FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sitting at the large table in the library Kaid began to think aloud. ‘What are we doing here? This place was supposed to help bring magic back to the world, but it seems as if this is just an old castle with a few hundred thousand books to try to sort through. Why go to all the trouble of hiding this place when all that is in it is endless libraries of records about how the people here razed crops, and minor civil court cases?'

Cyin stood behind the bookcase she was searching and listened to Kaid. She knew he was not talking to her, but she still felt the sting of his words. It was her that convinced him to come here after all. And now they not only did not have any idea how to use this place to help, they couldn't even figure out how to get back home. As she stood not really paying attention to the books in front of her something odd caught her eye. Inset into the bottom of the bookcase was a thin line of silver wire. At first she had taken it to be a decoration, but what she had just noticed was that every time one bookcase ended and another began the wire was joined by a very intricate star pattern coupler.

"Hay Kaid, come over here please" Cyin yelled. She listened as Kaid's chair quickly scraped across the floor; it was obvious he was excited for any news when he came at a run. Cyin was perched in front the short row of three book cases next to the entryway to this library.

"What is it hun?" Kaid asked quickly coming to a stop beside Cyin.

"I'm not sure, you see this wire here?" she asked indicating the odd silver line running around the outside edge of each of the three bookcases and connecting the bookcases together at the bottom with a star shaped symbol. Kaid had noticed this when they first entered this library and he had admired the fine detail of the silver and gold inlay and guild work. The line around the outside of the bookcase crossed under a number of very intricate gold symbols. The detail was mirrored on the other two bookcases that stood by the doorway.

"Well at first I didn't think it was anything more then decoration, but look at how it joins one case to the other."

Kaid looked at the wire very carefully, "I don't understand, it is very nice..." Kaid said looking away from the wire toward Cyin. Just as he turned his head the star at the joint seemed to flash. Kaid snapped his head back to look directly at the star.

"I swear that the star just changed color and got bigger as I looked away." Kaid whispered.

"I know the same thing happened to me." Cyin confirmed. "I have seen something like that before, the place where we live is spelled so that anyone who is not supposed to see it can not. But if you catch it out of the corner of your eye you can see it for a split second. One of the elders told me that such spells only work when you were looking directly at them, so if you know you are looking at one and try catching it in the edge of your vision you can sometimes see what the spell is hiding."

Kaid sat for a moment thinking about this. "Have you tried taking down a book and reading it?" Kaid asked.

"I have flipped through a few that looked like they might be helpful, but none of them had any useful information in them." Cyin answered.

Kaid reached up and picked a book off the shelf at random, he read the first few pages. It seemed to be about an old court case involving an argument between two people over the rightful owner of a set of paintings. Kaid knew he was missing something, If this magic was hiding something, what was it hiding, and if it was not hiding something then what was it for?

"Could it be hiding books? I mean we see the book, but maybe it is keeping us from looking at certain books?" Cyin asked. It made sense, but how would you counter such a thing. Also this enchantment did not look like it was new, the metal band along the bottom of the bookcase looked as old as any of the books.

"Whoever created this must have had a trick to see through it, or to disable it. Maybe there is a key or something." Kaid said, Cyin could tell that he wasn't talking to anyone inperticular; this is just what he did when he was close to figuring something out. He said things out-loud to test if they sounded correct when spoken.

"If it was a key it could be anything. A word, an item, hell we may never find whatever it is." Jake interjected as he approached.

"Jake where have you been?" Cyin asked surprised by Jakes sudden appearance.

"I was in the library next door; most of the books in there seem to be for pleasure reading. Also the bookcases in there do not have that metal cording along the bottom."

Jake explained.

"How long have you been listening to us talk?" Cyin asked.

"A few minuets, I walked into the room to tell you that I hadn't found anything, just as I got close enough to here you talking I noticed a book on my right disappear. I think it was one of the books you moved." Jake said, obviously very pleased with the look this caused between his two companions.

Kaid looked directly at Jake, and then he pulled the same book off the shelf that he was just looking at. "Jake show me where you saw this happen." The three friends walked in silence to a bookshelf near the entrance to the room. Sure enough there was a hole where a book had been removed. Looking over the books on the same shelf as the one he had just picked up Kaid recognized the names. Quickly looking over the bookshelf Kaid found that there was a metal cording around this bookcase as well but the only symbol on this bookcase was a small triangle in a square on each corner.

Kaid suddenly stopped, dropped his hands to his sides, and started laughing. Cyin and Jake were left to stair at Kaid in shock. "Kaid what is it, why are you laughing?" Cyin asked, slightly worried.

"Well I think, but no it can't be...." Kaid Trailed off obviously deep in thought. "Every library needs a catalog system, as well as return carts, and popular reference shelves. Why not combine all three?" Kaid asked aloud to no one in particular. As he said this he lifted the book and slowly placed it into the empty spot on the book shelf. He then walked back to the shelf at the front of the room; sure enough the book was back in its spot on the shelf.

"Ok Kaid I think I get it but it still doesn't help." Jake said as Kaid stood continuing to half look at the book case half stare off into space.

"Yes it does, if this is the catalog, and the symbol around the edge lets us know which one we want..." Kaid answered, but stopped and suddenly ran back to the table he was sitting at. Jake and Cyin ran to keep up with him. Kaid pulled three books out of the stack he had piled on the desk. He opened the cover of each. Jake and Cyin watch as he looked over one, grunted and then looked over the next. "That's it!" Kaid exclaimed loud enough to make Cyin jump.

"What's it Kaid, They all look the same." Cyin asked.

"Yes at first glance they look the same. Each one has a cover page that gives the name of the book, date the book was created, the name of the person or persons who wrote the book and the department that the book writer was part of. If you look next to the department there is a symbol." Cyin and Jake looked at the book Kaid had been pointing at; it was listed as ‘Counsel Notes and Hearings' two hundredth year of Simus son of Echolus department of records. Next to the department was a symbol of a triangle in a square. Kaid then showed them that the second book was from the department of agriculture which had a symbol of the sun with a leaf in the middle; the third book was the department of Keep maintenance which had symbol of a rectangle with a hammer in the middle.

"Each of these symbols are on those three book cases, I bet once you know what department you want all you have to do is set it and you can pull the books left on the quick reference shelves in that library." After he said this he walked over to the three bookcases, touched the symbol of the sun with a leaf in it and reached out with his power, the bookcase shimmered briefly then the books on the shelves changed. At the exact same time the whole room lit up. There was a cascading flash of light that ran along all of the book cases. The candles that stood in the walls and on the desks all lit to bring the room to a soft bright orange glow.

"Welcome friends. I did wondered how long it would take you to figure that out." The three companions looked to the sound of the voice. Standing not ten feet away in front of the main table in the library was a large man in flowing white robes. All three companions stood open mouthed starring at the figure, Kaid was the first to recover from the shock and slowly stepped forward and extended his had in greeting.

"And greetings to you as well. I am Kaid, these are my companions Cyin, and Jake." The man also extended his had, but when Kaid tried to clasp it he passed through as if the man were made of air. "So are you a ghost or what?" Kaid asked looking at his own hand in shock.

"Well did you expect that there would still be a living person in this old keep after all these years?" The specter asked in genuine amusement.

"Well we really don't know how long this keep has stood empty, but now that you mention it. You are right I guess I was just taken a little off guard by your appearance. You look like a normal, solid person."

"Well yes I could see where that would be confusing. You see I am drawing from the magic of the keep to allow you to see me the way I appeared when I was a living man." The specter explained. "O I'm sorry, where are my manners. I am Sean, I was the last appointed head of this keep before it was sent to this place. It is my fate to remain in this keep as an advisor until the keep is restored and a replacement can be found." Sean finished.

"OK Sean why did you wait this long to show yourself?" Cyin asked sounding a little annoyed.

"Well you had to pass my tests set out for any who entered the keep before I let my presence be known." Sean explained.

"What tests?" Jake asked

"Well I had to watch you to be sure you did not come here to steal the artifacts stored in the keep. Also I wanted to be sure you could figure out how to use the old magic's in the keep, which you have done by joining to the library's translator and using the reference shelves." Sean explained.

"What do you mean the translators?" Jake asked

"Sorry Jake, I forgot to tell you. We turned on the translation spells shortly after we started searching the keeps libraries. How do you think you have been able to read these books? Did you actually think they are written in English?" Kaid said in a very matter of fact sort of way.

"Wow, ghosts, magic castle, tests, impossible task, did I drop acid and this is all a bad trip, or are we stuck in a twisted fairytale?" Jake said, obviously trying to make a joke.

"Very funny Jake, but this is very serious. I'm sure this man does not want to hear...." Cyin started, but she was quickly interrupted by the sound of laughter. Full, soul softening laughter.

Everyone turned to once again look at Sean. The ghost was nearly bent in half from laughing so hard. "I'm sorry, it has just been a long time since I had a reason to laugh like that. Your friend is right, I'm sure to you this does sound a bit fantastical. O my, that was good thank you." Sean finished as he regained his composure. "Kaid you know what this means? Are you listening to me?" Cyin asked.

"What? O I'm sorry I just had to take a second to shake off the strangeness of all this. What were you saying?" Kaid said obviously still a little stunned by the ghost's sudden mirth.

"I was saying that we now have the information we need to restore the keep. With the ghosts help we will be able to track down the information we need twice as fast then..." "I'm sorry young lady." The ghost said cutting Cyin off. "But I can not help you do that, you see when the keep was put here it was so that the knowledge held within these libraries would never truly be lost. Therefore it can never be returned to its place on earth." Cyin looked devastated.

"What? You mean we came all this way so you could tell us our trip was pointless?" Cyin was starting to cry.

"No young lady, I simply meant that you can not return it the way you had intended." The ghost answered.

"But that's just a nicer way of saying that we did all this for nothing... How can you stand there so calm and tell us we went through all this for nothing? Tell me!" Cyin was shouting, the stress of the moment causing her to loose control. The ghost moved slightly away from Cyin and faded out a little.

"Cyin, hun, please calm down." Kaid said softly as he reached for her arm. "I don't think that is what he is saying at all."

"What is he saying then? You don't understand do you?" Cyin shouted.

Kaid stepped up and enclosed Cyin in his arms. "Hun please calm down. This is not as bad as you think. Just let me make sure I'm right." Cyin was sobbing softly. "What do you mean?" She asked slowly regaining her composure.

Instead of answering her directly Kaid turned to the ghost. "So if we can not send it to its place on earth can we send it somewhere else?"

The ghost who had faded out to almost transparent while Kaid helped Cyin calm down moved forward. "Well yes I guess you could. But were other then earth would you put it?" The ghost asked regaining some of his solidity.

Cyin was looking up at Kaid, the tears in her eyes quickly stopping. "Kaid you don't think? Is that possible?" Now it was Jakes turn to speak up. "Ok so now that you two are done shouting would anyone like to explain any of this too me?"

"Well you see if we can not put the keep back on earth. We could put it in the next best place." Kaid answered more to Cyin then to Jake.

"Kaid that is brilliant, but how are we going to do it?" Cyin asked.

"With his help." Kaid answered pointing at the ghost.

"OK, now I am really lost, what are you talking about?" Jake asked, obviously a little flustered. The ghost was watching the proceedings with an intent interest.

"You see Jake, if we can not put the keep back on earth, then we will move it to Mordath. We will make it a safe hold for all those who are not yet twisted by hate and revenge. We will have a lot more luck fining the information we need to bring down the barrier with more people to help us read through the books. We may even find a way to help stabilize The Other Land to help those who are there until we can reunite the worlds." The look on Jakes face was one of sheer amazement. "You mean you can do that?" Jake asked a bit shocked.

Kaid was about to answer when the ghost cut in. "No, he can not! This keep must be protected, if it were to be moved it could be destroyed. What's more even if I did help, you do not have the knowledge or power required to pull of such an advanced act." The ghost stood looking at Kaid, as if daring him to say something.

Kaid not being one to back down released Cyin and approached the ghost. "You will help us, or we will do it by our selves, but we will do this." As Kaid finished Jake and Cyin looked at Sean and nodded their heads.

The ghost wavered in and out a bit, and then regained his composure. "Alright, I will help you, but I want you to know I don't approve of this."

"That was easy, what changed your mind?" Jake asked

The ghost stood looking at the group for a moment. "Well you see, it is my job to help any who enter the keep. It is why I am still here. I can not go against a group decision no matter what my personal feelings are on the matter." The ghost then smiled "What's more, it will be nice to have a lot of people here to talk to."

A quick Q&A with Sean revealed that he had been the head record keeper. His extensive knowledge of the books and records in the keep, as well as his lack of immediate family, were the main reasons why he was chosen to be spirit bound to keep. Sean showed the group how the three bookcases acted like a filing system. He explained that each library was for a different department, and what each department symbol stood for. He showed us that after selecting the department you want, turning the stars in the middle of the vertical lines allows you to change book cases in that library and pull any of the books from within that library.

Sean invented this quick retrieval system when he was still a student; he was assigned to shelf and categorize the hundreds of books in each room. Not all of the rooms where connected to the retrieval system, just those with the most used books or the newest civil records. After the decision to move the keep the counsel decided to hide some of the most important books in inaccessible chamber within the castle, then they where connected to the quick retrieval system. This hid the books from anyone who did not know how the retrieval system works. Also it turns out that there are three book cases in the keep that could act as retrieval indexes. One in this room, one in the head teacher's study, and one in the privet study of the head mage. With Sean's his help it was easy to find the books explaining how the keep had been moved in the first place, as well as all the text on magic that had been stored away. He knew how every book in every library room was organized.

It turns out that moving the keep was considered the crowning achievement of the Mages counsel. This happen around the same time that the tivent mages figured out how to split the world and erect the boundary. It was an ingenious step in thinking, if the earth could be split into two places then why not three? The mages quickly realized that they did not have enough people to accomplish the move. They solved this problem by performing the move at the same time that the boundary was completed, therefore tapping into the power of the tivent mages who were splitting the world in the first place.