Just about one thousand years ago...

A young scholar was sitting in the hall of an old, dust-filled library. The library must have been at least a thousand years old by now, and it looked as if no one had set foot in its halls for hundreds and hundreds of years. Discovering this library had been an amazing find for the young scholar, and now he and two older gentlemen who had accompanied him there were eagerly poring through the bookshelves, looking to find some sort of tome or volume that might contain one of the great secrets of the past.

Of course, most of the books here were books that the scholar already knew quite well. Even though he was still quite young, he was already extraordinarily accomplished, and he had read every single one of the Old Books several times over. He knew them all quite well – not just the Book of Origins – and he could easily recognize their familiar titles as he traced his gloved hand across the dusty runes.

He couldn’t even remember the last time that he had taken off his signature gloves. It was rather important for him to wear them, after all… because they helped to conceal a rather interesting mark that lay hidden on the palm of his right hand.

So far as he knew, no one in this world knew that he was an Interloper. That was his secret, and his alone. He had been wandering this world for almost a dozen years, trying to find anything that could teach him about why he had been brought here, or about who Kalia might be. But none of the people in this world seemed to know a single thing about his origins, or about how he had come to this world from Earth. That was why he had gone out searching on his own, and that was what had led him to discover this old library, which seemed to hold out the promise of some sort of ancient, and forgotten knowledge.

The instant that he had found that old library, he had rushed back to his home town, in order to deliver the news to his colleagues at the Guild of the Pen.

The Guild was a kind of institution of learning dedicated to both the study, and the careful interpretation of each of the oldest books of the past. That Guild had helped to take the young scholar in when he had first arrived in this world, and it was where he had been working for several years now. It was an interesting and an exciting place, and it had been a very natural fit for both his talents, and his interests. The young man’s extraordinary memory, insatiable drive for knowledge, and careful, and focused perception had made him a truly noteworthy interpreter, and it was that combination of gifts and dispositions that had first made him such an attractive candidate for admittance into the Guild, and then allowed him to become one of the Guild’s leading scholars before he had even reached to the tender age of thirty.

But even with all that he had accomplished, the discovery of a new library had the potential to set his name into history forever. It had been nearly two hundred years since an Old Book had been discovered, after all… and the potential to have found a new book to add to the Guild's collection - with all of the wisdom, and the knowledge that it might contain - was maybe the most exciting event of his life, so far.

That was why he had so eagerly rushed back to the Guild, and told his adviser about what he had just found, and about where the library was located.

His adviser, a man by the name of Thomas Fisher, was one of the oldest and most respected members of the Guild of the Pen. When the young scholar had first begun to really show promise, the Guild’s leadership had decided to appoint Mr. Fisher to help to mentor the young man, and to watch over the youth. Since then, the two of them had become quite close friends, and the young man had made several of his greatest discoveries through long, thoughtful conversations with his older instructor. They each shared a similar love for knowledge, and they were each quite eager to hear about any sort of new insight or discovery.

And so, when the older scholar had heard about the new library that the young man had found, he had been so excited by the news that he had positively demanded that they set out to see the place at once. Mr. Fisher had only stopped on his way out the door to inform one of his oldest friends about the news – another eminent and respected scholar, by the name of Mr. Adams. Afterwards, the three of them had left at once, eager to explore every secret of the library on their own, and to report back with their findings to all of the other members of the Guild.

That had all taken place just a few hours before. Since then, the three of them had made the journey back out to the beautiful and sacred ruins, and were now eagerly searching through the ancient library for any old and buried tome that they might be able to find.

Unfortunately, as the three of them scanned through each of the old and dusty books, none of them were able to recognize a single volume that was new to them.

That made sense, of course. Even with how old this library was, and even with how remote it was from the rest of the world, it wasn’t so old that it would be likely to contain a book that was more ancient even than any of the Old Books that had survived through the ages.

And so, even though they each continued to search, and to make their way through every shelf, and every compartment, they were all beginning to lose hope, and they were starting to abandon their thoughts of discovering any sort of new book or tome.

But then, right as he was about to suggest that they all took a break to have their lunch, the young scholar noticed something that was rather curious.

On one of the shelves right towards the center of the library, there was a single misplaced copy of the Book of Origins, that appeared to be just slightly larger than any copy of that book that the young scholar had ever seen before.

It would be hard to describe just what a minor difference in size this really was. In truth, it was such a small difference that probably just about no one would have ever noticed it, or to have even cared at all if they had managed to spot such a thing. But for a scholar of his inclination, with such an extraordinary attention to detail, who had been studying that particular book for almost his entire adult life… to him, such an apparently invisible discrepancy was almost obvious, really.

And so, with great curiosity, the young scholar pulled down the slightly-too-large book, and opened it up in his hands.

Flipping through the pages, nothing about the book seemed to be all that different from what he had read before. It certainly seemed like just another copy of the Book of Origins… at least, at first.

And, yet…

There were – discrepancies.

A few of the words had too many letters.

Some of the words had been underlined with a black pen.

Every now and then, a line from a different one of the Old Books had been interposed, as if by some sort of clumsy accident.

There were also many small, tiny additions – just an extra word here or there, every few lines – that you would never notice, if you didn’t remember exactly what the book was supposed to say. But…

Calmly, and with great focus, the young scholar simply wrote down what had been added. He wrote it all down in order, from the first page to the last, marking down what page each addition had been discovered on.

And as he did so, a message began to appear. Read in order, the additions formed their own, secret book – a book within a book, that told a story of the true history of the world, different from anything that the young man had ever heard before.

According to that story, there had once been a war thousands, and thousands of years ago – a war between the followers of Kalia, and a wizard named Jurnor.

The story told of Kalia’s defeat, and of who she had been, and of the desperate attempts of her followers to free her from her chains, and to bring her back to her former glory.

But most of all, the book told of a paradise that had once been enjoyed by all, back when Kalia had ruled over this world… and of a horrible, horrible crime, that might well have destroyed that paradise forever.

The book told of things that seemed too amazing to be true, and too impossible to believe. And, yet…

“Congratulations! Your Insight has increased by ten!”

… and yet, he knew that every word of this book was true.

The young scholar’s whole body started to shake, and to tremble. He couldn’t believe what he had just discovered, or how significant of a thing he had found. This was undoubtedly going to go down in history as the single greatest discovery that had ever been made, and the discovery that would immortalize his name forever.

And after this… no one would ever forget the thing that he had accomplished on this day – and no one would ever wonder just who Kalia was, or why she had summoned so many people to this world, for all of these years.

At long last… the mysteries of the past had all been solved.

With sweat dripping from his hands, and with his heart beating so fast that he felt as if he was about to explode, the young man ran back towards the two older scholars, and showed them what he had found. He showed the slightly-too-large book, and he showed the code, and he showed every insight and discovery that he had just found, hardly even able to stop himself from speaking, with a greater and greater degree of joy and of animation in every word.

His adviser could only smile from the depths of his being, as he looked at the young man with a degree of admiration and respect that he had never displayed before.

“My boy,” Mr. Fisher said, quite slowly, “you are positively amazing. Honestly… I am honored to have met you. You are a truly extraordinary individual, and I can do nothing but admire you for what you have become, and for what you have accomplished here today.”

The young man beamed, overcome with a kind of peace, and joy, that he had never once before experienced in his entire life.

And then, Mr. Fisher slipped a knife out of his rightmost pocket, and stabbed the young scholar in the chest.

The other older scholar did the same, as he ripped through the linings of the young man’s lungs.

Hot, wet blood trickled onto the ground, as the adviser plucked the book out of the young scholar’s hands, and took the notes up off of the ground.

Then, he handed the book and the notes to his older friend, as he leaned down towards the young man, and softly closed the youth’s eyes, and whispered into his ear.

“Good night, my young friend…

Good night… Interloper.”

The young man felt blood trickling from his lips… and a few moments later, his consciousness flickered out of being for the last time, as his body grew still, and cold.

And then, the two older scholars turned around, and made their way slowly out of the old, and sacred library.