Reading is Life

Seth walked out of the forest, leaving Roy with the fallen forms of his comrades. He didn't want to bother with him, he just wanted to see who the demon masked people were and who they were looking for. He had a suspicion that their "chosen one" was Augie, they were both demons or something. Seth realized after getting back to the castle, he had so very little knowledge about this new world. He was like a newborn baby when it came to knowledge. He was already a few months old, he should at least know a little bit about his country and history. Right?

Thus, Seth decided to go look for a library. With how big this castle was it had to have one. A castle without a huge library couldn't even be called a castle. He still wanted to have some peace and quiet so he didn't notify anybody and instead stayed at the same saunter he had been before. He rolled some small objects through his hands and twiddled his thumbs passively as he walked past tens of doors, not knowing where he would end up.

Seth wandered through the halls for what seemed like an hour before chancing upon a large ornate door. The door was carved very well, it seemed that the carver was very passionate and skilled. The design was of gods, angels, demons, and devils all sitting peacefully, reading books together. Some were laughing, some were crying, some had rage burning in their eyes, but all of them were completely focused on their books. Seth assumed that he had reached the library.

Seth grabbed the handle of the door and pushed. The door refused to budge. He pushed even harder, about the strength of a Higher Mortal. The door still didn't budge, it was as if the door wasn't made of wood, but was instead made of reinforced steel. Still, Seth refused to give up and pushed even harder, about the average strength of a Peak Mortal. The door didn't budge a millimeter, it stood strong as if it hadn't been touched at all. Seth glared at the door and pushed it with all of his might. The door still sat, unmoved.

"Hey, little boy. Are you trying to get into the library?" A voice appeared behind him. Seth turned around immediately, he hadn't heard any footsteps. Before him, stood an old man with a light smile on his face.

"Here, I'll open it for you." The man lightly pulled the library door open, revealing the huge shelves of books inside. Seth thanked the man then walked in, he picked up a book and began to read it.

The elementals in the ink were a different color than they normally were. They were bright gold, like the light elementals. Reading the book, Seth felt a slight pressure build around him. When he looked up from the book, thousands of light elements had rushed over to him. The book was just a normal story about a fisherman, he caught a golden fish and brought it home to eat. The fish offered him a deal to not be eaten. If the man didn't eat him he will become a warrior in two days, if he ate the golden fish he wouldn't become a warrior and his son would die.

The man took the golden fish's deal and set him free in a small pond. Two days later, the man became a warrior. The man went back to the pond that night and caught the fish again. The fish, once again, offered him another deal. If the man let him go, he would become a noble in five days. If he at him, he would lose his standing and his wife would die.

Just as before, the man took the deal and became a noble five days later. He did what he did before, capturing the golden fish after putting him in a small pond. He took a deal to become a servant of the emperor. The man kept doing the same thing. Capturing the fish, making a deal to move up the ranks, setting it free in a tiny pond. Soon, the man got a deal to become the emperor himself. The man took the deal in a heartbeat and set the fish free back in the pond.

When the man caught the fish again, the fish was very tired. The fish had used all of its power making the man the emperor and it didn't have any time to recover. The newly-promoted emperor didn't care and made the fish a deal this time. If the fish made him a god, he wouldn't eat it. The fish said that it didn't have the power to do so, but the emperor refused to believe what it said, it had already made him an emperor after all. The emperor ordered his best chefs to cook the fish for his family.

When the emperor and his family had a feast that day, everything was bright and cheerful. After the feast ended, however, the emperor heard an echo of all of the deals he had made with the golden fish. The emperor raged and had his family protected in all ways, hoping that the deals he had made with the fish wouldn't be seen through. All of the emperor's fears were realized the next day when the entire empire was burned down in a blazing fire. There was a loud voice booming from the heavens as each thing was burned to ashes.

"The son shall die if the deal is broken!" The emperor's son was burned to death.

"The wife shall die if the deal is broken!" The emperor's wife shared the same fate with her son.

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"The belongings shall burn if the deal is broken!" The entire empire burst into flames and was razed to the ground.

"The life shall be given if the deal is broken!" The emperor, who sat, crying, in his burning palace was turned to ashes by the flames. The ashes of the former emperor were swept up by the wind, swirling around like locusts. The ashes built together into the form of a fish, some of the outer layers of ash were blown away by the wind, revealing golden scales. The fish then lept back into the lake and waited for a certain fisherman.

When Seth reached the end of the story and closed the book, everywhere around him was filled with gold lights. They were blinding, the elementals were layered so thick that Seth couldn't even see through them. Seth got up from his seat and put the book back in its place, causing the elementals that had gathered to disperse. The book didn't teach Seth anything about the country or the past, it was just a random story. Seth looked through the shelves again, hoping to find a useful book.

Eventually, Seth found a thick history book. The book had information about all of the nearby countries and their history. Seth learned that the country he was a prince of was called Angora. There was a country to the north called Exalica, it was the territory of cults, clans, and families. Exalica was what Seth had assumed that most fantasy countries would be like, ruled by families for generations. Seth read a few pages about the demonic cults that were still deeply rooted in Exalica.

The passages about the cults were exactly what Seth was looking for, he skimmed through the rest of the book's pages looking for more information about them, he didn't find any more. Seth set the book down, he didn't put it away because it still held a lot of useful information. Instead, Seth looked through the shelves for a book about Exalica's cults or just any demonic cults in general. He soon found a book about the cults and looked through it, it indeed had some information that he was looking for. With the book in hand, Seth sat down to read.

The first page of the book had a prophecy on it, one that all of the cults believed in, it was the basis the cults were founded upon. It told of a demon that was reborn into the body of a kid. The demon was the king of all demons, the strongest to ever live. It was told that the demon would bring the cults to greatness and allow them to be the true rulers of the world. The prophecy stated that the world would begin a new age of everlasting darkness, heralding the reign of its new sovereigns.

Seth scoffed at the prophecy, it was childish even in his eyes. Seth was a little bit disappointed in the prophecy, he was hoping for it to be cool. Instead, it was just about relying on some demon to rule the world, it wasn't even that ambitious. A lot of people knew that there was an infinite number of worlds out there, taking over one wouldn't do much. Seth read through the book, the cults were basically just your average cults but bigger and actually have a well-thought-out goal.

The cults were looking for a huge spike in demonic power that is representative of a mass demonic awakening or the awakening of "the chosen one" that will bring them to the top of the world. The different cults were like different sects of religion, they believed in the same base thing but they went about thinking about what it means or worshipping it differently. They would all try to work together in the end though, which means that there would be millions of people working together to take over the world. Most, if not all of these people would be much stronger than normal humans because they would be awakened.

Reading these books, Seth felt that there was just too much in-depth information about all of these countries and cults. He felt that some of this information was actually closely guarded secrets because they regarded some things that would allow them to be destroyed in mere days. All of this information being available to Seth in the form of books was a little odd. Maybe his father was more influential than just being the king of Angora.

Although Angora wasn't a small country by any means, it wasn't a very big one either. Seth felt that something was missing from the equation, how was being the prince of a mid-sized country the best status you could have? No. No, it wasn't. There had to be something about Arthur, the king of Angora that would make being his son a position of status as high as being the heir of the king of the largest country or the descendent of one of the secret sects that had been mentioned in one of the books.

Seth left the library feeling refreshed, the door had stayed open so he didn't have to wrestle it again. Thinking about him failing to open the pull door because he was pushing it caused Seth's face to turn red, but he would remember next time. He walked past the dining room and grabbed a bite to eat before walking back to his room with his books in tow. Seth read the books all through the night, using magic to light up the dark room. The books that Seth had brought back with him weren't written with magical ink like the first one he had read, so they didn't attract any elementals.

The next day, Seth went back to the library. He remembered to pull the door this time, so he did. The door didn't budge. He pulled the door with all his might for almost a full minute before he became tired.

"Still having troubles with the door I see." The man that had opened the door for Seth last time had appeared once more.

"Here, this is how you open the door." Seth stepped aside and the man easily pushed the door open, letting Seth walk through the open frame.