The Imperial library was built along with the rest of the city nearly 700 years ago, and its massive structure towers over the neighboring pillars. The Library is the second largest building in Windxor and one of three buildings that eclipse the city walls.

Sporting a population of 4.4 million people, Windxor is both the capital city of the Imperial Empire as well and the educational capital of the world. Windxor is, if nothing else, chaotic. Hundreds of years ago, the buildings were built around snaking roads and within the then small city walls. As time progressed, both the population of the city and the industrial revolution exploded, and buildings of thick metal were built on top of the previous buildings dozens of times to accommodate the growth, forming gigantic pillars. Construction was a game between builder guilds, and the city walls continued to expand upward as if to envelop the city.

Countless floors above the ground lies the homes and trading centers for the aristocrats. This level boasts clean, rust-less walls that reflect sunlight brilliantly above the other floors. The skybridges connecting the buildings are ornamented with glass floors, metal railings, and trading ships that are anchored just overhead.

As you descend the floors, the quality of buildings drops quickly. The housing of the commoners reflects no sunlight, as these floors are vastly overshadowed by the buildings above and adjacent to them. The little light that exists here is created by strings of dim light bulbs dangling across a few of the nicer complexes. The overwhelming smell of metal and rust permeates everything as no wind blows away the ever stagnant air.

The bottom floors are bathed in pitch black darkness. No electric lines go down this far and hundreds of years of pollution and garbage stack upon itself creating an uninhabitable wasteland. Many who venture here never see the sun again.

___________________________ ACT 1: CHAPTER 1 - Master Librarians: SCENE 1

Hugh watched as faint beads of light shuffled throughout the library. Seeing that they were moving away from his peculiar perch high above the floor, Hugh redirected his focus back to the book that he was reading.

Hugh Peregrine is a ward of the Imperial Empire and an acolyte of the Imperial Library. As such, the menial, tedious responsibilities of an acolyte could be safely ignored if one knew how to stay hidden, and Hugh knew every hiding spot in the stacks he had access to. The current spot he favored was situated on the far side of floor eighteen on the top of a collapsed stack. Few other acolytes ventured here as falling from the top of a stack, even when collapsed, can get you in trouble in more ways than one.

The book he was currently reading, Fundamental Ethereal Control was perhaps the newest book amongst those that he pulled to read from today. The information within was already well known to him despite not having read this particular book. Today was the forty second day of the year 2230 - Hugh would be celebrating his seventeenth year in the library's care today, and he planned on spending it far away from prying eyes.

Colors of the Ether, Artifacts and their Contemporary Uses, and Ether for Imbeciles were all equally disheartening. A migraine was beginning to form at his temples, and Hugh decided that a break for dinner would be worth revealing himself to the Librarians for. Stretching his aching muscles, Hugh stood and quickly surveyed the stacks. Hundreds of rows of stacks three times as tall as a person lined up neatly in the dim lighting of the library. Inhaling a deep breath of the dank, metallic air, Hugh placed his books into his leather sling. Exhaling, Hugh stepped off the slanted stack and fell to the ground below.

___________________________ SCENE 2

“Now, just where have you been hiding, Hugh?”

“Good evening Librarian Nael. You could have found me perusing in the stacks on floor eighteen today.”

Librarian Nael studied Hugh as one might a book. Boleyn Nael had short, oily black hair that snaked to the right of his head and a wiry body. His uniform as a librarian was a simple black overcoat the reached to his knees. In the library, a librarian’s rank was shown by the length of their coat. Being an acolyte, Hugh was adorned with plain black pants and a plain black shirt. Nael’s pointed his crooked nose down at Hugh.

“Interesting. I had personally examined floor eighteen. Do you own an artifact of invisibility?”

“No, Librarian Nael.”

“Then stay away from the collapsed stacks. It is exceedingly dangerous and reflects poorly upon me. I don’t need the extra paperwork right now.”

“Yes, Librarian Nael.”

Hugh bowed slightly and began walking towards the kitchens.

“Prepare yourself for the council. They have been anxious for your presence all day.”

“Thank you, Librarian Nael.”

___________________________ SCENE 3

The council room was located on the fourteenth floor of the Imperial Library. Like all pillars in Windxor, the library counted its floors from the top, down. The fourteenth floor was the highest floor that commoners and low status individuals could ascend to before being denied access. The council room was composed of six tall chairs placed in a semicircle within a plain, well lit room. In each of the chairs sat an elderly man, save for a single elderly female master librarian in the fourth seat, adorned with long, black, faded robes. The room was very much like a bowl, as the center of the room was lower than where the master librarians sat and the door on the opposite side, as evident by the declining curvature of the ground and steps that descend from the door to the center of the room. Hugh stood stoic in center of the chamber, looking up to return the gazes of the council.

“We presume you understand why today is significant for you?”

“Yes, Master Librarian Canon”

“Remind us.”

“Today is my assessment day, Master Librarian Zeeke.” Hugh had long since learned to identify every librarian in the city. Librarians were people of power, afterall.

Every year starting on their sixth birthday, the master librarians examine the acolytes and adjust their curriculum accordingly. Examinations were usually over quickly and did not result in any changes, as commoners very seldom won their librarian title and the general opinion of the examination was that it was but a grand farce. Hugh was not the least bothered by this fact.

“How many words are in the book Produce of the Sand?”

“Two-hundred-twenty-thousand-five-hundred-three in Mauyer’s third edition, Forty-eight-thousand-nine-hundred-twelve in Kerr’s ninth edition, Master Librarian Jace.”

“Incorrect.”

“What is the seventh book on the front side of the third stack from the top left?”

“On floor twenty-three, Vegetation of the Plains by Joseph Vann. On floor twenty-two, Metalwork Today by Aiza Fletcher. On floor twenty-one, Militaj Konkeroj de Niaj-” “Enough.”

“What page can one find the procedure to mixing remedies for the common cough in Eisehaur’s Medicine Man?”

“No remedies can be found in Eisehaur’s Medicine Man. For remedies to the common cough, I would suggest talking to either Dr. Trugaan or Dr. Esseff on floor nineteen, Master Lib-”

“How much ether is required to bend three square marks of pure steel two eighth-marks thick upwards twenty-nine degrees from the horizontal?”

“Assuming that it is being bent in a vacuum-” “At one atmosphere” “Assuming energy is conserved by the steel through deformation, 906 thaums, Master Librarian Thipe”

“Incorrect. Because we are not convinced of your sincerity there will be no change in your curriculum. Leave us.”

“Thank you, Master Librarian Thipe.”

The master librarians waited in silence until the door shut completely behind Hugh. Master Librarian Thipe sighed audibly after the room was secured. This was Thipe's twelfth examination he has held today, and by far the most tense.

“We cannot deny him much longer.”

“Yet we cannot have him move up, he would attract too much attention. He is far too young.”

“Does he understand his-”

“Of course he understands his predicament! He answered every question perfectly and didn’t bat an eye at our responses. . . He was back on floor eighteen today looking through the new shipment. The report said he read through all four of the new books today, faster than usual.”

“Silence, please. I vote that we continue observing him. Once we confirm that he is capable of using ether outside of his studies we will intervene. We cannot afford losing him to the Imperial Army.”

“All in favor?”

Six hands went up collectively.

“Motion passed. Thank you for your efforts today, we will resume examinations tomorrow.”