Inside Ammy's shop was her son Merlin dressed up light-blue, long-sleeve sweater and a long, white skirt. Merlin always heard about his father wearing girly clothes, so he thought it was okay that he did too. He was poking at books and relaxing on couches and in chairs while he read. He had spent maybe half the day there taking random books and attempting to read them. The young boy could not really read in all honesty, but he would try. Only some words he could identify and very few he could even pronounce. Mostly, he was just enjoying books with pictures in them thinking they were neat to look at even though they were not what he was looking for.
His curiosities had him looking for something far more different than just pretty pictures. He was in his late teen years since the Ebony Knight messed him up. While Merlin still had lots of nightmares, there was a mysterious temptation to understand why everything happened. He wanted to know what chaos was, why he had it too, whether or not it was good or evil. On top of everything, his big sister, Myrlene, resurrected him and he made some kind of oath with her. Even though he was so young in actual age and lacked understanding of many things he wanted to protect himself and his family from people like the Knight.
The tempting interest from him was not about becoming powerful for he sake of power. Merlin was scared that things might happen again. His mother lost her arm and knew she had a fake one, Lene's son Calcifer was turned into some wild dragon and killed him, Mako was tortured, Zhara was changed into some creature. Merlin may have been ignorant on trying to understand a lot of things, but he did understand what happened to the others during the capture.
While many thoughts rumbled through his head, he put a book back on the shelf and looked through the others that he could at least reach. That was when Merlin came across a book that had a vibe coming from it, as if pulling at Merlin's curiosity to come read it's pages. His paw moved to the book that had strange energies about it and he pulled the book from the shelf. His eyes stared at the shiny, green hard cover of this book. It seemed kind of big, too. He couldn't estimate how many pages since he barely knew how to count, but he knew it was a lot for sure.
The young boy moved over to the couch and sat down with the book in his lap. He noticed there was no words on the cover or spine like most books. Slowly he opened the book noticing the first page was blank. Then flipped to the next page. It was blank too. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and so on. Merlin didn't understand this. Why was there a book with empty pages? It was then when he flipped to another page and something nearly scared him back to death.
"What are you doing looking in my pages for!?" A voice screamed in his head. It caused Merlin to yip and throw the book to the floor and he backed to the other end of the couch curling up in fear. "Oh, then you throw me on the floor? A book does not belong on the floor. It belongs on a shelf! You're one disrespectful little runt, you know."
The thought of a book that talked on its own scared Merlin at first in real life, but then again maybe it was like one of those really neat books he always saw in cartoons. If dragons, fairies and other things existed in Rhy'Din, why not neat talking books? He slowly moved off the couch to go get the book and then sat down on the couch again. "Sorry.. I uhm... uhm... no know... book talk. No mean to hurt. Just.. want to find stuff."
"Stuff? Stuff!? I hate that word! It is so vague, but I'll forgive you for now. You lack so much knowledge for your physical age, Merlin Wolf-Spiritor. Yes, yes, I know your name. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Not like I can. I am a book. So, what is this 'stuff' you are looking for, Merlin?" the book replied to the young boy.
"Uhm.. Want to know what... chaos is... want know spells to protect. But... but you blank." Merlin said back to the book softly. Even though there was an interestingly talking book, this whole thing was weird and was still unsure if he should feel excited or scared.
"Mmm, chaos. That could take so long to explain. You're asking more than you can bargain for, Merlin, but I sense more about you. Oh yes, you are connected to chaos. Maybe a spawn of it yourself. Mmm, it has been a long time. I am a spawn of something chaotic. I am billions of years old, Merlin. I came here as someone spoke my name, someone familiar, someone I know, but I know it was not you. Nonetheless, this is most perfect. I should introduce myself. I am Ghum'zar Ler Aldriota. In your language, that means Evil-Book of Aldriota. Don't worry... I'm not really evil. People just say I am. What can a book do that's so evil?" As the book explained to Merlin and introduced itself, it's name would appear on the cover of the book.
Merlin's head tilted to the side in confusion. How could a book be evil and he was sure he wasn't a spawn of chaos. "I from mama and daddy... I not spawn of chaos. Why say you evil?"
Ghum'zar chuckled in Merlin's mind amused at his answer. "That is response. As to why I am evil is a long story. To sum it up for you, people have very bad views about me because I don't like some people. Dragons, Lupinossai, elves, Grools, Fooners, Vonas, some types of humans and others I find acceptable. I do have a page inside me listing who are acceptable, if you can find the page. I do have 10 thousand pages inside me even though I may look like I only have 500 pages. On the plus side, you could learn so much magic and life-essential knowledge from me, Merlin. All you have to do is read. Not that you need to learn more magic as you are chaos touched. You can do anything. You can blow up a planet by sneezing. You could create another universe with a simple look. You are the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end."
Merlin went wide-eyed hearing the book. He could do those things? He thought the random items and things that always appeared around him were just Rhy'Din being silly and not actually him. "I do that?" he said softly then looked back down at the book, opened it up again and now saw the book was full of words and some images. Merlin frowned though. "I no read good."
"Nor do you speak well. Let me assist my prince of chaos here so you can set forth your journey to become powerful. Why is it you are curious for power by the way?" The book would ask before it sent a jolt of energy into Merlin's mind.
The boy yipped a little in surprise feeling the surge of magical energy go into his mind. It freaked him out at first and felt strange, although no pain happened. Suddenly, he knew how to read and before he spoke he had a different thought on words and how to speak. It was like spontaneous enlightenment and it all seemed to make sense to him now. "I.. I just want to... protect family. I died... sister revived me and uhm... made me take an oath to love them and keep her safe. I don't want bad things to happen anymore." It felt weird to him knowing how to speak properly since he was so used to broken speech.
"Then read me, Merlin. Read to your hearts desire. I am a book of knowledge. Not to just one subject, but many. Hundreds, thousands of different topics. How to play instruments, how to make origami, how to shape-shift and so much more! I have the knowledge you seek about understanding chaos better. I can teach you how to control it, so can Ferunoth. Yes, yes, I know that dragon lives here. I can sense those who have read me. I expect him soon. Until he arrives, read me, Merlin. Read."
Merlin just listened to the book without a word. He couldn't think of a response at all to Ghum'zar. He didn't see the harm in reading though and he was feeling more tempted to find out now. He could read above all things and understood everything in this book. If anything, Merlin was extremely excited and began flipping through page after page wanting to find what might interest him and what he'd want to know.
His curiosities had him looking for something far more different than just pretty pictures. He was in his late teen years since the Ebony Knight messed him up. While Merlin still had lots of nightmares, there was a mysterious temptation to understand why everything happened. He wanted to know what chaos was, why he had it too, whether or not it was good or evil. On top of everything, his big sister, Myrlene, resurrected him and he made some kind of oath with her. Even though he was so young in actual age and lacked understanding of many things he wanted to protect himself and his family from people like the Knight.
The tempting interest from him was not about becoming powerful for he sake of power. Merlin was scared that things might happen again. His mother lost her arm and knew she had a fake one, Lene's son Calcifer was turned into some wild dragon and killed him, Mako was tortured, Zhara was changed into some creature. Merlin may have been ignorant on trying to understand a lot of things, but he did understand what happened to the others during the capture.
While many thoughts rumbled through his head, he put a book back on the shelf and looked through the others that he could at least reach. That was when Merlin came across a book that had a vibe coming from it, as if pulling at Merlin's curiosity to come read it's pages. His paw moved to the book that had strange energies about it and he pulled the book from the shelf. His eyes stared at the shiny, green hard cover of this book. It seemed kind of big, too. He couldn't estimate how many pages since he barely knew how to count, but he knew it was a lot for sure.
The young boy moved over to the couch and sat down with the book in his lap. He noticed there was no words on the cover or spine like most books. Slowly he opened the book noticing the first page was blank. Then flipped to the next page. It was blank too. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and so on. Merlin didn't understand this. Why was there a book with empty pages? It was then when he flipped to another page and something nearly scared him back to death.
"What are you doing looking in my pages for!?" A voice screamed in his head. It caused Merlin to yip and throw the book to the floor and he backed to the other end of the couch curling up in fear. "Oh, then you throw me on the floor? A book does not belong on the floor. It belongs on a shelf! You're one disrespectful little runt, you know."
The thought of a book that talked on its own scared Merlin at first in real life, but then again maybe it was like one of those really neat books he always saw in cartoons. If dragons, fairies and other things existed in Rhy'Din, why not neat talking books? He slowly moved off the couch to go get the book and then sat down on the couch again. "Sorry.. I uhm... uhm... no know... book talk. No mean to hurt. Just.. want to find stuff."
"Stuff? Stuff!? I hate that word! It is so vague, but I'll forgive you for now. You lack so much knowledge for your physical age, Merlin Wolf-Spiritor. Yes, yes, I know your name. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Not like I can. I am a book. So, what is this 'stuff' you are looking for, Merlin?" the book replied to the young boy.
"Uhm.. Want to know what... chaos is... want know spells to protect. But... but you blank." Merlin said back to the book softly. Even though there was an interestingly talking book, this whole thing was weird and was still unsure if he should feel excited or scared.
"Mmm, chaos. That could take so long to explain. You're asking more than you can bargain for, Merlin, but I sense more about you. Oh yes, you are connected to chaos. Maybe a spawn of it yourself. Mmm, it has been a long time. I am a spawn of something chaotic. I am billions of years old, Merlin. I came here as someone spoke my name, someone familiar, someone I know, but I know it was not you. Nonetheless, this is most perfect. I should introduce myself. I am Ghum'zar Ler Aldriota. In your language, that means Evil-Book of Aldriota. Don't worry... I'm not really evil. People just say I am. What can a book do that's so evil?" As the book explained to Merlin and introduced itself, it's name would appear on the cover of the book.
Merlin's head tilted to the side in confusion. How could a book be evil and he was sure he wasn't a spawn of chaos. "I from mama and daddy... I not spawn of chaos. Why say you evil?"
Ghum'zar chuckled in Merlin's mind amused at his answer. "That is response. As to why I am evil is a long story. To sum it up for you, people have very bad views about me because I don't like some people. Dragons, Lupinossai, elves, Grools, Fooners, Vonas, some types of humans and others I find acceptable. I do have a page inside me listing who are acceptable, if you can find the page. I do have 10 thousand pages inside me even though I may look like I only have 500 pages. On the plus side, you could learn so much magic and life-essential knowledge from me, Merlin. All you have to do is read. Not that you need to learn more magic as you are chaos touched. You can do anything. You can blow up a planet by sneezing. You could create another universe with a simple look. You are the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end."
Merlin went wide-eyed hearing the book. He could do those things? He thought the random items and things that always appeared around him were just Rhy'Din being silly and not actually him. "I do that?" he said softly then looked back down at the book, opened it up again and now saw the book was full of words and some images. Merlin frowned though. "I no read good."
"Nor do you speak well. Let me assist my prince of chaos here so you can set forth your journey to become powerful. Why is it you are curious for power by the way?" The book would ask before it sent a jolt of energy into Merlin's mind.
The boy yipped a little in surprise feeling the surge of magical energy go into his mind. It freaked him out at first and felt strange, although no pain happened. Suddenly, he knew how to read and before he spoke he had a different thought on words and how to speak. It was like spontaneous enlightenment and it all seemed to make sense to him now. "I.. I just want to... protect family. I died... sister revived me and uhm... made me take an oath to love them and keep her safe. I don't want bad things to happen anymore." It felt weird to him knowing how to speak properly since he was so used to broken speech.
"Then read me, Merlin. Read to your hearts desire. I am a book of knowledge. Not to just one subject, but many. Hundreds, thousands of different topics. How to play instruments, how to make origami, how to shape-shift and so much more! I have the knowledge you seek about understanding chaos better. I can teach you how to control it, so can Ferunoth. Yes, yes, I know that dragon lives here. I can sense those who have read me. I expect him soon. Until he arrives, read me, Merlin. Read."
Merlin just listened to the book without a word. He couldn't think of a response at all to Ghum'zar. He didn't see the harm in reading though and he was feeling more tempted to find out now. He could read above all things and understood everything in this book. If anything, Merlin was extremely excited and began flipping through page after page wanting to find what might interest him and what he'd want to know.