Amity

Chapter 38: The Crystallized Ring

The students all filed in; the room was brightly lit with a soft piano playing from the speakers. Glass cases protected the ancient armors and weapons of warriors past. A thick book was set on a pedestal in front of the entrance, its pages yellowed with age.

"Welcome to the Hall of Legends museum. This museum has kept the armor and weapons of our past King of Elements, as well as any diaries we could recover. This book you see here-" McManus tapped on the glass case of the book with his fingernails, "is the diary of Reiax de Amita. It was recovered about half a century ago in the basement of the academy. Nobody knows exactly how it got there, nor can they tell what it says. As you can see, it's written in some kind of weird symbols that not even our greatest minds can decipher."

The students all gathered around the book, some having to stand on the tips of their toes just to get a good look of it. The shutters on their cell phones snapped as they took pictures from every conceivable angle. Dré, however, simply stared at the book, reading its pages:

Some creatures accumulated in a forest close to my family's castle. They've dark, inky skin, elongated heads and arms, and blood-red claws. I overheard someone give them the name "Edge Walker," as they prowl the edges of the forest for any victims unfortunate enough to get too close. I have decided to turn this castle into a school to help my people control their powers after my father was slain in the Slave Rebellion. We are, however, having much difficulty in the reconstruction of my family's castle. The creatures attack those who I have hired for this dangerous task, and I fear that they will all abandon the task to spare their lives. I will show no ill will if they do, in fact, I cannot say I am surprised. So, in order to ensure my people get the education they truly need, I will devote any time I have to protect those who wish to help in the reconstruction.

Did Dré's eyes deceive him? Reiax's diary was there, written in complete English, even though McManus had just said it was in a completely different language, one that even the greatest minds couldn't read. He wanted to tell McManus that he could read it, however considering that he had seen two people vanish in thin air in the building, he figured that he was just seeing things.

"I wonder what this all says," he heard Kimmy say beside him.

"You mean you can't read it?" Dré had said, slapping his hand over his mouth as soon as he did. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was crazy.

"What do you mean?"

Dré gave a quick breath of relief as he expected her to say something about him going crazy and never wanting to talk to him again. He thought of how he could fix this situation. "I mean, well, it looks like you could see something in the... random squiggles," he lied, trying to imagine how these words looked.

McManus gestured the group onward. "I suppose so," Kimmy said. "Did you see anything in it?"

Crap. That was a question Dré definitely hadn't intended on getting. "Well, no," he lied again, "but then again, I don't have much of an imagination."

My God, I've lied so much in so little time.

McManus led the class to a black samurai clothing under a black chest plate with a red trim. Sitting under the samurai hakama was a book of its own. The book was made of a rugged leather, worn out by time. Its pages were slightly yellowed, paling in comparison to the first diary they had seen. "This belonged to our last King of Elements, as well as one of my best friends, Hiro Yagami. He fought valiantly against a resurrected Aggaron the Dark, but unfortunately passed away shortly after the battle. Question?"

"This book looks pretty old. If Hiro was actually your friend, exactly how old are you?" an Apprentice had asked.

"Ah, excellent question. You won't believe it, but I'm actually fifty-eight years old." The students stared at him in disbelief. "What? I told you that you wouldn't believe me. Amians have a much longer life expectancy than humans. I think that in human years, I'm about thirty-one or so-"