Chương 19: The One Sip Tragedy

Bart sat behind his solid desk in the Infinite Archive. The bathroom door was gone, and the heavy green Master's Guide to Advanced Pastry Baking was safely resting inside a glowing, clear containment barrier. The warning concerning Keeper #4, 091 remained at the very edge of Bart's thoughts. Bart had decided it could wait exactly five minutes. He had earned his coffee. Sitting on the corner of his desk was the heavy brass Alchemy Grinder. Right next to it sat his shiny black bag of premium dark roast coffee beans.

And right in front of the grinder was the tiny glass vial holding exactly one drop of Golden Troll Fat. Bart picked up the vial. His hands were actually shaking a little bit. He had crossed a goblin cave, fought a giant paper monster, survived an enchanted pastry avalanche and negotiated with an offended Golden Troll just to get to this moment. He uncorked the tiny vial and let the single, glowing drop of golden oil fall right onto the jammed metal crank of the grinder.

The fat hissed softly as it sank into the brass gears. Bart reached out and grabbed the handle and pulled. The crank turned smoothly, gliding perfectly in a quiet circle.

"Yes," Bart exclaimed silently "A silent prayer to small victories". He opened his bag containing premium beans and poured a small handful of the hard, shiny brown beans into the top of the grinder. Built to crush volatile alchemical ingredients, the grinder barely noticed the beans. Its brass gears reduced them to a fine, pure powder, releasing a smell that rolled through the archive like heaven. Under the desk, Gregor poked his head out of his curtain nest. He sniffed the air.

"Boss, that smells amazing."

"It is energy, Gregor," Bart said happily.

"It is the best feeling in the universe." A soft chime rang out, and a blue screen appeared. ROUTINE MAINTENANCE COMPLETE Alchemy Grinder restored to operational condition. Reward: Precision Grinding unlocked. Bart smiled. He carefully scooped the dark powder into his cheap plastic coffee machine sitting on the metal table. He poured in some fresh water and pressed the start button. Just as his finger left the button, the blue screen flickered and updated.

ALCHEMICAL GRIND COMPLETE Purity: 100% Magical Concentration: Extreme Recommended brewing equipment: — Bart frowned at the blank recommendation. He had already pressed the button. The machine rumbled and hissed. A thin stream of dark coffee began dripping into Bart's favourite Beaumont Public Library mug. Bart watched the dark liquid rise just high enough for a single mouthful. He could not wait any longer, pulled the mug away and took a sip. It was absolute perfection, rich, smooth and fresh.

Reminded him of the peaceful hour everyday morning before work, and a life he had not realised he missed quite so badly. Bart lowered the empty mug with a wide, happy smile and placed it right back beneath the spout for the second mouthful. BZZZHH….. ZAP The ordinary plastic coffee maker was simply never designed to handle the raw magical heat of enchanted beans. The machine began to glow a bright red with sides sagging. With a sad, wet squelch, the coffee maker collapsed into a smoking puddle on the metal table.

Bart stared at the puddle and couldn't speak! A new blue System screen popped up right over the smoking mess. NEW QUEST: A PROPER BREW Personal Objective: Acquire one Veyric Pressure Brewer. Archive Objective: Acquire six Veyric Memory Porcelain tiles. Purpose: Restore basic containment functions to the Restricted Section. World: Dhoravel Nation: The Veyric Kiln Concord Destination: The Quiet Kilns of Veyr Cultural Advisory: Do not refer to Veyric ceramic engineering as "blacksmithing."

Bart read the last line twice.

"That seems unusually specific," he said. Albert paused his sweeping.

"The Veyric dwarves abandoned blacksmithing six centuries ago, Keeper. It was noisy, dirty and the indiscriminate mining for metals nearly poisoned three underground cities." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Gregor frowned.

"But everyone knows dwarves are blacksmiths."

"Everyone is poorly informed," Albert replied.

"Today they are ceramic engineers, glassworkers, doctors, geothermal architects and might i say even some are in entertainment""So they can't make an axe?"

"They can," Albert said.

"They simply consider it beneath them." Bart focused on the personal objective. The blue screen expanded. Veyric Pressure Brewer Constructed from temperature memory porcelain. Records and reproduces one perfect brewing cycle. Resistant to alchemical heat, magical pressure and unreasonable expectations. Bart looked from the screen to the smoking puddle of the machine.

He waited until the it completely cooled, then peeled the ruined machine from the metal table and deposited it into a newly labelled cardboard box: BROKEN EQUIPMENT - DO NOT RESHELVE. With a heavy heart, Bart opened the Break Room cabinet, pulled out the dark pouch of loose green tea, and poured hot water over the leaves. The sound of flapping pages filled the air. The Almanac of Inevitable Doom fluttered down from the ceiling and landed open on the desk beside him. Bright red ink crawled across the paper.

T HE KEEPER WILL PRETEND THE TEA IS ACCEPTABLE. IT WILL NOT BE. Bart turned the book facedown. He looked towards the green cookbook resting safely inside its glowing containment barrier. Another line of blue text suddenly appeared above the barrier. KEEPER REVIEW UNAVAILABLE Reason: Restricted Section containment below minimum safety standards. Required Material: Veyric Memory Porcelain. Bart continued staring at the warning. He took a slow sip of green tea. It tasted exactly as terrible as predicted.

"Albert." The skeleton's broom stopped halfway across the floor.

"Yes, Keeper?"

"How much do you remember about Keeper Number #4091?" Albert became very still. Gregor slowly lowered himself behind the desk again.

"That is a rather broad question, sir," Albert said.

"Good. We appear to have a broad amount of missing information." Bart stood and walked towards the cookbook's containment barrier. Blue light moved across the faded green cover in slow, steady lines.

"The Archive says he was the last recorded consultant of its previous copy," Bart continued.

"It also says he sealed the final recipe. Did you know about that?" Albert's fingers tightened around his broom.

"I knew the previous Keeper restricted several documents shortly before the Ruin."

"Several?"

"Yes, sir."

"How many?" Albert's jaw clicked twice.

"More than would comfortably fit in our current Restricted Section." Bart looked towards the ruined East Wing.

"That is not a reassuring answer."

"It was not intended to be." Bart turned back to him.

"Why would a pastry recipe require Keeper level restriction?"

"The Archive does not classify danger according to titles," Albert said.

"A children's rhyme can summon something unpleasant. A gardening manual can explain how to grow a carnivorous forest. A recipe can describe how to combine ingredients."

"That is normally what recipes do."

"Not all ingredients are food." Bart's eyes moved back to the cookbook. Gregor raised one hand from beneath the desk.

"Are we still talking about pastries?"

"I sincerely hope so," Bart said. He stepped closer to Albert.

"What did Keeper #4, 091 believe was inside the final recipe?" Albert opened his jaw. Nothing came out. His skull jerked sharply to one side. A thin blue line flashed across his empty eye sockets. A System screen appeared between them. STAFF MEMORY ACCESS DENIED Restricted Employee: Albert, Chief Custodian Affected Period: Final 72 hours preceding the Ruin Restriction Authority: Keeper #4, 091 Reason: In case I fail. Nobody spoke. Bart read the final sentence twice.

"He restricted your memories?" Albert stared at the screen.

"Apparently, sir."

"And you did not know?"

"One generally cannot remember that one has forgotten something." Bart removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"That is deeply inconvenient."

"The previous Keeper was occasionally overcautious." Bart replaced his glasses.

"The Archive was destroyed." Albert considered this.

"Perhaps not cautious enough." A faint scraping sound came from the cookbook's containment barrier. Bart turned. The green book had not moved, but one of its pages was pressing upward beneath the closed cover, as though something inside was trying to open it. Blue light immediately tightened around the book. RESTRICTED CONTENT MOVEMENT DETECTED Containment stability: 3% Keeper review strongly discouraged Gregor emerged just far enough to look over the desk.

"Boss, the cookbook is trying to read itself." Bart watched the page slowly settle back into place.

"Albert, what was the old Restricted Section made from?"

"Memory Porcelain," Albert replied.

"Six layers surrounding every shelf. It could remember who was permitted to touch a document, what they were allowed to read and which information they were required to forget afterward." Bart looked at the System quest again.

"And all of it was destroyed?"

"Most of it."

"Most?" Albert pointed towards the sealed metal vault beneath the East Wing rubble.

"I believe that door still contains a small amount." Bart followed his finger.

"Then why can't we use it?"

"Because it is currently on the wrong side of a sealed vault built by someone who erased my memory." Bart sighed.

"Of course it is." Bart looked from the cookbook to the smoking remains of his coffee machine. Both problems now pointed towards Dhoravel. Veyric Memory Porcelain could restore the Archive's Restricted Section and perhaps recover Albert's missing memories. A Veyric Pressure Brewer could restore Bart's will to live.

"Fine," Bart muttered.

"We will pay a visit to the dwarves." Gregor frowned.

"For the Restricted Section, Albert's memories or the coffee machine?" Bart took a sip of hot grass tea and winced." I don't think I need to answer that."