A World With/Out Home

Chapter 7: A parting notice. (Part 3)

In the late morning the children had their classes and Kyle had a little time to work on his own. Usually he would do some private study before preparing lunch but today he had a different agenda. As much as he wanted to not be affected by it, the dream the previous night was weighing heavily on his mind. The library in the Garden was small but had many books that would be rather hard to find elsewhere. History dating back to the early years just after the Eternal Hero broke through the fog and created their world, stories that had become legend and even the occasional book on magic. After an hour of skimming through several books Kyle was only more confused than when he started.

"So this is where you were," Maila poked her head inside the room.

Kyle looked up with blurry eyes, "Sorry, did you need any help?"

"No I was just wondering where you went. Can't have you disappearing like last time," she said pointedly. "What are you looking for? If you want help with magic, the books here aren't going to be much use."

"No I'm just looking at old fairy tales," Kyle held a book in front of him. The cover was quite old but the picture showed the figure of an elf and human holding hands. "There's quite a lot of books here that talk about elves, beastkin, dragons, ogres, the list goes on. Some of them even have pictures."

"Why the sudden curiosity?" Maila looked at him suspicious.

"Nothing really... well it's not nothing. Just they're always mentioned especially in the older folk tales but we're always told they don't exist. If they don't exist why make stories of them? Is it really just someone's imagination?"

"You're thinking about this quite a lot. Did you see something?"

Kyle paused. He really had and Maila looking at him the way she was now was completely fair. No normal person should care so much. It wasn't like he was a researcher of old literature. Still he couldn't just let it go and decided to reply honestly, "I have dreams sometimes of things that I can't believe are real but they seem like they are." He held up another book titled A Sweeper's Adventure Log. It was a book that wasn't circulated normally. "This book describes thing that Sweepers have seen in the fog. One of them is the ocean. I've never been past the fog yet last night I dreamt of it and the description matched perfectly. They also mention ruined cities and towns, places that I was never taught were real."

Maila stared at him. Her gaze became serious, "Kyle you know that things concerning the fog aren't meant for normal minds. People are taught there's nothing out there for a reason. I don't know what you're dreams are but don't pry to deep. Even for the Hero's Guard and Sweepers, information is kept tight."

Kyle scratched his head. She was right. Even in the introduction manual Bethial had given him there was a whole chapter on secrecy. It was on a need to know basis and Kyle as a caretaker didn't need to know.

"Okay but one thing. Our history started 400 years ago when the Eternal Hero appeared. What was the world like before then, before the fog? Could elves and beastkin be real but we just don't know."

Maila sighed, "Kyle your dreams are nonsense. If elves and beastkin were real wouldn't we have found some trace of them? They're made up creatures. Just forget it all and focus on the now."

"I guess you're right," he put down the books. "Even if I look through the entire library all I'm going to get are more questions."

"Good. People who pry into the fog tend to wind up in dangerous situations." Her eyes softened but remained serious, "About your dreams. Don't tell anyone about them. They might think you're a bit weird."