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Chapter 20 - The Book

As soon as she returned to her room, she sat at her desk and opened the book to see what it contained.

It wasn't a very large book, perhaps only 50 pages or so, and it looked rather old and tattered. She couldn't see an author on the cover, or even find one inside so she didn't know anything about its origins. She flipped through the first few pages with illustrations of what she believed to be water nymphs until she came to the first page with words.

"Stories of old speak of a being with great power, trapped within a body of water that constantly moves. Trapped by a member of the goddess race, he was doomed to wander about the world, seeing, but never to be seen, hearing, but never to be heard.

"But before the sealing of his curse could be completed, he took possession of the goddess' mind. Though he did not have the power to reverse what she had already enacted, he was able to manipulate her into leaving a possibility of escape.

"If the man sealed his powers within another, the prison of water would cease to recognize him as the same person and he would be set free.

"Once the curse was sealed, the man released the goddess' mind and the body of water relocated. Knowing that eventually, the man would find a way to bestow his powers to another and regain them once free, the goddess poured her remaining powers into a talisman and left it with the lycan king along with a message to give the talisman to whomever obtained the powers of the prisoner."

Though there were more pages in the book, they were left blank. Even so, something about the story resonated with Damia and she wanted to find out more about the prisoner. As she contemplated returning to the library to search the shelf where she had found this book, a knock came on her door.

She walked towards it and opened it to find Adi standing on the other side.

"Hi milady, did you want to go to the library today?"

"Where have you been all day? I was expecting you much earlier than this."

Adi bashfully ruffled his light brown hair which looked to have been recently slept on.

"I took a book with me from the library yesterday and started reading once I got to my room. By the time I put it down, I realized it was already morning and had not gone to bed so I slept in until now."

Damia laughed, "I don't think you've ever slept in late a day in your life. Who are you and what have you done with my Adi?"

"You're hilarious, Princess. So... the library?"

"Actually no. I've had enough of that place for one day. Thanks to your late night, I spent the day with the Marquis in the library. He's truly an awful man."

"Awful? Surely you exaggerate."

"I do, I just didn't like that he is so presumptuous."

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"Not particularly, no. Had you been responsible, you would have been able to spare me, but since you did not take my feelings into consideration, you don't get to hear about it now." She was teasing of course, and Adi could tell so he laughed.

Returning her thoughts to the book from earlier, she decided to see if Adi could shed any light on the story.

"I picked up this book from the library. It seemed that no matter where I turned, it would find a way to catch my attention. Do you know anything about it?"

Adi took the book Damia was handing to him.

"Hidden in the Mist? Sounds like a folktale story book to me."

He flipped through the pages but they were blank so he handed it back to her.

"Are you joking with me? Why are you asking me about a blank book?"

Damia was surprised and opened the book again, but she still saw everything that was in the book before so she kept the book open and pointed at the first passage.

"What are you talking about? The words are right there, you don't see them?"

Adi looked again, but it was still blank so he shook his head.

"How very strange. Here, I'll read the story to you."

Damia read off everything she could see in the book to Adi and once she was done, she waited for his response.

"I've never heard of such a story before, but what I would really like to know is why such a story appears to you, but not me. I wonder if anyone else would see the words like you."

"We could always ask the guard outside."

"We better not. As your companion, I'm struggling to believe that you aren't playing some kind of trick on me. If we bring anyone else on this, they may think we're playing a trick on them too. Or that you've simply lost your mind." He grinned widely, laughing at his on joke.

"Adi, be serious. I think there must be a reason I'm being shown this book. I didn't tell you this before, but that day at the maze, I fainted. When I awoke, I saw something that resembles the body of water referenced in this book. At first, I thought it was just a dream, but now I think it might be something more. What if it's telling me that I need to visit the lycans?"

"Are you crazy?! The lycans are not exactly known for their hospitality. And being a royal, you'd run the risk of them seeing you as a challenger to their king. That would be a suicide mission."

"I have to go, Adi. Don't you get it? I've been powerless for so long. I was able to use my powers to their full extent only once. How can I be expected to control them if I don't even understand how they work? This could be the key to unlocking my powers so that I can actually practice using them."

"Damia, I'm only going to say this once. We are not going. If there's a way to unlock your powers, we'll find it, but this book is not the way."

"Why are you so quick to disregard it?"

"Because I can't see it!"

Damia was taken aback. She knew that further discussion with Adi would prove to be futile so she dropped further discussion.

"I promise we'll keep looking for another way. I won't stop until you get the answers you need, but we're not visiting they lycans."

"Alright, Adi. We won't visit the lycans."