CHAPTER 21: THE CRACKED BOTTLE(1)

'THE WORLD AS THE GODDESS WANT US TO SEE IT IS BULLSHIT!'

On the very first page of the black book the old man gave me, the author announces something rather particular. And the second page is no better.

'Angas represents the connexion of all lifeforms to the universe. Therefore, why would humans need to connect to it through the goddess, who will be an intermediate? That would only reduce the amount of energy that could be exploited and therefore make us weaker. The purpose of this book will be to demonstrate through simple and concrete examples that the goddess blessing is inadequate and unnecessary for us to fight the LONGINUS.'

I am only on the second page, and there is already something I understand: READING THIS BOOK MEANS TROUBLE. I look at the old man, all puzzled about the book, and he simply smiles. You think this is funny?

"I see you give up too. Don't worry, even me, as a scholar, don't understand anything written inside. Maybe it is written in Ioll's language." Hmm... we are surprised for different reasons, it seems.

"Old man, what is this book?"

"Well, I don't really know. Some say it is a forbidden book since the church decided to put a black cover on it. Others say a very high member of the church wrote it or even a hero. There are a lot of versions. But, one thing is certain: it was expensive. If only I knew I couldn't read it, I would have never bought it."

So the old man cannot read this book. But why can I then?

"Old man, you spoke about-"

"Stop with the old man. I have a name, you know! I am EXCAFOL DITORRIA, brat!"

"You still call me brat, though."

"Well, a brat is a brat. Why would I call you something else?" This old man is getting on my nerves.

"Okay, EXCAFOL OLD MAN, you talked about Ioll's language."

"What did I told you just now?!!!" I stare harshly at the old man. YOu ought to respect me more.

"Hmph! Pretentious brat. Anyways, Ioll's language, is it?"

"Yes."

"Ioll is the most ancient civilization on Shcamerin. Or it was at the very least. They blew themselves up in an attempt to control the most unstable type of Angas: DARKNESS." I asked for a language, and now I am getting a history class. This old man is senile indeed.

"The difference between darkness and Regas is, in theory, so thin it is difficult to really know which is what. However, darkness can, for sure, provides more power to Angas users than the other types. That's why iollians wanted to control it. They were really advanced in their technology and have created weapons, tools, and machinery that no one can reproduce even today; more than a millennium later. Now, it is the territory of the Longinus. Everything there is dead. The land, the rivers, everything. Also, they happen to be the ones that created scripts, which we use to invoke Angas nowadays. It's too difficult to understand, so without the goddess blessing, no one can use it."

Hm-mhm. So basically, iollians created scripts and were the first to use Angas. They must have transmitted it to other kingdoms then, which would explain why everybody is using it today. However, there are some things I don't really understand:

"Excafol, why is it that people only use Ioll's language? Can't we create our own? You said they were trying to conquer darkness or something, how? And why are the Longinus on their territory now?"

"Slow down, there are too many questions, and they are too advanced for a brat to understand anyways. Go play in your mom's skirts already."

"But I -"

"GO, I SAID!" Why is he suddenly in a bad mood? If he doesn't know the answer, he can just say so.

"Can I at least come tomorrow to read books? The black one, if possible."

"You are a persistent one. I told you that even I don't understand the language, but if you want headaches: knock yourself out then! It is not my problem."

"Thank you." I bow slightly after he agrees to let me read it.

***

That night I tried as hard I as could to maintain my breathing and didn't sleep much. Still, I feel slightly better than yesterday. In the morning, Rose is nowhere to be seen. I arrived at the field before her today. During our first month of training, my left fingers were broken, and I could not hold the dagger with my left hand.

Now, I have to make sure that my workout will re-establish the balance between my arms. I add 1000 swings for my left arm apart from the regular 3000 every day. Since Rose didn't say anything all this time, I suppose she thinks the same. I finish my swings when the sun is up above me.

It is midday. And Rose is still not around. Well, it doesn't matter, I will continue with the exercises she showed me. The first thing is called squat: I attach a log to my legs and a bag of sand of around 5 kilograms on my chest. Then I jump with my hands behind my head. She said it will increase my leg's strength or something. There are a bunch of other exercises she gave me, but I prefer to start with that one.

After about two hours, I did five exercises from the twenty she taught me. While I am wiping my sweat, I hear something in the bushes of the forest near the field. That sound is unusual to me, almost like a heartbeat. Well, the assassin said that when I get used to the breath, my senses will sharpen naturally. I suppose it is already the case. I launch my dagger in the direction of the sound, but it doesn't hit anything. When I come to take it back, the grass on that place was trampled. So there was somebody there indeed.