They entered the library from the back and went down the stairs. They took this door because nobody knew it led to a special stock room. This room was made of wood, and the kids were able to take out the nails from three floor tiles. They replaced them perfectly and placed a chest over them.
After moving the chest and taking out the tiles, they jumped down to the Forbidden Archive entry, effectively dodging the guards that were doing rounds during the night shift.
The door looked like an anomaly in the library.
It was made of metal, garnished with ink symbols and gold stamps. It appeared to weigh 5 tons. This door's particularity was that it lacked a handle. Alex's father had told him in the past that this was the last barrier when he first started his guard duties.
The only person in the world who knew the calligraphy to open the gate was Elder Herald... or so he thought.
Alex didn't have any mana, but he had his brain. Once he saw something that struck his curiosity, he could never forget it. This came in especially handy when learning for learning spell calligraphy. The irony was that he couldn't use the dozens of spells he knew because of his handicap.
When he was still a three-year-old child, Alex was playing with his father when Clan Leader Klutz arrived in a hurry to speak with the Herald. Alex didn't understand or remember what they said, but he vividly recalls seeing his father panic and rush to the forbidden. He hadn't found anyone to babysit Alex, so he brought him with.
He didn't think Alex would remember the sigil to open the gate, but he was wrong; the sigil was branded into Alex's retina like a tattoo.
"Here, write this on all 4 corners of the door and write this in the middle," Alex showed a drawing scribbled into a torn piece of paper.
Malena executed the orders, and they waited.
After a couple of seconds, Malena whispered, "Well, this isn't working. Let me erase this and go home before we get caught. We'll fight Xander head-on and win this time, don't worry."
As she was speaking, she tried to force the door, and stopped in her tracks. The door was supposed to be as cold as metal, but it was heating up.
"Hey Alex, come see this," she said, surprised.
Alex, who was already thinking about where he could have gone wrong, got snapped back to reality.
"Shut up, I'm thinking," retorted Alex.
"Come touch this door before I pick it up and slam you with it," answered Malena, sounding way too serious for a fake threat.
"Alright, what do you wan..." Alex went up to the door while speaking. Just as he put his finger on the door, it reacted. For him, the door felt as light as a feather. He pushed wide open. Even he thought that he was dreaming.
"I see you've been slacking off on your training," smirked Alex while flexing his muscles
"Hey, wait, that's impossible. I must have loosened it with all my pushing," replied Malena, visibly irritated.
"Yeah, yeah... C'mon, we don't have time to fool around," whispered Alex, why diving into the dark hallway.
The first thing they felt upon entering the archives was the difference in temperature; the cold made it seem haunted. They both felt a prickle at the base of their necks. This place was basically screaming at them to leave. The pale light from Alex's lamp was barely able to light up two meters in front of them because of all the dust they were stirring in the air.
"You stay here, Malena. If you hear anything, stomp three times." Alex continued walking without waiting for her answer.
"I want to come explore too!" said Malena as she realised that she was talking to a cracked wall. "This place is creepy. I don't want to stay alone in the same place. It's so cold, and that's how people die in the books..." she grumbled to herself.
Alex continued his journey. He walked through the narrow corridors, inspecting the shelves covered with the grey silt of the past. The only thing he remembered from the first time he came was that there was an armory somewhere that scared his three-year-old self.
After too many left and right turns, Alex ran into a room with broken doors. The air felt even thicker inside this room. Breathing was slowly becoming a challenge at this rate. On one of the doors was written "France History Room."
France... Alex had never heard of a city or country named France. He thought that it must have been a city from another continent or a lost Island somewhere. He decided to look into the room as he was lost anyway and needed a break.
He scanned the shelves, and subjects ranged from cuisine to love to philosophy to war. The last subject interested Alex more than anything since he was preparing for a battle. He quickly read through all the titles and decided to pick up "Napoleon the Great".
How can he be so great if I've never heard of him...
This thought could have come off as arrogant, but for Alex, it wasn't. He had read more books than anybody he knew, including his father.
As he opened the book, he realised that something was wrong. The pages were blank. Not a single page had ink on it. He tried opening other books to compare. However, every single book he opened was blank. The idea that the ink had disappeared because the book was old crossed his mind, but that didn't make sense, since the pages seemed intact, and even the most poorly conserved books had traces of the ink that once decorated them.
While he was comparing other books, he heard a clink behind him. He called out to Malena, but he didn't get a response. Alex couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched. He decided to leave the room immediately and continue diving into the library to find the armory.
After his second step, he felt that his right foot hit something. He heard the same clinking sound. He followed the sound and got down to see what it was. A silver ring with the initials "J.F" was lying on the ground.
Hmmm... the ring must have been in one of the books I was searching...
Alex didn't have the time to go back and try to find which book it came from, so he put it on his left ring finger and bolted back into the archives.
Just as he turned his first corner, he saw a man looking him straight in his eyes. Panicked, he screamed and fell back, knocking one of the shelves over him.
The shock and the pain made him start hyperventilating. The thick air didn't help his condition, and he lost consciousness again.