Infinitus

[The token no longer poses any more danger to me. Though, it's still perplexing that the Blacksmith made me his apprentice after discovering the token…]

"Wait! How do I get the token out of the spiritual world? What will I say when the Blacksmith and Matriarch ask for it?" Hugo shuddered as he remembered that he didn't know of any way to return the token to the physical world without the Owl's help.

"Bundi! Bundi !" Hugo yelled a few times, but the formless space remained as silent as a graveyard.

"Aahh… Hopefully, they won't ask for it." Hugo sighed as he turned his attention back to the blood-red Grimoire.

He took a few steps towards the Grimoire and noticed that the repulsive force was no longer active…

Hugo placed his right arm on the grimoire which was nearly as tall as himself…

The Grimoire trembled a bit… then in a flash, it returned to its motionless state. Hugo then attempted to pry it open, but alas, the blood-red cover didn't even budge an inch.

[There is no more repulsive force, so why am I still unable to move the cover?] Hugo pondered, observing the image of a child on the book's cover.

The child had a dark-brown skin tone – the same as his. He sat cross-legged on the nine petalled flower, eyes closed, hands placed on his knees, in nothing but his birthday suit.

He projected an air of mystery, similar to the old priests that Hugo had seen in monasteries of the Austrian Empire back on Earth. The child exuded tranquility that rivaled that of a wise calm sage – a gravity that contrasted greatly with his birthday suit.

"Why would the Owl say that this is my picture!?" Hugo was puzzled since the aura projected by the child was radically different from his.

He could only sense a very faint resonance with the pentagram and the hexagram placed on either side of the child. Aside from this indistinct connection, the child was a stranger to him.

[Screw it. After the Grimoire is opened, I'll be able to investigate some of its secrets… But how do I get it open in the first place?" Hugo contemplated, trying to recall his conversation with the ancient Owl.

[Bundi had hinted that I should be able to take the Grimoire out of the space in due time… That means there must be a way for me to achieve this…]

"I need to attempt to send the Grimoire out of my spiritual world… It should be possible." He reassured himself.

Hugo placed his hand on the Grimoire's cover once more. He took in a deep breath, steadied his heart, and calmed his mind.

As soon as he attained a peak meditative state, he began visualizing the image of the Grimoire materializing on his small bed from the spiritual world. He repeated the visualization several times before stopping to assess his progress.

The blood-red Grimoire was as still as a statue. It remained firmly motionless, as though it had permanently taken root in the formless reddish space that was Hugo's spiritual world.

[What should I do now? Is this book just a decoration as before?] Hugo began to feel disappointed. He calmed his mind and started walking around the Grimoire to observe its other side.

The covers of the book were similar. The child, the pentagram, the hexagram, the flower, even the other tiny patterns were a carbon copy of the front cover.

"Was the person who fabricated the Grimoire too lazy to design a back cover? Or is there a deeper meaning? Does this imply that the book has no end, only a beginning?"

[Everything should have an end… This is the iron rule of the universe. The end of a marriage is a divorce, the end of a species is an extinction event, and the end of life is death…]

"Ehhh!" Hugo was taken aback.

[If the end of life is death, …then what am I?] Hugo wondered.

"Hahaha… Now I get it…" Hugo laughed like a maniac as the dejection that had started to engulf him was swept away.

"The end is never the end. It's always the beginning of something. One just has to persevere... But this doesn't help me open the Grimoire!" He muttered.

[Should I name it or something? I seem to recall that most occultic and religious rituals place great emphasis on names… Like how mom performed my naming ritual…]

"I should try naming the Grimoire… Maybe that will work some magic."

"But what name would fit this Grimoire? An entity that only has a beginning, but no end…" Hugo deliberated, looking up at the sky sparkling with golden specks for inspiration.

"The eternal grimoire, the boundless grimoire, …the infinity grimoire… No! Those don't roll well off the tongue…"

[What about one of those obscure historic languages that are common here… Greek, Latin, Hindu, Swahili… What do I use?] Hugo felt a headache taking root. He had always fared poorly at naming even the best of his inventions. Today was something similar.

"Latin should do… But who should I pray to? Gaia?"

[… No… From the Owl's hints, the deities here are most likely actual beings of vast power controlling this world… I should not draw their attention to myself. Can I pray to the pyramid, the Owl, or even myself?] Hugo mused as he considered his options.

"Here goes nothing…" Hugo mumbled as he placed his right hand on the child's image on the grimoire, and the right hand on his left chest. He had an instinctive feeling that this was the right course of action to take in naming the Grimoire.

Hugo took a deep breath and once again entered a tranquil state.

"By the will of Me, Myself, and I…"

"I now declare that this ancient Grimoire will from henceforth…"

"…Go by the names of…"

"Infinitus – The Grimoire of All Beginnings…"

"I vow all this…"

As Hugo chanted solemnly, with a pious air and shamelessly plagiarized his mother's naming ritual, he felt the huge Grimmore tremble intermittently as it let loose a prehistoric aura. This was the first time that Hugo had sensed such an aura from the Grimoire.

Before he could complete his plagiarism, the Grimoire released an intense glow that washed over him, sending him into a trance…

In a flash, information was transferred directly to Hugo's mind by the Grimoire… And in a matter of moments, the huge blood-red Grimmoire returned to its usual tranquil state.

"So, that is how it is…" Hugo mumbled as he watched an infinite-symbol being engraved at the bottom of the cover – just below the nine-petalled flower.

At the same instant, the words "INFINITUS – The Grimoire of All Beginnings" began being mysteriously etched on the top of the book's cover. Hugo's mouth was agape as he observed the golden words, which appeared to be in the handwriting of a grade-schooler.

"Ahuuuu… Ahuuuu…" He sighed as he tried to calm down.

"I should leave. I need to perform the ritual as soon as possible…" Hugo mumbled as he glanced at the token still hovering by the Grimoire's side, before opening the imaginary door and leaving his spiritual world.

In the blink of an eye, Hugo awoke, still seated in a lotus position. He trembled slightly as his eyes opened and started observing his surroundings.

The rain had stopped, and the morning sun rays from the east had already invaded his room through the seams of the dark velvet curtains.

"Eehh…!"

Before Hugo could take in more of his surroundings, he was stopped cold by what he could perceive.

"Is this the benefit of advancing my soul?" Hugo was both perplexed and overjoyed.

He could make out everything in the room in great detail. Hugo's eyes felt like magnifying glasses as he scrutinized every item in his room.

He could discern the patterns of knitting that resulted in his grey blanket, the small dust particles left behind by his shoes, the minuscule decorations on the side of his geography book, and so many other details that he had ignored before.

At the bedside table, stood a lamp that had looked quite ordinary to Hugo before today. However, as he examined it with his newfound magnifying sight, very tiny ciphers or runes lining the lamp's edges appeared in his mind's eye.

Although Hugo was unsure whether these were the so-called ciphers or runes, he was certain that he could easily replicate them.

[This kind of sight would make engraving a simple job. Why does the Matriarch need to buy simple artifacts such as these lamps?] Hugo wondered.

Unknown to him, mystics in Gaia only started training their souls at the mystic-king realm. But with the help of the Owl and the pyramid, Hugo had accomplished this feat even before he became a mystic.

Hugo focused his sight on the bookshelves. They were not actually dull-grey as Hugo had thought before. He could see very tiny symbols lined up on each of their edges. These symbols released the ashen-grey luster that kept the books enclosed within.

"These tiny symbols are probably the focal points of the barrier enclosing the shelves. I need to find out more about runes and ciphers as soon as possible. I may soon be able to get access to the books…"

"Eehh…!"

"Why do I feel dizzy?" Hugo mumbled as he stopped himself from observing the tiny symbols on the bookshelves.

He calmed his mind and started practicing the Psykhe-Mental-Exercise. In a flash, he felt his dizziness dissipate and his mind cleared once more.

[It seems that I am not yet powerful enough to observe those symbols… But I should be able to as soon as I become a mystic…] Hugo mused as he forced himself to shut off his magnifying sight.

"I should go ahead with the ritual," Hugo mumbled as he calmed his mind to summon 'Infinitus – the Grimoire of All Beginnings' to the material world for the first time…