Karma's Rhage (Book 1)

Chapter 4

Justus Rhage 

"Okay this is a little harder than i thought." I say as i stood there looking at the wall of books that were staring back at me. I had been in the bull street library for about 30 mins and couldn't find what I was looking for. I honestly didn't know what i was looking for exactly, but it's a better chance of figuring out how to understand those files that i had at home. " I need to hurry, that dog probably damaging the inside of my car." I sighed. I was too nervous to leave him home since i didn't know how long i was gonna be, leaving him in the car seemed like the next best thing.  At least the windows were rolled down to where he can peek his head out.

" Hi, is there anything i can help you with?"  The librarian came with a cart of returned books putting them back in their right section. She was an older black lady with beautiful charcoal grey locs tied up in a bun. She wore a black dress with sandals and a red cardigan draped over her shoulders" Yes, I was looking for some history books about Africa?"  I asked. " That whole row there should have something." She pointed to the books in front of me. " Yeah, most of it talks about the 17th century and up, I was thinking more of an earlier era like the 12th century maybe." 

" That would be on the third floor in African studies." She states. 

"Africans Studies?" I Questioned. I didn't think that was a thing. " Yes, it is history before the enslavement and colonization of Africa.  Rich cultures and Stories....our truth.....our bloodline." She says as she stands there as if she was in the middle of a memory. " You should be able to find something up there." She smiled softly as she continued putting the books up. I went to the stairs climbing them until i got to the third floor. 

African Studies in bold black letters engraved on the side of the shelves where the books sat.  I walked down the aisle looking at the books. A lot of them were African Mythology, Discovered/Forbidden Cites, and Cultures/Traditions books. They all were interesting and i would check some of them out if i had the time, but none of them is what i was looking for. I sighed bout to give up until I looked above me to see this black leather book that looked out of place. I grabbed it feeling how heavy it was.  " There must be thousands of pages in here." I say looking at it. The texture of the book seems old, but it was in good condition. My breath was caught in my throat when I looked at the front of it. It had the symbols like the necklace and map.....like the ones in my dreams. I rubbed my hand across it and jumped as it glowed. I dropped it on the floor as it seemed to glow brighter. It started to softly tremble then aggressively shake.  As much as I wanted to run, i walk closer to it. I kneeled down getting closer to the light. It opened by itself showing more light. But in the mist of it i could see more of the symbols. I slowly go to touch the book as it started to dim.

" The hell was that?" I say holding the book in my hand as i look around the room. Did that really just happen?

" Find everything okay?" I jumped to see the older lady behind me smiling softly. " Uh yes mam." I chuckled nervously as i held the book to my chest. " The book of Alkebulan, good choice." She says.

Alkebulan?

"Alkebulan....is that what this says on the front?" I asked looking down at the book.  " Yes, it is in arawanehian, a dead language...dead here anyways. " She sighed rubbing her hand across the front. "Um is there an English version of this book?" She looked up at me as if i said something disrespectful making me feel small by the second. She cleared her throat as that soft smile returned back to her. " I'm Sorry i'm afraid not. This book is original and the fact that you even hold it in your hands is an honor. I'm sure you won't have trouble reading it. " She says.  " Mam no disrespect, but i can't understand this language." I say as i open the book to see if any of the pages had any English writing, but it didn't.