Editing City Series:Volume6a Chapter4 (section)

===Part 1===

Two things filled a large, dark, and cold enclosed space: many tall bookcases positioned in orderly rows and the tones of a wall clock announcing it was 4 o’clock.

This was the first floor of the central library at Berlin’s university late at night.

Only the moonlight shining in through the tall windows created pale shadows. That light seemed to carry a set rhythm that endlessly but gently illuminated the library.

Then that light falling on the floor was disturbed.

Footsteps sounded and a figure walked through the library. The shadows cast by the moonlight made them look even darker than usual.

It was Berger.

He walked briskly between the bookcases and suddenly reached out to brush his hand along one shelf.

“History Shelf 3: Investigations of how the Obstacle Era led to the City Era.”

He touched another.

“Political Sociology Shelf 21: From the collapse of the First Reich to Bismarck’s Blood and Iron speech.”

And…

“Miscellaneous Shelf 13: Information on this library.”

The dark figure sat in front of one bookcase. The hem of his coat spread out below him as he reached out to touch the floor composed of black and white tiles.

His expression was blank. He did not speak a word as he pressed against various parts of the floor in a seemingly casual way.

“Here it is.”

He suddenly lifted his hand from the floor and stood up.

His right hand touched the end of a bookcase in front of him and he swung his hand outwards as if trying to brush it aside.

The bookcase slid to the right with no resistance whatsoever. It moved about 2 yards.

And a hole appeared in the floor where it had been.

“…”

He set foot in that hole without hesitation. There was a stairway within and the floor swallowed up one step’s worth of his body.

As he continued walking, the library floor soon rose above his head and the stairway’s ceiling was overhead instead.

There was no wind or anything else in that space. It was a dark and still pit.

His clothing and hair blended into the darkness and the rustling of his clothing grew louder than his footsteps as he took the last few steps down.

After a total of 21 steps, even that sound vanished.

But there was a voice.

“Feels weird to be back.”

He knocked lightly on a wooden panel and an oblong strip of bluish-white light appeared in the darkness. The light spread to the side and illuminated him.

A door sat open in front of him and it led to a small room.

He set foot in that room full of bluish-white light and some dust rose from the high pile carpet below his feet.

“…”

He looked up without a word.

The small room’s walls were only 5 yards long. Other than a sofa in the center, it only had bookcases covering all four walls. The bookcases were stacked about 20 yards tall, continuing all the way up to the conical ceiling.

The small skylight in the ceiling distributed light throughout the small space using the mirrors installed on the conical interior of the ceiling. The light filling the room was moonlight.

“I might be the last person left who knows about this secret archive since it was traditionally only revealed to each successive library director.”

He removed his black coat and swept it over toward the sofa. It beat audibly at the air and dust spread out from the sofa before scattering into the stagnant air.

Nevertheless, he placed the coat over the sofa and sat on top of it.

He sank down and looked up above the entrance he had used.

A picture frame was hung above the doorframe and the bluish-white light illuminated the photo of a middle-aged man with his arms around two children: a girl on his left and a boy on his right.

The man had the distinctive cat eyes of a feline Heidengeist, as did the smiling girl to his left. They both had bright brown hair, so they were clearly father and daughter.

But the boy on the right had black hair and different eyes.

Berger’s eyes met those of the boy and his lips twisted into a bitter smile.

He removed his sunglasses, put them in his vest’s breast pocket, and brushed a hand through his hair. He did that a few more times before stopping and covering his face with that hand instead.

“Director, Marsch is probably dead. That inventor loved flying around in aircraft so much…but now he must have joined you in the afterlife.” A bitter laugh escaped his mouth. “That means one of us has failed to keep our promise. The promises that I, Marsch, Schweitzer…and Alfred made with Eryngium.”

He looked up and reached for the pendant on his necklace as he spoke. It was a woman’s pendant set with a red jewel that shined in the moonlight. It was also a cheap one like the ones you could buy from most any street vendor.

A slight metallic sound came from the pendant as it split in two and opened.

A small piece of paper was pasted within.

It was part of a photo. That image of the past had lost its left and right sides, but it clearly showed a man and a woman. The woman was bending her cat eyes with a smile and the black-haired young man was standing behind her.

They stood at an airport with an airplane on a runway behind them.

“That’s one less person who knew me back then.”

He had trouble saying any more and shut the pendant.

A few seconds passed.

Once he managed to compose his expression, he looked up at the white ceiling that reflected the moonlight.

“Eryngium, I just know Marsch died to keep his promise. And now I know what I must do. I’ve met someone who…who is saying the same thing you did before you vanished from our lives.”

Definite strength filled his words now.

“I…”

He hesitated, clenched his fists until they grew white, and continued.

“I want to see where those words lead, even if you failed to see it yourself.”

He stood up, picked up his coat behind himself, swung it around to get the dust off, and put it on.

The air swirled around and the sound echoed through the small room.

His lips mouthed the words of the 9th Section of the Ruling King.

He spread his hands in the center of that sound and motion and took in a deep breath.

He glanced up at the picture frame above the entrance immediately after reopening his eyes.

“––––––”

Without a word more, he began to walk.

He walked out of there.