Ancient Tome

~ 3rd person pov ~

" At last, the time has finally come. Fate has finally brought someone worthy of to me.."

From the centre of the lake, a tall, slightly voluptuous woman standing straight above the water, as if gravity didn't affect her at all. Her curves are covered with white flowing drapes, enticing those who are weak to beauty with a mere flick of it. Her pale skin and silvery long strands glistens by the light emanating from the lake, yet her eyes are devoid from any colours other than white. She hover closer towards the stunned human near the bank of the lake.

" D-Dude... I'm not imagining this, right?"

Satan, being speechless, only managed to give a little nod as a reply. He never saw things like this in his thousands of years living. He was puzzled at the fact that they had never discover this magical lake when the brothers had been in this realm longer than the human siblings have ever lived through, yet they always managed to uncover bizarre things around them.

M/n got into a fighting stance, quite shocked and slightly intimidated by the ghostlike creature. When the see-through lady was finally in front of him, he flinched when she lifted her hands, on guard for any attack she would launch. Seeing this, her movements halted for a bit, uttering words of assurance for the slightly agitated male.

" Be at ease, I will not bring any harm unless you give me a reason to."

" . . . "

Strucked by her words, M/n was caught off guard when she suddenly cups her hands on his face and in a split second, everything turns white. It was a weird feeling of warmth and coolness from her hands, quite contradictory yet both seems to bring comfort to the stunned human. He squeezed his eyes shut since the light was too blinding. At the time it finally became bearable, M/n tested the waters by blinking slowly, adjusting his eyesight to his surrounding. Once everything became clearer for him to see, the expression on the lady's face left an imprint on M/n's heart.

Disappointment..?

No...

Pity.

What made her to wear such an expression?

Just what did she do to him?

What did she see for her face to contorts such way?

" W-What happened..?"

The lady shook her head a little, retracting her hold on M/n's face gently, as if treating him like a fragile tea set. She then gaze deeply into those e/c coloured eyes, emanating warmth from her stare.

" Young human, you've done well up until now." As she form her words, she hold up one finger, gracefully pointing towards M/n's chest area. " But, there is something very dangerous inside you. It won't harm you, but if you're not careful, it will rob you of all of the things you hold dear."

M/n stunned. From the first sentence, she seemed as if she knows just what had been going on throughout his life. But what shocked him the most is the later part.

Does she know..?

" I-I... I don't.. understand what you're implying..." he replied, cautious of the mysterious lady that just suddenly emerged from the lake. His face contorts in uneasiness as he speak.

" M/n L/n."

Every movement of his body halted. Surprises by surprises, M/n couldn't process most of the things that are happening. But there is one thing he knows...

That lady... She's powerful.

If ever the need arises for him to fight her in the near future, he would lose. He knows he needed to tread carefully when engaging with her.

" W-What do y-you want?"

" To see if the person is completely worthy and won't lose themselves in the greed to obtain absolute power, We, The Guardian of The Tome, had agreed to see how the person who seeks the Tome, had lived his life. That way, we can judge wether they will be safe after receiving it."

" And what does all that have to do with me?! I don't even know about any Tome before you showed up!!" the human replied, feeling quite agitated from all the incomprehensible events that are taking place.

" You.. are a special case. Even if you don't seek for it, the Tome was attracted with your golden heart. Though it was rare for it to occur, the Tome can sometimes choose its owner. In those cases, someone like you would have to take in all there is to learn from it."

" And if I don't want to?"

" If you ever refuses, calamity would strike for a period of time depending how upset it was from being rejected."

M/n went silent. His heart was rebellious, feeling unfair that he had no say in this. He wanted to just refuse it, not wanting to deal with any of this.

But...

If he refuse, won't everyone else suffer too?

Won't their life be at stake too?

Won't it be unfair for them too just because of him being petty?

He just doesn't have a choice in this, does he?

Although feeling reluctant, M/n decided to just go with the flow for now. Really, fate is always pushing him around, not minding him as a human with feelings. All he wanted was for his feelings to be considered. Is that so hard to ask?

Seeing him accepting the Tome, the lady raised her hand, strings of light emerged from her palm and it move towards M/n's right hand. A surge of intense warmth prickled the skin on his affected hand, making him feel quite uncomfortable at first. Once the rays of light died down, M/n decided to check what happened to his hand. Slowly, a pattern started to portray itself on his skin. From the look of it, a pattern of green thorny vines spiral itself along his forearm and ended with red rose blooming gallantly on his palm.

Somehow, M/n felt like he knew the meaning behind that tattoo-like pattern.

" Life, huh?" he muttered to himself.

" I'm surprised you knew the meaning behind it. But given how you have lived your life, it's explainable."

" How do I access this Tome? Also, won't people be suspicious of this thing?"

" You need to picture the Tome appearing on your hand. And that pattern is only visible if you don't hide it. Just remember how your hand look before and it will be out of sight."

" Noted." the male human replied, watching the once coloured hand turns back to normal, or at least it is on other's eyes. " That's all, right?"

" Yes."

" Then, goodbye." M/n turned on his heels, planning to go back to the mansion.

" M/n. He's back. He'll protect you but it will be at the expense of others were you not careful."

The human male halted, flipping his head towards the direction the lady was, only to see that she had disappeared. Solemnly, he had his head down muttering to himself.

" I know..."

M/n was snapped out of his thoughts when his hand are suddenly grabbed by the blonde demon. Satan had a worried face on as he look at the human.

" M/n, are you okay?!"

" Huh? Uh, yeah. I'm fine."

Satan let out a heavy sigh, as if a heavy burden was lifted from his shoulder.

" Thank goodness! When the light blinded the area earlier, a barrier erupted between me and you. I panicked, trying to get you out of there but the magic was too strong even for me. I tried to hear what you guys were talking about but nothing was heard, as if you guys are silent movies. I'm glad you're not hurt."

" Yeah, it was nothing life-threatening." M/n replied. His tone felt like he was mocking something, yet it wasn't directed at the blonde haired male.

" What happened while you're in the barrier?"

" I'll tell you all about it when we're with Lucifer. Can we get some ice cream along the way?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ M/n's pov ~

" So that's what happened." I ended my story, slurping (fav/flavour) ice cream as I wait for them to react. I could practically see gears whirring inside the two demons' head as they process what basically happened at the lake.

' Seriously, ice cream really makes everything better. My sour mood is gone now.' I sighed dreamily, feeling much better after those frustrating stuff earlier. Just as I finished eating my ice cream, which helped me maintain my sanity, my stomach grumbled violently, indicating it needs heavier food.

" Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a diner to eat before I die of starvation. We can continue discuss this later."

I make my way out of the room as I head towards the kitchen. Along the way, my mind wanders to what the spirit lady said earlier.

" He's back."

" He'll protect you but it will be at the expense of others were you not careful."

' Should I tell MC just in case? At least if he suddenly appears, MC can keep an eye on him and he's fond of her. Yeah, I think I should. Just as a precaution. She'll know what to do.' I thought, making my way to grab some snacks from the kitchen since I don't feel like cooking and made my way to my shared room.