CHAPTER 1
UNKNOWN
It all started with a book.
My grandfather was a famous writer. His bestselling book series became something of legend among young readers. He was also a book collector. Grandfather’s library had some of the most jaw-droppingly expensive books in the world. He individually handpicked the books for his collection and declared them the most precious books of all time.
So it came as a surprise when he said,
“take any one book you like from the library for your birthday.”
It was my twentieth birthday and there was nobody else who can celebrate with me except my grandfather. Grandfather hated sweet treats, so the cake was out of the question, but he made up for it with one his unexpected presents. Grandfather knew just what I needed for my future and prepared me for them with his gifts.
As an example, when I turned twelve, grandfather gave me a red sweater with weird-looking embroidered patches lining the upper chest and big design on the back. I stared at the sweater little disappointed. For the last eleven years grandpa gave gifts that filled me with happiness so the expectation was high, but he only gave me an ugly sweater. Following my silent protest, my grandfather added an explanation. He said I will treasure the sweater in coming weeks and I gave him a doubtful glance. Few days later, James, grandfather’s book keeper, apologized for the belated-birthday present and handed me a completed series of nameless author. The books were not even bound properly, and page numbers were enormous compared to what I’ve been used to so I just thanked him and pushed the books to the side. Because of my school break, I had plenty of time to hand out with my friends and explore different attraction in the city. I did get bored, however, at one point in time and decided it was time for me to stay home and finish my schoolwork. When I finally finished all my work loads, I had four days-worth of free time left so I lazed around while silently keeping my grandfather company in his study. Grandpa was finishing his next new release so all I could do was either read books or sleep but because I did not enjoy napping, I went out searching for a new book to read. That was when I picked up the books I put aside couple of weeks ago.
I read through the first chapter and the next. By the time I stopped reading, it was already midnight. After that, I flew through rest of the series like I was a mad man. I could not sleep and I could not rest until I read the page, the next page after that, and the next-next page after that, and so forth. All the pages I read added up to become a hill that was full of magical creatures, ocean that hides mysterious rooms, and sky with infinite numbers of enchanted stars. The book was about a young boy who was abandoned among the stars and found his way into the hill folks and ocean creatures. Although the boy lacked physical power, he made up for it with his wits and his kindness. The friends and families he gets to meet throughout his journey in finding his place in the world gave me hopes and dreams of my own. The tropes in the story was nothing that I haven’t seen before but the writing and the timing in which each different arc unfold was masterful.
The book immediately became my number one favorite. As soon as I finished the last page of the book, I realized how lonely I felt not being part of the world I just left. I raced through the corridors and landed in front of where James was cataloging the books. It was the late afternoon and the sun was slowly setting west. I cleared my throat and James rose from where he was kneeling.
“Do you have more books by the same author?”
Although my question came out of nowhere, James seemed not fazed as he answered, “no”.
“Where did you get the book? I want to meet the author.” I swallowed, conscious of growing thirst.
Couple of beats later, James stood straighter and said, “I wrote the book myself, young master.”
The world suddenly felt unreal and my jaw dropped. I did not know much about our book keeper but not to this degree. My ignorance for James’ talent was underwhelming.
All the emotions and thoughts I had while reading the books came back to me. I regarded them with utmost clarity. Blue, yellow, pink, and purple marked the various land marks of that emotions and thoughts. They all belonged to me. Not only mine, however, they were also James’.
A image of James in his room, struggling to convey those thoughts and emotions through his words struck my mind and I realized with sudden awareness of how my perspective of James changed, from charmless and immature to an admiration and respect.
“O..Of course, Sir. Doommantle helped finishing the books. I wanted to give you something special for your birthday. I hope, the story was to your liking. Although it might have been disappointing, but I did my best on a lot of things to improve them …. “
James’ blabbered on, and I laughed a little. I was just a baby when I realized of James’ presence. He was a distant figure and never really made his place into my world. Whenever I saw him, he was with books and on the floor organizing them. His suits were wrinkled, and his hair was always in a mass, but grandfather did not mind his appearance. I always dismissed him so eagerly thinking him a fool but now I see that I was the fool. I liked the revolution. My heart squeezed. Blood rushed to my ears and face, undoing all my pretense of maturity.
“Young master? Are… Are you okay, your face is red.”
“No, …its nothing.”
“Ah, also the sweater Sir. Doommantle gave you is the sweater that hill folks gifted the boy when he set out for the ocean. It is made with yarn that was spun from their creatures. Of course, we couldn’t find any creature here, but we found the yarn that was spun from dog hair. We thought you might want to have a momentum from the story.”
I covered my face for a moment and gain back my composure. I looked up and met James’ questioning eyes and said, “thank you, I loved your books.”
I wore the sweater almost everywhere until it was too hot for it and I reread the series whenever I had time. I became close to James and sought his company whenever I could.
I blinked out my memories of James as I looked down on my grandfather. His stern figure was framed by the armchair, and his face showed little aging, but I detected their tiredness.
“Ask for James’ help if you need it.”
He wore a grim expression, almost as if he was giving up his most precious treasure. Because it was once in a lifetime opportunity, I couldn’t refuse the offer even to be polite. I bent down to kiss his forehead and headed toward grandfather’s collection, grinning.
Grandfather’s library was huge. In fact, the collection of grandfather’s books had their own building. The building took up majority of the private mansion that we were living in. It was simply impossible to look around the library in one day just like you can’t pass by all the arts display in metropolitan museum in one day.
Although I loved going in the library, I never was allowed further than general area.
I decided it was time for me to swim through the ocean of books in much deeper terrain.
When I was thirteen, I considered James the best man but when I turned fifteen, everything changed. At fifteen, I recognized my feelings for James and shamefully buried them beneath my conscious. I knew James blamed himself for my change of attitude toward him but I could not straighten things with him for the fear that he might recognize my feelings. I stopped visiting him after my sixteenth birthday.
“Hello, James!” I waved my hands nonchalantly. I became master at masking my face.
“Good morning young master, I heard from Sir Doommantle. Happy birthday to you sir. If you would like, I can accompany you to find your book.”
“Don’t bother. If I need your help, I will find you.”
“If that is the case, enjoy.”
“Thanks”
I was in a good mood. After all, it is unheard-of that my grandfather is willing to give up one book from his precious collection.
As I stepped into the familiar musty scent of books, my shoulders relaxed, and a smile bloomed on my face. It had been so long since I last visited the building. I stopped coming to the library altogether when I turned eighteen due to my busy schedule.
I spent the entire day reading through the classic contemporaries, and I came back the next day for the non-fictions. For about a week, I was skimming the books, and for another five days I was searching information about the books on online. I wasn’t looking for the most expensive book from the archive but the most significant book, whatever that meant. I was determined to find any secret that my grandfather was too afraid to share with me.
I could read all the books in the library, but I could only own one book, so my mind was constantly in a turmoil. There were so many books that I could choose from that it overwhelmed me like a quicksand swallowing me whole.
Three weeks of time spent among the books exhausted my mind and I gave up on searching on my own.
“I need your help.”
“Yes, of course.”
James did not show any sign of triumph when I approached him but somehow, I felt defeated.
“Take me to the most significant section of this book collection.”
“… “
“…why, is there something wrong?” I asked while studying the changes shown on James’ expression.
“oh, sorry young master… its nothing.”
“….”
James seemed rather disturbed by my request. Maybe it was the phrasing of the words that unnerved him. I would not know because he did not speak the whole way through the library and down the stairs. I did not break the silence.
When we were standing in front of a mahogany door, James handed me a key.
“Sir Doommantle gave me his permission to give you the key to this room. If you are looking for something significant, you will find it here.”
Somehow, I felt nervous. The formal tone of voice James used was somewhat different from normal. The metal key that was handed to me was warm in my palm. I blushed as I imagined the warmth of James’s skin transferred to the key and imagined my hand against James’s skin.
Suddenly, the key felt very erotic on my hand and I quickly inserted it to the keyhole to distract myself from the seductive image forming in my head.
The key unlocked the door with a heavy thud and I pushed opened the thick wooden door. The weight gave me comfort as I walked through the door and studied the interior of the room. As I stood there, I could hear the wooden door shutting back toward the entrance way. It made small sound as it blocked my view of the corridor outside. I saw last glimpse of James’s bowed head before the door shut behind me completely.
An utter silence filled the void of an unlighted room.
I was completely secluded from the outside world by the room’s dark mahogany door and heavily curtained windows. It gave an impression that I was all alone in the world. Because this space was not my own, it made me nervous to invade it. It felt like I was reading someone else’s deepest thought just by standing there. But that uneasiness only lasted for the first couple of minutes of me entering the room.
I started walking around the room inhaling the scent of books. The room was as big as a typical public library. The books were not as well organized as I’ve seen in other bookshelves. This could only mean that even James was not allowed in the room to organize the selves. Some books were on the floor and some were on the window seats. Books lined the walls with built in bookshelves and there were second floor balcony connected by a spiraling stair case which held even more books.
As I walked around the first-floor of the room, I found one bathroom, a bedroom, and a small fridge full of snacks and water along with small kitchen at the far-right side of the room from where I entered.
I easily pictured my grandfather spending his private time locked up in this room.
A wave of disappointment and jealousy went through me as I took in the interior of the space. I was disappointed because grandfather did not trust me enough to share this space with me for twenty years and I was jealous because grandfather had a place like this all to himself.
Well carpeted floor swallowed my dress shoes as I walked around like a well-kept grass. I stopped and took off my shoes. Now, I was in business.
I spent the next two weeks in that room without seeing anyone.
There were change of clothes and well stocked fridge with a bathroom. A book-loving-part-time-introvert like me did not need anything else. The books on the bookshelves were not in any order whatsoever which sparked my adventurous spirit. I grabbed books left and right and started reading them in random order. The surprising thing was that books in the room were all very unique to its genre and had something special about the message they were telling. The writing styles had their own flavors and even after thirty or so books, I was never tired of picking up another.
I spread myself on the floor like a lazy cat, curled up like a ball in front of window, and bundled up with numerous cushions at the corner of two walls.
My time spent there was like a blissful dream.
One afternoon, I tided the two velvet curtains and laid under the sunlight. I took a long nap and when I woke up I started to read a book that I did not notice was laying beside me.
The first thing I realized was that the main protagonist of the book had the same last name as my family name.
The story took place in a fantasy world with three distinct countries in half hemisphere of the map.
“There are three main countries ruling the upper half of the hemisphere. The largest country is called Ra. Ra’s geography is mostly made up of deserts and rocky hills. They select their leader by competition of strength, resource, and intelligence. Raians are dark skinned, dark haired with grey eyes. The second largest country is called Eswell. Eswell is the strongest out of the three because of country’s emperor named Strafin Clufawom. Strafin is known for his cunning demeanor and brutality toward people of inferior origin. Eswellians cannot speak up to complain and to rebel, however, because Strafin maintains his army and enforces his law without fail. He also keeps most of his country happy through good water supplies and well-maintained roads. Eswellians have pale complexion, light colored hair, and mostly sapphire blue eyes (other colored eyes are rare to find). The third country is called Pilousian. Pilousian is known for their diversity and ports. The country makes its wealth through commerce. Because of its geographical advantage (surrounded by mountains and ocean) it rarely gets invaded by countries aiming to steal its wealth. Also it has strong navy which protects the sea. Pure Pilousians have orange hair, black eyes with light skin (not pale like Eswellians).”
I liked reading books aloud but after some time my voice wavered so I read the rest in my head.
Between Eswell and Pilousian, there is a small country called Seles. Eswell invades Seles to expand and to take advantage of Pilousian. Seles struggles for four years to protect its land but fails since it lacks resources. Eswell, then, asks Seles to send in one of king’s offspring to be raised in Eswellian court (hostage). King of Seles, Sidriel, had one daughter, three legitimate sons, two illegitimate daughters, and one illegitimate son. Sidriel does not hesitates and send his illegitimate son as a hostage, his name is Ramiel Doommantle.
It was a strange experience, following a character with a same last name as me.
Ramiel spends all his childhood being ignored by his family and staffs of the castle. The only person he relied on was his nanny, Tilda. In fact, Tilda was the only person whom Ramiel interacted with for the whole half of the story. Things do not go well for Ramiel and Tilda. In the end, Ramiel loses Tilda in Eswell and dies with a friend.
Ramiel’s friend needed to retrieve an object from Eswell palace but in the process they were discovered and died by the hands of a character name Iluz. Iluz was a crown prince of Eswell.
At the last page, I wiped down my face that was full of tears and mucus.
For some reason, I could not put down the book and felt overwhelmed throughout the whole story. I wailed like I lost someone dear to me for the whole evening. When I came to my senses, I was staring at the ceiling through thin slit created by my eye lids. I fell into a deep sleep.
Hinawary 