many different walks of life. That must mean the faces he'd seen in his dreams really did have some purpose...

"And now, what's your next quest? Why talk to me?" Cal was legitimately wondering.

Preax was unsure how to react to the question. Should I tell him the truth or not. Finally he decided on truth. "Now I try to find out about other's adventures," he paused to think, "But I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for."

A roar came from the counter the lion had obviously been upset somehow.

Lionel walked to the front desk. "HOW do I get back!" he growled at the old lady.

"We still need you, but I assure you that you will get back someday." The Lady smiled unpleasantly.

Lionel roared at this answer, "TELL ME HOW TO GET BACK OR I WILL TEAR DOWN THIS LIBRARY!" he shouted.

Cal shrugged. "Well, at least there's one thing we have in common," he admitted. "I'm not completely sure what I'm looking for here either."

At the sound of the commotion at the front desk, Cal turned his head to see what the heck was going on. Various librarians were around, but they seemed to know that shushing would not do much good in this given situation. So Cal decided to intervene. Suddenly turning and walking briskly up being the Lionel, he tried to be the peacekeeper. "Woah, kitty. Take it down a notch. We are in a library, after all."

"These librarians are determined to keep me from helping my people and you wish for me to be calm?" Lionel snarled, "Are you in league with these hags?"

Cal let out a nervous chuckle. "Nay nay, lion man." He sort of patted the king's shoulder in an attempt to get him to chill out. "Isn't there a way you might be able to help your people from here?"