Without hesitation, Boris lifted the glass display case and set it aside, carefully he withdrew the Path Tome.
The white leather was warm to the touch, and the jewel encrusted cover sparkled casting pinpoints of light on Boris’s face.
His pulse quickened.
“Eager little thing, aren’t you?
Yes, yes.” he muttered to himself.
He turned the tome over in his hands, anticipation building with every breath.
Then…
His smile faltered.
On the side of the tome was a small brass latch which secured the book shut.
“What?”
He turned it over again.
“…There’s a lock.”
Boris frowned.
His first instinct was to force it open, but he caught himself.
“Artifacts of this caliber won’t answer to brute force.”
recalculating his approach, Boris sent a thin trickle of animus to the tome
Animus flowed into the ancient cover.
Nothing happened.
“Hmmm, its non-responsive, let’s try an intent based wave.”
He withdrew the Animus.
Closing his eyes, Boris reached inward.
Past his Animus.
To the calm pool of Mental Energy resting within his mind.
He released a gentle wave of intent into the tome.
Within that wave he pictured the countless martial secrets hidden between its pages.
Then, unable to resist himself, he whispered,
“Open sesame.”
”Click.”
The tiny latch sprang open.
Boris blinked.
“I can’t believe that actually worked.”
Before he could open the cover, a warm, amused voice echoed through the silent library.
“Congratulations…whether you bought this tome or stole it, you now walk the path of thieves.”
Wide-eyed Boris looked around and scanned for the owner of the voice but found no one, loading his pipe Boris struck a wooden match and lit the tobacco, taking a few deep inhales before finally opening the tome.
His eyes landed on one word; he spoke it aloud; “Steal.” Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
Marla looked down into the mouth of the stone frog and stared at the black leather tome, the gold words on the cover seemed to suck her in.
“Bubonic Conjurer.”
Marla had never heard of such a path before, lifting the tome out of the frogs mouth she found that it was cool to the touch, but to her displeasure she found that the tome was locked with a latch on the side.
“Tck…
figures.”
She tucked the tome into her pack.
“I’ll make Honeybuns figure it out.”
Marla crossed the room and found a door near the back; she followed the path to an outside balcony and was greeted with a frozen world.
It was a city frozen in time.
Collapsed towers.
Canals of blue ice.
Gigantic statues buried to their waists.
Broken bridges suspended over empty streets.
Hundreds of balconies opposite hers.
No people.
No sound.
Just wind.
Then…
Movement.
A shadow disappeared into another building.
Was it Boris?
Or someone else?
With nerves of steel and a stiff upper lip Marla vaulted down into the unknown.
Marla stayed low and entered the derelict palace that she had seen someone duck into, traversing deeper into the palace Marla began to feel a threatening aura within.
“This aura, the fiend of the rift must be close.
I should wait for Boris to get here.”
But her gut told her to keep moving, so she did, and after a while the narrow passageway opened up into a large space, that looked to be an ancient amphitheater, there was a cloaked man standing before seven glowing seals, six of which had already been expunged.
The cloaked man held a large black and white eraser in his right hand and was about to begin erasing the last seal when Marla drew down on him, “FREEZE!
DONT MAKE A MOVE!”
The man froze just as ordered and began to slowly turn to face Marla; Just than Boris came running up!
“Sorry I’m late Pussy Cat, good work!”
Marla felt a rush of relief and the anxiety leave here body with Boris beside her again; “Thanks Honeybuns, it looks like this creep is trying to free the rift fiend on purpose.”
Boris gave the cloaked man an angry look; “Is this true?
Why would you want to do that?”
“Do you know what Tor is?” New chapters come out on g.com first.
The man said calmy.
“A settlement.” Marla answered.
“No.” said the hooded man.
Boris and Marla looked confused; “I assume this is a rhetorical question, just get on with it.” Boris answered snidely
“Tor is a wound.”
Boris and Marla exchanged glances.
The cloaked man pulled his hood back revealing a youthful and attractive face framed with long dark straight hair, he had green eyes and a tawny complexion.
“Our ancestors wandered.
They followed the Beast Veins.
They hunted.
They adapted.
They survived.
They migrated, never depleting the resources of the Vein.
But settlements…they poison the Vein.
They gain the rifts attention.
They spare the weak.
They defy the law of the jungle.
They capitalize the Vein for selfish gain.
They spread sickness and disease.
They make humans soft.
And that’s why cities and settlements are illegal.
Unable to hold his peace Boris spoke up; “Illegal!
Oh, that’s rich!
According to who?”
A coy smile dawned on the corners of the youths’ lips, “According to us.
I am Vaylen Dusk of the City Hunter Clan.
We use Rift Seeds to destroy all illegal cities and settlements on Beast vein.”
Marla could feel herself starting to tear up; “But there’s children in Tor!”
The look on Vaylens face grew cold; “No city has the right to exist on Beast Vein!”
He turned and with a rapid series of hand sweeps erased the last seal!
There was spatial ripple!
Vaylen charged an Item with animus and intent and threw it to the ground, A shadowy door opened up behind him, and he stepped through, the door closed and disappeared, and Vaylen was gone with it.
A deafening roar and stifling aura bombarded Boris and Marla as a massive translucent shadow began to manifest.