Damn Fairies

Iono stared at the writing both in awe and confusion.

"What the f*ck is this rhyming cr*p? Fairy bullsh*t!", he exclaimed.

Fairies were creatures of the forest, spirits that were usually found when one needed them the most.

They were very small in size, and had similar body structure to humans, other than two small membranous wings on their back.

Their race was characterized by unrivaled beauty and a certain dust they left everywhere the went.

Fairy dust was said to be able to grand wishes, and was highly sought after.

They were also known for the pureness of their hearts, and the fact that they talked in rhymes.

Every script written by a fairy, rhymed in some way or another.

Iono on the other hand had a different opinion of their race.

"Annoying, ugly, demonoid, little f*rts", is what he called them.

Their rhyming particularly, was one of the things he hated to the extreme.

There wasn't any deep reason or anything of the sort, he simply hated rhyming in general.

Therefore, every time he saw fairy script he would get unreasonably annoyed.

Putting his hatred aside, he realized that the central part of the forest was actually fairy territory.

In order to move on, he must solve the riddle.

With his current strength, he had no way to break the barrier.

"Alright, Alright, lay it on me.", he said out loud, while standing in front if the barrier.

Suddenly the barrier trembled, and the golden letters vibrated before dispersing and reforming into different characters.

Once again, in an unknown language, whose meaning was weirdly transmitted in Iono's head.

The letters wrote:

"The morning empty,

So small and alone,

The afternoon hefty,

As plenty as a dome,

But when the night falls,

Abruptly but slow,

Day closes its doors,

Without leaving a glow."

This short poem was transcribed.

Iono read it, and was left surprised.

"There's a million and one things that could be the answer, but the answer is only one.

How am I supposed to find it?

Damn Fairies and their damn riddles.", he exclaimed in frustration.

He tried probing the letters with his [Quantum Eyes] only to realize something was blocking his sight. Every time he activated the [Quantum Eyes], the letters would disappear, as if they didn't exist at all, leaving Iono dumbstruck.

He put his hand on his chin and started thinking about the riddle.

"During the day it's empty... Afternoon it's plenty... and the night is what?

*Sigh*

I don't understand man!", he said as he ruffled his hair.

He sat down on the grass, in a lotus position, and closed his eyes.

His hand were on his knees, the index touching the thump.

He aligned his energy channels, to increase the blood flow on his brain.

Iono had a very high intelligence.

His soul, after countless cycles of "reincarnation", had become very powerful.

The soul is directly connected with the mind, which lead to a gradual increase in IQ over the billions of years.

Right now, Iono's intelligence might be unrivalled in a number or realms.

After a deep breath, his mind started racing.

Countless of thoughts and memories, depicting possible answers for the riddle.

The poem kept repeating in his mind, as he discarded ideas that didn't match.

Half an hour passed before Iono's eyes slowly opened.

"The answer is the universe!", he yelled.

"Empty at the beginning, full in the middle, and disappears at the end."

Nothing happened for some time.

Suddenly the letters trembled and once again rearranged themselves.

The golden letters now wrote:

"One of the answers you found,

Well done, I applaud!

If you can give me another,

I shall let you move on.

The more answers you give,

The more treasure I got."

"Oh you must be f*cking kidding me!", Iono exclaimed in frustration.

"What the hell kind of riddle has multiple answers!? Dumb Fairies and their dumb riddles!"

And so he once again sat down, and tried to think of something that fit the poem.

This time it took about fifteen minutes to come up with an answer.

"You are a plate of food.", he said begrudgingly.

The barrier trembled and the letters formed a new sentence.

"A simple answer but rather good,

It gives me no pleasure to give you the gourd.

Think of another for I shall give you the throne,

The mightiest of treasures in this here dome."

At this point, smoke could be seen coming out of Iono's ears.

He was pissed.

"If the treasure is not worth it, I'll hunt down your entire race, I want you to know that.", he said, half-jokingly.

So once again, he sat down and tried to come up with an answer.

This time it only took ten minutes.

"You are... Life", he said.

"Empty at the beginning, since babies have no self-awareness, plenty during the teenage and middle-age years, and at the end of it, you die, leaving nothing behind...", he explained.

The barrier trembled once more, with much greater force this time.

"It is rather beautiful, is it not?

That life and a universe have the same goal?

You have broken past the barrier,

You are restricted, no more.

Plus, you found the three answers

That give you access, to a hidden door.

But beware of this treasure,

For it is not meant for all,

it was placed here by a being,

That left even Gods, in awe."

After the last sentence was transmitted, a playful laughter was heard, as the writing turned into dust, in front of Iono's eyes.

"A powerful being that left Gods in awe? What the...", Iono replayed the words in his mind.

Suddenly in front of him, the barrier that blocked his way, seemed to open up, creating a door for him to walk through.

"What the-", once again the barrier left Iono speechless.

The other side was a completely different space.

Dark and rocky, like the inside of a cave.

But Iono was in a forest.

It was like a teleportation gate had appeared infront of him.

He peaked behind the door, only to see nothing but trees.

The entrance to the cave was just floating mid-air.

"There's no way fairies have the knowledge to build a space portal. Just who the hell is that being the writing mentioned?", Iono wondered.

He took a deep breath before taking a step inside the cave.

While taking the first step, he still remained cautious of his surroundings.

He used his [Quantum Eyes] to scan the place, only to once again, be disappointed.

It was like someone had taken countermeasures against this ability.

Then he took another step, fully entering the cave.

The moment he did, the portal shut, and got replaced by a rocky wall, leaving him stranded in the cave.

Iono's faced turned sour, as he saw his exit disappear.

He turned around and saw nothing but darkness.

He took another step, when suddenly-

A torch lit up.

A plain torch, that seemed to have been here for a great number of years.

The oil on the cloth had long been burned out, leaving one wondering how was it still burning?

Iono at first got startled, but immediately calmed down.

He took another step, only for another torch to light up, this time on his left.

The blue, rocky walls of the cave, were illuminated.

Slowly and steadily, Iono took step after step, eventually arriving in front of something that looked like a pedestal.

An altar.

It had no decorations, and it was simply made of stone.

Iono noticed a small inscription on the side and decided to take a look.

He tried reading the inscription.

"Korno Trivastrami Ardune Moht Fokrama"

He managed to read it , but had no idea what it meant.

He had no idea how he could read it.

He unconsciously glanced at his chest before checking the rest of the altar.

He placed his hands all over the altar, until-

*Click*

He found a hidden button.

The altar trembled as it moved to the side to reveal a spiralling staircase.

"How primitive! After all those impressive energy ring formations, a simple lever mechanism is what is used to access the treasure? Stupid, demonoid, little f*arts!", Iono thought.

He descended the staircase, with slow and steady steps.

After a brief period of time, he could finally see the end.

Iono's face lit up with both expectation and caution.

He was really excited about the treasure he would find.

Treasure of a being whose might left even Gods in awe.

All that excitement made his eyes shine like pearls, until-

A book

Next to it, another book.

And in between, a key.

"This is it? This is the treasure??", Iono asked in frustration.

"Two filthy books, and a rusty key??? THESE GODD*MN FAIRY BAST-", and he went on to use some colourful words to describe them, taking out his frustration.

In front of him, on a pedestal, lay two books and a key.

The two books looked ancient, and the key looked even older.

Both books were pitch black.

Weirdly, even though they were old, no dust had gathered on them.

After a few rounds of colourful description, Iono walked forwards and picked up the books, carefully lest he tears them.

They were old, after all.

His hair, gracefully fell on his face, as he tried to make out the writing on top.

The letters were barely visible, but thankfully they were in the Goblin tongue of Yutom.

The book in his hands had the words,

Sacrilegious God Art.

When Iono read the phrase, inexplicably, his hair stood to no end.

It was like he was instinctively rejecting this books existence.

He also felt his core shaking.

His mana, aura and prana, sort of resonating, simply by mentioning the name.

Other than those words, the cover of the book was empty.

Iono tried opening the book, only to see it completely empty.

He went through every page, only to find it white.

Although angry, he suppressed the feeling on account of the weird sensation he felt whilst reading its title.

He decided to take a look using his [Quantum Eyes]. Although, useless this time, they were actually a rather trustworthy ability of his.

And to his surprise, he noticed something.

The pages of the book, were made of small blobs.

Tiny, dark blobs.

Both black and white blobs, that seemed to mix and match and even sometimes move from one point to another.

Iono's mouth was left hanging open.

He realized these books held much more mysteries than he initially thought.

He carefully placed the book inside the Pouch of Avarice.

He picked up the second book.

This book was called,

Cosmic Daemon Art

Once again the feeling of rejection came back.

But this time his core and energies remained dormant, while his muscles and cells seemed to resonate with the name.

It was the first time, he managed to actually feel, every cell in his body, making him one step closer to Cell Reverberation.

He opened the book, which as expected, was also empty.

But what made it unique was a cluster of "veins", that made it look rather grotesque.

He wouldn't be able to discern them, if not for his [Quantum Eyes].

The pages were empty, but ethereally, Iono could discern a structure of "veins".

He decided to take a closer look at those veins, and focused his eyes on one.

Silence.

When suddenly-

*Ba-Dump*

The book was alive!