The Discovery

“And on this mission… The lucky one to go will be Cleo Clarina!” announced the Chancellor. Applause filled the room. Cleo, a 20 year old, was in her 2nd year of university, studying the bachelor of archaeology. Recently, her and a team of others went on a quest to find the ruins of Olympic Park. They had succeeded in the task, but something intriguing happened as well. Cleo found an old, yellow faded map, which showed a path leading to a red cross. Now she was the lucky one to go and find what the map led to. Exuberance bubbled inside of her, as she attempted to hide her eagerness to start the mission. At last the ceremony ended, and she walked over to the Chancellor to get her quest briefed.

“When is the mission? Where do you think the map will lead to? Why do you think the map will lead there?” Cleo bombarded the Chancellor with questions, but as soon as she saw his face, she apologised, he looked overwhelmed. She was afraid that because of her rude greeting, she would be swapped with someone else for the mission. Instantly, she was filled with fear as she saw the Chancellor’s strict face. Luckily for Cleo, his face softened. “It is natural for a student like you to be excited for a mission,” he told her. “Now let’s get packing”.

Water bottle? Tick. Bag? Tick. Torch, camera, notebook? Tick, tick, tick. Map? Tick. That was the most important thing. Without it, Cleo couldn’t complete the mission. She exited the building and entered a car. She was dropped off at a remote lush, green forest. A tall canopy blocked out most of the light. It was dark and eerie and she walked deeper into the forest. She trudged through the thick undergrowth and saw an opening in a cliff. It was a cave.

Cleo entered a dark, ominous cavern, turned on her torch. A carving was on the wall. It looked as if it was a thousand years old. She shone her torch towards the centre back of the cave. A building. She slowly approached the house, turning the door handle. Creak! The house was pitch dark, Cleo cautiously walked towards the centre. As she stood, the floor descended suddenly. Cleo gasped in shock and attempted to get out, but it was too late. All she could do was to wait. "Where would this lead to?" she thought. "Am I going to die? I'm too young to die!" She panicked and tears formed in her eyes. Then it stopped. A crumbling, dilapidated building stood in front of her. She clutched her torch tightly and shone it on the building. Cleo opened her notebook and began scribbling down notes. She grabbed her phone and recorded the old building; that was where her map had led her! She warily advanced towards the building. This would make news! Cleo imagined herself in the newspaper heading. "A twenty year old girl discovers an underground building!" As she went closer to the structure, the word "Library" was etched in stone. Cleo approached the doorway and shone it towards the shelves. Millions of books lay in front of her. She picked one up and put it in her bag for further evidence. The pages were faded, crumbling.

The mission time was almost over. Cleo would have to return back to the university and investigate more next time. When she arrived back, there was a whole welcome home party, waiting for her. “Did you find anything interesting?” asked the Chancellor.
“Not much,” lied Cleo, she didn’t want to reveal her secret to him. But he knew there was more to it. He kept asking her and pestering her, but she didn’t give in. When they arrived at the dorms, he left her and she sighed. Perhaps keeping the library a secret was more difficult than planned. Cleo hunched over her bag and carefully retrieved the dusty, old book. She was careful not to be seen with it, and buried it into her chest. As she neared her dorm, she gasped a sigh of relief. It would be a secret for now.

Cleo flipped open the book, its pages almost crumbled, but when she flipped to the last page, the room was filled with light. She closed her eyes and to her surprise, she was in a dusty, old library she had discovered, but instead it was full of life! People were everywhere, looking for books to read. A woman approached her… Cleo attempted to hide her face, thankfully the woman walked straight past her. Friendly staff were helping everywhere there were more than 300 of them! The library must have been very popular. There were study rooms, comfy chairs, soft couches and many, many bookshelves. When she walked outside of the library, she saw instead of it being underground, it was in the heart of the large town. She would need to blend in with the crowd and figure out where she was or what time this was happening…

Another girl, around the same age as Cleo, was slowly approaching her. She was a biologist, and was looking for books she could use for her essay. When she was just about to grab a book about cats, she noticed what Cleo was holding and froze. The book she was holding looked familiar, perhaps it was a family heirloom…

“Hi! My name is Cora. Roses are red, violets are blue, if you need help, may I help you?" She introduced herself. Cleo looked bewildered, not knowing how to react. Cora gave an awkward smile, to try and break the ice. “May I show you something?” she asked. Cleo gave a slow nod. The other girl walked to a bookshelf, pulled out a dictionary. Cleo looked quizzically at what was interesting in a dictionary. But when the dictionary was opened, a small diary was revealed inside of it. “This diary belonged to the founder of the library, my ancestor Corina Clambira.” whispered Cora. “It is the most treasured book in the whole library.” She gave the book to Cleo, who began reading the pages, finding the diary fascinating. “She wrote another diary, as said in the first diary,” murmured Cora, breaking the silence between the two. “I suspect that the book you have is the second one.” Cleo looked up sharply, and stared at her, wondering what her crumbling, yellow, faded book had to do with this. Sure, it had some interesting marks, but it couldn’t be a library founder’s diary right? She turned the pages but when she reached the last page…

Cleo had to close her eyes, but instead of still being in the library, she was back in her dorm! “Cora?” she cried out desperately, but no answer. Obviously she isn’t here, she had to pull herself together. Yet the tears came. Even though she had only known Cora for not very long, she felt like they clicked together and would make great friends. But it ended unexpectedly by a mistake. The book. What were the secrets of it? Cleo tried to piece together what happened and realised, whenever she turned the last page, she would mysteriously teleport and go lost in time, but it also may be a long-lost heirloom. What was in the book and how did it get there…?