Aftermath

After Jason completed Ariane's request the crimson pentagram shone once more and then it disappeared , taking the Jason along with it. Zef and Ariane were the only souls left in the cave and they seemed to have been frozen, not knowing what was an appropriate action right now. They had just done something punishable by death, colluding with a devil. It didn't seem real, happening so fast , but the items on their hands begged to differ.

Zef turned her head towards Ariane who was gleefully looking through the small jewelry box she now possessed, and shook his head. "Hey, Ariane....

"What do you want?" immediately answered Ariane as she seemed to hold her just gained treasure closer.

"Calm down, I'm not looking to rob or hurt you, but I'll remind you to not tell this to anyone. Of course I'll deny everything that you say, but still....don't forget..."

"Of course you don't have to remind me! That goes for you to, you better not spill the beans in some kind of drunken stupor."

With those words the two of them exited the cave and headed towards the village under the cover of darkness. They sneakily entered the village, not beeing seen by anybody and entered their respective houses. Zef was met with a hug from his worried wife who asked him where he went, and Ariane was met with the silence of her empty home, but one thing was for certain, both of them were happy.

......

On the other hand Jason was confused, he had just been through an otherworldly experience and couldn't really wrap his mind around it, but the two items in his lap were like a slap of reality to the face. A medieval sword and a book bound in black leather without any words in it.

"Man, this is really fucked up...." muttered Jason as took the sword with both hands and felt the weight of it. It felt light taking into consideration the length of it, but it felt sturdy in his hand. He thought didn't hold it for to long as it irked him to hold in his hands a tool he could kill someone for such a long time, and because he didn't want to accidentally cut himself as it was a sharp sword after all.

"Okay, I can explain the sword, but the book. If it really is real, then this is a pretty dangerous thing. Calling forth a devil, that is something really demonic...." said Jason as he reached for the book, but stopped just before touching it. He though about all those stories and movies he had seen where something happens when you touch something like 'this' book, and hesitated. "Better be safe than sorry." with those words Jason went to the kitchen, grabbed some tongs , and moved the book to a drawer he never used before covering it with some clothes. Then, and only then did he roll up something to calm his nerves down, but it backfired. He couldn't sleep at all in the next two days, and only on the third did he pass out from exhaustion.

....

Time passed and almost a whole month flew by in a flash. Jason thought hadn't changed that much. He still went to his dead end job, worked for eight hours, left it tired everyday , and then returned to the comforts and loneliness of his home. It was a dull and boring life, so no one would expect that not a month before Jason was called to another world and came out with something.

"Yeah, I really hit it big with the sword, but I don't think it'll be the same with book...." muttered Jason as he remembered selling the sword to some sword fanatic for more then 3000 dollars. He kept going on and on about the unique style of it and the awesome craftsmanship, but Jason remembered just smiling at him and thinking that he would shit his pants if he knew where it really came from. As he finished remembering what happened Jason looked towards the drawer where the book was.

He had at first been intrigued about it, even researched about it , but he soon had realized that it wasn't a good idea. He didn't know if he was the only one who had managed to travel to such a world, or if the government and any other organization was on the lookout for someone like him, so he decided to not leave a digital footprint. He though didn't think it would be that strange or traceable to look through books. With his library card renewed he entered the place he disliked the most before dropping out, the library. Everytime he entered it he felt a deep feeling of beeing overwhelmed, but now that he coul take it at his own pace he quite enjoyed it. He smoked some green before going in and everything became more tolerable. He dived himself headfirst in those books, firstly looking at the occult and things related to it by he soon diverted to biology , history, science and all things in between. Everytime he had an idea he would get a book to find answers, but rarely did he finish reading them completely.

His mind was filled with junk from all different fields of knowledge, but it irked Jason that even though he had gained some knowledge, he felt even more ignorant than before . It was like a calling, a hunger for knowledge he couldn't satiate.