"Fuck." Eve muttered.
The western coast on the other side of the Great Stone is slowly feeling an unwanted change. Waves receded, animals retreated, and most importantly, the skiff by the rocks was gone. Traces of footsteps on the sands say more than one person was involved in this mess.
"What in Buttleboo is happening here? Where did those people carry them? And why?" Charger kicks the sand.
"Tophats. I didn't know who are those people, but I heard a few about crooks who dwell in southern side of Gold Creek." Cyrus sat on the rock, watching the low tide with a worried face.
It wasn't pleasing for everyone—especially the librarian. The red, mischievous men had never been a trouble in the north. But now? They just so happen to steal the most important and precious skiff for the three wanderers to leave this place. Not even the Tin Man could predict their act.
"My boat...my precious boat..." Charger rubs the traces of its disappearance.
"Can't you just make a new one, Charger?" Cyrus tries to cheer up.
"New one? You ever made a new boat here? Because I didn't! That floating boat of mine is a fruit of a heist!" The creature tears in disappointment.
"Fixing that skiff also took me a day!"
The three wanderers are lost, either to join the storm together or forever be dusted here on the coast, separated from history. The librarian's fury on these red-hatted people had never been so dark, given the lives she had among them. This time, these people have gone too far on her.
"I fucking hate these people! The worst scum ever! I hate! I hate! I hate!!" The librarian throws out her anger with a rock into the ocean. The anguish cannot leave her heart as she wished, for there is only misery for her to wait if she remained in this land. For her, she cannot be part of this disastrous event while having the knowledge of another world.
"What do we do now, Eve?" Charger wonders.
"Forget it. Now we're stuck in this land. Stuck with those people..."
"At least we have our mother until the end..." Eve mumbled.
"My mother is in Wiltham, handling some...kids? I don't know what her job was. But I think—I mean, yeah we're all in this together..." The cleric was quick to take his words before he made himself worse at the two wanderers.
How quick it was for determination to diminish into yet another sand just when it seemed the dust was over. Hope faded into non-existence, reminding the librarian of those who wore red and proudly stood for their ideals, trying to topple anyone else who defied them.
"Let's just go home and watch the storm taking us all out, now."
"No." Charger denies.
The Tophats were more than just a hassle, but a people with power unfair. Their judgement is unreasonable and illogical, yet they stand unaffected by the law. The librarian was ready to take this shame at once, embracing her demise as the truth about her fate is undeniable. Suddenly, the Tin Man stands in denial.
"What?"
"No. We can't do that. We...we weren't supposed to wait for this place aren't we?" Charger walks out.
"I've been going through many things and I couldn't let these people took me by surprise anymore. That boat is like six times my heist earning!"
"If anything, we should take it back from their hands! I will not let a fool take me treasure!"
Such a spirit for a soul trapped in a tin can. He lost what he had dearly and wouldn't let it go by the time. Such thought was a suicide, for the librarian knew that these red men weren't just fools. But the Tin Man remains indifferent to the nature around him, even daring for thousands.
"Don't worry, friend! I have something for you!" The Tin Man headed into his tin house, resolved and more willing than before. The librarian could hear the sound of clanking from his floor, followed by a sudden rush and teetering wall because he was so willing that the house was cheering for him.
"There you go! Now, pack up! We're going for an adventure down!"
Before the librarian lies Tin Man's metal work. Not just a weapon or a tool but a relic of his living days—one that is out of this world. The third wanderer and his metallic skin had an unlimited brilliance, yet living in a confined and insignificant world in his tin house.
The change from the seemingly inevitable fate surprises even the librarian, for she expects so little yet is provided so much in the end. The things they had in their minds are mysterious, each bearing their own judgements and results. But the librarian? She hasn't shown hers yet.
"What is this? What are you showing us?" Eve handled Charger's device. It appears poorly crafted, but a turning light indicates functionality.
"Is this an otherworldly sorcery, creature?" Cyrus handles the mechanical lantern with sufficient whale oil.
"Kind of. Depends on how you see it! These things will help us get the boat ready as soon as possible!"
"Now, friend. Where are those red-hatted men gone to?" Charger raises a metal staff out of his house. It emanates blue sparks from the tip, like magic staff.
The three wanderers journeyed from the hills of Great Stone and into the lowlands of Frayfoil—a land of pure factual ideology and actuality. It is not just land that serves the librarian her great mind, but also the land where her wisdom originates. Frayfoil: the town which defines factuality and carves time through records and ticks of time.
They descended through a railway, abandoning the chaos on the hill and trailing the dripping sand into the lower terrain of this land. Afar, Frayfoil was built between rivers and trees, separating the devoted and the wise from merging with falsehood.
All the glitters and sunshine vanished from the eyes of the wanderers as they welcomed the forestry of humid but sandy weather and a wall of Frayfoil. There's no misery here, only mistakes—and mistakes get corrected swiftly. Towers define the wisest, not the faithful.
"Here we are. Feast your eyes, gentlemen." Said the librarian. The long descension from downhill to the southern side of Gold Creek was a long yet deserving journey.
"Welcome to Frayfoil, my friend. Home of mine and the undeniable. Want to believe? Then learn the truth!"
Everything happening in this town is far different than what happened from above. Those who wanted to believe would not last any longer, but those who wanted to learn lived as long as they were willing to learn. Statue? That was a 'reason' for disruption—nobody deserves to be recognized against the truth. If it is a fact, then it is the reason.
"Hold it right there! You three aren not allowed to go in!" A man in a blue coat guards the door from the three wanderers. The sand storm took so many days off of him, and he was buried nearly by the tiny pebbles.
"What? Why?" Eve asked.
"Frayfoil is under a lockdown. No one is coming in and out until the current situation...the weather...is controlled." The man pointed above.
The sandstorm had led the town into chaos, turning all collective wisdom and research purposeless in this progressing town. Frayfoil was not much different, but the sight of sand was new and beyond calculation for all the thinkers. The misplacement of truth is unacceptable by the thinkers, leading to all things being wasted.
"What is this terrible weather??"
"My research paper is going to be compromised by this weather!"
"Years of meteorology class and for what? This?"
But there's only one thing the librarian could focus more than the shriek of questioning. The red-coated crooks and their ragged bowler hats are taking the street during their darkest days. Behind the walls, they see the men claiming wealth and lives from the desperate thinkers and their research. Such a view could only irritate the librarian more.
"Tophats..." Eve mumbled with dread in her eyes.
"You know what? Just go in if you want. I have no purpose holding this gate anymore...who's paying me now?" The blue coat guard raises the gate.
Boom! The gate falls. Frayfoil collapses with its structure, and the guards find no purpose in holding it back anymore. The three wanderers watched as duty meant nothing more but a badge thrown into the ground. So they entered the burning kingdom, where no laws could bind them here anymore.
"Have fun! I'll be heading uphill to start a new life in Wellspring instead." The man left his post.
—————————————————————————————————
"What happened there? What are they doing? Those are ancient literatures from the 15th century!" The librarian tries confronting the men involved with the burning of these papers. These sacred papers hold the words and histories of Frayfoil's people from the past. But now, the people are turning them into a mat to step on. She can't do much to stop the damage as people are turning their backs on knowledge.
"Those literatures are of no use to us anymore, young ones! We have no use of them anymore!"
"The truth is no more! The prophecy, if the prince was right, will doomed us all! What's the purpose of holding the mouths of our ancestors that owes us lies?"
"History is over! Time to set a new truth! An apathetic truth! We are all but a dust now and tomorrow!"
"NO!" Eve deviates. But the men remain in revolt.
The collapse of knowledge began slowly, and the librarian was trying to entangle the remaining strings of the town together. But no matter what she's doing, the gradual descent is unstoppable. People are turning their eyes against the truth and following the nature of savageness they have never seen before.
"No...no...why...?" Eve grasps the surviving literature on the ground. The cleric stands pityingly, trying to look after people as much as he can while the Tin Man remains indifferent to the chaos. The sand is growing high, burying the remaining papers and the street.
"Eve, are you okay?" Cyrus approaches her with a sandy boot.
"No! How can I? Some of these literatures are my works! Look, it was my 14 year old project about screensquares! It was wasted! Cyrus, it was wasted!"
"Tophat!!" The indifferent Tin Man was distracted by his objective. Somewhere, he became sullen from the two wanderers. Papers are torn, thoughts are no more, and Tophats are ruling the chaos they didn't make. Truth is irrefutable, but is it now? Everything seems untrue before her eyes.
"Look at this place, Cyrus. Look at how terrible this place is! No one but us standing here as a human! Don't you think?!" Eve stared in anger as she saw her papers.
"I...I don't know. I guess not...? Eve, I don't think it's time to—" Cyrus replies hesitantly.
"Come on! We need to look around and see how fucked this town is! If the Tophats didn't make it worse, then I guess we should..."
As they wander even further, they find many libraries emptied, cabinets burnt, and the townsfolk of Frayfoil even more desecrated than before. The works of many and records of indisputable debates and commentaries have become nothing but remembrance and sacrifice.
"Burn them all! Burn!"
"My researches meant nothing for the cataclysm! My whole life was pushed for nothing! Burn it all so it doesn't die for nothing!"
On the other hand, red-suited men are watching from their tower with the ignorance of rock while collecting grievances like scattered silver. For them, watching these papers turned into ashes is more of an entertainment than a situation. Why should the greedy and powerful care for the truth? Their indifference was clearly a nuisance for the librarian.
"Haha! Fools, all of you! What a town full of maniacs!"
"Yeah, yeah! Burn them all! Burn all those works of yours! Get dumb and do something useful next time!"
"Hahaha! Take this!"
Prang! A bottle fell into a man's head from where the Tophat watch. He was dead, or only bleeding to it.
This town would soon be gone by the time, and the librarian would miss none. Once the Friday hits the town dark, there would be nothing left for her to hold but a record. The librarian could not salvage anything more in this town—not even a book.
"You see it, Cyrus? The town is screwed! There was no faith here, only truth! See what happened to the town that progresses only for the greatness of science? It goes boom!" Eve yelled at him.
"Eve, are you okay?"
"Of course! Look at me! I've never been happier! The town is falling and there's nothing we could do to stop it!"
"We could! We could save them! Let's go back to the north town and evacuate as much as possible!" Cyrus urges. But before he could step away from her, Eve grabbed him by his shoulders.
Eve replies, "No way! We're already here, and we can't go any further. We must let the truth pass, Cyrus! Let the world be silent for once..."
"*Gulp* What's wrong with you, Eve?" Cyrus grew concerned and annoyed with Eve.
The two wanderers went further until the hill was but a distant view behind their backs. The cleric kept his eyes on the fog, watching as he abandoned duty while the librarian saw only her way to the front and into the distant ocean.
"Ugh, now where's that blue Tin Man again?" Eve wanders.
The Tin Man appeared before the two wanderers with a hat of a Tophat. Somewhere, he had his business done without the librarian and the cleric's deed, and he was as happy as the Tophat, who watched the chaos consuming the wisdom. And still, he remains indifferent to its event until now.
"Done watching the show, friends? Cause I got a good news for you." Charger cleans his electrical staff from dust. His bowler fits well between his antennae.
"It better be a good reason as to why you had a crook's hat on you." Cyrus replies concerningly.
"Oh, it'll be! I found the location of my skiff here! Those red people you mentioned were the ones holding our only way out of this town. They were planning on using all boats here to leave before day five!"
"Oh, so not only ungrateful and unhelpful, but also a scheming bastard. Colour me surprised." Eve replied, disappointed and angered.
The three wanderers continue pushing forward into the south, watching the red and powerful indulge in pride from the afterduty of Frayfolians. But nothing the three could do to stop them, for fate is fixed, and the truth is undeniable. The world is facing a great cataclysm that would end everything. The librarian accepted it, but at what cost? All her works are also gone in the dust.
In the end, the three wanderers could only continue their journey to find their skiff on the other side. The Tophats kept their treasure locked, and they wouldn't let these people win against them. The skiff belongs to them, and that's the only truth the librarian could hold here.
"Been going through places while I'm here. But Frayfoil? I said this place is messed up! Good thing I didn't spend my life here after leaving Quasor!" Charger checks his new hat.
"I overheard one of the men saying they were carrying our skiff somewhere empty and devoid of people. It has something related to empty or abandoned place on this land."
"Devoid? Now where would that be?" Cyrus scratches his head.
Eve pauses and nods up, "Wailstone."