Architect or Librarian?

The training for the inheritance did not go at all as Asato had imagined. In the six years old's mind, the training consisted of using the power all around him. To feel the same way he had felt while he harnessed his power.

To only be proven wrong the very next day. The place where they had been cornered and stuck inside was enormous, bigger than the space he had lived before.

And yet it was filled to the brim with books. They covered the whole walls, the roof and even places where his short eyesight did not reach.

It was overwhelming and consuming to a six years old child. The books reflected in his red eyes as a barrier between him and his desired result.

The child took a few steps inside and then stopped, turning his body the steps to outside began.

"Hey, where are you going? Get back inside there" the voice in the head of the child cried and the child stopped. With a look back to the books, once again the steps to outside freedom began.

"No, wait. What you need to learn is in there. Hey, someone stops the child" the child could not make his way any further as he was picked up by the shadow person he had come to understand as the workers.

They were beings made purely out of magic, a condition he mirrored now. But unlike him, they had no consciousness of their own and were entirely controlled by their maker, the spirit inside his head.

"You never told me who you were exactly where. And why do I need these books for when you can teach me yourself? Hey, tell me how you made that fire circle before" the child, Asato called out, an excited tone to his voice.

The voice in his head did not respond for a time and the child only frowned.

"Hey" the child was dropped down on the ground as the shadow in the shape of the man took its leave. Once it was gone, Asato made himself much more comfortable on the large cushion he was put down on.

"You need to learn all this to harness the power around you. I won't be there forever" the child frowned at the answer. He didn't like the answer at all.

Another man shadowed from the side approached from the side with a big book in hand. It was big, thick and had a leather red cover. However, it was not a language the child had seen before.

"You're ignoring the question. Who are you?" the child asked again, now prioritising the important question before anything else.

"I was called Klien, the 99th Architect of balance. You will succeed me as the 100th" the voice replied in an almost automatic tone. Surely the

the owner had voiced that line millions of times before.

The child tilted his head in confusion. The only 'Architect' he had ever heard was the one who had built the extension of the place he had lived previously. Sister had talked about the person and fees or something.

He did not know the word at all. The spirit sighed in his head at the clueless child and lamented at his own fate. Of all the living creatures on the planet, he was stuck with a weak child who had no educational foundation.

"An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings, but that's in normal cases. However, in our case, they are entities who protect the balance of the world's energy. They overlook and govern its moment and make sure the balance between energy does not

tilt at all"

The child listened carefully but by the expression on the face, you could tell that nothing made a home in the child's head at all.

"I'm not sure I understand it at all. Can you tell me more? Also, something in my body feels weird and it burns a little" the child asked the spirit and opened the book.

He was seeing the book but not registering anything that was written inside it at all.

"You'll understand in time. I'll share my knowledge with you as the previous generations shared their own with me. As for your body? You are feeling the side effects of your restrictions. It'll pass in no time"

"Side effects?" the child asked with a curious tone in his voice.

"Yes, side effects. You see, we are neither humans nor anything that exists. We are beings made of pure magic and hence we just exist as an entity. Neither male nor female, our minds adapt to such a stage. However, to blend better, our body doesn't physically change much. We can change our shape, our very souls too if we want but I won't advise it since we can get confused and lose ourselves"

Once again, the conversation had shifted to a topic the child had no idea about. The child was much more interested in the magic part of the topic, not the boring theory behind everything.

"So, when can you teach me the trick you did back in the hospital?" the child asked impatiently to begin.

"When I feel you have the basics down. Now, begin from this here, I'll guide you to read them"

The child groaned but obeyed nonetheless.

__________________________

Eight years passed in the training, the six years old child matured into fourteen years old, the age where one could step as an adult into the

paranormal world.

The older the child got, the more the voice of the spirit faded and the child understood. The more time the spirit spends teaching the child, the less energy it has to maintain its form.

It had faded somewhere around a year ago when he had been in school. One second he could hear the spirit and the next second he could not. It was not a shock but a gradual understanding that the day would come.

By fourteen years old, Asato had made his introduction into the spirit world already. The same rules of the previous generations were to be followed.

Whenever he presented himself, he had to do it behind a glamour that hid his features and voice. He was not to reveal his identity to anyone outside the immediate circle without prior notice to the council. He was to remain neutral.

He could feel the power all around him. He was fourteen, an adult in the world that mattered and he could feel it already, the waves of change.

Things were about to get difficult as they did every century for a few years. The time where the barrier between the humans and the other world thinned enough to make a crossing over possible.

And it made something in him tingle, the part of him that called for balance.

The night was dark as he chased the shadow in the distance. It had a distinctively human shape and yet there was something not right about it. There was smoke coming out of it which broke each and every law of magic for humans.

Someone had attempted the forbidden arts and had ascended more than a human, but in the process had become something no human could take

care of.

It fell to him to finish the job to keep the balance before either force could corner the specimen for themselves.

The scythe moved with a silent moment before the head of the monster was rolling. The body however kept moving. The scythe once again moved and embedded itself into the heart of the monster.

Black exploded all around the place, on the walls and the ground. The body caught fire but it still continued to move.

Asato frowned at the body. The monster had evolved far beyond anything he had seen till now. Generally for these things, once you separate

their head or strike their heart, they are all but dead.

And yet this body had persisted far more. It made him want to examine it inch by inch.

But he could not for it would surely break the balance of nature. Such creatures could not be allowed to exist.

They sucked magic from around them which affected the whole place. For normal people, their health, their fields and even their day to day life

suffered.

For the other kind, it was the energy available to one. Already, the area was beginning to show signs of lifelessness. The brick and plasterwork on the wall were losing their charm and becoming dull and lifeless.

The plants in the alley were also wilting fast. And the body was gaining energy rapidly and making its way to escape.

Asato quickly pulled a thin paper out of his wide sleeves and threw it before the creature. The body tried to run, only to be caught in a web that ignited moments later. The body resisted and for a second the teen wondered if he would need to use more power.

But then the body disintegrated into ash and flew away into the wind. Just like the first time he had seen it happen. Once he had secured the area to make sure there was no other such creature, the teen made his way out.

Already, he could make out the human paranormal department in the distance with their flashy blue uniform. He wanted nothing to do with them if possible for every time they meet, they try and get him on their side.

"Asato. A pleasure to meet you here. I see, so you took care of this case for us. We'll be sure to visit you to congratulate you and to file up the report. You are our honorary member after all" the teen frowned but said nothing.

His glare said enough, do not come for unnecessary things.

"Of course we also have an unusual injured party with us. I think you'll find his case interesting" now that piped his interest. It was not every day people claimed such a thing after all.

But it made him wonder, was he an Architect or a Librarian with so many books.