Un-See III

Time passed quietly, and Silora fell asleep without realizing it, but since her sleep was light, she woke up at sunset.

She wiped her tearful eyes and glanced at the box beside her. She thought she should eat something downstairs and then return to her room for the night, but she changed her mind. She wouldn't delay it any longer. The time had come.

She approached the box nervously and placed it in front of her. She reread the words carved on its surface to renew her resolve. With a deep breath, she turned the small wooden piece that kept the box closed. She heard a faint clicking sound from inside the box and knew that the lock had indeed opened.

She held her breath and lifted the wooden lid. Selora expected the inside of the box to differ from its simple exterior, but she was wrong. The interior was very simple, with sharp wooden edges and a flat surface, only the color was slightly darker than the brown exterior.

There was only one thing inside the box. A book of dark purple color, almost black. The four corners of the book were adorned with silver metal pieces with intricate designs, each piece having a different pattern. There was nothing on the book's cover, no name, no drawing, not even a title. Perhaps this was due to the severe burn that disfigured the book's exterior.

She held it in her hands nervously and cautiously. She didn't relax her guard for a moment and never took her focus off it. The first thing she noticed was that the book was very heavy, but this was understandable given its density. She ran her finger across its seemingly leather purple cover, but was shocked to find it was wood. 'Purple wood?... Strange.' 'Maybe this explains the burn.'

She didn't allow herself to get lost in a whirlpool of questions and turned the book to see its back. But the strangeness of what she saw made her mind stop for a moment. Unlike the front side, this side had no decorative pieces on its edges and bore no resemblance to the front. The cover of this side was pure white, unblemished by any burn and without any kind of writing or drawings. Silora ran her finger across it, finding it to be just ordinary cardboard. 'Strange.'

She tried to ignore the oddity of this book, but she couldn't get past it. It seemed as if the book's maker had forgotten to add the details. 'Could this be my mother's doing?' She didn't allow this thought to linger, knowing her mother wouldn't do something like this. 'I also shouldn't judge a book by its cover.' What determines the value of a book in the end is its content.

So Silora opened the book and was shocked by another fact, another ridiculous and cursed fact. 'What is happening?' The book contained only one page, one gray page. Contrary to its weight, density, and exterior appearance, the book had only one page. It seemed as if the book was under construction, and the exterior was just for show. It made no sense and contradicted all logic.

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All her previous curiosity turned into fear, shock, and uncertainty. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. The only truth keeping her together was that this book was given to her by her mother, who wouldn't do anything to harm her. 'In the end, it turns out I'm not as ready as I thought.'

She took a deep breath and stopped discouraging herself. She already had one page of content to read. She tried to feel some curiosity, but she couldn't find it within herself. Nevertheless, she looked at the content of the gray page without any hope.

Chapter One: The Language of ***

To the self that ***

To the other that ***

To the world that watches

*** *** *** , *** is emotion, *** is language

Create your own words

That's all. That's what the single gray page contained in white words. 'Is this some kind of joke?' 'Why is the content incomplete?' 'And what is this supposed to mean?' Now it seemed like the book was indeed under construction.

Carved on the box, 'You might learn something.' 'What am I supposed to learn?' 'Is my mother playing a joke on me?' Silora pushed this strange thought out of her head and tried to calm her rising anger.

She threw the book aside and took a deep breath to calm herself. She reminded herself that this book had no importance to her mission, so there was no need to be angry about something like this. After calming down a bit, she felt tempted to open the book again, but she decided her mental state was more important.

Selora refocused her attention on the box, hoping to find something she might have overlooked. As soon as she made eye contact, she faintly saw a word carved on its inner surface, "UP". At the same moment, a feeling of pain attacked her head as if a nail was being hammered there. She held her head in her hands in a desperate attempt to control the pain, but to no avail. She felt all the veins in her head swell and move as if searching for an escape from this torment.

Seconds passed like hours, and the pain slowly faded. Selora remained in place, paralyzed by the fear and awe that accompanied this excruciating pain. 'So this is what i get for my expectations.' She fought back the tears that threatened to fall and carefully turned her gaze to the inside of the box, which was still as smooth as ever; there were no words she might have imagined.

What happened to her was a result of her own thoughts. She raised her expectations for the book, but ended up with great disappointment. This disappointment brought anger, and when a person gets angry, they lose control of themselves. 'And that's exactly what happened to me, unfortunately.'

But to stay on the safe side, she looked again at the inside of the box. And of course, there was nothing. She raised her head to inspect the ceiling of the room; except for the small cracks in the old wood, there was nothing. She didn't want to lie to herself, but she was disappointed. This was all she could handle, just a small anger, paralyzed her completely. Her disappointment in herself couldn't be described in words, but she knew the only thing she could do was improve. And that's something she planned to do.

She grabbed the book and put it back in the strange box, wrapped the box in the cloth from before, and placed it under the bed. She arranged everything she could around the room, and only after feeling satisfied, she left the room. She planned to have dinner, listen a bit to people's words in hopes of learning more, and then return to the room to conclude the night.