CHAJOMI AND THE MURDER IN THE LIBRARY

It was early in the wintry month of Urlachmar when the call came into detective Chajomi's office. He was to report to the world library. The Aslaran rushed over to the location and found the building had already been placed under a lock down. Officers were at the scene and ushered Chajomi inside before relocking the doors behind him. An officer lead Chajomi over to the body, sitting a in pool of blood. The victim was a rather muscular tae'dae with heavy armor on. Next to the body was a large book on the history of library and divine scholars.

"He didn't have a weapon?" asked Chajomi.

"On the second floor above us. It seems his head was pushed in several times before being knocked over edge and falling down here."

"He doesn't look like the time to be in a library." Chajomi said with a puzzled look on his face as he looked up.

The officer had Chajomi follow him upstairs to another small pool of blood. Placed on the edge of the railing was a small notecard that read 'I guess he was a bit bashful.'

A painful sounding groan came from Chajomi as he saw the card, "A pun? Clearly we are dealing with only the most horrible person."

"And it is not even a good pun."

The two nodded in agreement as Chajomi started his look around the upper floor. The library was a big place. A number of places to hide if the person was even still in the building. Trying to recreate the scene within his mind, Chajomi determined that the murder came at the victim from the side and hit him from there. 

"The force of the hit must have knocked him over at some point." Chajomi spoke aloud. "Judging from the size of the tae'dae, the murder had to be someone rather strong too to knock a warrior over the ledge here."

The team of officers and Chajomi dusted for any sort of fingerprints and found nothing. The murderer knew well how to cover his tracks, having learned from the many murder mystery books that filled the shelves of the library. A walk through the library turned up nothing as well, the patrons a bit uneasy as the investigation happens. No one in the library seemed out of place, nor had any sort of blood on their flesh or clothes.

"I don't understand it. There has to be some hidden part of the library." Chajomi's voice echoed in the open space of a back area.

Going to the head librarian, Chajomi inquired about any secret locations. The head librarian shook her head and didn't know of any such locations. She listed off a number of rooms that were not open to the public such as the printing press, a few offices, and rare book room made for only the most trusted patrons.

Chajomi started with the printing press. A large object like that could have potential weapon-like objects to it. Once inside the room, the aslaran looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. Chajomi found a small manual on using the press and tested the machine out to make sure it worked as it should. A small copy of a safety poster came out. No luck in there. As Chajomi was down in the printing press, other officers searched the offices of the staff members.

A piercing yell echoed in the library. Everyone that was in the non-public rooms rushed towards the yell. Other officers were standing around, weapons drawn as they looked out, standing around a body of a new victim. A glance around by Chajomi and the officers with him turned up nothing. The murderer had got away one more. 

"At least we know he is still in the building...but somehow killing people and getting away with it."

A merian officer called Chajomi over to the body. Chajomi just started at it. A sword rested next to the corpse along with a clear wound caused by the sword that was the cause of death. The wound cut the side of the warrior, the sword missed going into the human's body, but cutting the skin in such a way caused a massive bleed.

"How did he get the sword? It looks like it belonged to the victim." asked Chajomi. 

The officer handed over a card to the detective. "This was found inside a coat pocket."

Chajomi opened the card and quickly closed it after reading. A clear sign of disgust on his face. "He sword of missed the point" the aslaran spoke in an annoyed tone. "What does this guy think he is. He is just randomly killing people just to make puns."

The officer by Chajomi shook his head, "I think the pun is more of a calling card. The victims seem to have common. None of them appear to be the book type. Both of them are fighters in some way. The first was a warrior. The second was a monk, although why he had a sword, we don't know."

It was long before another yell came. Two more bodies showed up in the back corner of the upper wing. One was a Blacktalon druid and the other was a Ebonguard warrior. Both of their bodies has large wounds that appeared circular in shape. The druid's pet crow cawed as it started to feast on their corpses. The warrior had a pair of hammers in is hands while his flesh had wooden shards embeded deeply. 

Chajomi walked up and looked at the crow enjoying a meal out of its owner. "Why would they kill each other?" the detective spoke aloud. It didn't take long for his answer to come when he saw another note card on a near by table. The aslaran started to look around after reading it as if he was looking for something more.

The merian officer with Chajomi looked at the card and read it, "You could say, these two couldn't carrion on their fight." Turning it over, there seemed to be a bit more this time. "Perhaps, detective, you should look for a plant instead of vase-ing time."

Detective Chajomi rushed around the library, trying to find a vase that may hold a clue. Even if the murderer apparently wanted to be found and it very well could have been a trap, Chajomi took the bait and would deal with the outcome when it came. A rather long hour passed before Chajomi finally found a vase. It appeared to be the only one in the library even. Wasting no time, Chajomi tried to break the seal on the top of the vase. Without any luck he decided to break the vase now and pay for a replacement later.

The echoing sound of the shattering pottery traveled through the floor. As soon as the sound stopped, a tall trill stepped from one of the aisles books and looked at Chajomi. His clothes were rather plain, serving more function than fashion. 

The trill man stood with confidence as he had a grin on his face. "Hello there, Detective. I am Archivist Staruem" 

Staruem looked at the broken vase that held the wooden spike covered in blood. The man spoke with a grin on his face, "It looks like you did find something. You could say you urned the knowledge of the murder weapon." 

Chajomi and the officer standing with him groaned in displeasure before retorting the pun, "You and your puns are done. You are under arrest for the murder of three persons."

Staruem shakes his head at Chajomi, "I'm doing the world a favor. Those warriors do not add anything to the great works of the library. And they reject the ideals of writing in favor of swinging their weapons and hoping it hits. They may say they use tactics, but all observations of them prove otherwise."

Chajomi didn't waste time, he rose his weaponed and fired. The trilll was quickly set crashing through a glass window. Quick to react, Staruem started to flap his wings, hovering in sight just outside.

"I'm a trill, Detective. Did you think you would wind with such a weapon?" Staruem mocked to the aslaran. "Maybe next time you will do "

Staruem flew off into the distance, away from the library. Chajomi yelled out to the trill to come back but the voice fell against the wind. In the next few hours, no one else was murdered, leaving the officers and Chajomi to believe Staruem was the only killer. After cleaning up the place and returning the bodies to their respective guilds, Chajomi followed up on library to see if Staruem ever returned. Although books were published in his name, even more pun-filled works than his killer notes, the world library never saw him. 

The following months as well, Chajomi tried his best to find Staruem, but didn't have any luck at all. After a while, he even gave up on reading the books Staruem published, hoping the murderer would taunt the detective in them. Even if there were no more murders in the style of Staruem, Chajomi would always think of the trill as the one who got away.

Three full years after the cased was closed with the status of the killer was never found, a few rumors had came up that Staruem seemed to start talking with someone else who was rather fond of puns as well. A male faeling named Diffom. The two of them both started to write only things that had puns in them. As soon as Chajomi thought he was getting closer to catching Staruem, the lead would just end. Even if Staruem didn't attack anyone, the fact that he was clever enough to not get caught was just insulting to the detective

THE END.