As we walked up, the tome opened to the first page. Every tome I had ever seen had been completely blank. It was the shaper's job to fill them. When we got up to the book, I could see the writing on the first page. It seemed to be some sort of contract with two blank lines at the bottom.
"Sign your names." The voice commanded coldly.
"Give me a minute, I am reading what this says," I replied offhandedly as I scanned the pages. No matter how many times I looked it over, I just could not seem to remember what I had just read.
"Can you read this, Stell?" I asked him. I turned over to look at him, and he was already pulling his quill away!!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I thundered at Stell.
"He asked us to sign, and he came here to us, so I just assumed that we are supposed to." He said with a shrug.
"This is not a normal book, Stell, there are supposed to be two of them, and it is not supposed to have a contract in it, do you not find that a little suspicious?" I said to him.
"You're the one that said you wanted an adventure. Is the surprise not half the fun?" He said with a smirk. My big friend just loves to drive us crazy with his careless attitude.
"Alright, fine, what's the worst thing, that could happen?" In retrospect, I have come to learn that those simple words almost always precede disaster.
I reach for my arm. I still had a hard time believing that I could just pull a feather out of my skin. Magic does not work this way. You can not only make something appear from anything but as I reached and touched my forearm, I felt the feather-like it was just sitting there.
As I picked up the feather, the end became black and dripping like Stell's was. I reached over and put the quill to the page, and I began to sign my name. As I did, I could feel that same rush of being everywhere at once when the book first came. Then out of nowhere, Stell and I both shouted in a twinned thunderous voice.
"FROM THIS DAY FORWARD WE SWEAR TO LEARN," we thundered in unison. We had no control over our bodies or mouths at that point.
"FROM NOW TILL THE END OF ALL DAYS, WE SHALL RECORD THE EVENTS," our voices echoed through the temple.
"FOR THE GODS ARE IN NEED OF ENTERTAINMENT!" wait for a second...
Finally, after we had destroyed our voices shouting at no one, I looked over at Stell. He had a very puzzled look on his face. I can only imagine that mine was almost a twin to his.
"What do you mean, entertainment, book?" I turn and shot daggers with my eyes at the book as I spoke.
"Every eon or so, the gods send a pair of idiots across the multiverse to get into trouble. You do not get much of choice in the matter," the voice said. Stell frowned.
" I hardly think we are idiots good tome," Stell replied, trying to be reasonable, but still a bit offended.
Then there was another flash of bright light, and a glowing man with eight arms appeared before us. Then it was like my entire body became like a stone. Stell and I were forced to our knees, and we could barely breathe. There was a crushing force coming of that man with the arms like waves steel balls rolling over you and crushing the life out of you. Then it spoke.
"Mesogalara, stop playing with the boys, the bet was lost, so stop being such a poor loser. Hightropelis was excited after he was chosen to guide the travelers last," the voice was crushing.
Every word from his mouth hit me like a physical strike. Then it turned to us.
"You boys have an interesting path ahead of you, do not ask why. You will not find the answer here. Just enjoy the ride," the voice resounded.
Somehow none of that made me feel any better, and then the pressure was gone along with the man with eight arms. What was going on? Who was that person, and what was that crushing feeling? I looked over at Stell, and he was trying to get back up.
"I am not going to be able to get out of bed tomorrow," I groaned.
"It felt like there was a house on top of me," Stell said, rubbing his head.
"Who was that?" I asked the book.
"One of my brothers and one of the gods you two have been selected to entertain," Mesogalara said with a bit less of an edge to its voice.
"My brothers and all gods are everything in this existence. We stand at the beginning and end of time, watching over all the different races in the cosmos. It tends to get rather annoying when all the best stories within 100 years or so, and the best parts only happen for half of those years."
"So we designed a way to keep ourselves entertained over thousands of years. By linking one of us to an item allows the chosen to have access to things never thought possible and allows the chosen to live interminably. That does not mean that you can't die, do not mistake immortality for indestructibility. If someone chops your head off, you will die. With that thought in mind, we give you more power then you could ever imagine to help you not die." Then before the voice could continue, I asked.
"How come there are two of us? Do not take this wrong, Stell. I love you, and I would not want to take you to a place you might have a chance of dying," I said, looking at him, and he put a big hand on my shoulder.
"Where you go, I go Dak. Always has been that way and always will be. I can't imagine how much trouble you would get in without me there," He said with a wry smile—my best friend. We were going to be together for a long time. Then something suddenly struck me.
"We are not staying here? I mean on this planet?" I said it almost breathlessly. My mind began to spin with the implications and the possibilities. The gods would not just make our stay here permanent?
"You go where ever the most excitement is about to happen," the voice said with what almost felt like a smile.