So Many Books, So Little Time

•Chapter Ten•

Saturday morning was overcast and rainy, Aleah's ideal day. As soon as breakfast and chores were over with, Robert drove his daughter to Inkland Adventures. Raindrops slipped down the storefront windows, and the occasional lighting bolt streaming across the dark sky lit the dreary world in a blast of thunder.

The past couple of days when she had been visiting the shop, Phoenix had become increasingly suspicious of her behavior and the way she had deflected his questions. She had done her best to prepare him for the truth: magic was fading once and for all. But every single time she had brought that particular subject up, he shot it down and gave her a perplexed look.

"I thought you liked magic," he'd said, his face full of betrayal and hurt. "Don't you want the dragons to come back?"

"Yes! More than anything!" she had replied truthfully, her heart heavy with sadness and guilt. "But what about the magic ink? It's fading, Phoenix. I saw it, and I still see it, every day."

"Well, did you talk to you dad yet?"

"He's coming here on Saturday."

And so on. Their conversations had gone in circles until she would leave to go home, and there she would confirm the plan with her father, always hoping he'd call it off. And now it was Saturday, the day she would crush her friend's lifelong hopes and dreams.

"Dad, why don't we just use the magic ink to bring magic back?" she asked suddenly, mentally beating herself up for not thinking of it sooner. "Maybe that's why there a few pages left in the book!"

But Robert was already shaking his head. "I'm sorry, honey, but if the magic is fading, there isn't enough of it to bring itself back. I wish there was, but it just isn't strong enough."

Aleah nodded, sighing in disappointment. She wondered what the blank pages were for, and she wondered why God wanted the dragons to die. Why did He direct her to the book if He didn't want her to use it or the information inside it? She was a mythicae halfwing, and she didn't even get to do anything with it! No adventure to right the wrongs and save everyone, and no hope for fixing the problem. Her luck (if you could call it that) in finding Magic Ink seemed pointless.

When they had parked as close as they could by Inkland Adventures, they had to rush inside the shelter of the bookshop to avoid being soaked to the bone. The rain was still pounding the ground at a steady pace, as if it were weeping for the soon-to-be magicless world. Despite their efforts, both of them were thoroughly drenched.

"Hey, Aleah," Phoenix greeted with a small smile from his favorite beanbag. "Hello, Aleah's Father. Nice to finally meet you."

He looks tired, Aleah noticed with a twinge of regret. I bet I wore him out with forcing him to talk about magic's end. I wish it didn't have to be this way; I wish I could fix it.

And that was when the two mythicae dragons tried to persuade the fireflare that the magic would never come back. It was a boring argument, really, and both sides of logic began to run in the same circles after awhile. During one of those seemingly endless loops, a brilliant idea popped into her head.

"Wait! Dad, I think I know what God wants us to do with the empty pages!" she cried excitedly, grinning at Phoenix.

The two men exchanged bewildered glances, but both of them were ready to listen to her idea, one she'd thought of the night before while praying. She hadn't given it any thought, dismissing it on the grounds of being too unrealistic, especially once her father had told her the ink couldn't bring the magic back. But now she realized that God had been prompting her to this, and had been giving her hints and nudges all throughout her life. What good was reading all those books about heroes and adventures if she never learned from them?

Aleah had been holding Magic Ink, of course, so she walked over to the cashier's desk and plucked a pen from a little cup of writing utensils Phoenix kept there. She found an empty page, inhaled and exhaled to reassure herself, and began writing.

***

My name is Aleah Blanc, and this is the last thing the magic ink will ever be used for. God has willed the ink to fade, but the dragons must live on. With the very last trickles of magic, I create the Realm of Dragons. This will be a place for the dragons to live peacefully, and where they cannot interfere with God's separate plan for humans. And I send the many books of this shop there as well, where no human will discover them.

If God wants people to find the dragons, He will show them a different path than these dusty old stories lying around. But there must be something here to keep the memory of magic alive, and so I also create fairies, werecreatures, and mythiarmors to keep the mages company. Send any dragons who wish to remain as such to this special realm, and notify the ones who have become human about what has been done.

•

The magic was able to compelete this last request before its inked form disappeared forever. The dragons now live safely inside their own realm away from the humans, where they cannot make a mess of other creatures' lives. If you wish to seek out the Realm of Dragons, search for the hidden portals around the world.

***

Epilogue

The Magic Ink book was complete, all its pages filled to the brim. It was passed down through the Blanc family to remind them of what was done, for Aleah had gone to live in the Realm of Dragons. The rest of her family did not join her then, but her two brothers eventually found a portal to lead them there. Inkland Adventures was no more, and Phoenix lived the rest of his life happily with a new mate. Aleah settled down as well, and everything was wonderful.

Until a human breached the realm, and sent it into chaos. But that's another story.

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