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The Great Library of Caelum stood as a temple of knowledge. Existing well into the present day, the cathedral-like wonder of the ancient world spanned an entire mountain range surrounding the valley making up the Caelum Empire's large city-state. Foreign dignitaries and immigrants alike couldn't help but marvel at the immense stone structure visible from the clouds, as well as the decorated, stocked shelves spanning its majestic halls within the mountain.

Archivists, historians, scholars, and librarians called the vast collection of tomes their home. One such librarian apprentice was Abdrew Zoltan, a timber wolf anthro of twenty summers who dutifully worked to catalogue each scroll or donated book. Such an honorable position had been granted to him by the Grand Librarian herself, thanks to his gift of having an incredible memory. Some of his fellow librarians joked that Abdrew's amazing memory was a gift from the gods themselves.

When he didn't spend his weekends, early mornings, and late evenings with his doting husband--a human carpenter by the name of Byron, who sold furniture in the shop under their apartment--Abdrew devoted his hours to the Great Library. However, as much as their professions demanded from them, neither husband lost time to spend with the other. Hearing about the other's day only seemed to strengthen their unique love. Abdrew even found himself to be the avid storyteller, entertaining Byron with fictional tales he'd read, and anecdotes encountered within the Great Library.

Unfortunately, catastrophe struck. Caelum's royal oracles warned the King of an impending, unnatural winter lasting four seasons. Such a winter would destroy crops, plants, animals, and all sapient creatures. Word of this doomsday spread not only across the Empire, but to the kingdoms beyond its respected borders.

The oracles were true to their unbreaking word. No sooner than the first snowfall came a blizzard that froze everything in sight. The thickest of coats could not keep travelers warm for long. Lamp oil froze the instant it began to burn. Ships docked in the neighboring port would not be able to leave. As Caelum's royal family and many nobles fled into their palaces for sanctuary from the cold, most of the Empire's populace found safe refuge in the only structure able to shield them from the Long Winter: Caelum's legendary Great Library.

So many thousands of the Empire's citizens filled the great hallways. Among them were Abdrew, who assisted the other librarians while Byron set up his husband's station as their new home. Chaos almost seemed to take over once or twice as order was brought repeatedly by the city-state's guards. Thankfully, the oracle's warning allowed a surplus of food to be brought inside the Great Library, but not enough wood to keep the hundreds of remote fireplaces burning.

A stone hall surrounding an entire city-state could only do so much to keep its inhabitants warm, and an unexpected excess of them were no exception.

Nobody knows who was the first to suggest it, but the idea found itself vehemently struck down by the Great Library's dedicated staff. Nobody would burn a single book in the collection. To do such an act, to cremate a single scroll, tome, encyclopedia, novel, map, star chart, or volume to keep warm, would be an unforgivable crime to the gods. Nevertheless, the desperate cries of a shivering populace grew louder each day and night that passed, and the limited supplies for kindling dwindled.

Abdrew heard their cries and understood their pain. He felt it as he cuddled each night with his husband in their makeshift tent, trying to keep warm. He could never recall the moment he knew what to do, but the wolf anthro did remember his exact words to the Grand Librarian: "Madam Librarian, I request that we volunteer some of the library's collection. I shall read the ones we sacrifice and pen them down so they will not be forgotten. I beg of you to consider this approach. Otherwise, too many lives will be lost to the impending cold."

Anybody could claim to remember, but she and the rest of the Great Library's considerable staff knew Abdrew's unnatural memory made all other mortals' pale in comparison. In truth, nobody wanted to risk the preservation of even a small portion. However, if they did not take the gamble, not enough families would survive to see the next Spring.

So, it was done. Many of the librarians mourned each book tossed into the fireplaces, yet it was done. For each book the Great Library allowed to be eventually burned, Abdrew Zoltan went about his duty at his station; he carefully read each one, memorizing every page and sentence before an assistant would take it away to be discarded to the flames, then he put feather to ink and copied it from perfect memory. His love Byron even assisted on occasion, providing the wolf with parchments and plenty of ink he could find amongst their commoner brethren.

His contemporaries at first called him a devil, yet historians and generations to come deservingly called him an angel, sent by the library's patron gods to preserve the sacrificed knowledge and stories while saving hundreds from the destructive snowfall. Millions of tomes burned so hundreds of thousands could live. Live, they did. Four seasons came and went until the icy snow finally began to melt away. The countless surviving denizens of the Empire sung praises and danced in the streets, happy to be alive. Among them were the former prince and his princess, now crowned the monarchs after their predecessor's death of old age.

The Great Library found itself compensated by the palace, and their staff were greatly rewarded. For Abdrew's ingenuity, the King and Queen of Caelum handed the incredible wolf and his humble husband a title of nobility, which would also be given to two wolf cubs they adopted as their own during the Long Winter. The male and female cubs, though orphaned of their families due to the apocalyptic blizzard, would go on to lay the foundations of House Zolan, a spectacular lineage who made it their familial mission to always protect the Great Library for future generations. All in honor of their honorary ancestor.

When he did not spend his evenings and well-earned weekends loving his family, watching his adopted son and daughter grow to adulthood, and seeing them raise cubs of their own, Abdrew dutifully spent his life continuing to pen the books surrendered to the flames.

The years became decades, yet Abdrew the Chronicler--as he became known--never forgot each word of every tome he had read. Nor did he relent in scribing each one sacrificed to the fires. It wouldn't be until his fifty-fifth summer that the wolf penned the final book he'd memorized during the Long Winter. It was nothing more than a simple spell to ward off sickness, and yet, it was vital he put it feather and ink to paper. Once he completed it, a weight lifted from his shoulders, and Abdrew felt he could finally claim the offered position of Grand Librarian.

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