World Of Fire (Arula: Five)

Epilogue

"We shouldn't be up here." Said a young boy as he climbed the attic stairs after his big brother. The older boy ignored his brother as he poked his head through the ceiling doorway. He looked around the dark musty attic. Boxes, old furniture, and holiday decorations scattered the room. The older boy walked up and pulled on the string to light the single light bulb. The younger boy slowly followed his brother, often times glancing at the stairs to see if anybody was coming. The oldest notice this.

"Don't be paranoid, Tommy." He said walking over to the circular window and peering out. The older boy could see far beyond the farmland property in which their grandparents owned out in the countryside of Georgia. The older boy didn't know how long the old farmhouse has been there, but he was told that his grandparents were the first to move in with their two children, their aunt, who was seven at the time, and their father who was four. The older boy, being thirteen, wondered where his parents were born at. He was told they weren't exact born around these parts but didn't explain further than that.

"I'm not paranoid, Ben," the younger boy, Tommy, said. "I just don't want to get in trouble." The older boy, Ben, scoff at his little brother.

"Only if we get caught." He said walking away from the window and exploring the attic. "I mean come on how often do we get to explore our grandparents' home? Not often." Tommy looked at the stairs one last time before deciding to join his brother in the exploring. The little boy shrugged.

"I-I don't know. I just don't want dad to get angry." Tommy, being nine, was always afraid of getting into trouble, not yet reaching his rebellious age yet.

"Well dad went on business trip, remember?" Ben said opening a box and wafting through it finding old stuff animals and dolls. He closed the box.

"Yeah, but grandma and grandpa would tell." The little boy said walking over to an old chest.

"Doubt it." Ben said moving on to the next box. Sighing, Tommy opened up the chest to reveal a bunch of yellowed papers. Curiously, Tommy rummaged through the papers. The papers had sketches on them Tommy had saw. Most of them of mythical creatures and people. Eager, Tommy sat crisscrossed and continued to look through. Tommy enjoyed to see the sketches of elves, gnomes, and dwarves, and of fairies, goblins, and ogres. It all intrigued the young boy, especially of the creatures he didn't know about. Some of the sketches were of giant wolves, a hybrid of some type of horse, a fox with a really long tongue and tail, and cat that looked to be disappearing. There were even drawings of dragons. He liked those the most.

Digging further in, Tommy discovered something at the bottom. Leaning in, the young boy pulled out an old book. The book was totally destroyed. It looked like it had been through a fire! The book had a dark red cover with a dragon etched into it. The corners of the book were nonexistent and looked like a mouse had chewed through them. There was a broken lock on the book as well. It hung lifelessly from the edge of the cover. Opening the book, the young boy saw that pages were ruined. They were charred and curled up. Careful not to rip the pages, Tommy skimmed through it, but the pages were so damaged that the boy could not make out the details.

After having gone through most of the boxes, Ben saw that his brother's intense interest on the pile of papers and the book he held. Walking over, Ben looked at the papers that Tommy had discarded next to him. The young boy then peered into the chest again to see if anything else was in it. Ben took the book from Tommy as the young boy started to dig again. Ben didn't see the big deal about the book but was curious of its origins and why their grandparents would hold on to something that was ruined. Opening to the first page, Ben could make out these couple words, Ben read aloud the incitation butchering most of the words. When he finished, he huffed in thought. "I wonder what that means."

Tommy pulled back from the chest and brought two things out with him. One was an object that looked like a broken handle and small box. The boy first examined the broken handle. He found what looked to be a button on the side of it and pushed. Tommy let out a yelp when a blade extended out from the handle. "Awesome..." Tommy breathed, and Ben looked at the dagger with concerned. Why would his grandparents have such a dangerous weapon unattended in a box?

Curious to see what was in the box, the young boy opened it to reveal three small items. A coin that had a moon and sun on one side and a star on the other, a ring with that had an orange jewel resting on top. When the young boy picked up the ring and took a closer look, he could see the sun gleaming inside. "Cool." Tommy said. The last item was a small key. The key was silver with a dragon resting on top of it. When Tommy picked up the key, a broken chain followed it. Tommy looked at the key then at the book. "I think this goes with it." He said.

"You think what goes with what?" Came a voice from the attic stairs. The boys jumped and Tommy dropped the key on the pile of papers.

"S-sorry, grandma!" Tommy said trying to put everything back in the chest. "We were... we were... just..."

"Being nosy?" Their grandma inquired as she came up the attic stairs and joined her grandsons. Their grandma was no more than in her sixties, with dull red hair and bright green eyes. She wore her traditional summer tank top with leggings. On her right arm was nasty scar that the boys were always curious about. Their grandma picked up the key that Tommy had dropped. She held it in her palms and smiled. Her winkles outlining her face as she did so. "I haven't seen this in years." She said rubbing her thumb over the dragon. Her eyes flickered over to Ben who held the book. She motioned for the boy to hand it over and he did without complaint. Ben and Tommy watched as their grandmother looked at the book as if she were in a different world completely.

"You know," she said. "There was a time when you could put things on paper, and they would come alive." The brothers glanced at each other. What was she talking about?

"Um, Grandma," Tommy said catching her attention. "What are these?" Their grandma picked up a piece of paper with the sketch of the fox on it. She smiled.

"Why, these are my creations of course!" She stood up, her knees popping as she did so. "But that was a long time ago, I am afraid."

"What was?" Ben prod and his grandma gave him a playful look.

"Always the analytic, aren't you, Benny?" Ben cringed at his nickname. His grandmother chuckled. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Yes we would!" Tommy said quickly and his grandmother laughed.

"Oh, I know you would, Tommy. Always the imaginary." She chuckled again and started to gather up the papers, looking at each sketch as she did so. "Why don't you boys help me put these papers away and I can make some lemonade and I'll tell you the story about the girl and the magical book."

"The magical book?" Ben questioned. "Come on, let's get real, grandma, there is no such thing as magic." His grandma hmphed and continued on putting the papers back into the chest. She picked up the retractable dagger, pushed the button so the blade went back into the handle, and tossed it into the chest. Tommy, eager to hear the story, and drink some delicious homemade lemonade, helped put away the papers. When they were done, Tommy bounded down the wooden stairs shouting,

"I'll get the pitchers and lemons ready!" His grandmother chuckled to herself and grabbed the small box where she put the key back. She stared at the other two items, enjoying the brief memory that passed through her mind. Placing it back into the chest, she closed the lid.

"What does those words mean?" Ben asked pointing to the book his grandmother still held. Drumming her long fingers on the book, she stared at the boy's identical eyes. Grinning, she said,

"You'll just have to hear my story to find out, now won't you?" Ben gave his grandmother a weary look. Patting her grandson on the shoulders, she pointed to the stairs with her book. "Let's go join your brother, mm? You know he'll be pestering us to come." His grandmother placed the burnt book on the closed chest and guided Ben down the stairs.

"Um, yeah." Ben said allowing his grandma to guide him. But just before his head completely left the attic room, he gave one last look at the book and wondered if what his grandmother said was true.