Book of mysteries Part 1

Time: Afternoon Location: The old storyteller's yard

The kids made half a circle around the old man's door, behind them -as usual- the loner of the group sat waiting for the old man to get out and recite a new tale about a new creature, place or even better magic.

Scared by the fact that people might find him irregular, Ruby spent the last four days at his home waiting for his bruises to fully recover. Through that period of time, his only activities were staying at home and receiving porridges from Carolina at the door.

"It seems the old man won't tell a story today too" a random kid said with enough volume for Ruby to hear.

"Again! It's been four days already."

(Four days without coming out?) Ruby wondered. Yes, it was something surprising. Ruby sat on this spot for almost 3 years and during them, the old man had never been absent. Telling stories seemed to be one of his joys.

"Yep, my mother heard from the village's doctor that the old man had reached his limits..." the kids continued their conversation.

"But he is only 113 years old"

"Didn't the old man himself said only highly talented people can reach the 200 years journey."

"But still... I don't want him to leave us.."

"...."

The conversation ended abruptly and Ruby's attention returned to nothing. Ruby wasn't that much surprised, in the past three years he noticed the old man physique weakening, in fact, the old man began using a stick only last year.

After a few minutes, a blond kid sat beside Ruby. Ruby's pupils turned toward him then returned to look at the old man's home door.

"What will happen now? will the old man come out today?" The blond boy asked as he looked at Ruby. However, Ruby Answered with nothing.

"Hey, are you dumb?"

Still, Ruby only gazed at the door and said nothing...

"For real man tell me so I can decide whether to stay or leave" the blond kid said, both of his eyelids flexed upward and his hands gripping the ground.

Ruby looked at the blonde's face. It was obvious how pissed the blonde was.

Ruby shrugged his shoulders.

The blonde's face relaxed and apologized "Sorry it seems that you really can't talk." then waited for the old man to get out, Ruby did the same as he looked at the door.

A few minutes later, the kids heard a door squeaks as the old man got out of his home. both of his eyes swollen red and his body stick-thin. The kids stayed silent, most of them didn't know what to say, and the ones who knew chose not to talk.

The old man sat on his chair and left his stick leaned on the wall, looked at the kids around him. The old man was not surprised that the number of kids was less than the last tale he told. The absent kids should have thought that he wouldn't come out and then stayed at home.

The old man moved his lips wanting to greet, however, he coughed a few times before the words came out.

"How were you in the last four days?"

"Bored" replied the kids with a united voice.

The old man lips curled upward as he said a faint "I see" then included

"I wanted to tell you a tale about the animals who are able to talk." then stopped, looked at the face of each kid, and continued "However, what is important comes first."

The old man's acts conducted a line of doubts into the kids' hearts. But, he didn't give that much thought and entered the topic " Few days from now, you will start going to school, which is good and fun. But still, there are things that school does not teach and I want to talk about some of them." every two years, the kids who were 9 and 10 went to the village's school and learned their attribute as well as how to use it properly. "But that will never benefit you so much, " said the old man then added "There is a blueprint to be successful as a magician. Most of us commoners are treated badly because simply, most of the time we are born with only one attribute. I was born with the wind attribute. Now if you didn't know what an attribute is don't flatter because you will learn in school."

As the old man explained, the kids in front of Ruby discussed their attributes. One said that his parents had the same attribute so he should have the same fire one while the other said that he should have two because his mother and dad had different attributes, then giggled as he muttered: "Just kidding a bless is not that easy to come".

Inspired by their conversation, Ruby had doubts storming his mind... Ruby knew about the four basic attributes - Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water - however, storming his mind another time, he had never seen his mother using one of them. He also didn't think that the knife he embodied within his mind was by using one of these attributes. He looked at his hand and decided to storm his mind later regarding his attribute.

"However," the old man said, " even though most of the time we commoners only have one attribute, many of the greatest adventurers are commoners. Not only that, did you know that Kandler Harington who was recorded as the 13th strongest man in this age is a commoner of one fire attribute." Listening to the old man, almost all the kids couldn't control their tiny mouths from gaping...

13!

Did not that mean only 12 people were stronger than him?! How could that be possible with one attribute?

"Are you surprised?" the old man asked, and the kids didn't answer. He could easily see that their eyes dived deep into unachievable dreams. But, that was good. The old man believed that in order to be big you need to dream big.

The old man added "Then how about telling you that rank 2 is also a commoner. Her name is Rita Beverly a free-mana manipulator, she and Kandler were born in a nearby village, both of them were commoners. However, they dreamt big, worked big and achieved big." As the kids listened, the developed faith in being the heroes they really wanted. However, Ruby's mind was concerned elsewhere. And it seemed the blonde had the same concern, "But what is a Free-mana" the blone asked

"Free-mana is a rare attribute that lets its holder to be able to freely embodies what is in his head into existence... Yet, not as solid and strong as the real thing, that is why it's so hard to master and requires an exceptional perception talent and exceptionally huge mana storage. It's a blessing to not have that attribute, you will learn about it in school."

(So it was like this...) with no change in his expressions, Ruby thought.

"Now that was not what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to tell you, is how to reach that stage." as he said The old man lit a fire within the children eyes.

"School takes two years, and then you get a lot of choices. To work into hunting low-level animals and sell their skins, some study magic. Some even at the age of 15 after becoming good fighters they go to the middle continent and work as adventurers which is the best choice to reach higher stages. Adventurers tend to find the greatest skills, lands, and animals to boost their cultivation. Some skills are rare, some even are legendary while the normal will not benefit you that much. Looking for them is the fastest way to achieve higher stages as well as the most dangerous."

Some kids wondered what skills were, some translated their wonders into sound, and the old man heard it clearly.

"Skills are scrolls or information in which a person can consume and apply into their body. A person also can create his own skills, however, that requires a lot of perception and intelligence. So the first choice is the better. That being said, not every skill is applicable. Some skills kill their consumer instantly, some can be consumed but can only be applied to certain bodies. And worst case scenario, there are skills that can be consumed and applied yet when you try and train them you would never do them correctly because you lack the talent."

The old man explained with brief details. But, wonders were still drawn in the eyes of kids, one of them stood and asked: "We meant how does a skill look like in action."

(I see) thought the old man as he replied "one of you asked me a few days ago if hybrids were able to fly or not. There are beasts who are genetically able to fly, all demons are able to fly, while humans need to reach a certain stage so they can be able to apply the flying skills. So flying for humans is a skill, there are movements skills, weapons skills, and skills for each attribute."

And the old man continued. Told the kids what they needed, if they needed a medicine to enhance their cultivation, they could find it within the Pract sect stores. If they needed people to hunt with, then the adventurer guilds would most likely be their place. He also told them not to insult a religion or a cult, because 9 times out of 10 the cult members will try to assassinate you. Also, told the kids to participate in whatever competition they see, the reason was that most of the competitions would give skills as rewards.

" When you know you attributes spend the time thinking of what best suit you. Some are best with defense some with the offense, there are people who are good with weapons so you might have a talent that you weren't aware of... My advice is to try everything. Then decide on what to focus most of your time on."

The old man noted the kids of everything he knew. Told them everything that might benefit them in the future, and told them to read books about what animals and plants were bad and dangerous because adventurers and dangers were the closest friends.

However, when the sun was about to set his shoulders went down and his eyes as well. He asked the kids "do anyone of you know Seraf? a boy who was obsessed with ponytails."

The kids said nothing, some of them even clutched their fists because they knew that the old man was going senile while they had nothing to offer him.

"How about a mary, a girl with brown hair and eyes."

The kids still said gave no words...

"Then I have a question, how many married couples in our village who are so old yet have no kids?"

Then the kids start chitchatting "isn't that normal."

"yes most of the people here are poor, they wouldn't be able to pay for a new family member."

"The old man is really going senile."

The old man eyes widened. Then never mentioned the topic, he stood, took his stick and entered his home leaving the kids alone.

After They had complained about the old man acts, the kids stood and returned to their houses. While Ruby was about to take his leave as well, the blonde said "What do you think? It's really strange for a village of more than 300 families to have only about 30 kids. There is a lot of new married couple here. Most people here marry at the age of 18... Yet, only 30 kids? That's strange."

Ruby, listened to each word the blonde said, shrugged his shoulders then left the place.

During the way, Ruby thought about the blonde sentence... Yes, it was strange.

Here people didn't think that much about how they would offer money for their children because most of the necessities were self-handled and buying food was not a necessity. He didn't remember how his mother was able to bring him food, but he remembered that cutting the firewood was on him.

When Ruby reached his yard, Carolina had already been sitting on the ground. As she stood her hair elevated off the ground.

"Don't worry. I didn't wait long."

She answered a question wasn't even in his mind.

As always between her hands was a bowl of porridge. However, she didn't extend her hands, she just stared at his eyes "Aren't your eyelids getting darker."

Ruby shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, I see..." said as she lowered her head -for seconds though- then out of sudden she widened her eyes and looked at him "how was your day? You haven't left your house for 4 days right?"

She tried so hard to make him talk. Maybe if he said something and she wouldn't laugh, he then might consider her a friend... If that were to happen a bit of her regret might get lighter.

However, Ruby replied with nothing... Her plan failed again.

She put the bowl on the ground, then bowed...

"I'm sorry, I will never laugh again... So please talk."

(What?) Ruby wondered.

"From the day we laughed at you, you have never said a thing." said Carolina while still bowed.

Ruby scratched his head while thinking about her sentence. He thought that he had never seen Carolina before, his childhood was a series of days of only his mother and the old man's tales.

After waiting for a whole minute, Carolina lifted her head. Ruby was still in front of her, both of his eyes still half opened and nothing showed on his face.

"I see, so I'm not forgiven... That's okay... Totally okay." Her eyes sparkled with tears as she said, he didn't forgive her that what she thought. She ran out of the yard returning to her home...

Ruby looked at her entering her house, then took the porridge and entered his.

After one hour he sat on the sofa and pondered her words. If her words were true then there was a day when Ruby tried to play with her but was denied.

He stormed his head looking for such occasion, and surprisingly he found one.

A blurred picture was drawn within his head, it was in his neighborhood, and he was stunned by that laughter...

Ruby's eyes widened as the picture cleared up. Sweats broke on his forehead!

What was in his head was a picture of multiple kids...

Kids that he had never seen in his life!!!

Ruby stood.

(What is going here!)

He stormed his mind another time, however, he only got headaches in return...

But now he knew... (The old man wasn't lying.)

There was a lot of kids, and all of the people forgot about them... except for the old man...

(Why?!)

Something was wrong with the village, and the only one who noticed that was the old man... The simplest solution was one of two. Either the old man was foreign to the village or he did something that let him remember...

Something within Ruby flared up... He didn't know what it was, it was a combination of nausea, predictions, and energy. His whole body gushed with energy, He felt so lively. He felt like going to the old man and ask him about what he did...

He was curious...

Just like a little kid, curiosity flared up inside his mind... However, Ruby was a smart kid. During such times, it was best to leave such works to adults and stay at home...

He went to the bedroom and lied on the bed... closed his eyes.

One hour later, He opened them... It was no use... He really wanted to go see the old man. He would try to pronounce all the words he needed. If the old man had a paper and a pen that would be better, he would write everything down.

He left the room, left the house. The weather was cold but with no breezes. He ran toward the village center then to the other border of the village where the old man house was located.

However, before he reached the end of the road that led to the old man neighborhood, he hid behind a tree at the corner of the road...

(Someone is there)

Yes, a bald man was at the door of the old man. He knocked the old man's door and when the door was opened a decent light existed, it was easy for Ruby to see the baldy's face.

The baldy's lips moved and then he entered the house, the old man closed the door and the decent light vanished.

(Shall I wait?) Ruby wondered...

But what if someone found him? After all, Ruby knew that there was something wrong with the village, staying by himself at the end of the night, not just that but behind a tree, really?

Wouldn't that be suspicious?

Ruby chose to return.

In the end, he just lied on his bed thinking... A lot of thoughts crossed his mind, but one thought was special (Where are the lost kids now?)

Ruby ended up sleeping late...

*******

Next day,

After his home door had been knocked at least hundred times, Ruby opened his eyes, rushed out of his room and opened the door. Outside, Carolina's eyes were swollen Red as she said: "The old storyteller Mathias died."

Ruby Pupils shrank, he left his home, raced the breeze into the old man's neighborhood. There he found the children cry, and the whines covered the whole neighborhood... as for the old man...

"He had already been buried in village's cemetery in the forest." The blonde voice came from behind.

Ruby turned to him and saw his tears flowing out "I witnessed his burial with my own eyes, he was the old man." his voice was of a man who tried his best to hide his sadness, his voice tried so hard to give a coherent sentence, but his whines nailed throughout each sentence he had said.

Ruby, looked the old man's home again... heard the whines from everywhere... An old lady came to one kid, hold him from the hand while a tissued covered her eyes... That scene Pulled all hopes from Ruby...

(He died for real...) He thought and walked back home.

When the night took place, Ruby lied on his bed... Both of his eyes slightly open and his mind storming with thoughts...

(The baldy for sure...) He was certain, that the old man was killed by the baldy... And no one knew that beside him.

Earlier, when Carolina brought him porridge she said the reason behind the old man's death. The doctor went to the old man's home to check on him and saw him lying dead on his bed, with no bruises nor any sign of rope...

He died of senility.

(Impossible.) He thought.

(The baldy killed him)... He was sure of that, but even if he told people... Even if he squeezed his knotted tongue to tell the people who killed the old man... No one would believe him, because simply there was no blood.

If he rushed he would get himself killed... Just like the old man.

Ruby rushed nothing... "You are the smartest child I've ever seen" he remembered his mother's words...

He closed his eyes... And deeply thought.

Why was he killed?

(Because he told the people about the kids.)

Why was he killed just because he told the people?

(Because the people might know about their lost children.)

And What if the knew?

(...) He didn't know... Because a person who was able to make everyone forget, who was able to kidnap most of the village children... Would easily kill all of them. It wasn't like there were cops anywhere... Cops were only in the middle continent, here people could die without anyone noticing...

This place was just a village in the middle of a forest, no more than that.

Then Ruby opened his eyes... It was just a possibility, a little possibility... A tiny piece of purpose...

Why he let every one live?

(Because he still needs them...)

Then... Then

What if he got what he needed?

(He will kill us.)

Ruby, left the bedroom... The situation became dangerous... He needed to remember unless he wanted to die.

And the only one who was able to remember was the old man... And the secret for that might be in his home.

Ruby waited three days to make sure that everything returned to its regular order... Then in the fourth night he left his home, went to the old man house, the old man back window was half broken so it was easy to open it... And when he entered the house, he first looked in the kitchen, then the living room then he looked in the bedroom.

Under the bed, on the bedside tables, nothing was there. Then he noticed a big table that had a mirror and 3 drawers. It looked like a working desk. Ruby first touched the table then opened the drawers one by one... There were only clothes and grooming tools.

Ruby decided to leave the room... However, when he touched the door's grip he stopped.

Returned to the drawers and took them off one by one.

Down in the table base, he found lost hair, extremely old underwear and many lost grooming tools. However, he sensed with his hand something orb-like, he enclosed it to his eyes...

(It's a pill.)

However, a bit different... If he wasn't wrong, the pill color wasn't white... It was green. A pill he had never seen in his life.

He put the pill in his pocket, returned the drawers to their place. Then exited from the window and went back home...

later in the night he swallowed the pill and slept...

Then when he woke up... He remembered everything.

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Chapter 3 ends

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