Yaflow Devim's Journal

"I'm no genius, so how about you explain the difference to me" Othella said with a slight smile.

"Arrogance is unfounded, whereas confidence is known, and I'd disagree with you again, I think you're quite a genius."

"Genius, how so?"

"A genius in disguise, in hiding your true emotions behind a mask. In fact, I'd say we're quite similar, shadowing our true intentions behind false smiles." Minos said, as the grin on his face suddenly disappeared.

Othella was caught off guard by Minos's sudden switch up. The smile on her face similarly disappeared, as she looked at Minos sharply. With Minos's emotion sensing, how could anyone hide their true feelings?

"I can sense your fear and anxiety, and I am telling you now, for the last time, I am not your enemy, in fact, I may be your only ally."

"Ally, why should I believe you?" Othella said.

"Because you have no one else." Minos said, the smile reappearing on his face.

Othella couldn't help but look down, her face being hidden away, but no matter how she tried to hide, Minos could see every single fluctuation as her heart and mind moved.

She suddenly looked up, smiling. "Good, then what do you need to know?"

"Yaflow Devim, did he leave anything behind, any books, or notes? I want you to give me anything you have relating to him."

"Okay." Othella said, no longer putting on any disguises.

With a call from Othella, the old butler quickly stood in front of the two. Othella told him about Minos's demands, and with a bow, he quickly got to work.

Minos sipped the tea Othella had poured for him as he waited patiently. It didn't take much time for the old butler to come back with a few books, trinkets, and other unique objects in his hands.

"Here you go sir." The butler said as he laid the items down very gently on the floor, making sure they weren't damaged.

Minos thanked the man before picking a book out from the pile. The book was old and yellowing, and the ink had already become blurry, but fortunately it was still readable.

The book was a journal of Yaflow Devim's daily life. Things he had seen, thoughts that had interested him, and all sorts of other ideas that came to his mind.

For the most part, there was nothing of value, but as Minos was reaching the end of the book, his rapid page turning suddenly came to a halt.

'1219 - August 12th - Monday. My dream last night was quite scary, the volcano on the island erupted, and thousands of people soon died, me being among them. I've never been the superstitious type, but for some reason, my heart feels cold…'

'I hope I'm just overthinking, hopefully this is another weak eruption, and nothing unexpected happens… Even then, I don't feel comfortable.'

'These dark thoughts of destruction have muddled my thoughts all morning. I've been trying to write as I normally do, but the image of death keeps coming to mind, and I can't concentrate.'

'I've also had no luck with my novels, none of them having built up any sort of traction. Maybe I should stop writing fantasy and go for something more real instead?'

'All my saints high above, I've met someone incredible today! I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about our meeting, but my heart is just pounding too hard, I have to let someone know!'

'Telling my journal wouldn't count right? As long as no one reads it, then I'm sure it's fine. Since that's the case, the person I met was the Nine Sword Divinity!'

'He didn't tell me his real name, but his title alone is enough to send chills down anyone's spine. Thankfully, he was quite good natured, or else meeting him may have been more of a curse than a blessing.'

'He seemed to be a little sick when we met, his face was pale, and beads of sweat gathered on his forehead.'

'Being the gentleman I am, I offered to let him stay in my small home until he recovered, and with heaven's blessing, he actually accepted.'

'While he was there, I couldn't maintain my boiling curiosity, and started to ask him all sorts of questions, fortunately he was nice about it, and answered most without any problems.'

'As I was asking him my curiosities, a light suddenly went off in my head, what if I wrote a biography of the man! I have him right here, and I can ask questions first hands. The heavens have blessed me!'

Minos paused as he read that final excerpt, slightly shocked by the truth he had just been hit with. If what Yaflow was saying was true, it meant his biography was actually closest to the truth.

Yaflow was quite unknown in his time, so naturally when he wrote his book, most people thought his sources were weak and unfounded, hence his book was always considered amongst the weaker ones when it came to tellings of the Nine Sword Divinity's life.

Yaflow must have been annoyed by this fact, but since he vowed to the Nine Sword Divinity he wouldn't tell anyone about their meeting, he could only watch in anger as no one took his book seriously.

The suffocation of having the truth in your heart and not being able to tell the world must have been too much for Yaflow, since he seemed to die not long after releasing his book.

With his passing, his book was naturally shelved completely, and while it got more success in later years, it was always taken more for fiction than fact.

Minos slumped back in his seat, as his four split souls each began thinking about the biography. With this revelation, looking back on the book gave him a completely different understanding of things.

The book seemed to come to life in Minos's mind, as he used his photographic memory to run through each page, each of his split souls starting from different points in the book.

It didn't take long for Minos to quickly refresh his memories, and his four split souls seemed to all gather towards one page in specific.

'The Nine Sword Divinity visit to Volcamie Island was short, but impactful. It's said he left a treasure, but rather than leaving a map to its location, he left a riddle.'

'Betrayed and broken, a volcano waiting for eruption. Destruction to rebirth, onto sandy shores, and deep into tropical jungles. Treasures, through certain measures, as light as feathers.'

'The validity of such a riddle is hard to confirm, however it seems to be the only real clue towards the Nine Sword Divinity's illusive treasures!'

Minos shut his eyes as he ran over the riddle repeatedly. It didn't seem to say much, and even with Minos's incredible intelligence, he was left confused.

One can imagine the people of the past, who weren't even certain the riddle was real. It was likely they got frustrated and quickly gave up trying to figure it out, instead trying to find the treasure through other means.

Of course, till this day, no treasure was ever discovered, which meant their other attempts all ended in failure. Everything seemed to come back to the riddle.

'If taken in a literal sense, it meant the treasures were as light as feathers, in that case, were they in the sky?'

As Minos was thinking, Othella's voice suddenly brought him back to reality. He opened his shut eyes as he looked towards her, wondering what she had to say.

"What are you thinking about, maybe I can help you." Othella said.

"Just this riddle. Tell me, what do you think it's trying to say?" Minos said as he told Othella the riddle.

"Hmm, treasures as light as feathers? It seems the Nine Sword Divinity is trying to say his treasure is in the sky?"

"We both came to the same conclusion, which seems to prove that it's wrong. With such an obvious answer, the treasure should have long since been discovered."

"Maybe the riddle is fake?" Othella said.

Had Minos not been shown another perspective, he likely would have quickly come to the same answer as Othella, thinking the riddle was merely a lie created by someone to muddle the water.

While it's still possible the riddle was fake, something made up by Yaflow to spice up his own book, Minos decided to look at it as if it was 100% real.

Only with such a resolve, could he possibly find an answer. His four split souls got to work as they each pondered the riddle in different directions.

But again, even as his brain operated at a thousand miles a minute, he came to nothing. For Minos who was used to getting things right on the first try, this sense of defeat was a foreign feeling.

Despite not being used to the feeling, it did nothing to stop him. The sun slowly set as Minos sat with his eyes shut, his forehead beading with sweats as his thoughts constantly ran.

Othella had long since gotten tired, and left Minos alone in the room. Dusk was setting in, and the long cry of a watergull woke Minos up from his trance.

The watergulls caw was like a fuse, setting of the dynamite that had long since been piling up in Minos's mind.

With a sudden explosion, his mind seemed to empty. He suddenly realized that he might have been looking in the wrong direction from the start.

The feather in riddle might be referring to a bird, but the watergulls themselves don't seem to meet the criteria.

As Minos thought further, a light went off in his mind. He pulled out the bestiary he had bought a while ago, and quickly flipped through it, finding the bird section.

He soon found the watergulls, but again, they didn't seem to be right. He kept flipping until a new bird appeared, one called a firegull.

The firegull was naturally a relative of the watergull, however it preferred fire over water, finding their homes on tropical islands, rarely venturing into the sea to avoid the cold drafts.