Kaara grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him with her, “Come on!”

Amaro nearly tripped over himself. Was she trying to touch him? He looked at her hand which held onto his wrist. He was lost in his own world until they arrived. The path should have been longer.

He stepped into the tent with her, seeing the others already sitting down as Deka stood over a table in the center, “Ah, there you are. Good of you both to join us.”

“Milord, the captains present you with nine horns.” Vilka said, offering the horns.

“Good, throw them away. I will fetch the scrolls.”

Amaro saw Kaara slowly stalking towards Deka’s bed. He grabbed her tail. She squinted at him. He pointed at Vilka who was staring daggers at her. Kaara gave him a thumbs up.

Deka turned and rummaged through his trunks. Vilka was observing all of them, as if trying to discern whether any of them were thinking of stealing the scrolls.

He spread one of them out across his desk, “Have a seat then, both of you, I’m afraid I don’t have chairs.”

“I can sit on the bed then,” Kaara said.

“If you must. If you need food, call for the familiar nearby.”

“You’re quite courteous,” Amaro noted.

“Of course I am! The Prince of Itaro must be a good host to his allies.”

“It’s been a long while since I’ve had any tea,” Anitus said, beckoning one of the ghostly familiars over to him.

“Tea?” Kaara said.

“It’s a drink.” Amaro explained, “Served warm with some cream and honey.”

“Or without cream if you’re not weird.” Anitus said.

Amaro rolled his eyes.

“I’ll have them prepare some for everyone. Just don’t spill any on my bed, will you?”

“If I do I’ll clean it up.”

“Right, water magic.”

“I think that’s enough stalling, don’t you?” Anitus said, “We did come here for a reason.”

Deka held his hand up as if knowing what Vilka’s reaction would be, “Indeed. But I’ll warn you now, you might not like it.”

Amaro noticed how tired Deka looked since yesterday. He recalled how reading the scroll himself had made him pass out. Had Deka read the scrolls beforehand? Perhaps it took some sort of toll on him to read it.

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“What don’t you think we would like about it?”

“The nature of these particular scrolls are… fickle. What I read in the past may be different today depending on how it is read and who is in the room when I read it. Once you hear the words, you could be transported to a distant memory, whether it’s yours or not. There are cases where some who are not careful have lived entire lifetimes inside the illusion created by the scrolls, only to wake up and realize only a minute has passed. Conversely, you could live a second in the illusion, only to wake up ten years later in a bed with unfamiliar faces. These scrolls are dangerous to read by their very nature if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Anitus crossed his arms, “So even if you read one scroll to us, it could still say something different tomorrow?”

“That is one takeaway, yes.”

“All the more reason to take out every last one of the xio on that list, right? It’s not just about getting five scrolls read, it’s about which ones to read and how often.”

“Unfortunately, there won’t be any renegotiating our deal.”

“No, no. That is fair play.” Anitus said, balancing on the back leg of his chair.

“So what have you learned so far?” Amaro said.

“Not what I’ve learned, but what I have experienced.”

Amaro leaned forward, “Can they show you the future?”

“I would not be surprised if they could.”

“And will we all see the same vision?”

Deka shook his head, “Once the words on the page are recited with proper technique, they will have a unique effect on those who hear it.”

“What should we be prepared for then? What have you seen?”

Deka paused for a moment, deciding that the answer was not worth withholding from them, “The first time I read one of these scrolls, I was transported to the middle of a great battle. One I had never heard nor read about. I was on the front lines, fighting tooth and nail against an enemy I could not see. I was surrounded by my fallen comrades, and the only sound was my own gasping breaths. I was in a weak body, and so I died.”

The room fell silent.

“What’s the point of having a random vision whenever you read a scroll?” Anitus said, finally, “Doesn’t sound practical to me.”

“The point is not to show you its knowledge. The point is to become worthy of seeing the true knowledge hidden within. I may live and die another hundred deaths before I reach the true answer these scrolls withhold from me. Where did you find these?”

“That is classified information,” Anitus started, “If we renegotiate something-”

“We found it in a cave nearby.” Kaara said, lightly bouncing on the bed she sat on and swinging her legs, “Why do you ask?”

“I’ve never read a scroll so intent on hiding its secrets and testing its reader. Even the ones in the royal libraries were not so advanced. At least, not the ones I’ve been allowed to read. It’s exciting to think what knowledge must be stored within.”

“So that’s why you offered to read it to us.” Anitus said, “Better to have eight people who can potentially find the answer and dig deeper than one or two, right?”

“Regardless, now that you know the truth, do you still wish to hear what these scrolls have to say? I am not responsible if it breaks your minds, so if any of you wish to bow out, now is your chance.”

Amaro looked to his siblings and Kaara. They all nodded in agreement. They had come this far, there was no turning back now.

“Very well.” Deka said, leaning down to read the scroll.

“In a land of snow and ice, a brotherhood of three shall rise to take their place in a history unmade. From the north they come Bearing gifts of snow and cold to a land that knows not the meaning of pain. They come with a promise of a future unbound by the chains of the past. A new age awaits those who would follow the path of the brotherhood. In a land of snow and ice, a brotherhood of three shall rise and take their place. A history once again made.

Amaro heard a ringing in his ear which got louder and louder. His vision tunneled. He was falling as the light of Deka’s tent vanished from sight.