In the midst of the night, there was a young man anxiously walking back in fort inside his room. He is adorned by a robe seemingly fresh out from bath. His brows were knitted while thinking of something absentmindedly. He then took out an envelope from his drawer and murmured “Should I open the letter now after all?”
Turns out the young man is Deus. Hesitating if he should open his grandfather’s letter or not. He stared blankly at the letter for a while before wearing a decisive face.
“Grandfather said that I should only open this when I reached the peak-foundational wiseman, I already reached this level for a few weeks so it should be the right time to open it.”
Deus gripped the letter a bit stronger before he sat on his bed. He closed his eyes and breathe-in heavily. It took a few second before he opened his eyes again before expelling the air he took.
Deus put a serious expression before putting some mental energy in the letter. Nothing happened at first when suddenly, the still air went turbulent till it was to the point that it formed a small tornado inside the room. He was starting to panic when suddenly the tornado stopped absorbing more wind and it scattered the accumulated wind. He readied his self for the impact as an impulse and closed his eyes. After waiting for a while, He didn’t feel any wind coming in his way so he slowly opened his eyes and was shocked to see a person or so to say an avatar made from wind.
The avatar smiled at him before opening its mouth. “Sorry for giving a scare Deus, I just want you to realize how far can magic go because I know you are not much in to it.”
“Ii-s that you grandpa?” Deus was shocked that the voice and the face of the avatar is very familiar to him.
“Hohoho. Yes, it is me your grandpa.” The avatar said with a big teasing smile on his face.
Deus was quiet for a while before overcoming the shock he felt. He first steadied his crumpled robe before smiling bitterly and said “Grandpa you meanie, you scared me so much that I nearly shouted for Aunt Ysabele’s help. That will be too embarrassing then.” Deus blushed then shooked his head and looked at his grandfather, amazement can be seen in his face.
His grandfather laughed loudly before saying “Ehhh, you two seems to be close huh. I didn’t expect you to adapt having her by your side. I thought you will become a loner after I left”.
Deus made a wry smile before answering “Well, you are not wrong of me being a loner except that Aunt Ysabele is very kind to me that made me feel safe every time I am with her.”
The old man eyes had a glint but it was gone after a moment. “That’s good to hear, at least I know you’re not all alone.” He said with a caring tone. “Anyway, it is nice to see you again.”
Deus put on a happy smile too before saying “I’m just as happy to see grandpa too. It is just that, I wonder why can you have a conversation with me through a letter?” Deus can’t hide his shock when he realized what is happening.
“That is why I said to you that magic has many other uses so you should place more interest in it. I left a part of my soul energy in this letter which is why I can have a normal conversation with you, as to what is soul energy, you are still too young and inexperienced to understand so even if I explain it, you will not understand and might even confuse you.” His grandfather explained
Deus was quiet for a moment before asking a question again “I understand now that it is because of magic but how can you talk to me even if…” He hesitated first before continuing “Even though you’re already dead?”
His grandfather didn’t take offense and answered “You can say that I’m really that but not dead. This kind of things are still too early for you to know and might even bring you danger if I let you know so I will not”. The old man waited for a bit before saying again “Deus my grandson, I know that you are very smart and intelligent but there are just things that can be known to a junior like you. I can say this things to you but not now. If you want to know it, then do your best to reach higher level of enlightenment. As you reach higher level, I might not need to say anything before you can find what it really is.”
Deus wanted to say something before his grandfather spoke again “Stop the question about this, you should instead listen to what I’m about to say.” The old man then continued “I made this letter because I need to warn you that the next time you see that strange dream again, I’m already unable to help you because you are already a peak-foundational wiseman. There will be something different on it and you must not use what you will get in front of anyone or to misbehave and do something bad.”
“The things that will happen I there will confuse you but the better you understand of it, the bigger your responsibility is so Deus, you must promise your grandfather to do your best in carrying those responsibilities!” The old man warned him seriously. He waited for a bit before smiling. “You don’t need to be nervous, I know that given your character, nothing bad will happen.”
Deus didn’t know what to say and having a hard time to receive everything his grandfather told him. After a while he asked “Will I be able to see grandfather again?”
The old man smiled and said “Yes, and not only once. So there is no need to be anxious. You should follow what your heart and mind wants to!”
Deus smiled and nod. “The day will come that me and aunt will come see you again” He said with excitement.
The old man hesitated before saying in a bitter tone. “I’m sure that we will but not sure with Ysabele though. I’m not in place to say this thing so I’ll just tell you that there will be the time that Ysabele will need to go so you must be ready.”
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Deus smile was replaced by shock and confusion. He wanted to speak but his grandfather spoke again “I am out of time Deus, this avatar will collapse after a few more second”. He then grabbed something from inside his robe before reaching it out to Deus. “Read this before you sleep. Remember, you should finish it before losing your consciousness!”
Deus grabbed the scroll before placing it on top of his bed. he turned to his grandfather again wanting to continue his question earlier but before he can do so the avatar started to scatter.
He heard his grandfather for the last time “Farewell Deus!”
He stared in shock before shouting “Grandpa I still have question to ask!”
He waited for a bit but to his disappointment the avatar continued to scatter while no one is answering. He watched the wind slowly blowing out of his room before feeling regret of not talking about Ysabele much earlier.
He was absorbed in thinking the reason why his grandfather said Ysabele will have to go for a while. After a few minutes, he wasn’t able to find any reason so he shook his head before sighing.
Deus was about to sit on his bed before a gleam flashed through his eyes. He murmured “Why didn’t I think about this earlier. I’m so panicky that it made me dumb for a moment.” he turned around and started walking towards the door.
He walked slowly while humming in a low volume in the hallway. Deus is in front of Ysabele’s room after a while. That’s right, he simply thought of asking Ysabele directly to know why she will have to go away. He was about to knock when he remembered that it is already late in the night. He realized that what he is doing is ill mannered so he turned around and quietly left.
Deus murmured while walking back to his room “I’ll just ask aunt tomorrow when we eat our breakfast.” He then thought of what he was about to do earlier and can’t help but blush but he shook his head and thought “He is my aunt so nothing is wrong in going in to her room at night even she is a girl!”. He convinced his self but still didn’t go back to Ysabele’s room.
Meanwhile Deus and his grandfather is having a conversation inside his room, Ysabele hurriedly opened the door of her room while shouting “Who’s there!”
She saw two person inside her room covered with black cloth all over their body except for the eyes. The two of them was shocked on hearing someone opening the door while shouting. They simultaneously looked back to see a woman in a bathing robe.
“Shit! We’re discovered! Run for it!” The person near Ysabele’s drawer said with a voice that can’t be said to be a woman nor a man.
Just as they were about to move, Ysabele waved her hand before the two of them froze in place.
“I’m asking who the hell are you two!” Ysabele said while walking gracefully inside her room before closing the door again.
The two trespassers didn’t say anything and bit something inside their mouth. The eye of the trespassers suddenly turned white and foams started to leak out from their mouth.
Ysabele saw what happened and that made her wore a shocked expression. She waved her hand again before a ‘thud’ sound was heard. She only needed a moment to recover from her shock before murmuring “Don’t tell me they are here because…”
Before Ysabele can finish murmuring she heard a male’s voice “Yes you’re right, they are here for that thing that you brought out with you.”
Ysabele was surprised to hear that voice and turned around. She saw a middle aged man passing through the door without opening it. He is adorned by a red robe designed with a golden phoenix.
“Uncle Robert what are you doing here?” Ysabele said with a bitter tone.
“What am I doing here? Not even greeting your uncle huh. This is making me so sad” Uncle Robert said so. He then continued “I’m here to tell you that playing house is over. Your father sent me here to take you back home.”
She was quiet for a moment before opening her mouth but wasn’t able to finish “No more delays. Last time I let you stayed a year longer but that’s not happening again. Your father is not happy to you in playing house with this little kid. His father is only a general in this country’s capital so what are staying here for?”
Ysabele bow her head down and didn’t say anything. She sighed heavily before speaking “I’ll just say good bye okay? I can do that right?”
Robert stared at her for a moment before speaking “That boy is just a nobody, why do you care about him so much?”
She didn’t answer and continued to make her way out of the room.
In Deus room
“Yeah I should just wait for tomorrow and ask Aunt Ysabele why.” Deus said before sitting up on his bed. He suddenly remembered the scroll his grandfather gave to him.
“Grandfather told me to read this before sleeping. I wonder what is written in this.” He said so while taking out the scroll.
He slowly pulled the scroll from left to right. It took a moment before he fully open the scroll and was shocked to see nothing written on it. Looking confused, he murmured to himself. “That’s it? Did grandpa give the wrong scroll?”
He was about to close it when the upper part of the scroll lit up. When the light was gone, the empty scroll is not empty anymore, it now has scribbles here and there. The scribbles look like an ancient mark but he can’t help but feel familiar with it. He blinked his eyes before looking at it again and was surprised that he can actually understand what was written.
“Bookkeepers” He read slowly having a hard time familiarizing with it.
“Bookkeepers? what’s that? librarians?” He muttered to himself. He was not finished wondering when the scroll lit up again. When the light was gone, the vacant scroll was filled with the ancient mark.
He looked at the additional mark and slowly murmured “I remember! These marks are the same mark written in the wall from that strange dream.”
He focused on the scroll trying to read what is written. After a while he felt like he was being swallowed by the scroll and his consciousness is continuously collapsing. He remembered what his grandfather said ‘remember to not lose consciousness before finishing it’
He focused on the words not the one written in the scroll but the one he remember inside his mind and his heart.
While all of this is happening the scroll is already gone and his real body is already lying on top of his bed.
He relaxed his mind and removed all the panic he had before starting to read again.
“Books are like a world. Every word has volume that makes up the whole world. It is full of vitality and emotion. That is said, every word that is gone or replace will make the world different. Even though books are something unchangeable and eternal once written, there are exemptions. The bookrippers that rips a book soul has the power to change a happy world inside the book to a tragic one. They who is condemned by the book, they who are prohibited from enlightenment, they are the bloodrippers! They destroy worlds inside different books to gain their means forcibly. The only way to stop them and make them powerless is to return the destroyed world in how should it be and that’s what bookkeepers can. That’s what you are! You are a bookkeeper!” he continued to read until he finished every word while losing his consciousness bit by bit.
He was about to close his eyes when he suddenly heard a voice. “I’m sorry Deus, I can’t stay with you anymore.”