Scarlet

I can’t help but groan and curse at the same time as I am woken up by my door opening to a robot entering. But by the time I bring my head out from under the sheets to look, the robot is already gone, with two bagged uniforms lying on the floor of my room.

Oh. Right. The uniforms for Lion’s Heart.

Why can’t these people find a better time to barge in anyways?

I glance at the clock to find that it’s 7:30AM. Which isn’t as bad as the jerk from yesterday.

Turning my attention back to the uniforms, I get up from my bed with a grunt before grabbing them both and putting them on my bed, where I leave them to get ready for the day. Then, after doing that, I come back to them again.

I stare at them for several seconds, only to shrug and leave my suite, locking the door behind me.

Time to check out the library.

As I walk across the base – only getting myself lost once in the process – I notice that everyone is acting rather tense. Which in hindsight makes sense, considering that it’s been a few days since a Demonic Assault. So another one is bound to happen either today or tomorrow.

That thought shakes out any of the sleepiness that was lingering in my head as I come upon the library, which is rather large. Practically the size of one of the biggest libraries in a Tier 3 city, or a public library in a Tier 2 city.

I walk inside, briefly taking a moment to take in the massive size of the place before focusing on the lady standing behind the counter, who is also looking at me now.

“Welcome, Scarlet Wolf! How may I help you today?” she asks, sounding incredibly polite. Which just makes her use of my title feel even worse.

But I guess I better get used to it as it’s most likely gonna stick.

The woman looks to be in her early to mid-forties, with brown hair and a warm, motherly face. She’s wearing a red blouse and a black pair of pants, with a watch on one arm and several books stacked up next to her on the counter.

“I was wondering if you had any books on Guardian Laws?” I ask while glancing around the library, only to turn my head back to her again when she answers, “Of course! Only the best for the Silver Association Guardians after all!”

That statement makes me cringe a little inside.

“Joey! Go get the Basics of Guardian Law, by Jonathan Legrange, the Introduction to Guardians, by Rachel Whiteford, and The Differences Between Human Law and Guardian Law, by Andrew Smith!” the lady shouts at some young kid who immediately scurries off to the left side of the library. “They’re in the Guardian-Government section!”

When the boy doesn’t stop running, she shouts, “It’s in the other end you dolt!”

That gets the boy to turn around rather quickly.

I can’t help but wonder if the boy is this lady’s son or something, but before I can so much as ponder over that, she turns back to me and asks, “By any chance, do you like reading?”

“Uh,” I stutter for a second before answering, “Yes. Why do you ask?”

She leans against the counter while tilting her head ever so slightly as she says, “Oh, just wondering if I’d be seeing you again on a regular basis or not. It’s always nice to find new readers here! Especially amongst the Guardians!”

Actually, that reminds me.

“I know that there are a lot of non-Guardians on the base as well as the Guardians, but why is that?” I ask the question that’s been burning in my mind since I arrived. Just that I never had the time to ask.

She doesn’t actually look surprised as she answers, “Everyone who works here is from Silver Works, and we have all been vetted by either Sage or Cipher himself, proving that we’re trustworthy enough to work here.”

My eyebrows rise at that quick answer.

“Guess other new Guardians have asked the same question?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“Hit it right on the nose,” she says, a grin breaking out on her face. Only for the grin to drop as she turns to look at the kid and shouts, “What’s takin ya?!”

As if summoned by her shout, the boy comes running with three books in his hand of varying sizes. He then tries to hand them to the lady, only for her to point him at me. But he seems to grow shy once he gets near me, even blushing just from looking at my face.

I reach out and take the books before thanking him and the lady and walking over to find a nice spot to read. Which I soon find to be a comfortable reclining chair next to a window on the second floor of the library.

Very nice place to read indeed.

I spread the three books out on my lap as I recline the chair back and stretch the legs of it outwards. The thickest of the three books is titled Basics of Guardian Law, whereas the other two are both about the same size. But I decide to go ahead and start out with Introduction to Guardians, because a refresher never hurts. Especially when this probably has more information about being a Guardian than the school taught us.

The moment I turn the cover though, I find the words ‘The Saviors of Humanity’ written in large print on the first page.

Guess I know where the author of this book stands on the Guardians.

There are multiple standpoints, with some researchers and critics believing them to be the saviors of humanity, and others believing us to be rather sinful, and not much better than the demons. A sort of necessary evil, since we have power, and there are more than a few Guardians who tend to lord that power over the non-Guardians. In fact, some even over other Guardians who happen to be weaker.

It’s rather sad to be honest. But the public kind of ignores those bad Guardians as they don’t number very many, and they’re almost always in Tier 3 cities.

I flip to the next page and begin reading the book.