I began to feel uneasy, providing a secret that should only be known by a limited number of people so easily. That made me even more cautious.
Nothing comes easily. It's more of a give-and-take affair. I furrowed my brow as I asked, "What do you want from me? Providing this secret so easily — don't take me for a fool. So tell me, what exactly do you want from me?"
Darok smiled faintly before his face returned to indifference. He began to stroll around the shelves, checking out some books. With a calm and collected look, he gave a response.
"Do you know we were not always like this?" he paused, picking up a book and skimming it. "We were just like you — human. Having the same type of body you and your people have. But as generations passed, the curse of this realm began to take effect on us. This realm wasn't intended to hold living things, but here we are, living," he continued, closing the book and looking at me.
"I'm sure you're wondering, 'Why is he telling me this?' The reason is simple: to establish trust," he said.
"Trust?" I asked, puzzled.
"Yes, trust. We want you to trust us, as we want to trust you. But don't be fooled — there is a difference between placing trust in something and placing complete trust in something," he answered.
I understood what he meant. He wanted us to have surface trust, but underneath that surface was vigilance. We would both monitor each other's moves, making countermeasures for any uncertainty.
I didn't give any response, just waited for him to continue speaking. He finally picked a book titled The History of the Beginning. The book had a dark brown cover that was coated with dust. It pulsed faintly, like a beating heart. It felt like a living being.
Darok paused, staring at it for a few seconds, examining it before blowing the dust away. His eyes flickered back to me. Smiling weakly, he said, "This is the book that holds the truth of what you seek."
Suddenly, from behind me, a cry echoed.
"No, it can't be... it can't be."
Xyrus immediately fell to his knees, terror written on his face. "Darok, why would you?! You want to kill us!" he yelled. "If the book doesn't accept her, we will all die."
Xyrus continued yelling in the background as Darok moved closer, bringing the book near me.
"Put your hand on it, and the truth will be revealed."
I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of what he asked me to do. I stared at him again, wondering whether he was joking, but his serious, grim expression said otherwise.
I smiled sheepishly as my gaze returned to the book. As expected, it was different from any normal book. Up close, I could feel a wave of massive pressure assaulting everything near it.
Just this close made me bend slightly forward. I moved closer to the book with my hand hovering above it. After a few seconds of hesitation, I touched it.
Nothing moved. Everything froze still. And with a blinding flash of light, the whole surroundings changed.
Snow was everywhere. That was the first thing that caught my sight. I glanced at my hands and noticed they were different. Touching my face confirmed it. Instead of a clean, smooth face, it felt rough and dirty, with soot covering it.
It seems I have been teleported back in time to the origin, I thought, focusing on my surroundings.
Taking a closer look, I realized that what was falling wasn't snow but ash. Nearby, a volcano was erupting, its throat glowing dull red through the haze.
I bent down slightly, picking up the ash from the floor and bringing it to my nose. With a quick sniff and touch, I noticed there was more to this ash.
Any ordinary ash wouldn't smell like this, I thought, furrowing my brows. _It smells metallic. Burned iron and something sweet, like rot.
I lifted my head and averted my gaze toward a town to the east. The town was unlike any other I had seen.
It stood unaffected by the weather. That made me curious. For a town to be in perfect order without any form of damage or dent demanded caution.
"How is this possible?" I asked aloud.
With that in my mind, I moved in that direction, forcing my ached feet forward. It took a long time before I got there.
"Why does it hurt?" I muttered, glaring at my feet. Each step sent a dull throb up my shins, as if the ground itself resented me.
The trip to the town was uneventful, but as I drew nearer, I was hit with another surprise.
There was silence. Everywhere was dreadfully quiet. The whole thing was unnatural. I moved closer to survey the town, and I saw the true devastation.
The whole town was filled with the smell of dead bodies. Every street had countless people lying on the ground with pale faces. Just staring at them, I knew the answer...
"They are dead."
I felt a shiver down my spine. I couldn't comprehend how it was possible to kill this huge number of people without any spill of blood.
Unless...
"There are two possibilities I could think of. The first is, the air around here could be poisoned. And the second is the realm conqueror," I thought.
My gaze intensified as I considered the second option. The realm conqueror.
"Considering the abnormality, the possible answer could be the latter. But if this is the latter, that would be nerve-wracking," I analyzed, walking deeper into the town.
As I moved deeper, I saw different scenes. At one part of town where there was a large concentration of people, a husband, wife, and their kids had been crushed by an oncoming crude-looking vehicle whose driver had died, which in turn crashed into a large hall.
The collision led to a fire outbreak, burning several of the dead. All of this was caused indirectly by a single person. The victims didn't know they were about to die until it was too late.
"The only saving grace is that they died from him before this unfortunate accident occurred," I whispered.
I didn't know what to feel. Whether to be happy, sad, glad that I wasn't part of these people, or all of it at once. Maybe that's what makes us human.
I steeled my mind and made my way into a shop. My mind wandered as I looked at what to pick. Every product on each shelf was something I hadn't seen before, maybe because there were hundreds of thousands of years separating us.
"What are these?" I said aloud, with a hint of annoyance, until I finally settled on one.
"You shouldn't pick that," a voice said. Calm. Close. Too close.