So you're walking around the library, yes? Well have you ever come around a strange old man wearing a multi-colored robe, always reading some book? That man is Egbert and he is one of the immortals. He is actually known to be rather forlorn and dedicated to reading books.
You see, parent given Invincibility isn't always a good thing. Especially if you're someone like Egbert, a man who was given Invincibility and immortality by his overprotective parents when he was a child. Egbert was not given the usual features a human is normally given. He was deprived of the needs for hunger and thirst, he couldn't even get intoxicated by alcohol or addicting food. Egbert wasn't even given the ability to hurt himself for his skin was impervious to all weapons. Being this way was initially cool, until he saw everyone else around him age normally and die.
Being forced to see everyone you love and care for age and eventually die while you just age isn't pleasant. Fortunately, he was able to overcome this depression! He came across the library and was blown away by the immense amount of books inside. As Egbert looked around, he asked the patrons if anyone was able to read the entire contents of the library. He was given multiple variations of the same answer. "The library has every book that's ever been written, some that never were, and some that will be written. It's downright impossible to read the entire contents!"
None remember what his response was, but the most common accepted guess was that he smiled and "Unlikely yes, but not impossible." He then grabbed a book and began his new life. It's been about 100 years since that fateful day and so far Egbert has been continuing his goal like always. And with this goal came an ability that Egbert used constantly. Once he finished a book, Egbert could remember it's contents permanently. So he'd often make copies of a certain book for those wanted to more than just borrow said book, often for free. All you'd have to do is be polite and nicely ask.
I saw the strange old man they call Egbert just about twenty steps from me. He was sitting next to a shelf, reading an old weathered book that looked like it had been around since the 1600s. I was initially worried that I'd anger Egbert if I distracted him from reading, but I soon decided that chickening out was out of the question. I then walked up to this Egbert man and lightly tapped his shoulder. As I was up close, I could see all the little colors that drenched his robe. I saw splotches of red, green, blue, purple, and several others that I couldn't even recognize. I also noticed that his chin was slowly growing a grey colored beard. Egbert looked up from his book and noticed the one in my hands along with several pieces of paper.
He put on a small smile and said:
"Ah, you want a copy."
I turned pink a bit as I replied:
"Do you get these type of requests often?"
"Oh yes. I happen to be the cheapest in the business so it's very common to get these requests. Now, do you have what I require?"
With a quick nod I quickly pulled out several pieces of colored cloth. Egbert gladly took the cloth pieces and put them in his pocket. He then took my paper pile and, getting a nicely made pen of his own, began the copying process using my book. It took about 2 hours at the most. I thanked him for the copy and began to leave until I noticed something. There was more than one book around Egbert, in fact, he had an entire shelf's worth of books laying on the floor next to him. I then went back to him and asked:
"How many books do you plan to read?"
"Hm?" Egbert said as he looked back up to me. "Oh, all of them."
This took me by surprise. "All of them?! How do you plan on reading every single book the Library contains?"
Egbert gave out a chuckle and replied: "Maybe by reading them?"
I gave him a glare and said, "That's not what I meant!"
Egbert continued reading his book and I decided to use a different approach.
"Well why do you want to read every book in the Library?"
Egbert looked at me and put down his book. "Do you really want to know why?"
I sat down and said: "Of course, tell me everything."
Egbert put down his book and began.
"Well, do you anything about the MagicalOverProtection fiasco that happened hundreds of years ago?"
"That was where everyone was trying to get immortality right?"
Egbert laughed. "Not just immortality!" He said, "You see during those years, parents were getting very worried for their children's well being. So they decided to get stuff like immortality, invincibility, stuff that made you same from allergies, all that type of magic. And who should be so called lucky enough to be given as many magical spells put on them as they possibly could? Yours truly that's who. My parents were so overprotective they even put a spell on me that altered my body so that I wouldn't die of thirst or hunger."
So that's why he's not worried about not finishing his goal, I thought. I then said:
"Well, having all that power must've been good right? Knowing you'll never die, or that you'll never be starving."
"You'd think that." Egbert said sadly, "But my family had a rarely achieved amount of money, making mine the only one in my neighborhood who could afford having all those spells put on me. Naturally this made other kids jealous and soon enough, they all chose to ignore me. I tried so hard to make friends but I couldn't even get them to look at me. So I started heading into the libraries, reading books until I was tired."
I then looked dumbfounded and had pity on the poor man. Soon Egbert continued his tale:
"As I continued reading my books, my education began to drift away too. I had no need to graduate, why would I want to continue being around people who don't even acknowledge my own existence? I didn't look for things like a job, a house, some food, any of that. I didn't need any of it so why would I bust myself trying to get them? It began to worry my parents who tried getting me to focus less on my books and more on other aspects of life. It didn't work as you can tell."
Egbert finished that sentence with a laugh, but it was bitter and had a tiny bit of regret in it.
"They finally kicked me out you know, my parents," Egbert said as he scratched his head. "I can't say I was sad to leave. If anything, it was a relief to get them out of my life. I mean, it's not like I was happy with them to begin with since they pretty much caused this problem."
"So, where did you go?" I asked captivated by Egbert's story, "Was it the library?"
"Not this Library, no. My original way of life was to drift from town to town, often going to the local libraries and hanging out there as long as I could. Of course the officials would eventually get me in trouble for loitering and I'd eventually move to the next town to please them and do the same thing over again."
"Have you tried getting a job?" I asked, "It probably would've stopped you from getting asked to leave town."
"Eh, the libraries weren't worth it honestly. I thought it'd be better if I kept doing what I have been doing. Eventually I came to this one town and that's when I heard rumors about the Wanderer's Library. After some talking I was told that there existed a way to the Library in the town I was visiting. All you'd have to do was run into the back wall of the town's local library. I didn't believe it at first but eventually my curiosity got the best of me and my common sense.
"I ended up going to the back of the local library along with someone who purportedly already went there and we ran headfirst into the wall. Instead of the painful concussion I should have had, I ended having to keep my jaw from the floor as I examined the Library. There were books everywhere from head to toe. I remember going up to people and asking how many books that were here. I kept getting told that the Library had every book that existed, some that never existed, and that some have yet to exist. You wouldn't believe hoe excited I got."
"Wow," I said, looking at Egbert smile. "So, you just decided to read every book there is."
"Well yeah, I had a goal that I actually wanted to reach, I wasn't bugging anyone so the Docents didn't mind me, heck my achieved ability to read books at a fast pace has gotten people to pay me in cloth pieces to copy books so I'm also making a bit of a living."
"So you could sew them onto your robe?"
"Exactly! Well, that's my story son, I hoped you were satisfied."
"I was, Egbert. Thanks for telling me." I then got up and headed back to my home but before I left I heard Ebert say:
"Thanks for asking."