Librarians 2.0

#### (The New Librarians)

The position of the Librarian, the guardian of the world against magic artifacts, is not one that is passed down through the bloodline. Rather, the Library, the entity that houses dangerous, and sometimes not-so-dangerous magical artifacts, sends a letter to the person it believes will both protect the world from magic and keep the world ignorant of its existence.

From the beginning, the Library has chosen one librarian and one guardian to protect the librarian. About 30 years ago, the Library faced its greatest threat, and decided to bring in more librarians. A team of 4 librarians and one guardian kept the world safe from the dangers magic possesses, but over time, the team started to fall apart. One librarian died, one went mad, another got married and settled into a quiet life. The original librarian and the guardian had a kid and raised him within the magical walls of the library. He grew up surrounded by knowledge and fully embraced it. So for the first time in history, the Library sent a letter to itself.

The first emotion Nicholas Carsen experienced when he received the gold-rimmed letter was relief. He had been working in a librarian capacity for the past couple of years, especially since his parents had retired to a small village on the edge of an archeology dig in South Wales, but he had yet to actually be appointed by the Library.

In a way, Nicholas had always expected to become a librarian. He grew up surrounded by 4 of the smartest minds in the entire world, and inside a library filled to the brim with magic and artifacts that would rearrange its rooms whenever it felt like it. The most important thing Nicholas learned growing up was to strive for new knowledge, and never assume he knew everything.

Since the Library had not chosen him as the Librarian, he figured that it had sent a letter out to a guardian. His dad had gone years without a guardian, and maybe he wouldn’t get assigned one anyways, but like his dad always said, Librarians are plentiful, but Guarthere is only one guardian.

He assumed that the Library wasn’t going to pick some more librarians. That had only happened the one time, and when the others disappeared, it hadn’t bothered to replace them.

Working as a team, librarian and guardian suited Nicholas just fine. It would be like the stories his father always told him, saving the world twice before Friday.

When Esme Castle received a letter on which golden writing appeared as she read it, she assumed it was a prank. Her family had always enjoyed a good prank, especially her dad. The letter stated that she had been chosen by the Library and to go to the Metropolitan Library.

It was the most beautiful library Esme had ever seen. The walls were lined to the ceiling with books. The stairs were carpeted and the railings engraved.

The letter had said to come to the library, but not what to do afterwards. Well, the best way to figure something out is to ask, Esme decided. She didn’t have a clue what her dad might have planned, but it would definitely be elaborate.

“Excuse me, I received this letter from this library

“You can pay your fines online,” the disgruntled librarian scowled., motioning for the next person to approach.

There had to be a clue in the letter. When your father is a murder mystery author and your mother is a detective, pranks often bordered on extranvage mysteries.

As she was examining the letter once more, an older man came up to her.

“Did you receive that letter?” he asked, and barely waiting for an answer, he said, “follow me.”

Esme knew the dangers of following a stranger to who knows where, but she also wanted to solve this mystery. Besides, it was a library, how dangerous could it be?

Esme followed the white-haired man into an elevator, and they stood in silence as she watched the floor numbers decrease. 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -12, Wait, what was happening?

At level -234, the doors opened to reveal a library more beautiful than the one they had just left.

“Where are we?” Esme asked, awe filling her voice.

“Metropolis Library.” was the no-nonsense reply.

“But-” Esme was interrupted by clattering from between the shelves, then

“Jenkins! Good, you’re back.”

A young man with long blond hair tied back and dressed as if he was india jones, came into view. He abruptly halted when he caught sight of her.

“Who’s this?” he asked who Esme now knew was called Jenkins.

“She has a letter,” Jenkins answered, as if that explained everything. It very much did not.

“Ah, you must be the new guardian. I’m Nicholas, the Librarian. Let me show you around.”

Esme was starting to feel like all this was too elaborate for a prank of her father’s. An underground library, really? To try to get her footing, she asked,

“What’s a guardian?”

“A guardian is someone who protects the library and the library.” Nicholas explained as he headed off to the heart of the Library. Esme hurried after him. She didn’t want to end up lost in this place.

“Protect? I’ve got basic self-defense training, but that’s it. I’m a linguist. Besides, why would a library need a guardian?”

This whole situation was leaving Esme quite confused.

Nicholas stopped, causing Esme to almost run into him.

“Wait a minute. You are a scholar?”

Esme nodded, and opened her mouth to clarify, but he continued.

“What did that letter say?”

She pulled it out of her pocket, and watched as his eyes darted across the page.

“Another Librarian?” Esme jumped as Nicholas yelled. He didn’t seem to be yelling at her, but Jenkins had disappeared, and the only other option was the walls.

“You thought we needed another librarian?”

Nicholas couldn’t believe it. Was this the library’s way of saying he wouldn’t be able to do this on his own? Well, there wasn’t much he could do. If the library had chosen that young black-haired woman, then she had as much right as he did to be a librarian. He wouldn’t make the same mistake as his dad, trying to oppose the Library’s decision of multiple Librarians, as the Library always finds a way to prove it is right.

He took a deep breath, and turned to Esme who was leaning against the wall with a look of concern on her face.