Chapter 3: The burning library
What burns first
The pull led Lu north for two days before she smelled the smoke.
At first she thought it was just cookfires from another village. But as she flew closer, the smell grew bitter and wrong. Not wood burning, but something more precious. Something that should never burn.
The Archive of Empathy rose from the valley below like a great tree made of stone and glass. Once, it must have been beautiful. Lu could see the graceful spires reaching toward the sky, the wide windows that would have let in golden light. But now smoke poured from those same windows, and orange flames licked at the walls.
Creatures scurried around the base of the building, carrying armloads of books. But they weren't saving them: they were feeding them to the fires.
Lu landed hard in the courtyard, her wings folding tight against her back. A flower bloomed beneath her paws, but she barely noticed. She was too busy staring at the horror in front of her.
"No," she whispered. "No, no, no."
Books lay in burning piles everywhere. Their pages curled and blackened as the flames ate through stories that had taken lifetimes to write. She could see titles turning to ash: "The Art of Listening," "Building Bridges Between Hearts," "Why Kindness Matters."
"You there!" A sharp voice cut through the crackling of flames. "Fox creature! Move along. Nothing here for outsiders."
Lu turned to see a tall, thin creature with owl-like features and ink-stained talons. Behind her stood a group of mixed beings: some bird-folk, some mammal-kin, all wearing identical gray sashes.
"What are you doing?" Lu's voice came out smaller than she meant it to.
The owl-creature's round eyes narrowed. "Cleaning. Removing dangerous materials that poison young minds with weakness."
"Books about kindness aren't dangerous."
"Aren't they?" The owl stepped closer. "Books that teach creatures to trust strangers? To share resources with those who haven't earned them? To put others' needs before their own families'?" She gestured at the burning piles. "The Winds opened our eyes to the truth. These pretty stories make us vulnerable. Make us weak."
Lu watched a small picture book curl into flames. Its cover had shown two different creatures sharing a meal. Now it was just ash.
"There must be someone here who disagrees," Lu said desperately. "Someone who remembers why these books mattered."
The owl-creature's laugh was harsh. "The old librarians tried to hide books in the basement. Tried to claim they were 'preserving knowledge for future generations.'" She spat the words like they tasted bad. "But we found their secret rooms. We found all their hidden kindness."
"Where are they now?"
"Gone. Transferred to places where they can do useful work instead of filling heads with dangerous dreams."
Lu felt sick. But then she noticed something. One of the creatures carrying books—a small badger-like being with gentle eyes—kept glancing at her. When their eyes met, the badger gave the tiniest shake of her head. So small that only someone watching carefully would see it.
"I understand," Lu said to the owl-creature. "Thank you for explaining."
She walked toward the edge of the courtyard, letting her flowers bloom behind her. The badger saw the trail of light and followed.
They met behind a stone wall, away from the burning.
"I'm Kira," the badger whispered. "I was one of the librarians."
"Lu. I'm... I was a Keeper of Thresholds."
Kira's eyes widened. "I thought your people were all gone."
"Most are. Maybe all but me." Lu's voice caught. "Are you really helping them burn the books?"
"I have to. They watch us constantly. But..." Kira looked around, then leaned closer. "I've been saving what I can. Not the books themselves—they search our belongings every night. But I can remember. I can hold the stories here." She tapped her chest.
"You memorize them?"
"Every word. Every picture. It's not enough, but it's something." Kira's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "I was hoping to find other librarians, other places to plant these memory-seeds. But they've burned every archive in the northern territories."
Lu felt something cold settle in her stomach. "Every archive?"
"All of them. And it's not random, Lu. They always start with the same books. Stories about cooperation. Histories of different groups working together. Children's tales that teach sharing and kindness." Kira's voice dropped even lower. "They're not destroying knowledge. They're destroying connection."
The realization hit Lu like a physical blow. In Wellspring, the Willowkin and Stoneward had been turned against each other. Here, the books that taught empathy were being burned. The Harsh Winds weren't random destruction.
They were surgical.
"The Winds know exactly what to target," Lu said slowly.
"Yes. And they're spreading faster than any of us realized." Kira reached into her fur and pulled out a small, ordinary-looking stone. "This was on the children's shelf. It's not valuable to them, just looks like a rock. But it's actually a memory stone. It holds one of the most important stories from our collection."
She pressed the stone into Lu's paw. "It's about a young Keeper of Thresholds who learned to build bridges between worlds. I thought... if you're really one of them... maybe you should have it."
Lu closed her paw around the stone. Warmth spread up her arm, and for just a moment she heard her grandmother's voice telling her the old stories. Stories about the first threshold-keepers, who had brought peace between warring realms not through force, but through understanding.
"I can't stay here much longer," Kira whispered. "They'll notice I'm gone. But Lu... there are others like me. Scattered across the territories. People who remember what we're losing. People who are saving what they can."
"How do I find them?"
"Look for the small kindnesses. The helpers. They won't announce themselves, but they're there." Kira's eyes filled with tears. "The Winds want us to think we're alone. But we're not. We're just... hidden."
A shout from the courtyard made them both freeze. "Kira! Where are you?"
"I have to go." Kira squeezed Lu's paw once more. "Remember: the story isn't over until the last person stops believing in it."
She hurried back toward the burning archive, her arms full of books destined for the flames.
Lu stayed behind the wall until the voices faded. Then she opened her paw and looked at the memory stone. It was warm and smooth, humming with contained stories.
The pull in her chest had grown stronger during their conversation. It pointed north still, but now she understood what she might find there. Not just her scattered family, but others who remembered. Others who were fighting to save connection in a world determined to destroy it.
Lu spread her wings and lifted into the air. Below her, the Archive of Empathy burned bright against the evening sky. But in her paw, she carried proof that not everything was lost.
Some stories were too important to let die.
As she flew north, following the pull that would lead her to whatever came next, Lu began to understand the true scope of what the Harsh Winds were trying to accomplish. They weren't just sowing discord—they were systematically destroying every tool that could bring people back together.
But they had missed something. They had missed the fact that some stories lived not just in books, but in hearts. That some connections were strong enough to survive even the harshest winds.
Lu clutched the memory stone close and flew toward the mountains, carrying hope in the form of an ancient tale about building bridges between impossible worlds.
🎧 What They Cannot Burn
They can burn the paper thin But the words live deep within Every story that I’ve read Lives forever in my head What they cannot burn What they’ll never find Is the library I keep In the corners of my mind What they cannot steal What will never die Are the stories that I carry Till the day that I die Take this stone and hold it near Let the ancient voices hear Though the flames may take the rest Some things live inside your chest What they cannot burn What they’ll never find Is the library we keep In the corners of our minds
🦊 About Lu's Story
Lu is searching for her family in a world that's forgotten how to be kind. When the Harsh Winds turned communities against each other, Lu's people were scattered like seeds. Each step of her quest reveals how deep the corruption runs, and what it will take to heal it.
When others destroy the wisdom that holds us together, I'm glad that there are wise badgers who remember and remind us what matters.
You do everything!!!! It's so mind-blowing