The Enchantments: Book 4 - The Key of Mulastef

Chapter 8: Book of Futures

The feeling of inevitable doom crossed her mind as she drifted through the body of the ghostly spirit. Images awash in spiral colors wafted across her vision never being able to concentrate on one scene over another. The swirl of everything mixed in a band of indecipherable gibberish. That is until her vision started to become clearer as the cloud of confusion blew away and when events began to unravel before her the stark reality of where she now stood made her shiver ever more than before.

Simeneon stood on the great platform just off to the side of the great wizards executed for atrocities against the great emperor Raheme and his daughter. He had relied on them to protect the empire but their greed and unwavering admiration of Heldom, the god who had corrupted them to kill the emperor and his beautiful young daughter.

The evening was bright and hot, but she couldn't feel the warmth in any way. The sun was hanging just over the horizon turning the people and the architecture a beautiful shade of orange. She wondered if this was done to enhance the overall effect of the curse that was about to rain down upon these horrific men. She took a glance at the coffin of Roanna the emperor's daughter and the feeling of loss swept through her again. She knew she wouldn't have been this far along without the girl's help in the pyramid. What a waste she thought then looked back at the head wizard.

She took in a deep breath and looked around her as the lead wizard began the curse. Three other brightly clad cloaked wizards stood to her left, and she noticed one in particular. Mogat in the middle started out among the group unaware of Simeneon who was now stepping in front of him. He looked younger than he did now and much more alive. He wore dark green robes spotted with outlines of owls in multiple colors down the length of the robes. His eyes were bright and angry. Of course where they have now explained the look but what caught her attention more was the large volume he held perched in his open hands. At least five inches thick this book covered in a medium brown cover that seemed well used glowed a slight greenish tint in the advancing night.

Trying to see the writing in the book she scoffed that the wizard was much taller than she and seeing the contents would have been impossible if something else didn't catch her attention. Mogat was chanting, and with each high inflection of his voice, the glow on the cover would pulse.

The book intrigued her; it was tied to this man in more ways than one. It listened to him and followed his every word. What was this book? Why did she feel its importance was monumental to her?

"That book is of no concern to you." A voice echoed in her mind.

It took her a few moments to comprehend what she was hearing. She was looking at the figure of Mogat in front of her, but the voice didn't match the words coming from the man's mouth. She realized at last that it was the ghost speaking. Then something else resonated through her mind.

"Why would you say something about the book if it wasn't important?"

Silence. She knew she had struck a nerve.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you." He said hesitantly.

Fine, she told herself. You can't tell me anything, but there's nothing saying I can't find out on my own.

He remained silent giving her the confidence she knew she was right, the book was everything, and that's why she was here. With her limited time, she had to find out the secrets of the book Mogat carried, and she had to do it fast before the spirit she now occupied left her unable to escape. At this point, she didn't know if he would even let her?

Her head hurt badly, and she was cold, oh so cold, a cold that could go right through to the bone. Realizing her time was short she knew drastic measures needed to be taken to get the information. That's when she did something she hadn't expected yet knew was the right approach. She reached out into the memories of Mogat and took in his experiences finding the time when everything made sense, and the answers she sought shown in full color before her.