บท 2: The Black Book
"Wow, what a scary text to read in the morning," I said to myself.
This is a book I obtained from the library yesterday after having promised the librarian to bring it back to her within the week, it was hard to get it due to my financial difficulties.
My name is Basara, I don't have the last name and didn't even need one, the only thing I know that this very name of mine is one I chose myself.
My story is simple, one that is shared amongst many others of my generation, I am an orphan.
I was taken in by a group of people when I was two years old. They took care of me, placed me in an orphanage and I was doing quite well for once. The sister that was taking care of us was gentle and pure hearted, she did her best to help us, to teach us, and make us feel less ashamed about being an orphan.
Ashamed you might say why would one feel so?
That is simple, within this place, those that do not come from a noble house, or the commoners are looked down upon, now what would one that has not even the status of a commoner have for a treatment? Simple; utter and complete destitution and discrimination. We, the orphans have it worse than the bastards, we are of no known origin, and our rights, that is if we have any are overlooked.
That happy life ended when I turned 12. I was kicked out, not by the sister as she had passed away, but by the manager of the orphanage, the government refuses to pay for those that passed this age, and I was one that did was deemed no longer worth the effort. So I walked out of the place and decided to take my life in my own hand.
I have been living alone for almost two years now, it was not that easy, at first I suffered a bit, then went on to steal for a living, honestly though it was an easy way to get a piece of bread, once you are caught… regret is all there is to it, as the beating, whipping will make anyone rethink about taking that route in life.
I then decided to go with the honest way and work for my living.
Today is my birthday, my fourteenth year, this is considered the coming of age for many here, the Nobels celebrate this day with their children, throwing extravagant parties.
Why is this day so special one might say, it is because this is the day that their children and the ones that came of age first show the signs of magic aptitude?
In all my life, I never expected anything to happen to me, never believed that my dumb luck would get me anywhere in life, I worked as a sweeper within the city, sweeping dust and dirt for the past two years and getting enough money to pay for my living expenses.
Two bronze coins for a day's work. It is enough to get a decent stew. And some bread, two meals a day was more than enough for me, and I needed to work hard every day to keep on living, getting sick is not a question, because falling ill is the equivalent of starving. So I had to work hard day in and day out.
Until this day, today should be the day I know of my ability, to know if I will be able to wield magic or the sword, to have a goal in my life, and hopefully be sponsored by a noble's house, then I might probably have a better chance at life.
If I end up with a rare magic, multiple houses might want me in their home, then I will have the luxury of choice and change this life of sweeping to that of seeking knowledge and hopefully indulging myself… I suffered for 14 years, I truly could use a break.
"Hey Gunther," I said to the guard
"Basara, Early as always, hey where are you going, you know the rules"
"Yes, Yes," I said as I got my hand on the floating red orb.
"See, nothing, now tell me why do I have to do this every time? I mean I have been going through this gate for almost two years, do you really think I might be corrupted?"
"Well I know a kind hearted person like you can not be one of 'them' but still no one gets to pass without doing this check."
"Kind hearted eh…what do you want from me today, and stop sugar coating your words, you suck at it"
"Well… you caught me, well I need you to do an errand for me, once you finish your job could you pick up some Wolfsbane from the alchemist and take it to my wife, my little son has a strong fever and most guys here are stuck with me until midnight, you know, today is the Ling house's eldest daughter's coming of age ceremony, now that I think of it, you told me that you will turn 14 today right? You must be lucky to have the same date of birth as the daughter of the richest and strongest house in our city"
"Luck my ass, this just means that I will be doing double the work because of the parades and people walking and throwing all kind of garbage all over the place. Well am off to work, I will try to get your task done by the evening, I wouldn't want to see little Josefer sick"
"Thank you lad, have a nice day," said the guard as I walked inside the city
The city of Ariendel, named after a strong mage of flame. It was positioned in a field with a river passing right through it, the buildings and roads were made of stone and cement. It looked elegant and was reserved for those of high bringing, there were multiple commoner houses on the external circle, while the inside was reserved for the nobles. This city hosted no royal supervision, but its owner was Yo Ling, the lord of the city, an appointed duke by the king himself, and is the one who's daughter will be having her coming of age ceremony today.
The flags and the house's emblem were all over the place as people began working on preparing for the parade. As for me, I began sweeping the roads making them cleaner, I knew for a fact that tomorrow this nice scenery will turn into a nightmare of trash, bottles of liquor, and whatnot will be thrown everywhere.
A few hours later, the party began, I then took the time to get the wolfsbane to Gunther's house and was rewarded with a warm meal. I thanked his wife and went back to the streets, though I missed the parade I was still able to see the fireworks of flame from afar made by the Lin house's mages. It was still nice, now I had to go back and clean after them otherwise I might get yelled at by the 'agency' that is hiring me.
Well, the man's life goal seems to be yelling at me and beating me up sometimes. The bastard's wife is always doing so to him, and I think that as a way to release the pent up stress he discharges it at me… and I do the same to the dirt and garbage I find, it's a give and takes circle where everyone ends up being beaten except for the manager's wife, she is the only one doing the beating without any drawbacks…
My day ended eventlessly, and I like it to be that way, now walking back home I had to wait until midnight before the symptoms of magic release would start.
In rare cases these symptoms can cause a person to lose their lives, I just hope that mine is not that severe, the stronger the magic the more severe the drawback as the body begins channeling the energy for the first time through the unused veins.
I know much about this stuff because I read about it, because I need it, it is my ticket out of this mess, otherwise, if tonight ends up with a failure I might have to rely on sweeping the streets for the rest of my life…
I wonder if they could take in one such as me in the army, I heard they give decent meals there…
Stop with the negative thoughts, it will lead nowhere, stay positive, today will be the day you become a legend! Today I will get the best and rarest magic ability and will be taken in a great noble house….today will be the day I am freed.
Inside my shack, which by the way I built myself. A small shack barely able to hold the wind and night's cold, and is leaking everywhere once it rains, I rested and waited for midnight.
I was waiting for the symptoms to appear, normally it should be something like feeling hot or cold depending on the element, or even feeling heavy or light if it is the wind or earth oriented, but so far nothing… midnight is about to come while I remained unchanged and feeling nothing of any of the known symptoms…
The closer the timer gets to the midnight hour the more doubts I get…
I heard loud explosions once again in the horizon as I went outside to see what it was.
Looking at the city I saw hundreds of fireworks exploding everywhere… it seems that the daughter of the Lin house has come of age and now is able to wield powerful magic, depending on the power of one's magic the city launches a number of fireworks… looking at the exorbitant number… I am honestly feeling scared as for how one could be that strong...
As for I, midnight's hour had passed while I got nothing…
I must be a mana-less… if my luck as an orphan hadn't been that shitty, it just got worse…
Feeling disappointed and sad that my tears began to well up, however, I refused to let them go, there is no need for me to cry. This is my fate.
I began to feel light headed, probably from the sadness of my unfortunate destiny, but I didn't bother…I wanted inside the house and tried to get to my bed but I fell down before I could even reach it as the world turned dark.
It took some time for me to wake up but once I did it was morning and my whole body was shivering, I was sweating and had a cold sensation all over me, it was not the coldness of the weather, it was something else…something more primal more…terrifying.
Looking around I saw something different within my house, something new.
A black leather book, it looked old, something that was not taken care of, or just the passage of time made it look like that.
I tried to grab the book but on its own, it rose and opened itself, hundreds of blank pages turned all the way to the first page where nothing but a single sentence was written.
Give blood to seek knowledge…
"give blood?" I said fully ignoring the still hovering book.
Looking at my palm I cut through it with a small blade I always carried on me, in case I was mugged, though I never was a worthy target.
I made a small cut on my hand then squeezed my right hand into the open book's page.
A droplet of blood sunk in the page and was sucked in, without smearing it or making a mess.
A new text was soon written, this one, however, was unreadable.
I looked at it, tried to figure it out but without a prior notice, my head wanted to split in two from pain.
The book then fell on the ground and the pain was no more
"what the fuck was that?"
Something then felt strange, the sounds, the pictures, everything turned clearer everything became more…defined, I was able to see a fly moving in slow motion, its wings slowly flapping, then everything returned to normal. While I felt dizzy.
I opened the book again and this time I was able to read the scribbles on it
Focus, for one to hold such a book one needs to focus, for one to hold such power one needs to be in balance, for one to seek more knowledge, one must give blood…
"It's a Grimoire!!"
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