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SYNOPSIS: The ambitious monk Manheim and the callow novice Julian are unlikely traveling companions. Both would consider the circumstances surrounding their journey mere bad luck—yet, one way or another, they have been charged with a single, important mission: Find the Blackpage!
Twenty years after Manheim’s rival monk, Byron—now called The Blackpage—was exiled from the Order of Authors, this adventuring party will face dangers in the mysterious wilds of Daranna. Yet, all agree that nothing they could encounter is more dangerous than the man they hope to find…
INDEX | Chapter 1 | <Previous (Chapter 12)
The Library
Two Years Later
Brother Julian was assigned to the Library. Normally the library would not have bothered him, but for the fact that during this assignment he was not permitted to read. His job was to dust and maintain all the books in the Library. That is—all the world books, written by all the brothers through the history of the Monastery.
It was not easy work—each of these world books was heavy with mysterious writing which Julian was only just beginning to learn; each book bore a sigil which glowed with its own light, each a color distinct unto itself. It was like having ghosts on a shelf, whole lives dedicated to writing books which no one living in the monastery had ever dared explore, or authors who had been dead so long no one living could recall even stories about them.
It was late in the day, and Julian was tired. He stole away to the kitchen for a glass of water, when he heard a sound like a great wind, and a tumble of books on the floor.
Julian set down his glass and ran to the library. Around the stone lectern in the center of the room were a smattering of books which had fallen off their shelves, somehow.
Julian picked them up, and sighed, placing them back in their spot. One heavy book, climbing a ladder, slotting it into place.
There was, however, one extra book. Julian looked at it—it was vaguely familiar to him, he realized he must have put something else in its place on the shelf. He pulled the previous books out, and examined them.
And then, he saw it—a familiar sigil, a runic letter B, for Byron the Blackpage. It glowed with a soft green light.
Julian smiled, and tucked the book on the top of a shelf, and pushed it back, so it might go undiscovered.
He then descended his ladder, and returned to his glass of water.
The End
Thank you very much for reading! This has been Find The Blackpage, a fantasy adventure serial set in the world of Daranna.
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God bless!
AJPM
Respectfully, I don't want to leave this world. I'm glad they got their resolution with Byron, but there's so much that can be unpacked. I'll miss these guys, but I hope there's something bubbling in the background!
I could not work in the library and not peek at the books; I just couldn't. I know from experience; I had a student job in the library at law school. Did I peek at the books? You betcha. I couldn't not do it!