"Here, drink some water."
Jack handed me a mineral water bottle and I chugged it down. Explaining the entire situation had taken about an hour but now, he should be able to understand my dilemma. He too had a family after all. And one where blood ran thick.
"Magical books, huh?" He flipped the pages in the book, looking through the golden ink-written words. He flipped until he reached the cover.
"You said you could see words here?" He asked.
"Yeah, they appeared after I read the entire book."
I could still read it.
"Book Title—The Man Who Carried the Nine Elephants.
C-rank difficulty. Say the words (Endhragon Sanastel, Ful Buglahansen) to enter the book's world."
Jack was intrigued. "Interesting. I can't see shit there. Magic indeed. Do you think you'd really enter the book if you said the magic words?"
"It definitely seems like it."
Jack played around with the book for a bit more. He even tried tearing a small part from a page, but I stopped him in panic. He looked at me silently.
I said: "If it gets damaged, my family's life is at risk."
"A good argument." He nodded. "But you know what? I've seen these books before. Anyway, before I talk about that, tell me what you want from me."
"You know the books?" I was surprised but I quickly moved on to the important details. "I want you to investigate these people. I even have the guy's pics but I can't find anything about them. Help me find it."
"Yeah, I will. And as for these books... I told you. I've seen them before. It was four years ago when I was roaming the dark web looking for eccentric things to buy. I bought a book like this, but instead of the book, I got people trying to hack my location instead."
"The phishers!"
"Yeah, something like that. I sent them into a trap instead and had my bodyguards planted there, I just wanted to terrify them." Reaching here, he grew solemn. "There were three people. Yet, they killed most of the armed bodyguards, who amounted to more than 20. But they also ended up dead."
"Superpowers."
"I thought it was advanced secret military tech at the time," Jack explained. "This makes me hesitant to think about it like that. But this is also unbelievable on its own. Yet, something tells me otherwise."
"What do you mean?—"
Suddenly, Jack's phone rang and he frowned.
The phone was automatically picked.
"You've got feds tracking you down Jack. Escape." A robotic voice explained.
"Shit!" Jack exclaimed and the Limo stopped. "Take the book and go Melvin, I'll contact you in a few hours and send you the details I find."
"Al-alright."
I was kicked out of the limo with my book and it sped past like wind. Gritting my teeth, I sent him all the images of the dragon marked youth that I had.
The next few hours consisted of hellish wait, but then, I got the message I wanted. It was an entry into another sort of internet. One that was completely hidden from public.
Not normal web, not dark web, not deep web.
It was the Hidden Web.
I had just learned of its existence myself so I was more than a bit surprised.
He messaged me: 'Check the links I sent. These people are not as simple as I expected Melvin, my dude.
This all seems like a joke to someone who doesn't believe in superpowers but now, it only makes me shiver.'
I entered the links and immediately, I saw the details he wanted me to see.
The Organization: Bloody Mary.
A mafia gang said to have 9 core members with a leader handling things behind the scenes. They were apparently even handling most of the multibillion dollar conglomerates like puppets. And according to rumors, each of the core members had supernatural abilities.
They don't move for any reason other than collecting something called Dragon Resources. And whenever they moved, blood drowned whole areas.
Every link seemed phony and weird but the words all made surprising sense to me. If I had seen it before being involved with all of this, I would have scoffed at the bullshit.
He messaged me: 'They never let their hostages leave alive. That is how they show their power and keep the normal world from knowing about their abilities, apparently.'
It was not looking good.
He said: 'Even if you give them the book, it seems useless.'
I was silent.
'For now, you should try entering it.'
"No. No. No." I shook my head, feeling hopeless.
That might make me lose the only thing the enemies wanted from me. I would no longer have any leverage.
I felt like my life as I knew it was slipping through my fingers.
Despairing thoughts flitted through my mind.
'Do you want me to bring my own armed force?'
That was dangerous. What if the enemies killed my family in rage?
'Any other ideas?' I messaged. 'You seem very calm.'
'What if I say I have some of these books in my hand, too?'
'… what?'
'The three people I said were killed. These books were repelled out of their body. I thought it was part of the advanced secret tech at that point, but now, I am pretty sure it's the same as the one you have. I just checked earlier and it matches up.
'I tried reading them till the end but man I've got the attention span of a gold fish.'
'Can you lend me one?'
'If you promise to use any superpower you gain for me when I need.'
'Deal! Where are you?'
'Come to my family mansion.'
'Where even is that?'
'I'll send you the location.'
In a mere half an hour, I was standing in the garden of an impressive mansion. And soon, a young japanese maid brought me to a secret room. Entering it, I was in awe.
This was a dream tech room for me!
But on the table, something even more impressive was lying. Three dark tomes with a golden dragon symbol on its cover.
"You are here," he said with a smile as a maid scuttled away from the room.