Bab 4: The Secret and the Books
After walking for about 10 minutes I finally saw the village. I only just now realized how far we actually had ran. Swirl must be one fast snail, I thought.
I then looked at where the village used to stand and saw now a pile of ash and clutter. Along with that...corpses. The smell was horrible, it smelled similar to the stench of the goo creature that chased us. I did my best to try and not look at the ground on my way back to where our house was. It was actually a blessing in disguise that they were so badly burned they were unrecognizable. If they were, our village was so small I would recognize them no matter who they we're.
I finally made it to where our little home was a few minutes into the village. Well what was left of our house. There was really nothing left besides our things burnt all in a clutter pile in areas where our rooms used to be.
I first went to where O's room used to be and opened one of his dresser drawers. I was surprised to find the things in the bottom left drawer all survived the fire.
I then grabbed the one thing he cared about which was a stuffed bunny. Em picked it out from the market for his second birthday. He's been inseparable from it ever since. He's going to be so excited, I thought. He always has been lucky.
Even with his one gift now, he can disappear whenever he wants. It is also like Embers, a rare gift in our village, but it is looked more highly upon then Embers.
I then continued to go through the drawer and grabbed a few of his clothes, and a pair of shoes for him. I continued to shove them in a bag I found along the way.
I then headed to Em's room and went through her drawers. There wasn't as much left as in Octavius's room but, her journal did seem to make it somehow. I guess her shoving it in a hole under her mattress kept it safe enough from the fire. Except for a few burn marks on the cover. Besides that, I found one outfit of hers. I will need to get a job somehow and get some new clothes for us. If that's even how life over the barrier works, I thought.
Then moving on to my room remains I was only looking for one thing, which was the necklace my mom gave me. It was a mixture of blue and green the color of my eyes in the shape of a caladrius. A white, strong, beautiful, bird my mother often said was my spirit animal. The bird is known in our village for going around and taking others illnesses, and then detoxifying itself if the illness. As the legend goes, It is even rumored the bird saved the king by taking his illness, making the king still indebted to the bird to this day. It was the only thing I had left of her. I had no hope of finding the sword my father gave me since I left it in the open. It was probably taken by one of the invaders. I soon found the place my closest used to be and dig through the rubble the find my wood floor. I then moved my hand around till I found the loose one and picked it up, reaching under it to pull out a tiny treasure box. I opened it to find my necklace, and quickly put it in the front pocket of my bag. I have only worn the necklace once on my 6th birthday when my mother gave it to me. She told me that when I was ready to accept myself, life, and death, to wear it and if I became my true self, I would know it was the right time. Not like I knew what that meant at six years old. And to be fair I guess I'm still confused now, so I still haven't worn it.
I then made my way to my mother and father's room, which got burned the worst. Even though almost everything was burned, my father loved secret places the most.
I first scaled the floor like I had but soon knew my father would think that was too easy. I looked at what little was left of the room for at least 10 minutes and still nothing. I was about to head back to the tree, when I noticed the tiny fireplace tucked in the back corner of the room. As far as I knew, my father built this house, just like he made the barrier. Another thing about my father was everything he did had a reason or purpose.
I then began to run my fingers down the once red now black bricks, while listening for any sudden sounds.
"Click"
I stopped at the top third brick to the right, third time's really a charm, I thought. And pressed down and held down for three seconds to then hear the sounds of gears and more clicking behind the fireplace. Then I stepped back to watch as the fireplace was actually a door.
It was a tiny space I had to crawl through, I'm not big, but I'm also not tiny, so crawling through was kinda a tight squeeze. When I got inside, it was massive. It had 4 walls each at least ten feet high, and all filled with books. It was way too big to belong in our house, so another one of my father's magical spaces no doubt. In the middle was a lounge chair and a table with objects on it. When I got closer I was so excited I almost started screaming, almost.
There were two cameras, one was a Polarcoid, and the other a banon digital camera. Cameras were well known in the village, but they were also very expensive. My father probably didn't want to draw attention so he kept them hidden. I put them both in my almost full bag, as I went to one of the four walls I pulled out some of the books and read aloud,
"Medical herbs, surgery, acupuncture, intro to medicine, meditation, therapy tactics for mental illnesses, rare treatment for cures."
And hundreds, no more like thousands more. I quickly went to the next wall to the right and started pulling those out.
"Battle tactics on land, battle tactics on water, wielding the sword, aiming and shooting the bow, Kim fu learning, karate leading, tae Kwon do learning, judo learning, riding a horse 101,102,103…" and so on. And once again so many more.
I once again went to the right to the third wall reading the topics of a few books.
"Mathematics, calculus, physics, chemistry, history from x y and z, baking, sewing, singing, dancing of all types, playing piano, playing drum, playing guitar, learning chess, learning fashion, and how to play sports."..... This wall was confusing. My best guess is these are all school related things to learn about.
I then rushed to the last wall, which I had no idea what it could be about.
"Magic casting, about powers, types of powers, feeding spirit beast?"..... what was on this wall?
I suddenly realized there was a whole lot I didn't know about our ancestors, which reminded me of the book back in the tree with Ember. Maybe I should have read it.
So there was a medical wall, a war wall, a school wall, and a magic wall? Feeling overwhelmed by the books I soon focused on something else.
By the war wall there was something I thought I would never see again: my father's bow and arrow. Although his sword couldn't be found, I didn't care. I had something left of him after all. Although the bow wasn't my usual weapon I had a feeling it was about to be. And I had a whole wall that could help me out with it too. Next to my fathers bow was a set of ninja stars. That's it I thought. That is Octavius's gift from mother and father.
Although my parents tried to keep me in the dark as much as possible about the family history and why we get "gifts" they still participated in one certain custom. In our village it is customary that when a child inquires two gifts, they will receive a special token of some kind. For me I was bestowed two gifts by the age of 6, the second reason other than my eyes the village didn't accept me. The normal age kids got there first was around 8, while they don't normally get the second till age 10. They were skeptical when I got the first one at the age of 2, but thought it was just luck. But when I turned 6 and got a second one they couldn't push it off as luck anymore. For Em, she got hers a little young too, but not like me. She obtained her talk to animals power at the age of five, but then got her second power at the age of 8. Obtaining her journal as her token, which never runs out of paper.
So this must be O's token. I wanted to laugh for some reason, this doesn't suit my Octavius at all.
This is where it hit me, now I will have to give this to him. He won't get the joy of his parents being proud of him and explaining to him why this is his token. Looking at the stars now, I had no idea who they would gift this to Octavius. Well I have a little while to figure it out, I thought while putting them in the bag.
O's five, and just recently attained his first gift. The truth was I had at least 1 year to figure it out, and 2-3 years at the most with how fast our family gets our gifts. I will make sure it's special just like it was for me and Em, I thought. I also found a shiny little box that I packed into the bag deciding I would mess with it later.
I then focused my attention back to the books. If there is one thing I do understand, it's why father didn't show this to me. With my gift and these books, there wouldn't be much I couldn't do.
But now it's survival of the fittest, and I have no idea what life is like beyond that barrier. It's no longer just the tiny village, it's me and my now shrunken family against the new world.
Alright, it's time to activate one of my powers, whether I want to or not.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone