The night was still deep; there were no noises that could be heard, nor were there any people around.

There was only one man standing in an alley, looking confused.

Kalle was looking at the necklace that he had just picked up when he suddenly heard footsteps coming towards his direction. He half expected it to be the woman who dropped the necklace until he realized that it was coming from the opposite direction.

He quickly put the necklace in his pocket.

When he looked again at the sound of the footsteps, he saw two men running towards him.

"Hey, have you seen any woman here? She has curly hair and was running in this direction," the man spoke in an authoritative voice.

Kalle looked at the pair. One of them was tall and skinny, and the other one looked more muscular. It was the more muscular man who spoke. Kalle eyed them again; both of them wore robes with intricate designs. But that wasn't what caught his attention. He looked closer at them—both of them wore the same pin as Cedric.

He gritted his teeth. He tried not to show his anger. Kalle pointed them in the wrong direction. He was surprised that he was able to speak calmly.

After the two left, he decided to walk back to the tavern.

When he left the tavern, he was full of thoughts. Now that he was about to return, he felt that the walk didn't help him at all.

As he walked his way back, he wondered about the woman. 'Who is she? And why is she being chased by those guys?' Kalle thought.

When he finally arrived at the tavern, he opened the door and found Gabriel sitting in his chair, drinking his rum.

Kalle wanted to tell him about what happened but thought otherwise. Gabriel already had his hands full and he was also too tired to talk.

"I just went out for a walk. I wanted to tell you earlier, but you seemed busy," Kalle said, sounding tired, his voice hoarse.

"It's fine. You should get some sleep—you really looked like you needed it," Gabriel said while holding his tankard.

"Yeah, I really need sleep," Kalle conceded. "I'll be going. You should close already," Kalle said as he was about to climb the stairs. Gabriel nodded at Kalle. Gabriel was still drinking his rum; he thought that he wouldn't be sleeping for a while.

On the other hand, Kalle felt like he really needed some sleep and would immediately sleep when he reached his room.

That didn't happen, as his night was just about to get longer.

Gabriel took a sip of his rum. He knew he would not be sleeping any moment from now. He was bothered by what Kalle told him. He knew the events had affected him. He knew it wouldn't do them any good. He was afraid Kalle would be swayed by grudge. He hoped that Kalle wouldn't; he also hoped he himself wouldn't.

He thought as he clenched his fist and took another sip of the rum.

Kalle opened his door and slumped at the corner of his bed. He moved his hands towards his pocket and took the necklace. It looked... almost mystical. He raised it, trying to see it more clearly. It had some thin silver metal chains, and the crystal of the necklace had its corners covered in silver. Kalle looked at it for a long time until a thought hit him.

Cedric told him about his patron, who was looking for a relic—a relic that is the source of all magic—and both of the men who were apparently chasing the lady had the same pin as Cedric.

'But why now?' He thought about what Gabriel told him—that if such things did exist, why would they only search now? Kalle felt so conflicted that he put his other hand to his head. When he looked again at the necklace, he felt the sudden urge to touch the crystal with his other hand.

It felt warm. He guided his fingers across the crystal. He thought that the crystal was looking brighter. 'Wait,' Kalle thought. He stared more closely at the crystal. Suddenly, there was a surge of light that made him cover his eyes and drop the necklace on his nightstand.

When he removed his hands that were covering his eyes, the necklace was gone. The only thing left was a huge leather-bound book with symbols of some sort. He also took notice that the crystal in the necklace appeared to be in the center of the book.

He blinked at the sight.

It took him a while to register what just happened. The necklace had just turned into a leather-bound book. He suddenly felt that he wouldn't get the rest he wanted for a while.

As Kalle got nearer to the book, he looked at it more cautiously. 'The source of all magic,' Kalle thought. He didn’t know whether it was the same relic Cedric was looking for or if such a thing even existed. Kalle really didn't know. Kalle looked at the book before deciding to put his hands on its cover.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It felt warm. Slowly, he tried to lift the cover.

Kalle stared wide-eyed at the book. He tried to open it, but it didn't even budge. At first, he thought he just didn’t use enough force, since the book looked extremely heavy.

It took him a couple of attempts to realize that wasn't the case. He even stood up, trying to use all of his strength, but the book showed no sign of being opened.

Resigned, Kalle stopped his attempts and sat once again on the bed. As he sat, he noticed something on the floor.

It was the pin he had stolen from Cedric. It had fallen down when the necklace turned into a book.

He slowly picked it up and looked at its original spot. Kalle could no longer put the pin on the nightstand. The space was consumed only by the book. He opened the drawer of the same nightstand and saw some sheets of paper and a box. The box was green with various intricate carvings and ornaments, but what was noticeable about the box was that there was a tiny bird sculpture just above its latch. 'I forgot it’s here,' Kalle thought. He looked at the pin and compared it with the sculpture.

It was exactly the same.

He put the pin in the drawer and closed it. Kalle was tired and confused. All he wanted was to sleep. He looked at the book and decided to try it one more time.

To his surprise, the book opened.

Meanwhile, somewhere far from the small town of Capella, a man was in a large office-like interior, his table filled with documents and stamps. The wall was plastered with unfamiliar paintings and the room was well furnished overall. A sole lamp was producing light for the entire room along with the soft moonlight.

The man was around his forties and was sitting in his chair with his hands on the table.

Suddenly a glowing portal appeared in front of the man the portal was surrounded by various symbols and runes. Two men step forward from the portal as they did the portal disappeared with a swooshing sound, it was the same men that was chasing the woman.

The men stood looking silently at the seated man.

The man wore a tunic made with luxurious fabrics. He had black hair that was well tended and blue eyes that made people nervous when being watched by him.

The two men standing in front of him felt exactly that. There were chairs placed in front of the table yet neither one of them dared to take a seat.

"Did you find the woman?" the man sitting spoke with authority; the moonlight from the window casting a soft glow onto his face. Both of the men standing seemed to respect or rather fear the speaker.

They stood extremely straight, as if afraid that a minuscule move might offend the speaker and cause them harm. They were aware that the man in front of them was capable of frightening things.

It took a moment before either of them spoke. When one of them finally had the courage to do so, it was the muscular man that stepped forward, his voice almost failing him.

"We... We lost her," the muscular man said, his hands almost shaking in front of him. He did not sound confident at all.

"Hmmm," the man sitting stared at him. The muscular man felt his body tense. He looked at the man sitting; his eyes were almost glowing. The darkness outside didn't help ease the tension at all.

In what felt like an eternity to the muscular man, the authoritative figure finally spoke. "I need you to find the woman as quickly as possible. She has something valuable that I need," the man said while playing with his pen between his fingers. Twirling the pen in between his fingers, the pen spun around his thumb. "I am a forgiving person... however, I won't tolerate any delay," the man continued. The muscular man was about to speak when a projectile quickly passed by his face. He felt blood trickling down to his chin. When he looked behind him to see what just hit him, he saw the pen pierced in the wall.

Kalle's confusion grew more; he didn't know what caused the book to open that moment he wasn't even using all his strength in fact he was still seated at the edge of his bed. That's not the only thing that caused him confusion. What confused him more is that the first page of the book is completely empty. Still uncertain kalle flips the front page.

[ Blank ]

Kalle frowned as he continued to flip the pages the soft sound of pages being flipped is the only apparent noise in the room.

[ Blank ]

[ Blank ]

[ Blank ]

Kalle keep flipping the pages but the only thing he saw are pages without any contents. He was halfway through the book when he suddenly felt his head hurt. He pulled his hands away from the book and held his temple with both hands. He felt splitting pain in his head.

'Wh.. ar yu'

Kalle heard a unfamiliar voice that he can't quite process. He looked around him -he was alone the voice seem to be coming from his head.

'Wh..o ar...e yo u'

Kalle heard it again he felt that the voice is becoming clearer.

"WHAT?" kalle said aloud his head still hurting.

Slowly kalle's headache subsided he removed his hand from his temple still chasing his breath as if he just ran a marathon.

'Who Are... you? '

Kalle heard it again this time he can perfectly discern the words being spoken in his head. He understood the words however he didn't knew what happened and who is the one speaking.

Kalle slowly opened his mouth "kalle. Kalle thyllos that is my name. Just who are you?" The question slipped from his mouth.

'Where Am i?' the voice who spoked once ignored the question again.

"Capella it is a small town, You didn't answer my what are you doing in my head?" Kalle said staring at the still opened book.

'i don't know' the voice said in kalle's head. The voice become clearer over time. Kalle thought about the relic Cedric was looking for it is said to be wielded by someone powerful but he didn't expect the relic to have a consciousness of its own.

"There were legends... About you. Are you really Pandora: the source of all magic? Why are your pages blank? What happened to your previous owner? " Kalle asked this question in a rapid fire.

The voice in his head produced a laugh. If it was even possible for books to laugh that is kalle thought. 'you have a lot of questions aren't you but don't worry I'll try to answer them all' the stuttering in the voice is now gone. Kalle just realized how articulate the voice in his head is now yet a few moment ago it sounded unintelligible.

'For your first question I guess you could call me the source of all magic although I don't understand what do you mean by Pandora' victor asked.

"Pandora is said to be the the source of all magic although it's form is not known to anyone" kalle answered.

The voice remembered a myth he once heard about, a box owned by a woman named Pandora. It was given to her by the gods although they asked her to never open it. Pandora couldn't contain her curiosity and opened the box. When the box opened all the evils in the world was released.

How fitting, the voice thought.

The voice then explained the myth to kalle thinking it was the refference for the name.

"Wait don't you think it would be inaccurate to call the source of all magic to be the one to also release all the evils in the world?" Kalle asked finding it hard to believe.

'it is not' the voice said plainly

'Don't ponder to much about it. For you second question. That would be harder to answer but I'll explain it after you also answered my questions and for third' the voice paused as if remembering something.

' I was the previous wielder of this book; my name is victor, victor hope'.

Just below kalle's room Gabriel was sitting in a chair with a table, he looked at his tankard full of rum. He have been thinking all night and now he have finally decided. He was no longer drinking. He needed to do something. He stood and took a pen and a roll of parchment from a drawer in the taverns counter. When he finally collected the items, he returned to the chair and started writing.

When he was finally done he stood up and got out of the tavern. When he arrived outside he stood straight holding the rolled parchment and moved his hand towards his mouth in a gesture that seemed to whistle. After some wait a black owl came gliding down towards Gabriel, landing towards his shoulder. Gabriel carefully clipped the parchment of the feet of the owl and feed it some bread. Gabriel watched as the owl flew away, he head inside back the tavern.

He thought that he only did what was necessary.

And that he needed more of the rum.

In his room, Kalle spoke to Victor.

"Wait then how come that you are inside my head? No, how come you are inside the book?" Kalle said realizing that Victor's consciousness was seemed to be stuck in the book.

'that... I can't tell you. to be honest I'm not even sure my self' the voice said.

kalle felt grief in his words although he didn't knew why.

'you have asked your questions it's my turn now where is this town called cappella?' victor asked sounding curious.

"It is located in the duchy of alcor it's not really a famous duchy" kalle explained

'I have never even heard of that? Which continent are we in? How long have I been gone?'

Kalle was silent for a long time.

"Victor... To be honest I don't know" kalle voice was filled with sympathy.

'what do you mean you don't know?' victor said; kalle sensed Victor's confusion he spoke.

Kalle slowly opened his mouth letting the words slip out.

"I really don't know, but it has been a long time I think it would be atleast"

Kalle paused almost eating his words.

"a couple of millennia"