The last school bell of the day had only just begun to ring as a young girl dived out of her classroom, almost tripping before catching her balance and straightening out her bag. Then, without missing a beat, she spun on her heel and spirited towards the exit as fast as possible. Much like the other students that were beginning to pour into the halls, she couldn’t wait to start her break.
She certainly didn’t draw that many eyes, blending into the crowd of students that all wore a similar uniform for the school they were attending. A white blouse and navy-blue blazer with a yellow tie, plus a skirt that fell just past the knee paired with stockings since it was autumn. Her long dark brown hair was currently tied up into a tight-ish bun to keep her from giving into a bad habit of chewing on it whenever she was bored or anxious. Perhaps the most striking feature were her eyes which looked like shining emeralds with little flecks of silver in them, which in turn complemented her naturally sun-kissed skin.
As she exited the building, she heard someone calling her name from off to the side. “Teodora! Over here!” Teodora ducked past some of the other students rushing past and headed towards where she heard her name being called. Standing off to the side of the school’s bicycle rack was a small group of three. Two boys and a girl were waving Teodora over enthusiastically.
“What’s up guys?” Teodora asked as she walked closer. “Shouldn’t you all be doing club stuff today?”
The taller of the two boys, who stood a head above most students despite being one of the youngest, looked down towards the girl standing next to him. “Little miss vice president got us out early. Feels like I might cast my vote for someone more responsible next time elections come around. Not that I mind or anything, I already finished the coding for the robotics competition like last week.”
Not only was he quite tall for his age, but he had a rather unique look. Outside of the school uniform, which had a button-down shirt and pants instead of a blouse and skirt, he also wore a pair of sunglasses that looked very similar to welding goggles. Nobody asked about them and he never took them off, but since the teachers don’t mind, he got to keep them on.
“Oi!” The girl turned and gave a light smack to his arm. “You better not if you want to stay in that club. I’m the only reason that you’re allowed to bypass the whole no freshmen rule.”
The girl had on the same uniform as Teodora, but also had a small pin on her lapel to signify her status as a part of the student council. She had long blonde hair that flowed into gentle curls, almost like looking at an unraveling spool of golden thread. Her eyes were a sharp gray color that felt cold to look at.
He chuckled and turned back to Teodora. “I’m sure if Teo vouched for me, you’d think twice.”
“That’s if I vouched for you, Hugo. And that’s a pretty big if.” Teodora remarked as she walked up to the other boy. “I don’t want to end up on Calliope’s bad side any more than you do. She’d ruin me socially before I could even blink. So, how’d Cali get you out of practice, Oscar? You’re not the type to avoid responsibilities.” She shot a playful glare towards the tall one who was pretending not to pay attention.
Oscar, who was somewhere between Hugo and the girls in height, responded with a heavy slap on her back. Teodora almost doubled over as the wind was knocked from her lungs. “Actually, Coach sent me away. Said I needed to rest, not that I think I need it. I’ve already scheduled that into my training, see?” He pulled his phone out and opened it to show a complicated looking spreadsheet.
Most people found it surprising that he was the most organized of the group, due to many regarding him as the stereotypical jock. Not that it was all that surprising given his short black hair and wide framed body. Instead of wearing the standard school blazer, he wore a letterman jacket with the school’s team emblem on it.
“So why are we here, Cali? You pulled us all over here for something I’m guessing.” Hugo asked as he pulled a keyring from his pocket and unlocked one of the bikes from the rack.
“So glad you asked. I thought that it has been a while since we last got to hang out, and I happened to find this the other day.” The blonde girl reached into her backpack and pulled an advertisement from inside. “The Mortar Village shopping outlet is going to be demolished, so all the businesses are doing a sale before closing up. I figured we could have a fun outing and find some stuff for everybody, plus it is almost Teodora’s birthday.”
Oscar shrugged and unlocked his bike from the rack, saying, “Fine by me. I can’t do much practice here since Coach will catch me. But I’m only going to stick around for like an hour or so, dinner is at six and I’d like to get back before then.”
“Mind if I catch a ride then? I didn’t exactly plan to bike anywhere today.” Teodora asked, gesturing in the direction where the bus was before it left.
“Sure, you can ride with me.”
“Yeah, just hop on.”
Calliope and Oscar both responded at the same time. Hugo stifled a laugh as the two stared at each other. Eventually Calliope relented and grabbed her own bike from off the rack and started pedaling towards their destination. Teodora jumped on the back of Oscar’s bike and the group took off after their quickly moving guide.
There was a slight chill in the air as the group headed away from their school and towards their destination on the other side of the town. The streets were quite busy, given how it was about to be getting close to the holidays and nobody likes to get caught shopping any later than they have to.
Mortar Village was an older part of the town, in fact it was where the original marketplace was built when the town was founded. It had certainly seen its fair share of renovations since then, but now seemed to be the end for the once busy place of business. Being replaced by large companies or town development projects was fairly common in a place like this.
“Anywhere we want to check out first or is this going to be a split up and see who can find the coolest item day, like when we go garage sale hunting?” Calliope asked over her shoulder as the group slowed down to park their bikes.
Teodora jumped off of Oscar’s bike and adjusted her bag as she looked around. Most of the shops had already been cleared out, leaving just a few stragglers behind. An old game store, some kind of computer parts store, a family-owned boutique, a locally owned camping depot, and a bookstore. She really only had eyes for two of those options and mostly just wanted to be able to share some time with her friends.
“How about we do a bit of both? We go to one store each and find something cool, then whoever finds the best thing gets to choose an activity we all do together. Or something like that, I don’t know how long that’s going to take.” Teodora said as she stared at the bookstore with intensity.
Calliope looked towards Hugo and Oscar, who shrugged and gave a thumbs up respectively, then turned back to Teodora. “Sounds good. Let’s say twenty minutes to find something and then meet back here, yeah?”
With some form of agreement from everyone involved, they all took off towards what called to them respectively. Teodora beelined for the bookstore, Oscar jogged towards the depot, Calliope stood between the boutique and the game store, and finally Hugo who strolled towards the computer parts with a yawn. It was obvious to the other members of the group where they’d all end up.
A bell rang as Teodora walked through the door of the bookstore, which had a small sign that read ‘The Writer’s Block’ hanging just above the entrance. Nobody appeared to be inside the store, though Teodora could hear someone moving things behind a door on the other side of the counter. She didn’t bother waiting for someone to come out though and headed straight into the stacks to look for anything that could catch her eye.
Peering at the signs between the isles of shelves, she quietly muttered to herself. “I wonder if there’s anything here that’s on local legends. Oh, or maybe some new mythology book for my collection. I’ve been looking for anything that isn’t the normal European junk for ages without much luck.”
Eventually she came to stop in a back corner, skimming the spines of some older looking books. That is until she spotted something rather strange. A leather-bound tome without any title or tag to identify it, only sporting an old looking series of symbols where a title would be and the image of a fairy and human facing each other imprinted in the middle. Something about this felt… odd.
Sure, everybody who finds an old looking book or weird object likes to think that they’ve uncovered some incredible secret, but there was something about this book that almost felt like it was calling to her. Teodora felt as if the book was begging to be opened. For her to read it. She just couldn’t shake that uncomfortable feeling as she put the book back on the shelf.
As she turned away, attempting to put the odd sensation out of her mind, a thud sounded behind her. Whirling around, she saw that the book had fallen from the shelf. Now she definitely felt like this wasn’t normal.
“Whoever’s trying to prank me, you might as well give up. I’m going to leave that there and not be a part of whatever it is you’re trying to do.” Teodora said in a somewhat shaky voice, trying to sound calm. “Please don’t do anything else.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Once more, she turned and started away from where that book had fallen, but something made her turn back. A burning curiosity born from a mind that had always held on to the idea of magic and myths. Now something abnormal was calling her and she was just going to ignore it? A wave of conflicted feelings crashed into her as she took a hesitant step back towards the fallen book.
That step was followed by another, and another, and another, until she stood above the leather and paper siren. If someone else were to be watching, they might have noticed the strange shimmer in her eyes. It looked like madness behind those emeralds, the kind of madness that led to trouble. However, there was no one there to see that and that meant there was no one to stop her as she picked the book up and tucked it under her arm with a crooked grin.
After that, Teodora simply walked to another section of the bookstore and picked up a couple copies of new releases in the novel series she was currently reading. No thoughts came to her about her odd behavior nor questions on why she was so drawn to this. It was like she was moving without a care for any of what she had just experienced a moment ago.
Finishing her quick look around for anything else that might be interesting that she could use to win the little competition with her friends, she approached the counter at the front of the store. Behind it stood a tall dark-haired woman dressed in a tight looking suit, odd for her profession and location, who was absentmindedly flipping through the pages of some ledger.
“Hello? Are you working the register?” Teodora asked as she set the books she had found in the store onto the counter.
The woman looked up and glanced over the pile that Teodora had just placed. “Yeah… let me just put this away.” She tucked the ledger away and pulled the pile over to where the computer was. “Find everything you were looking for today?”
“Yes, thank you for asking.”
As the woman was checking each of the books, she paused when she got to the odd leather-bound tome. With raised eyebrows she looked over it and turned to the computer. “You didn’t happen to find a tag on this did you?”
“Umm… no?”
With a sigh the woman shrugged and placed it back on the counter. “Eh, somebody must have dropped it or something. Do you still want it? I don’t really care what happens to this since it isn’t mine. Plus, I won’t charge you anything.”
Teodora opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again. Something stopped her from denying it. Like that little voice that would normally tell her to do the right thing and return it to whoever it originally belonged to, had been silenced. She wanted that book, and this was the best way to get it without trouble.
“I’ll take it.” She replied after a moment of thought. “Why waste something as interesting as this.”
The corners of the woman’s mouth curled ever so slightly before returning to a neutral state. “A good way to live. Take any opportunity that piques your interest and you’re bound for something exciting. Anyways, your total is forty-three dollars and fifty-eight cents.”
After paying for her books, Teodora tucked them into her backpack and headed outside to meet the rest of her friends. Hugo and Oscar were already outside and talking about what they had managed to find at their respective stores.
Oscar was holding a small metal cylinder and was excitedly flipping through a booklet with the other hand. “I’m telling you Hugo, this is going to save me so much time on my next camping trip!”
“Dude. It’s a portable stove. In what world is that cool?” Hugo said with crossed arms. “Hell, you could make a fire easy. I’ve seen you do it before, why do you want this thing? I thought you went camping for the experience.”
The bulker boy clicked his tongue and tucked the booklet away. “For your information, this is not just a portable stove, and I don’t just go camping for the experience. I go to practice my physical survival skills, not my ability to start a fire.”
“What’s going on here?” Teodora asked as she walked up to the two of them. “Fighting?”
Hugo scoffed. “I wish. Getting clocked by this meathead would be more exciting than listening to him ramble about his purchase. Which I’m not voting for by the way.” He gave a pointed look at Oscar who was busy packing away the stove, having seemingly forgotten about the whole point of them shopping for things. “So, what’d you get?”
“You first.”
“Fine. I picked up an old voice recorder, one that uses those cassette tapes. Thought it’d be fun to use for something I’m cooking up.” The boy wore a smug grin as he pulled a small black device from his pocket. “Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to see it. Call it your birthday present, though it might be late by a couple of days.”
Teodora smiled as she shifted her bag in front of herself. “Thanks. Well as for me, there wasn’t much in there, but I found this thing.” She showed them a book on the language of flowers, hiding the odd leather one behind some other things in her bag. “Not the coolest, but it is kinda neat.”
“What’s neat?” Calliope’s voice called from nearby. The group turned to see her exiting the game store with a small box. “Anyone want to challenge me?”
Hugo and Oscar shook their heads before Hugo spoke up. “Nah, we forfeit this one. Teo?”
She shrugged and held her book out. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Calli.”
Calliope revealed her purchase in all its glory with a flourish of her hand. “Tadah! Found something we could try out later this break.” The box was a dull brown color with bright red letters that said, ‘Elaborate!’.
“Well, we can’t vote for our own, so I guess the boys need to be our tie breaker.” Teodora said, turning to her other friends. “Come on, don’t be shy.”
The two boys looked at one another and both walked behind Teodora, who wore a smug grin. She tucked the book back into her bag and held her hands behind her for the two to high five her. Calliope just rolled her eyes as she packed away the board game.
“So, did you want us to go somewhere since you won? Some creepy thing you’ve heard was poking around the neighborhood?” The blonde girl asked as she started to get back on her bike.
Teodora shook her head and replied, “Nope. But give me a few days and I’m sure I’ll have us heading into a cave or something, yeah?”
After everyone had remounted their bikes, the group took off in no particular direction as they continued to talk. Eventually the time came for the group to split after they all promised to join Teodora in her next investigation, despite some of the protests from a particular tall boy.
Oscar made his usual quick pace as he raced Teodora and himself back in the direction where they both lived nearby. He stopped in front of a tall apartment complex and let Teodora jump off, giving her a wave as he sped towards the edges of town where his house was.
Walking up the stairs to her home, Teodora dusted herself off and pulled her keyring out from her backpack. A small charm that was of a UFO dangled and seemed to give off a dim glow as she unlocked the door to her apartment. Flipping the switch, light flooded the room as she removed her shoes and loosened her tie before heading into her own room.
Throwing her backpack onto her bed, she quickly changed into a t-shirt and pair of comfortable pants as she undid her hair. With a tired sigh she walked back into the main flat and made her way to a picture frame on an end table by the hall.
“Hi Dad. I’m almost eighteen, can you believe it?” Teodora sighed as she looked into the eyes of the familiar man in the photograph. A tall, thin, handsome man with wiry black hair smiled as he stood proudly next to a beautiful dark-skinned woman with green eyes and a young girl who shared the two adult’s traits. “I wish you were still here. But I’m doing my best to stay strong, for Mom.”
Heavy hearted, she turned and slapped herself on both sides of her face to focus. Then she marched into the kitchen with a determined fire in her eyes. The sounds and smells of the past filled the room as she danced in the kitchen between her ingredients and pan, smiling as she hummed a song she used to hear all the time growing up.
Teodora placed a plate onto the slightly crooked dining table, before wrapping another and placing a small note by it for her mother. She ate in silence, trying to remember the taste of what her father had made so many years ago and comparing it to her attempt. With a frown, she swallowed the last of the dish before cleaning up and heading back into her room.
Like most students, she ignored the homework given to her for her break and took out her haul of books from earlier. Much like before, the book with the unreadable cover called to her and this time she didn’t try to resist.
The feeling of the leather was almost comforting, as if she had held this before, but of course that was not the case. She opened the book and found a small monocle on the end of a string that functioned as a bookmark on the first page. Before she brushed it away to read what was on the page, she noticed something out of place.
While most of the page was covered in symbols similar to the ones on the cover of the book, behind the glass of the monocle was plain English. She picked the monocle up off the page and glanced through it, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The spot on the page where it was resting now looked like the rest of the page did, but when she looked through the glass everything changed.
“Okay, that’s kinda freaky.” She said as she moved the glass in and out of her field of view, changing what was on the page in front of her. “How the hell is this happening?” Holding the monocle up to her eye, she began to read the strange text on the page.
To you who holds this most key of relics and its treasured stone, I greet thee.
Before you lay the secrets of a world sealed away and knowledge of the beasts and people who walked before and with man.
May you feel the eternal honor of serving our grand order as keeper of this tome, the Bestiary.
It is our most important duty to tend to the mystic forces that once shared our world and ensure they do not leave the plane they have been sealed within.
Within these pages are inscribed the knowledge of former keepers, such as myself, who have kept the forces of old within their confinement.
Now that duty falls upon your shoulders as you continue our long-standing line of scholars and researchers who have ensured that the common folk will never need worry over such beings again.
* First Keeper, Jeremiah Morais
Teodora’s mind was full of questions as she looked up from the book. “What the actual hell? Is this for real?” She wondered out loud to herself as she stared at the page. “There’s no way this is real. No chance. This is some kind of joke book, it’s gotta be.”
She flipped through the tome, page after page was filled with symbols and pictures that depicted creatures that she only knew as myth or rumors. Eventually she hit the end and was left with only a few blank pages of paper, waiting to be filled with words. Filled by her hand. She shook the thought out of her head and flipped back through the book until she found a page that was particularly interesting.
There was a large map of the globe stretched out between two pages with various markings on it. Oddly enough, some seemed more recent than others. Which caused her to look at the last few written pages, which shared in fresher markings than the note at the beginning of the book.
Returning to the map, she pushed through the pages following it, passing a few other maps of locations up close. Eventually she reached the end of the maps and greeting her was the image of a stone archway, like a door frame but without the door. The monocle returned to her eye as she read what was written besides the image.
These stone arches are called the Gates.
They are located in places where the veil between the planes is weakest and where the many ley lines intersect.
It is impossible to destroy or move them from their locations, however most would not be able to locate them to begin with as they naturally obscure themselves from the view of almost all creatures.
We have a relic in our possession that allows us to seek these Gates out and ensure their integrity, the Divining Rod.
Before the last of the great Archfey left, I was given the incantation to open the Gates if there was ever a need to send a being that escaped confinement back through.
It is our duty to ensure that any creature that manages to escape is safely returned to the plane it and its kind has been assigned.
I have included the instructions on opening and closing Gates and a key to the Fey Wild on the following page.
Under no circumstance should one need to venture into the Fey Wild unless a great calamity is to befall the common folk in which Fey intervention is absolutely required.
* First Keeper, Jeremiah Morais
Addendum:
It should be noted that it is possible for one to remove a Gate from its location, however this would cause irreversible damage to both the physical and mystical balance.
My colleagues and I attempted an extremely complex runic formation that managed to remove a Gate, which led to the death of almost all of us and the surrounding few kilometers of forest was left completely petrified as it became similar in form to the stone beneath our feet.
* Twenty Second Keeper, Akiyama Sagomi
“A Gate? And wait a sec, that’s definitely an Asian name, so why is it written in English? Does this thing work for other languages?” Teodora asked to an empty room while looking curiously at the flat piece of glass in her hand. She directed it over to a poster on her wall that had words written in Spanish, and on the other side of the glass was plain English. “Huh, that’s neat…”
She glanced back at the image of the Gate, before turning back to the maps on the previous page. However, she soon stopped as she noticed that one of the maps looked terribly familiar to her. Quickly scrambling to her desk, she pulled out a map that showed the area around her town that was covered in various markings about supernatural occurrences.
Looking between the two images, she began to notice various similarities. Though the most convincing was the fact that Pilot Mountain, or Jomeokee as it was called in the book, happened to be a major landmark on the map.
“Holy shit.” Teodora whispered to herself as she held the monocle in her shaking hand to read the map in the book. “If I’m reading this right, there’s a Gate practically in my backyard.”