Nefarious palace [ II ]

It was a dark ancient hall, beautiful and spacious, with a beautiful spiral staircase in the right corner, making it look more like the inside of a castle in a fairytale.

At this moment, a wisp of dark matter floated into the hall and took the shape of a human being. It was no other than Xavier.

When Xavier scanned his environment, he frowned. "This is the same hall as yesterday," he said. 

The engravings on the wall on his right side were what made him recall the hall of yesterday because he could still remember them vividly in his mind.

However, aside from the engravings on the wall, everything else in this palace was new to him, especially the spiral staircase that seemed to have no end and the engravings on the other side of the walls. 

These engravings were intricate and hard to understand, yet he felt there was some sort of mystery revolving around them, something that might be of great help if he could understand them.

After taking note of the new sights, Xavier's eyes traced down to the ancient wooden desk in front of him. He still recalled vividly what had transpired after he came in contact with that table—the vision of the great war of the holy alliance and the nefarious beast monarch were still clear in his brain, but the curiosity about the relic of darkness remained unanswered.

Without wasting time, Xavier strolled towards the table. 

On the table, unlike yesterday, the orb was nowhere to be found. 

"Strange," Xavier muttered inaudibly while his eyes moved to the big book. He had seen this one too yesterday but didn't pay attention to it.

'Warlocks and mages usually write diaries about their magical journeys, and within those diaries, there is a large probability that powerful spells would be present,' he thought. 

As a beginner in the magic field, Xavier needed as much knowledge of the magical world as he could acquire, as well as powerful spells to aid in his pursuit of knowledge and also for protection.

With these thoughts in mind, he stretched his hand towards the book, about to grab it. 

"I hope there won't be another vision like yesterday. I don't think my heart can handle such a vividly real and bloodied battle, especially that monster in the end."

Xavier touched the book; strangely, there was no reaction from it, not even a repulsive force.

A smile crept on his face. He could now study the details in this book without discomfort. His zeal to find out what lay behind this brown hardcover grew stronger by the second.

Xavier now held the large book in his hands. It was pretty heavy for a book that size, but he didn't take note of such minor details as his mind was clouded with curiosity. 

Opening the first page, a series of strange symbolic texts were revealed. 

The smile on Xavier's face washed off the moment he saw these texts he couldn't understand. How would he know what was written in this book if he didn't understand the text? The nefarious palace might not be a special skill after all, he thought.

 But he might be wrong.

'What's happening?' he asked himself, puzzled at the manifestations on the book he held. 

The texts started to move around on the dirty white page as though they had a life of their own. It was like watching a group of black ants form a community on top of a white surface. It was cool to watch, but also puzzling and nerve-wracking at the same time. 

The texts scrambled across the page, slowly forming a wild pattern in the middle of the dirty white page.

After a few seconds, the motions on the page stopped. The texts had formed into a detailed magic formation. As Xavier stared at the formation, a strange voice whispered in his ear, "Spill blood to activate the formation."

Hearing the voice, Xavier was confused. He wondered if he truly heard those words or if he was just imagining things. Before his wondering came to an end, the same voice whispered again. 

'It is asking me to spill blood? What blood? This is not my real body but rather it's my soul and based on my limited knowledge, souls don't bleed... or do they?' he pondered.

Nevertheless, he was in a hot quest to find out the mystery hidden behind the pages of this mysterious book, he decided to trust the voice and bit his right thumb.

Strangely, there was pain and he even bled from his thumb.

While puzzled about the outcome, he placed his bloodied thumb on the formation. Almost instantly, the formation reacted. It glowed with a dark red hue for ten seconds and disappeared.

Afterwards, the book flipped to the next page on its own, revealing strange texts. But this time, Xavier understood all of it, even the symbols.

⌈ Your blood has been able to unlock my great book of magic, mysteries, and of course, some nonsense scribblings; it means you are my heir. ⌉

The first paragraph read, the text appearing as though directly conversing with Xavier.

⌈ Also, if you can see this, it means I have exited this low-budget magic world successfully, or unwillingly. But my absence can't stop the search for the absolute truth. ⌉

Reading the second paragraph, Xavier wondered why the nefarious monarch wanted to leave this world. From his interpretation of this message, it seemed the nefarious monarch wanted to leave this world through his own means. While planning to leave, he did not forget he had enemies who would eliminate him when given the chance, and thus scribbled those details down for his next heir.

He might be wrong, but the truth wouldn't be that much different from his interpretation. 

But Xavier wondered, What absolute truth was he searching for?