The World In A Book

Chapter 10 - The Book's Content

"Finally! The journey is over," said Robert.

"Who would believe that we actually made it back, and with the lost book too," exclaimed James.

The four walked to the village's front gates looking quite a mess from their adventure. Their cloths were ripped in various places. They had cuts and bruises all over their bodies.

"Hello," greeted James the guards waving his hand at them, "I'm back."

"Could it be...., JAMES," exclaimed the guards, "NO WAY! All four of you made it back from that disastrous mission AND ALIVE AT THAT!"

"I know! A surprise isn't it. We almost died once or twice but we managed to survive," said James.

"Man.., that mission took a long time. Almost a year," said Steve.

"I'm sure the chief would be happy to see you, and Sam too. We'll escort you guys there," said the guard.

"Ahh....! How I've missed this place," said James while he and his teammates were walking with the guards to the chief's house.

Daisy looked around and then a faint blush rushed to her cheeks. She remembered the place where she climbed up a tree to run away and hide from the guards when she was younger.

Their stroll down the village was a heartwarming one. Ease of mind washed away all of the suffering and agony they had endured during their journey.

*knock* *knock*

"Who's there," said the chief.

"James," said James.

"James who," said the chief.

"James with the lost book," said James.

"...," the chief slammed the door open almost breaking it and stared at them not believing what he had just heard.

"Now where would an old man get so much energy and power to do that," said James laughing.

"Y-you guys made it back alive, and with the lost book at that," said the chief in disbelief. He welcomed them, prepared them a meal, and started interrogating them about their journey.

"... and then James and Steve fell....," said Daisy.

"We climbed up the mountain....," said James.

"....a snake blew Daisy far away and we lost her...," said Robert.

"To think that you guys went through all of that and make it back alive. Not even missing limbs or fatally wounded. Now if I was the judge I would say that all of the punishments you guys endured as kids helped you achieve all of this," said the Chief.

"They certainly played their role," said James.

"Now the most important matter in all this, the fruit of the journey, the book," said the Chief extending his arm.

James handed the book over to the Chief.

"It was indeed a treasure that was worth risking it all for," said James.

The Chief opened the book, beaming lights rushed out of it illuminating the house, and the chief started reading.

The next day the people of the village gathered in the town's meeting hall.

"Order! Order," said one of the guards trying to calm the people down.

"As you all know the heroes have made it back. Everyone honor these heroes that have managed to achieve what many couldn't," said Sam standing in front of the crowd.

James, Steve, Robert, and Daisy walked in order in rather flamboyant clothing. The entire crowd was cheering  and clapping for them as they sat down behind Sam.

"And now we welcome our wise Chief who has made all of this possible with his careful planning and management. Everyone cheer for CHIEF LEO," said Sam as the curtains were lifted revealing the chief.

The chief walked towards where Sam was standing while Sam headed towards the crowd and sat with them. The entire village was eager to learn of the book's content.

"Ahm....," the chief cleared his throat signaling the crowd to quiet down. "Our ancestors were indeed people of great knowledge and wisdom," said the chief, "we were a nation revered by many, and the other nations testify to that. With great prosperity nothing was out of our reach. The entire world was ours, we were unstoppable, or so we thought. A simple incident destroyed all of that. Enemies attempted to erase all of what we had by burning down our library and scholars to the ground, and they succeeded. Only one book was saved duo to the actions of a brave hero, but at the cost of his life. A cost he surly wouldn't have thought twice about paying. A second brave hero who had knowledge of these lands took it upon him to safeguard the lone surviving book and hid it in a place he knew was tough to get to in order to protect it and he left a map for us to retrieve the book when the time was suitable. Many have tried, nearly all died, and none were able to retrieve the book until now. These four heroes trained their hearts, souls, and bodies for ten years in preparation for the journey and they have succeeded. They have retrieved the book. They will be responsible for our village regaining its former glory."

 Anticipation filled the atmosphere. Everyone was waiting for the Chief to tell them what the book was.

"The book that survived the fire was a book of wisdom. There is nothing like it. I have read what I could of it last night, and in it I have traveled all the way to the past way before anything existed and to the future. I saw the universe's birth and humankind's creation. The book also laid out this world's detailed fate in front of me. No longer was the future a mystery. The book spoke of Adam and Eve. It spoke of Moses and Jesus. It spoke of how the sea was cut in half. It spoke of how humanity fell down from the heavens!" the chief's voice thundered across the hall.

Murmuring and chatter filled the atmosphere.

"The book was wondrous. It guided to salvation. It spoke of its predecessors called the Torah and the Bible. It detailed the lives of great men in it. It spoke of Jesus the son of Mary who was born through a miracle with no father as a sign to humanity from the everlasting lord. It spoke of how the lord gave this man, Jesus, the power to heal the sick and restore sight to the blind as signs so that the people would follow him, but unfortunately they erred and swayed from the path. They started worshiping him instead of the everlasting lord. As a final warning to humanity the lord sent his apostle Mohammed with this book the Quran ordering them to worship non other than him and to the parents great kindness to be shown."