My hammer struck the charred remnants of a wall.

Stupid war. Stupid decisions.

My hammer struck the charred remnants of the wall again.

It's not just here.

My hammer struck the charred remnants of the wall again. Soot fell and covered me.

Why did they do it? If only I had been there.

Wiping my eyes, my hammer continued to strike the remnants of the wall.

There's a lot to do. Too many places. Too little time.

The wall finally gave away. I quickly walked back, covering my eyes.When I open them, rubble lies at my feet.

All these books. All this knowledge. Gone.

Glancing around, I took in my surroundings. Various other men struck walls, taking down what was left.

All wasted.

Rubble littered the ground. A loose bit of paper stuck up the stones but it was so burned and ripped that there was no point trying to rescue it. I bent down and pushed the rocks apart.

Why bother? It's not like you're going to find anythi–

My hands curled themselves around a something red. Picking it up, I felt around the leather cover. The gold lettering had faded but I could still make out some letters.

Curnt Liri III De Mdi

Maybe I could get someone else to work it out. Flicking it open, a couple of pages fell out, but most of it was still intact.

The writing, though very smudged, could just be read.

Maybe not all the knowledge was lost.

~*~

A/N: Never written in this genre so... yeah XD

Current Libri III De Mundi = The Current World Volume 3 (thanks Google translate)