Finding Answers: Chapter Three
An Awakening
"Desire truth in the inward parts"
"Looking for something?" she asked firmly, arms folded across her chest.
"Um..." Ruth mumbled. She had come to borrow a book on medicinal herbs but got distracted by an unusual glimmer of light. Curious, she followed it, stumbled upon a story telling gathering, and got drawn in. But she couldn't possibly explain all that to the young Archiver standing in front of her.
Deborah frowned as Ruth fidgeted with her hair, struggling to respond. With an impatient sigh, she said, "The Hall of Learning is restricted to children and Archivers. You're not supposed to be here. If you're really that interested in our city's stories, I could escort you to the Historical Archives."
Just then, Andrew appeared through the arched doorway, a few inches behind Deborah. His hair shifted gently as he walked toward them. He stopped beside Deborah, ran a hand through his hair, and stared at Ruth.
Did he follow me? Ruth thought, amused. She quickly dropped her hand from her hair and began biting her nails.
"You know this girl?" Andrew asked, not looking away from Ruth.
Before Ruth could speak, Deborah jumped in also looking towards her. "Not really. Found her floating around the Hall of Learning."
Ruth blinked, then noticed the resemblance; both of them had beautiful eyes, amazing hair, striking features, and wore the same brown leather material common to Archivers. They're related, she realized, feeling silly for assuming he had followed her.
"She seems dumb," Deborah added with a shrug.
"Yeah," Andrew replied in his deep baritone voice.
Ruth was stunned. Did they just call me dumb? Right to my face? Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and fury. She winced like a mouse caught underfoot and tried to walk away.
But before she could escape, Deborah stepped forward. "Where are you off to this time? Like I said earlier, I could escort you to the Historical Archives."
Ruth gathered every ounce of courage she had. She wanted to prove she wasn't dumb. But all she managed was a quiet, "Okay." She didn't really want to go to the Historical Archives, she just wanted to get out of this situation right now.
"So," Deborah said, "what would you like to read about in the Archives?"
"Um... the story the old Archiver was telling" Ruth replied. Maybe going to the Historical Archives won't be bad after all.
Deborah's smirk faded into confusion. "What story?"
"The one were the world was nothing but water and emm, yeah, the story of how all of life came to be..." Ruth responded slowly dragging every word.
Deborah raised an eyebrow, then buried her face in her hand. "You do realize those are fables, right? Even a ten-year-old knows that."
"They... didn't sound like fables."
"Trust me tall girl, that whole story was made up by our ancestors as an explaination for things they didn't understand, none of it is real"
Ruth asked, "well, then how did it happen?"
"Probably by chance, we could have evolved..."
"That doesn't make sense either"
"So you think life just materialized into existence out of a vast vacuum of nothingness because someone said some random words?" Deborah asked sarcastically.
"It could be," Ruth replied. Her voice was still quiet, but firmer now. "Everything around us was made by someone. You not being there doesn't make it a lie."
That hit Deborah in a spot she didn't expect. She straightened, clearly caught off guard. That sounded true. But she had scoured the Archives, day and night. She had searched every scroll, every record, every page. Not a single mention of such a tale, nor were there any facts to back it up; just a mere tale told by an old Archiver to all the kids in the village when they turned six.
"If it really happened," Deborah said, "why isn't there a single scroll or book to prove it? If there's one thing our town does, it's record everything; right down to the first family who ever lived here, and trust me, I've searched everywhere" Deborah pronounced triumphantly.
"Maybe you just don't know where to look." Ruth met her gaze.
They stood almost face to face now. Andy watched silently, hands in his pockets, clearly bored, but he then decided to intervene.
"Ladies, please" he said, stepping forward. "Take a deep breath and -"
"No," Deborah cut in, facing her brother. "She wants to go to the historical archives? I'll show her."
And so; the three of them, soon to be friends, though they didn't know it yet, descended down the spiral wooden stairway that led into the underground chamber of the Historical Archives. The place was open to anyone, but few ever ventured down.
The stairway ended in a vast, circular room - nearly half the size of the entire archive above. Scrolls lined the curved walls in semi-circular shelves, and ancient artifacts decorated a blank space on a central spot where the two semi-circular shelves almost met: horns, bags, even strange tools with ancient looking inscriptions.
"You're right about everything around, being made by someone, I mean buildings didn't just appear," Deborah said, eyes scanning the room. "Someone or something built it. Someone made this dress too. All the books have a writer. I am well aware of that. And life, with such accuracy, delicacy, and intricacy, it would only make sense if it had a creator too. But the stories never made sense. How does a person just show up out of nowhere and make those things happen? It's not just plausible."
"Well maybe it's not a person and if some Being really made us," Ruth said quietly, "then the difference between us and Him might be like the difference between us and stomach worms. They live and die inside our bodies, never knowing the world beyond. No matter how smart they are, they can't imagine what exists outside and who we are. If He made us... maybe only He can give us the ability to understand Him."
There was silence. Deborah turned back to Ruth thoughtfully. "Well then- emm, what's your name?"
"Ruth"
"Alright Ruth, I'm Deborah by the way and my brother over there is Andrew. So, look around. Tell me what you find."
But Ruth's eyes had already landed on something in the center of the room. "What's that?" she asked, stepping forward.
"Oh, that?" Deborah replied. "That's the Heart of the Archives. It's called Heart because it is said to lie at the very center of this building."
Ruth and Deborah walked toward it. Andrew stayed back, browsing the artifacts on the wall. He blew into one cracked horn after another, making odd, broken sounds. The girls reached the massive table at the room's center. It was a wooden table with a wide, circular wooden platform around its base and a detailed relief of the entire town etched onto the table's surface, along with ancient symbols.
"I always believed this was the key to finding the truth; the texts or books that actually explain everything," Deborah said. "But after years of studying and transcribing the inscriptions on the map, I got nothing. No clue whatsoever."
She tapped on the etched part that marked the Archives. The air was silent, except for Andrew's occasional off-key horn sounds.
Then; just as she touched the map; and as Andrew blew into yet another horn that surprisingly worked, something happened.
The round platform they stood on vibrated. Then it began to spin, slowly at first, then faster. A low rumble echoed through the chamber. The platform then descended into a hidden pit below it.
Deborah let out a yelp as the ground beneath her dropped. Ruth stumbled. Andy, realizing his sister was about to vanish into the unknown, didn't think, he just ran and jumped.
He landed on the descending platform, grabbing Ruth and Deborah as they sank below.
Seconds later, the opening sealed itself shut. The floor where the wooden platform had once been now looked like the rest of the room, made of smooth ceramic.
And there was no trace of anyone's presence.
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