A Golden Book

The sunset is really beautiful. 

Viktor was afraid of the water but he wasn't that scared because he could see the surface underneath. It wasn't too deep so he sat at the edge of the dock to wash his feet. 

The water was cold, but it was calming to see small gold fishes swinging everywhere. Viktor looked at the water and saw small golden fishes swimming in groups. The water was so crystal clear that it didn't reflect Viktor's face on it. It was magical.

The old boats were making cracking sounds due to the waves and some of them looked as if they were 200 years old. The dock was abandoned so many years ago that people forgot about its existence. 

    This area is really big and a great spot for fishing. These boats are proof that they used to be famous. But did something happen that I don't know about? I don't write anything about this place. Every corner of this city is unknown to me.

The reason why people don't come here is because of a certain rumour that Viktor didn't know.

There's a tale about that old dock beside the noble family house. 

When the dock was newly made, it became well known for the fishing spots for fishermen. They used to ride the waves with their black boats as the symbol of the sea king. 

Every day, they used to catch tons of fish from the sea. And they became wealthy by selling them.

One day, a fisherman caught something really heavy in his net. He thought that it might be a big fish, so he pulled it up and found a golden book.

A big shiny golden book with golden pages. It was heavy and made with pure gold. 

So he thought he caught a jackpot. In excitement, he took it back to his house without telling anyone. He counted his fingers to count its price by guessing its weight. But he didn't know that he was being followed by someone. 

When he got home, closed the door and windows of the house to check the book he found. The book's cover was stuck so he used force to open it.  And he died immediately. He exploded like a bomb.

The man who followed him witnessed everything but he ignored his body and took the book. 

Just like that, one by one, about a hundred people died by exploding like a bomb and no one suspected a thing but an old man who saw them carrying a golden gook.

He knew something was wrong with that book. It was a curse to kill the greedy people. After ten years, when the book was finally in his position, he took it and threw it back to the sea. 

Because he believed that, someone out there will find this book eventually if their fate is bonded with each other. He should be worthy to open the book.

The book vanished into the deep ocean and the old man died on the boat because it was his time to say goodbye to his life. 

When his boat came closer to the shore, the duke of the territory closed the area and made another port away from the place. 

He thought that the place was cursed. 

After 230 years, the old dock was still standing near the duke's family house with all those boats. But no one dared to use it for their fishing spot. It was abandoned.

…

"The sun is gone but the horizon is still shining bright."

Suddenly, he felt a change of waves on his feet. He could feel the temperature of the water changing. The goldfish changed their swimming patterns and gathered in one place. It wasn't far away from Viktor so his curiosity triggered a memory of the earth.

I remember when I was a child, my big brother told me that people can find treasures at the sea beach or in the ocean. I can find a bottle with a treasure map inside. The map will lead me to a box filled with gold and diamonds.

After hearing that, I used to dig around the beach whenever we used to visit the beach instead of playing in the water. I was only 6 back then. I am sure my big brother used to make fun of it when I was busy digging around.

  But in my 30 years of life, I've never found a treasure box or map somewhere. Not even a penny in my pocket when I was out of money. 

Silly me. 

Viktor looked closer to the group of fish and saw something shiny and his crow instinct turned on. 

"Is that? Something shiny?"

But he was scared too because of the water.

   Sound I go down and pick it up? I will jump out if the water is above my nose. But fortunately, the water level was below his chest and the shiny thing wasn't far away from his feet.

"The water is warm near that thing. Just what is going on?"

He walked closer to the shiny thing and found a heavy book. It was golden, big and shiny. 

"It's not as heavy as it looks like. Should I take it back to my house? I don't want to throw out this shiny book. It's making me curious. I want to see what's written inside."

So he took the book and walked all the way back to his house barefoot.

…

Master, just what were you trying to do ?" 

Adonis was smiling because his master was back home, but

   I can feel his anger behind that handsome smile -_-. I bet he just cleaned the floor. He's even holding his mop with floor polish.

Viktor was half soaked barefoot with tons of dirt under his feet with a shiny golden book in his hand, smiling like an innocent boy.

   How can I answer this? He was trying his best to polish the floor and I messed it up with my wet dirty feet. 

"I found this book."

Viktor answered. 

"Yes, I can see you found a book which was probably under the water for a century or two. "

"Hehe."

...