Theo went and asked the butler to procure him as many beetles as he could by the next morning, which the man obliged right away.

Before leaving, however, he showed Theo the way to the library.

Theo followed him down a corridor he had walked for as long as he could remember since coming into this world.

Yet this time, the butler stopped and turned to face a room he knew existed but had never entered. There was no one around. When the room’s door opened, Theo couldn’t help but instinctively step forward and peer inside.

A dim staircase stretched downward, barely touched by any light. The only light that fell on the stairs was the one that came from the opened doorway behind them.

The butler moved ahead, lighting the candle fixed along the side of the staircase. One by one, he ignited them, then took a candle holder out of the wall and started moving down while lighting the rest as he descended.

Theo followed behind closely, his eyes fixed on the steps so as to not fall.

The stairs didn’t seem old; in fact, they seemed carefully maintained, as though regularly taken care of.

"Young Master Theo, the master did not specify what you should have access to from the beginning," the butler said, his back still facing Theo.

"You must not reveal this library’s location to anyone—not even your siblings. The library holds knowledge that is hard to digest for the world outside these walls," the butler spoke.

He didn’t stop as he spoke and kept moving forward; Theo continued after him until they reached the final steps.

Glancing back, Theo realized just how deep underground they now were.

The butler stepped to the side and struck the wall with what looked like a small stick, producing a small shower of sparks.

Theo watched as those sparks fell to the ground and then lit something up—oil.

In an instant, the fire spread, racing along the edges of the room at a speed that made Theo realize something.

Oil had been poured all around the room, mainly along the walls.

And within a simple minute, the entire space looked bright as day.

Theo could see rows of long shelves stretching out before them and in the middle of it all.

Despite the light, the room still had that dim feeling to it, but something made Theo step forward without the butler.

When he stepped past the threshold where the library itself started, Theo glanced back only to see the butler standing on the same spot, unmoving, his eyes locked on him.

With the flickering firelight casting shadows across his face and the man just staring at him, the sight sent a chill down Theo’s spine.

"This is as far as I am permitted to enter. Enjoy, young master," the butler said, still staring at him.

Theo nodded and turned away, moving toward the only three aisles of bookshelves.

He reached out and touched the first book. The paper felt premium, while the covers of almost all the books were adorned with gems.

When he pulled a book free, a cloud of dust rose into the air.

That was when he realized...

This place had not been used for a very long time.

[ Pre-Beast Era ]

Theo’s eyes widened as he read the book’s title.

"I have never seen any history about the world before the beasts..."

Curiosity stirred within him as he opened the book, immediately realizing how old it was.

Theo went straight to the contents and began reading, standing still as he absorbed the information that most people had likely never encountered.

The more he read, the more it felt like he couldn’t pull himself away. If all the books in this library were like this, leaving would be impossible.

According to the text, before the beasts existed in the forms that they currently exhibited, the world had been much simpler.

Humanity had progressed from fire and caves to increasingly advanced ways of living.

As Theo read on, it all felt like it was eerily similar to the prehistoric history of his previous world.

Until finally, another nail fell onto the coffin’s opening, and something changed it completely.

Theo turned the page and found a detailed illustration; it was filled with such detail that it felt like the best artist of that time had used years of their life to make this single image.

In the image, Theo could see humans dressed in suits that looked anything but historic. Their outfits had refined linings and buttons to them, which made him feel like they were a lot more advanced than he had given this world credit for.

Beneath the image were a few words:

"Lost times of humanity that went down an unknown path of progression."

Theo flipped the page again.

This time, he saw the image of a spaceship on it.

The metallic structure didn’t look like it was meant to travel within Eroth-Ra but beyond it.

The more Theo read about it, the more it felt like his understanding of the world was crumbling, and all that he had known about this world so far had been nothing.

By the time he reached the twentieth-something page, Theo flipped the page again...

And found nothing.

There was only blank paper.

And for the next hundred-fifty-something pages, the book remained blank.

Finally, when he reached the very end of the book, he saw a short note written in handwriting that was different from the one in which the rest of the book was written.

[

The world is filled with knowledge that tries to hide itself from you.

Things happened in the past that are no longer spoken about. No one cares for them anymore; they have become nothing more than fantasy.

But I am different.

I will uncover what this world is hiding from us, what life was like before this ’artifact’. All evidence points to a simple truth.

We were never meant to remain on this small planet*. We were meant to explore... to discover the real truth.

To whoever is reading this, no matter what era you belong to, never forget to question the world around you or what is happening in it.

The world is a cage. And right now, you and all of us are nothing more than captured beasts.

Maybe the outer devils were right.

Maybe assimilation is the path to true life. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

~ A passenger of time

]

Theo closed the book slowly.

Then he looked up... only to see hundreds more waiting to be explored.

It felt as though his mind was on the verge of being rewired in ways he had never expected from this library at all.

There was no author’s name on this book. No date. No indication to know when it had been written.

Theo wondered if the man from the note truly found the real meaning to the world.

But judging by how the book ended—half-written and incomplete...

...it didn’t seem like they had.