Mind Changed?

The following morning Lionel woke with his eyes still closed. He laid there thinking about what happened to him in the previous few days. The last week of his life was easily the worst time he had ever experienced. He thought of his mother and his eyes became moist.

As he lay there he felt a gentle rocking sensation, he saw from the back of his eyelids a warm light. Upon opening his eyes, he didn't recognize anything from when he'd fallen asleep. He saw what appeared to be a whitish wall in front of him. Confused he looked around, he realized he was in the back of Drindle's wagon. He had been on his back staring up at the waxed canvas when he first awoke.

Lionel looked towards the driver's seat and didn't see the codger anywhere. He moved to climb onto the driver's bench. He noted that the wagon was currently very high in the sky and flying over a very large lake. When Lionel went to sit on the bench he saw a note pinned to the seat. Lionel picked it up and read.

"Ank,

Will be back in a day or so. I need to take care of a few things before we set off in earnest. You sleep like a rock. I didn't want to interrupt your beauty sleep." as Lionel read that last sentence he could imagine Drindle giving a mischievous grin. Lionel flipped over the note looking for any other detail of where the old man went. He saw a few more sentences written.

"Food is in the chest behind seat. Don't touch my other things, don't want you 'Accidentally stealing' anything else from me. if your bored there's a few books in that chest you can read."

At those few words Lionel immediately felt embarrassed. He hadn't meant to steal anything from Drindle and it appeared the old man knew it as well. Even still, knowing that didn't ease Lionel's conscious; he felt indebted to the man. Lionel decided he wouldn't go through anything else of Drindle's.

Lionel kneeled on the bench as he leaned over the back rest to peer at the chest. The trunk was about 40 centimeters wide and almost double that deep. It was sitting by itself. Drindle had set the chest far away from any other item. It seemed he really meant for Lionel not to get into his other belongings.

Lionel's stomach began to rumble, so the boy climbed back into the cargo space to open the trunk. At the top of the chest was a book that Lionel became interested in immediately. The cover read "History of the Realms". Beneath that book was an even more intriguing book. Lionel couldn't make out the words on its cover. The cover was a dark red that was burnished from age. Written on the cover was some strange text that Lionel hadn't ever seen. Lionel opened the cover and looked at a couple of pages. He couldn't make anything out. There were strange diagrams on a few of the pages. Those diagrams were made of multi-sided shapes that were arranged around a central axis. Lionel couldn't make heads or tails of the diagrams. He set the red covered book off to the side to further inspect what was still in the chest.

There was one final book in the chest that was fairly small. There was no writing on the cover. When Lionel opened it and looked at the pages, he realized quickly that the strange symbols from the red book were there. Those symbols were followed by words and characters that he knew. It appeared to be a cypher or translation book. Lionel wondered why Drindle would have given him these books to read.

Lionel looked back in the trunk and saw a couple of fruits as well as a loaf of bread and some cheese wedges. He decided to eat the fruit along with some cheese. after getting the food Lionel looked back at the 3 books. He decided to go ahead and start reading the "History of the Realms" while eating.

Once Lionel opened the front cover he saw the same handwriting from the note Drindle left.

"The Realms are named because of the beings that reside in each. The Realm of Heaven houses creatures and beings who are clean and moral. the Realm of Daemons is named because the creatures are immoral and cunning. The Void Realm is named as such because it is Void of all life."

It seemed Drindle had to decided to answer Lionel's question about the Realms, albeit in a different manner. The small note scrawled on the inside of the cover made Lionel wonder if something happened. Just last night Drindle didn't want to divulge much information about the Realms; yet here he was today answering Lionel's question. Lionel pondered what could have changed for a few minutes before deciding he would just ask Drindle when he returned.

Lionel began to read the "History of the Realms"

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*

Lionel read for what felt like hours and even ate another simple meal from the food Drindle left for him. The wagon continued moving at a slow pace toward what Lionel thought would be the capital. Lionel sat in the cargo area until the sun started to set. He then moved to the driver's bench until it became too dark to read. Lionel decided to get one final meal as he reviewed what he had learned from hours reading.

The Realms were discovered more that 50,000 years ago by a man whose name no one knew for sure. He was referred to as Tsun. He was thought to have been a king or some such. Tsun identified that there were 4 total realms. He named them based off of the creatures that inhabited them. The Realm of Man, the Realm of Void, the Realm of Heaven, and the Realm of Daemons.

Originally each realm was protected by a barrier that didn't allow any non-native being to visit. Tsun found a way to trick the barriers into believing that he was a native of a different realm. He then visited each one, one at a time. When Tsun came back from each realm he detailed a ritual to allow mankind to bring those different beings into the human world. Those otherworldly beings were thus named Velthums. The Void had no such beings so no ritual was ever passed down.

Some years after detailing these methods Tsun disappeared. There was a huge conflict that followed the disappearance of Tsun. Mankind began summoning the otherworldly beings nonstop. The humans intended to use the Velthums as slaves. The otherworldly beings would be ruled by no one and rose up against mankind. Humans would have been wiped from existence, if not for a small group of warriors known as the Nephrem.

Through time the Nephrem were able to take back the Realm of Man. This group gathered and destroyed the knowledge to summon Velthums. They did this to ensure that catastrophe wouldn't happen again.

There was more that Lionel hadn't read yet, but it would have to wait until he had light. it was currently night and the stars and moon did not provide enough. Having finished his latest meal, Lionel sat on the driver's bench. He wondered where Drindle was. The note mentioned he would be gone for a day or more but Lionel still wondered what the old man was doing.

Lionel climbed into the cargo bay and laid down. He slowly drifted off to sleep. Suddenly he was awoken by a loud thump. The wagon shook wildly as Lionel sat up. There was a bright light on the driver's bench with a familiar crooked old man holding it. Lionel's eyes slowly focused on the man's face only to see it covered in blood.