Book Restoration System: Savior Of The Forsaken Legends [BL]

Auri didn't know when he had started running, but as soon as he heard fire, his instinct took over, and his legs moved before his mind could even process the news fully. Vicious images of his grandfather trapped in the sea of smoke while unrelenting flames devoured everything in the shop tore through his mind. The thought clawed his entire body with a gut-wrenching fear, but the very same thought was what propelled him forward.

'Faster. To the shop.'

A car swerved in his periphery, but he paid it no mind. The roar of its engine barely registered until the honk of a horn startled him, and he almost bumped his shoulder against a street sign. But he didn't stop.

"Auri!" Jim yelled through the car's open window. "Auri, get in the car!"

Auri didn't stop. He couldn't. His legs refused to listen. It's as if stopping means another second wasted.

'Run. Don't stop.'

"Auri, please! I don't know what happened but get in the car! You are about to pass out, damn it!"

The car sped up and cut just ahead of him, forcing him to skid to a halt. The passenger door swung open.

"Get in," Jim said, his tone almost pleading. "I'll drive faster. I promise I'll get you there as fast as I can."

Auri sucked in air in broken gasps, his vision already darkening at the edges. He didn't want to stop, but he was nearing his limit. With one last gasp, he grabbed the door handle and threw himself in.

The car accelerated as Jim drove at the speed he promised.

Auri collapsed on the passenger seat as a wave of dizziness hit him. His chest heaved, his lungs still begging for more air, while his heart raced a hundred miles per hour. He was never the athletic type, yet he pushed himself too hard, as if doing so would make him magically appear in front of their burning shop.

'The shop.'

Auri pressed the heel of his palms to his eyes, trying to get rid of the tears that threatened to fall. He shouldn't have left the shop.

"Would you like to tell me what happened?" Jim asked. "Is someone hurt?"

Auri felt a hand squeezed his shoulder, trying to comfort him. He shook his head. "There's fire in the shop."

Jim cursed under his breath, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel. "Is your grandfather okay?"

"I don't know. I ran as soon as I heard," Auri sniffled. "I hope he's not hurt."

"Shh. It will be okay. I'm sure your mom already called for help. And I think I heard a firetruck siren earlier. Help is on the way."

At Jim's reassurance, Auri calmed down a little and saw hope in the light drizzle that started to pour. But just as his worry began to subside, Jim slammed on the brake and they skidded into a lurching stop at the crossroad.

"Shit!"

"W-What happened?"

Jim clicked his tongue. "I think there's an accident."

Auri's eyes snapped ahead and locked onto the scene outside.

The main road was a mess. A family van had collided against an eighteen-wheeler truck, blocking both lanes of traffic. Red and blue lights flashed ominously as the emergency responders tried to assess the situation of those still trapped inside the van. Amidst the chaos, the firetruck loomed motionless from behind, its siren still blaring helplessly.

"It looks like the firetruck couldn't get through."

Auri's stomach flipped. "No—fuck, no."

"Hey, Auri. Wait!"

Auri ignored Jim's call and jumped out of the car. The pungent smell of burnt rubber assaulted him as he approached the cluster of emergency responders, but a man in a police uniform blocked his way.

"This is a restricted area," the officer said, his voice stern. "Step back."

"Um, sir—there's a fire—"

"I said, step back."

"Sir, could you please—" Auri hiccupped. "Our shop—there's a fire, but the firetruck—is there someone—my grandfather—"

"Look." The police officer snapped. "A family of five just got into a terrible car accident and there's a kid in there. This takes priority."

"B-But—"

The officer signaled with his hand for the other police officers on the scene and two of them approached.

"Hey, kid! What do you think you're doing? Can't you see that there's an emergency here?"

Auri's lips trembled. "Sir, I need your help—"

"Yes, you do." The officer grabbed his wrist. "So you're coming with me."

"Wait, where are you taking me?"

"You're coming to the precinct with me. You are obstructing—hey!"

Auri had yanked his wrist and bolted.

'They're not going to help.'

The officer ran after him, his forceful hand almost grabbing his shoulder, but Auri slipped onto the ground and rolled under the truck. He tasted dirt on his lips, but he continued to crawl until he passed through to the other side.

'Run. Don't let them catch you.'

Auri sprinted towards the street leading to their shop. It's not that far. He could make it.

The drizzle had turned into a downpour. By the time he reached their shop, he was already soaking wet.

Smoke swirled in the air. Thick. Like a sulfuric cloud escaping the mouth of a volcano. There weren't big flames to devour the entire shop—the rain kept them at bay. Onlookers stood nearby, taking shelter under their umbrellas, but he couldn't find the old man among them.

"Auri!" his mother's voice called.

"Mom!"

His mother trotted towards him as fast as her plump legs could. She pulled him into a hug, her umbrella falling onto the ground.

"Mom." Auri pulled away. "Where's Grandpa? Is he safe?"

The tremble of her lips told him what he needed to know.

His heart sank in his stomach.

"No."

His mother clung to him when he tried to run inside. "We already tried. Trust me, we tried multiple times. But the smoke is too much. The fire exit is blocked. We couldn't get in."

"No, no," Auri sobbed, his tears mixing with the still pouring rain. "I shouldn't have—oh god—!"

"Auri!" It was Jim. "Auri, hey."

Jim approached them. He was out of breath, but he didn't look as exhausted. The way his eyes widened upon seeing him and how his expression turned apologetic told him he had already grasped the situation. He stepped closer, hesitant, before pulling him close.

"I'm sorry," he said. "If I had known, I wouldn't have asked you to hang out today."

Auri's hands curled into fists. He wanted to be angry, but Jim was not at fault. It was he who left. He left his grandfather asleep at the reading nook and—

"Wait." Auri pulled away as a sudden thought struck him. "Why is the fire exit blocked?"

His mother shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe a bookshelf fell and blocked the exit from the inside?"

That shouldn't be the case. There was no big furniture near the fire exit at the back. And after he learned his father died in a fire accident two decades ago, he took precautions and installed fire extinguishers in every corner to make sure it was accessible in case a fire broke out. And even if an accident had occurred, his grandfather should still be able to escape, since the reading nook wasn't that far from the front door.

Auri stared at the smoke-cloaked shop. Something was suspicious about this fire. It happened after a whole day of rain, and in the middle of the night too. It's very unlikely for this to happen in this kind of weather, unless someone deliberately set the shop on fire. But what would be their motive? Another pointless robbery?

It wouldn't be the first time if that were the case. This could only mean his grandfather wasn't able to evacuate, not because he couldn't, but because something—someone prevented him from doing so.

Auri pulled his wet shirt off and wrapped it around his head, only leaving his eyes uncovered

"What are you trying to do?" Jim asked. "Auri, you're not—"

"Grandpa is still alive. He wouldn't kick the bucket that easily."

"Auri, you're not going in there!" his mother cried. "It's dangerous! Let's just wait for the rescue—"

"No one's coming, Mom!" Auri snapped. "There's an accident on the road. The firetruck couldn't pass though. The police wouldn't listen. I'm going."

Jim grabbed his arm, his hold firm with resolve. "I'm not letting you in there. Auri, think this through. You've got a bright future ahead of you. I'm sorry about your grandfather, but you can't sacrifice yourself—"

"I'll sacrifice everything if I have to. Even my dreams. Once I get him out of there, I'll rebuild this shop and become the master restorer he wants me to be."

"And if you don't?" Jim's grip tightened. "If you end up suffocating to death before you could even drag him out, what will happen? What will happen to your mom? Did you even think about what she would feel? What I would feel?"

Auri faltered as he looked at his mother's tear-stained face.

At an early age, he had lost his father to the same incident and had seen how it devastated her. And only recently, her eldest son just ran away from home. If he disappeared too, she would be left alone.

"You've done what you could," Jim continued to coax him. "That's more than enough."

Auri's resolve wavered. The adrenaline that had pushed him to run until his lungs burned had worn off. Was it really enough? Should he just leave it to fate? His tense muscles loosened as his will to charge into the fire slowly died.

But then, just as his tightly closed fists unfurled in defeat, he heard it—a distant, broken cough amidst the crackle of burning wood from inside the smoke-shrouded shop.

Wrenching his arm from Jim's hold, Auri sucked in a deep breath and burst into the door despite the shouts that told him to stop. The smoke devoured him whole, his eyes squeezing shut instinctively as its burning touch prickled his corneas like a scratchy sandpaper.

But he had no need for his eyes. He knew the layout of the shop like the back of his hand.

'Forward, five steps, past the last bookshelf. Turn left. Hurry!'

Auri reached the reading nook, but the burnt rocking chair was empty. "Where—"

Another cough. A shuddering wheeze; the sound of desperation. And it's coming from the depths of the shop.

Auri retraced his steps, like replaying the time when he approached his grandfather to pick up his fallen book, and back to the time before he answered Jim's call. He busted through the door leading to the workshop and tried to find the source of the ragged, shallow breathing.

There wasn't much to look into. There's only a huge workbench table in the middle and several cabinets next to the wall. The only possible place his grandfather would run into was his archive.

Then, he found him.

Auri scrambled towards the silhouette curled next to a pile of books on the floor. He grabbed one frail arm to hook around his neck, but the old man refused to let go of the books clutched in his arms, holding onto them like a lifeline.

Tears gathered in his eyes at his grandfather's unwavering devotion. But they can't stay here any longer. Fire had consumed most of the books in the library. It wouldn't be long before it reached the back of the shop. Oxygen continued to thin out as thick smoke crawled in like tendrils of the incoming death.

They had to leave.

Removing the damp shirt around his head, Auri used it to cover his grandfather's mouth. And with the little strength he had, he carried him along with the books still cradled in his arms. His legs, still numb from his earlier sprint, trembled from the added weight, but he pushed forward.

Every step he took felt like wading through a thick mud. The breath he was holding in continued to escape him every time his grandfather slipped out of his hold. The hot gases swirling in the air seared him, vaporizing whatever moisture was left in his skin. He could barely see. His body started to fail to him.

But then, just before his knees buckled forward, another pair of hands grabbed his arms.

"I've got this!" Jim grabbed hold of his grandfather and lurched towards the exit. "Auri, come on!"

Somewhere from above, the fire crackled.

Auri tried to catch his breath, but the poisonous gas that entered his mouth only singed his lungs. He retched, coughing violently, almost falling onto his knees.

"Hurry!"

Auri staggered after them, still coughing, his vision tunneling. Books had tumbled out of his grandfather's arms, but Jim managed to pass through the exit with him.

'Almost there.'

Then—the ceiling gave out.