The Book of Immortality

Part Two

Updated: February 15, 2020

Light and dark green leaves covered the overhead view of the young girl. The small rays of the sunset sky shone through the individual leaves leaving bright red, yellow, and orange splotches of sunlight on the forest floor. The vibrant colors drowned Ikkan in its beauty.

She had absolutely loved nature. Living out in the wild with the creatures was a dream Ikkan had since forever, but because she's betrothed to the Eldest Chief's grandson and will eventually have to live with him, she doesn't have this opportunity of her dreams. Beast Hunting, luckily, grants her the time to travel into the wilderness to explore and experience something she probably won't be able to as much later in life.

Soon, the last light from the sun disappeared and all that was left was the small lights of the dancing fireflies, the small specks of light in the dark sky, and the full moon, which had risen up to replace the sun. Though without much light, the fourteen-year-old continued her trek, ignoring the buzzing insects flying into her face, her sword dragging behind her. The large trees and other greenery in the surrounding area began to thin out. In front of her, she could see the dark outline of the mountains and hills, the Valley of Dragons, where all dragons are born and buried and where the Book of Immortality was said to be located.

Excited to see the hills, she broke into a run, swinging the heavy black sword over her shoulder, wanting to have the ancient spellbook of curses in her hands. She could already imagine it, the heavy, old dragon leather book, filled with thousands of pages of spells and curses. She could feel the brown, crusty pages as she flips from one spell to another. She could see herself casting ancient spells and curses. The Book of Immortality was all she could see, all she could think about.

The path she took was made of dirt and sprung up as she ran towards the large cave on the side of a tall mountain. The opening had to at least be the size of the garden back in the tribe village.

She stopped right before stepping into the dark cave, leaning her beast hunting sword against the stone and taking a quick rest.

Inside was dark and pitch black, but she stepped in bravely, bringing the ten-foot sword with her. Having the powers of darkness and poison, she had originally thought that she would be able to see in the darkness just fine, but oh how she was wrong. Even so, she continued with her sword screeching behind her, scraping against the stone as she used the soles of her bare feet to feel her way deeper into the cave.

The floor of the cave was wet, so every step she had to make was careful. She couldn't just slip and get injured, not now at least.

Eventually, some strange patterns could be felt on the floor. It would be flat, then rocky. It felt like the same patterns as the paths back in the tribe where there would be flat stone and then some round rocks embedded into the ground.

As she walked, her vision adjusted to the darkness slowly, and a small light seemed to come from further into the cave. She stopped for a moment and looked the way she came, hoping that she would still see some light from outside, but of course, there was only darkness. She had gone in too far. The entrance to the cave was invisible, covered up by the winding tunnel of the cave. Ikkan then turned back to the direction she was walking and continued down the path, sword still screeching as the light ahead became brighter.

Something smelled burnt, like the burning scent of coal or wood. Fire suddenly appeared in front of her, as she had stepped on something that sank into the stone floor. The fire that lit lined the path she had just walked.

Staring at the patterns and the mechanics she just activated, whatever this was was made on purpose. It felt like it was a secret temple for a god or goddess. Strange for a temple to be kept in secret, but she didn't think much of it and continued down the rest of the embedded stone path.