Raiden gingerly held the book in her hands as she tried her best to delay the opening of the book. Something in her gut was continuously warning her not to open the book.
'Come on,' Jennifer urged, 'open the goddamn book!'
Taking a deep breath, Raiden opened the book. The first page bore the same description as before.
'What the hell does Tantabulum mean?' Aaron asked just as Raiden turned the page.
'Do I look like Google to you?' she asked annoyed.
'No, please continue.'
'Let's see the contents of the book, maybe we can understand what the main thing with this book is.' Jayden suggested.
'Agreed.' Raiden nodded as she turned on a few more pages of the book.
The first page bore a new title in a different cursive handwriting,
A Brief History of Schatten
(Original excerpt can be read in "The History behind Schatten and Licht- Two opposite worlds")
'Now that is an interesting name "Schatten".' Aaron remarked, 'What does it mean?'
'It means "shadow and light"; Schatten and Licht are German words for shadow and light respectively.'
'Sounds interesting. Come on, let's see what it says.'
__________________________________
A brief History of Schatten
By Loak Danores
Since the beginning of time, the worlds of Schatten and Licht have always been a subject of speculation among many of the young historians of our world. Even in the human world, the name of Schatten has become synonymous with the word "shadow" which in fact meant the people of darkness.
The human world having no aptitude for a sight that allows them to see through the shadows, makes them unfit for entrance into the world of Schatten. Hence the human world is not aware of the existence of a world that is a million years ahead of them in the magical arts.
The world of Schatten was not created. Like the religion of Hinduism, it did not have a founder, the world was just there. It was a heritage that had been handed down by our ancestors, who possessed the gifts to see in the dark and manipulate the shadows.
We all are aware of the fact that everything in this world has a counterpart and so does the kingdom of Schatten. Like the world of Shadows, lived another world, called the world of lights, Licht. Anyone who has lived in either of these worlds since birth will be aware of the tremendous enmity between these two kingdoms.
Earlier, it was believed that the worlds of Schatten, Licht and Humans used to be in the same plane of existence. But the people of lights and shadows, being the only ones with an aptitude for the finer arts and lesser in numbers were prosecuted by the humans. They used to be burned, crucified, impaled and tortured in the most hideous forms known to man. If we observer the human world carefully, we can still see traces of Schatten and Licht architecture in the human world.
Androas Schatten and Disoar Licht, two prominent personalities in that era, decided to create a whole new world, a hidden world where people who could manipulate the shadows and the lights could hone their skills, irrespective of their fear of being caught by humans. They created a gate that would allow them to gather people from all around the world and put them into one place where they would learn magic, and a new academy was founded, called THE SCHATTEN ACADEMY. And these young people, when they came of age, would pass through the gate where they would enter a new world and stay there as adults or choose to go back into the human world.
It was on mutual understanding between these two rulers that this academy had come into existence, but it is our luck, good things never last long with us and this had to end soon.
Huikoj Licht, younger brother of Disoar, was appointed the headmaster of the Schatten Academy, however, unable to wield magic like his elder brother, he wanted the power all for himself. He felt it unfair that only a few people could possess such a wonderful power, including those who were unfit to wield it.
Most historians however, sadly do not know how the war had started; it is a shameful grey in our history. All that could be known was that Huikoj, being the keeper to the gate of the Schatten and Licht as well had led down a mob of angry humans into the world and caused a bloody war between the magical and the non magical people, the humans having lost the war.
When it was found out that Huikoj was actually the reason this war had begun, a council had been held between Androas, Disoar and many other prominent people of the shadow and light people, who by then had grown in power as well. By a close vote, the council had found Huikoj guilty of treason and sentenced him to death.
Disoar, being the caring elder brother he was, could not bear to see his own brother is killed. In fact, he could not even see the greed and hatred in this brother's eyes as he stood there looking at him, bound in chains. Disoar and a few others of Licht's council begged for his brother to be pardoned but the Schatten council disagreed.
After a lot of argument, the two councils finally reached an impasse; Huikoj Licht would not be killed but will be banished from the world of magic, away from the shadow people, so that no harm would come to them. With a heavy heart Disoar agreed to the condition but he made a demand- Huikoj would stay with him, but the world of Licht and Schatten will be separated and there will not be any contact between the two worlds anymore. The world of Licht will open a separate academy, The Licht Academy which would hold the gate to the new world of Licht.
No one from the kingdom of Schatten knows what the world of Licht did after that. Their activities, however have been continuously recorded and documented, by their people, the location of which has always been kept secret.
With the location of the gate to the Schatten world known to the human world, Androas, the newly appointed king of Schatten formed a council of nine members- called The Schatten Gardien- guardian or keepers of the Gate of Schatten, whose job was to protect the gate and keep it safe from the humans. The Gardien were now instructed to stay in hiding, with different identities in the human world as they continued to look for the people who could wield the magic of the Shadows.
Thus has been the brief history on which the Schatten World had been created, a new world away from torture, where people could grow freely. However after the war, the number of people who possessed the magic of the shadows became lesser and lesser until Schatten Academy completely became a school for humans, its magic stored behind the gates, not to be out into the open world again.
The historians of Licht have a more detailed history of this side of the story.
'I don't know what you people think, but I found that really, really, weird.' Jennifer added. She was done several lines before others.
'It's just a lousily written summary of a history book.' Jayden shrugged, 'And probably the person who wrote this was absolutely mental. I mean Schatten Academy, school of magic? I'll rather believe pigs can fly.'
'The way it's written did seem pretty strange to me. otherwise why the hell would they add not only Schatten but also Licht Academy?'
Raiden's head snapped up so fast she got scared.
'Wait, you mean to say Licht Academy actually exists?'
'It does,' Aaron explained, 'Licht Academy is also one of the most famous academies in Europe, just like Schatten is in America and Australia. But admission in Licht is much harder than Schatten. If Schatten Academy admits only the elites of the elites, then Licht Academy will admit only elites out of those elites in the Schatten academy. It's really hard to get an admission there and hence people don't talk about it much.'
'I see,' Raiden just nodded as she looked at the excerpt in the book. It seemed to contain far more secrets than that one page could describe.
'What I am more curious about is however, is about this nine people who were selected to protect the gate or something, the Gardien. Did you notice that our house is named the Gardien house, and our principal also has the last name Gardien?'
'It can be a coincidence,' Jennifer pointed out.
'Too much of a coincidence, don't you think?' Jayden pressed on, 'Come on, let's see more of this book.'